As I wrote yesterday, I got feedback from my beta-read/developmental edit that the new version of Mr. Ruin got dull in the back half. I’ve been thinking about this since then, and this is where I’m at. I’ve got two threads, call them A and B. A is the ‘real world’, set approx 2364, and it follows Ritry Goligh and his battles with Mr. Ruin, leading to a climactic battle. Thread B follows the chord as they jack deep into a mind, seeking some unknown target at the center. I wrote the book entirely as an A B A B …
Reeling from the editor’s comment on Mr. Ruin…
It’s late, but this is a tough one and I want to get my thoughts down now before I go to bed. So, I got the beta-reader/manuscript assessment editor’s feedback on the reworked version of Mr. Ruin. Broadly, he loved it. Great sci-fi. Well-written. Hardly needs any work at all, except… It’s a big except. Much of the second half of the book was dull. This a huge blow. Of course it’s just one person’s view. It doesn’t mean they’re right. But – this is what I was always worried about with this story – that straightening it out would …
God of Ruin – The Ruin War 3
God of Ruin is a Hard SF thriller, Book 3 in the Ruin War trilogy. Your heart is the door into hell. In the destructive struggle for the Aetheric Bridge, elite Graysmith Ritry broke his soul into seven constituent parts. Now those parts roam the world blinded by loss and new addictions, mopping up holdouts from the war with King Ruin. But the real war has only just begun. From the ashes of King Ruin’s defeat a god-like power rises, with a solitary decree- an unstoppable flood is coming, to wash everything clean. And Ritry is a soul divided. How …
King Ruin – The Ruin War 2
King Ruin is a Hard SF thriller, Book 2 in the Ruin War trilogy. Your soul is the war zone. In the fearsome battle with Mr. Ruin, elite Graysmith Ritry dived deeper into the fires of the mind than ever before. There he found the ‘Aetheric Bridge’, a crossing-point that links all souls throughout time, and unleashed its awesome power. Now that power has been noticed. King Ruin, a malevolent entity far greater than Mr. Ruin, wants the secret of the Bridge, and Ritry alone stands in his path. But Ritry is nothing compared to the King, and there’s nowhere …
Mr. Ruin – The Ruin War 1
Mr. Ruin is a Hard SF thriller, Book 1 in the Ruin War trilogy. Your mind is the battlefield. In the war that devastated the world, ex-marine Ritry was a ‘Graysmith’ – an elite interrogator who dived deep into the hellish fires of enemy minds. His efforts made him a hero, saving countless lives, but also scarred his sanity and lost him everyone he ever loved. Now Ritry sees a chance at redemption. A shadowy figure known only as Mr. Ruin offers him an awesome power – the ability to dive not just into minds, but into the fabric underlying …