ARISEN, Book Twelve - Carnage
Page 37
But, anyway, this time around, with no wonderful gal to pull me back – and, moreover, having changed everything in my life overnight – I became convinced not just that the book was broken… but that the writer was. I was sure I’d never produce any decent material, ever again. And soon after that the money would run out. And then I would literally be out on the street. A failure. Broken. Homeless. And totally alone. It was all over. I was screwed. And I’d done it to myself.
Talk about an “All is Lost” moment! (Like I said – the earlier episode had been nothing.)
So what did I do? What could I do? Nothing but follow the lesson of the special operators once again. I just had to dig down and find a way through – somehow. At first, I just spent a good couple of days drinking and crying. Seriously – just drinking and crying. (I can at least be proud of the huge boost I gave to Jack Daniels and Diet Coke sales in Andalucia.) Then I spent a couple of days trying to pull it together. I said to myself: “Okay. I have absolutely no idea how to fix this. I only know that I have to. Because if I don’t, I’m dead. Pretty much literally.” And then, after that, I spent a couple of days going back and forcing myself to look at the material so far, trying to figure out what the problems actually were. And guess what? Eventually they started to look manageable. I began to figure it out. And I screwed my head back on straight, 1/64th of a twist at a time. I battled my way back.
Anyway, if it’s true that art requires suffering, then this book should be very good indeed. I don’t think anyone can ever say I didn’t bleed for it. (To get a sense of what that long dark tunnel was like, minute to minute, check out the Twittorial History of Books 11 & 12.)
I will add only that the climax of these two books – roughly the last quarter of the one you hold in your hands – was, by a very comfortable margin, the most complex, difficult, and ambitious material I’ve ever tried to execute. That it seemed to work in the end is still a matter of fairly major amazement to me. As always, of course, you guys will be the final judge. Which is how it ought to be.
Also as always, thank you for taking the journey with me (and with the heroes of ARISEN). It means everything.
Michael
26 August 2016
Thanks & Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the unbelievably generous, talented, and indispensable people who make up the ARISEN beta-reading team: Mark George Pitely, Amanda Jo Moore, Dave Fairfax, and Ron Purugganan (aka Nil Ate). Super extra thanks and special recognition to Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer Mark D. Wiggins, USCG (ret). If you liked Books Eleven and Twelve better than Nine and Ten, you can in no small measure thank him. To a significant extent, he fixed the direction of the series. (Oh – also if you like the fact that Handon’s still alive. 8^)
Thanks as always to the amazing Editrice (jacqui@ladyeditrice.co.uk), for making ARISEN bulletproof. (And, on these two, for saving me from a self-inflicted ellipsis menace.)
Thanks also and forever to Anna K. Brooksbank, Sara Natalie Fuchs, Richard S. Fuchs, Virginia Ann Sayers-King, Valerie Sayers, Alexander M. Heublein, Matthew David Grabowy, and Michael and Jayne Barnard, for their indispensable support. Also, Bruce, Wanda, Alec, and Brendan Fyfe for their service and sacrifice. Eternal thanks to Glynn James for coming up with Arisen.
Special thanks to novelist, nomad, and new media guru AJ Silvers – for buoying me up when I was dead in the water and sinking fast, kicking me in the ass when I needed it (not least with beach HIIT training), and throwing me his spare Mac to finish the fight when mine were going down and littering the battlefield.
The wonderful cover image for this book was created by the always amazing Tom Weber at MILPICTURES.
Regarding Marine SGT Lovell’s line when SGT Patrick gets shot and laughs it off:
That’s Navy Cross Recipient Sergeant Major Bradley Kasal. Read his story.
The Hollenbaugh Shot is from the book Modern American Snipers: From The Legend to The Reaper—on the Battlefield with Special Operations Snipers, by Chris Martin with SOFREP.COM - specifically the account of Delta Master Sergeant Don Hollenbaugh’s single-handed defense of that Fallujah rooftop, for which he was awarded the Silver Star.
“Happy birthday – you’re about to get shot in the face, bitch[acho]” is from CPL Chaffin in Generation Kill (book and miniseries – both of which you should have already devoured by now! don’t you listen? 8^).
“No more Mr. Knife Guy” was, of course, utterly shamelessly stolen from Wild Wild West (which had like six writing credits, so apologies to whoever actually wrote the line).
The “WW2 history book” from which Jameson (and I) borrowed the line, “A lot of the old boys bought it today” is Stephen Ambrose’s amazing Citizen Soldiers. Read it now! Seriously – go!
When Corporal Meyer launches the Spetsnaz dude off the observation deck with an AT-4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGQIQljaAc0.
Oh, here’s the real Charlotte, by the way:
(Yeah, that’s really her on the cover. I have it on good authority.) You should absolutely get and read her awesome book, right now. Just awesome.
And if you didn’t happen to catch it in the back of ARISEN : Nemesis, here’s the real-life Kate:
You can, and very very definitely should, read about the real-life warrior women of the Army’s Cultural Support Teams in the fantastic book Ashley's War, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.
Finally – the long-awaited music section. As you will know, there’s almost no ARISEN without the soundtrack. That is, this music totally powers me through my runs (where I do all the creative work) and then through my writing days (where I do all the work work). Books Eleven and Twelve being by far the longest, hardest, and most ambitious project of my life (never mind all the personal crap I was dealing with), the music was even more indispensable than usual in keeping me going. It kind of saved me, actually.
