by Ric Beard
AFTERWORD
84
Author’s Notes
Sampson’s Legacy was a massive pain in my ass. When I set out to participate in my first National Novel Writing Month, I thought I had a good plan and felt a surge of energy going into the new experience.
Note within a note:
For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is an accountability project aimed at getting authors to sit their hinies down and finally write their novels. If you’re a writer who can’t finish anything, I’m sure it’s great, but for someone like me, who has little problem dropping my behind in the chair and writing, it might not be the best idea, unless one just seeks a challenge. You need a word count of fifty-thousand to complete NaNo, by the end of November.
I had 84,000 by November 20th. Word count wasn’t my problem…the story was. Needless to say, my displeasure with what it turned out to be ended in an almost complete reset.
And I’m so glad.
Since Sampson, Bradshaw, and Ruby showed up in the second iteration and saved me from twenty more years as a data center operations lead, I’m glad for the way the process went. I love these people, and I was pretty happy with the story this time around.
We should be thankful for our mistakes for the opportunities they provide us, to improve.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I could not have finished this book without the unyielding support of my wife and epic business partner, Emily. She has an eye for detail that baffles me, and if she wasn’t helping me edit, manage my email list, and making sure I eat, I would be dead. Okay, maybe not dead, but I’d wish I was.
She owns as much of this story as I do and spent endless nights talking about how to make it better, for you.
I’m also thankful to:
Amy Teegan, for endless moral support (even when it was gruff moral support).
Christine Niles, (because she’s Christine Niles, and you’re not). If I got into more specifics, I’d have to give you another book to read and who wants to see me drone on, anyway?
Sean Platt, Johnny Truant, and David “Redacted” Wright, for the mentorship and friendship that helped me believe I could do this. You guys inspire me to be more like a puppy and less like an asshole. Don’t worry, it will take hold at some point.
Tammi Labrecque, for the business sense and reminding me when to, and when not to, give a fuck.
Tom Hansen, who has a way of getting me to keep my fake weapons shit, real.
Nicole Montgomery, for being a constant fan, a super-positive influence, and my video buddy through trials and tribulations. Oh, and the mega edit at the end. That.
A special thanks to Annie, for the dedicated editing of this novel and to dev editor, extraordinaire, Marielle S. Smith, for helping me see I needed to (almost) start over.
Table of Contents
Sampson’s Legacy
Copyright
Dedication
1. Luck of the Draw
2. Think You Could Wrap It Up?
3. You're Late
4. Quite the Scam
5. Don't Shoot the Dog
6. Industrious
7. Are You Sick?
8. The Shit
9. They're Scavengers
10. Anybody Dead?
11. A Hell of a Greeting
12. No Can Do
13. They're All Dead
14. Feisty
15. Don't Panic
16. All My Nagging Questions
17. Real Keen on Her
18. Good Girl?
19. My Father Called Me That
20. Testy
21. Why I'm Using It
22. A Second Coat of Paint
23. Your Gratitude
24. From the Shadows
25. Symbolic
26. Above Your Station
27. Shit!
28. Hope You Know How To Swim
29. What's with the Fancy Glasses?
30. Hands Off Me, Swine
31. Lexi Shaw, For the Win
32. Like A Grape
33. Maw?
34. Like An Old Cowboy Movie
35. Steak
36. Push Up The Timeline
37. You Need A Nap
38. Socially-challenged
39. Would've Set the House on Fire
40. Oops
41. I Hate the World
42. I Hope It Hurt
43. Iterate and Optimize
44. Should've Stayed in The City
45. Let Mama Know
46. What Would Lexi Do?
47. Killing Puppies
48. Utter Dumbfuck
49. Self Defense
50. Not So Tough
51. Went South
52. Mind Our Own Business
53. So Much for That Idea
54. Time to Make Some Holes
55. Where Are My Fucking Friends?
56. Which Way Did I Flip It?
57. Crazy Old Coot
58. Sonza-bitches
59. A Pulse Gatling
60. He’s My Brother
61. Into A Shit Show
62. Don’t Worry About The Lady
63. Days Of Chivalry
64. Looks Like a Mine
65. Carson Got His Man
66. He’ll Be Your Eyes
67. Sounds Like It
68. One Down
69. A Lot We Could Learn
70. Neutralized
71. Made to Ram
72. Coming at Us from Both Sides
73. Floor It
74. Women Are the Craziest
75. Get in The Damn Truck
76. Yo!
77. Doers
78. All Twerked Out
79. Hedging Your Bets?
80. Once A Whore…
81. What About Ruby?
82. She Won’t Stop
Epilogue
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Afterword
Acknowledgments