The Ghost, the Serpent, and the Wasteland

The Ghost, the Serpent, and the Wastes, Also Titled: The Deaths of Twelve Snakes and One Dumb Bastard was a project I worked on during the summers of 2021 and 2022.  Initially it was a series of short stories detailing Locke’s journey immediately before the start of The Long Road – specifically his hunt for Red Jake Mathers and the Rattlesnake Gang.  The original intent was to use an old mechanical typewriter that a close friend had given me and to simultaneously produce some content for the campaign leading up to the release of The Minutemen.

When I completed the last story I realized that I had more-or-less accidentally written a novella and figured that I may as well go through and clean it up and release it as a proper book.  I just wrapped up the first draft of this project and my cover artist - the amazing Eric Tonzola - finished the cover. Ideally I’ll have everything edited and ready for a 2023 spring release!

In the meantime, I plan on finally participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year, during which I’m hoping to bang out the rough draft of Pale Horse, which will wrap up Locke’s story in the World Hereafter. Given that ending stories is hard as hell, I’ll be taking my time on the edits, revisions, and rewrites with a projected release date of 2024.