For the first time, I did the entire playlist I wrote these books to as a Spotify playlist, so you can actually listen along as you read:
https://play.spotify.com/user/mrfuches2/playlist/4WK86WyR40uGkWDRjStYvI
Enjoy! (There are a few omissions and substitutions there – based on what Spotify has, notably the absence of Tool – so here’s the exact playlist in a textfile.)
Special mentions:
“Endure” by Nonpoint is the very official theme song of ARISEN Books Eleven & Twelve. Why? A) The title perfectly captured my experience and state of mind through most of this; B) it’s hard and heavy as hell, but with great dynamics, conferring oceans of energy; and, mainly, C) I listened to it over and over and over and over while writing these books. Over and over and over and over.
Other standouts from this cycle of ARISEN were:
Saliva, “Badass” (the theme song for Predator’s Crowning Moment of Badass).
Bobaflex, “I’m Glad You’re Dead,” “Bad Man,” and “Bury Me With My Guns On.” Damn, dudes! I could have listened to that stuff all day (and often did). Louder and louder. And louder yet. (Yeah, the guys in this band are not only West Virginians – they are actual McCoys. Yes, of Hatfield and McCoy fame… It works.)
Shinedown, “Cut the Cord” – ’Cause victory is all you need.
Papa Roach, “Warriors” – Shine your light, Push the enemy back, When you're under attack, It will protect you, Kill the night, All we need is a spark, We can bury the dark, Ignite – Come on and shine your light.
Pop Evil, “Footsteps”.
Manafest, “No Plan B” (story of my life).
Black Stone Cherry, “White Trash Millionaire” (ha ha ha ha!!!).
DiRTy WoRMz, “Impossible” – You want war with me? You must be daydreamin’ – you’ll be lucky if I decide to let you walk away breathin’…
Quite a few other Nonpoint tracks: “What a Day”, “Lights, Camera, Action”, and “I Said It” – definitely “I Said It”. (You could a lot do worse than listen to Nonpoint while waiting for the new Tool album.)
Lacey Sturm, Life Screams – every
second of the whole album (it’s got a 4.9-star average on 127 reviews on Amazon!), but especially “The Solder” and “You’re Not Alone.” Oh, man. Just – oh, man. (Just try to imagine what a life-changing album they would have put out if she had stayed with Flyleaf. As an aid to that, check out Flyleaf’s first album without her – which is still amazing!) Plus “Life Screams.” Also “Feels Like Forever.” The whole album, maybe? Every song is particularly great – each better than all the others.
The Qemists are back! Warrior Sound! Holy s&^%!
Extra special mention for Anti-Mortem, “Truck Stop Special”.
You could do a lot worse than listen to those tracks over and over while reading ARISEN, or at least anytime the action heats up. Definitely for the climax of this book. (I know I did – during the n-thousand read-throughs I had to do to get everything right…)
For editing this time, I pretty much just listened to Joel Nielsen’s Black Mesa Soundtrack over and over. Though also, in the grueling final stretches, also Shinedown’s Threat to Survival – a truly outstanding album top-to-bottom, by artists at the height of their powers.
My very sincere and humble thanks to all these absurdly talented musical artists, whose amazing work helped me do mine.
More importantly: as you will already know, there is no ARISEN without the real-life exploits of our heroes in the military, especially in the special operations community. (There’s also no western civilization to have books of any sort in.) This is particularly personal for me – because I almost certainly wouldn’t have a writing career without their inspiration. I explain why in my short blog post “The Operators Saved My Life”. Thanks can never be enough.
ARISEN
Hope Never Dies.
Fans of the bestselling ARISEN series call it “Staggeringly good - the most consistently excellent franchise in zombie literature” … “Wall to wall adrenaline - edge of your seat unputdownable until the very last page” … “totally stunning in its originality” … “jaw dropping” … “moves like an avalanche” … “You can smell the smoke, feel the explosions, and hear the rounds headed down range” … “edge of the seat, nail biting, page turning mayhem” … “had me holding my breath more times than I could count” … “a knock down drag out kick ass read - the best ZA book series around, period” … “rolls along like an out of control freight train” … “Left me shaking at the last page…”
Alpha team will return in
ARISEN, BOOK THIRTEEN – THE SIEGE
(And then again in
ARISEN, BOOK FOURTEEN – END DAYS
and then that’s it, folks!)
They are the most capable, committed, and indispensable counter-terrorist operators in the world.
They have no rivals for skill, speed, ferocity, intelligence, flexibility, and sheer resolve.
Somewhere in the world, things are going horrifyingly wrong…
Readers call the D-BOYS series “a high-octane adrenaline-fueled action thrill-ride”, “one of the best action thrillers of the year (or any year for that matter)”, “a riveting, fast paced classic!!”, “pure action”, “The Best Techno Military Thriller I have read!”, “Awesome!”, “Gripping”, “Edge of your seat action”, “Kick butt in the most serious of ways and a thrill to read”, “What a wild ride!!! I simply could not put this book down”, “has a real humanity and philosophical side as well”, “a truly fast action, high octane book”, “Up there with Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin”, “one of the best Spec Ops reads I have run into”, and “hi-tech and action in one well-rounded explosive thriller.”