by James Bubela
"Yes I do! It is mine and mine alone. Except the town owns it, but it's still mine."
"Well the homestead I had is yours if you would like it. The couple will gladly let you stay there and share some meals, but that yard is all yours. How does that sound?"
Arthur started to jump in excitement, but he stopped, looked off to the yard, and then back at Lorin.
"Does that mean I can't work around here anymore?"
"Not at all. The homestead is yours. Stay there if you like or don't. I just… I have one favor for you if you want the place or not."
"What can I do? Please, I'll do it, I agree."
Lorin smiled faintly. "There are four marked graves in the yard. You will see them. Please, make sure they are looked after. I may be back to visit, but… too many memories. Those graves… they need to be in good hands."
"I can do that."
"It means a lot to me. Thank you."
Lorin opened the door and motioned Arthur to enter first. "But—" Arthur stopped in the door. "If you're giving away everything, what are you going to do?"
Lorin smirked and said, "Hunt."
Author Bio
James lives in a small town in Alberta, Canada where he works as a welder and heavy equipment operator. When he isn’t shoveling snow, or learning some new “useful” hobby, he is playing games and making old fashioneds—sometimes with friends, most times with his dogs.
A Note From the Author
Well you did it, you read my book!
This is a letter to you my dear reader. I put this behind the Author Bio because, well, the bio really tells you nothing about me. By design it's only a glance long, and you can get away with closing the book and having that as your whole impression of me. Please do if you’re happy with that, I won’t hold it against you. But if you want to know a bit more about me and this book’s journey, than the rest of this note is for you.
The first thing I want and need to say is, thank you. Reading this far means you used your time to discover a story I wrote. That is amazing, it kinda gives me the all-overs if I’m honest. So thank you for your time, your attention, and your patience. Thank you.
Alright, now that the traditional Canadian greeting is through it is time for me to ramble!
This is my first book. Hopefully that comes as a surprise, but I may have announced it to you through my prose. It has been a marathon to align the 86,000ish words into the order that makes up this piece of work. I have learned a lot—especially about how little I know about grammar and prose—but the journey was… it sounds cliché, but it was magical. I know, I know. But it’s the truth.
When I started to write this book it began with a character for a tabletop RPG. I was a game master for a while, and I was given the opportunity to actually play instead of run the game. So like a good player should I made a character and decided to create a backstory to help get in the mood to play. That’s when I felt it. Not like a lightning bolt or a hit over the head. But like a faint whisper, the page I had written was calling me. I had written a sporadic jumble over an hour or so, but that whisper called me back. So I returned. Not for the game, but because I was curious—I wanted to see where the story was going. After about a chapter was done I was happy and ready to play, knowing full well I wouldn’t use anything I wrote during the game. Indeed, I didn’t use it at all, I actually never did play that game or that character, and yet I returned to what I had written.
Over the course of this book’s creation I would awake every single day at 5am and write. Though, if I am to be honest that isn’t completely true. Some days and most weekends I did keep to that routine, but usually I would be up only to chug some tea and get lost on the internet until 15 minutes before I had to get to work. However, in that 15 minutes I would actually hunker down and write the day’s first sentence. That usually was all it took. Once those first words were on the page, the magic would come and I would lose myself in the words—in the story I could see as my fingers danced away.
I started in April of 2017 and finished that first draft in almost exactly a year to the day. That story is not the one you read. It took me until October of 2018 to finish my second draft which is much closer to the one you read. That first draft was jumbled, unreadable, and made little sense. But I had finished it. The hard part was done… or so I thought. Turns out that editing and revising is a lot of work, and I wasn’t prepared for it. I had finished my second draft, and then—just to be sure—I went over it once more. Then, it was off to the editor. That was humbling. The written word has a lot of rules that I just never learned in school, and some I just straight-up was confused by. After those revisions I sent them back to him for a second edit, and in that pass it was much easier to tidy up the smaller errors and complete it to what it is now.
I never thought I would be a writer, but after discovering this form of art I can’t imagine not writing. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t claim to be the best writer in the world by any stretch of the imagination. This novel may be better than trash, though, my thoughts on that count for little. The next book I am writing will be easier to write and revise for me, but I also know it will be a better story for you. I am excited to keep writing and getting better at the craft. I have more stories to tell myself, more places to discover, and characters to meet. I won’t stop writing. If you enjoyed this book, please tell your friends, or leave a review, or go to my website https://jamesbubela.com/
I want to hear your thoughts and a review online helps me immensely. A review attracts more readers, and thus lets me write more. I don’t want to shill myself out too much, but please that is the best way you can help me and show that you enjoyed the book. If you are even more of an awesome person then go to my website and send me a message, I would love to hear from you. Yes, you! I often have felt my comments might be stupid or the author wouldn’t want to hear what I have to say, but don’t you dare feel that way! I would love to hear what you have to say, please do send your thoughts!
Well, this note became a lot longer than I thought it would be when I started writing. I’m sure I could write more, but you probably have better things to do. So I will leave you to it, but before you go. Thank You!
Yours truly,
James Bubela
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