Here we are at the end or Akio Revelations. Or are we? Michael?
This book was so much fun to write. It started as a 65k to 70K word novel and morphed into the 91k+ beast you just finished. I never thought that I would be capable of writing that much in the timeframe I had, but there were so many loose ends to close that the more I went, the more I found.
With my full-time day job, it takes me around four months to complete a new novel. I started Reprisal in 2019. It took me seven months for all the research reading (around 24 books and one short story) and to work out the main arc and subplots for all three. Retribution was finished seven hours before the March deadline, and Retaliation wrapped up a week early in June.
These books have been written in airports, airplanes, cars, coffee shops, hotels in Vegas, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Charleston, to name a few. If I had a spare minute, I was researching locations or writing.
I don’t imagine that’s how everybody does it, but for the next year, that’s how I will have to do it. I have more stories to tell and will continue to write whenever possible to get them out to folks who love to read.
Spoiler alert!
Before you start sharpening pitchforks and lighting torches aimed at me, the Author Monkey, please remember that this timeline is well in the past from where the series is now. I couldn’t have any major characters who were not in the current books.
That was a tough ending to write. Since there are only three books planned in this series, I had to bring it all to a close at the end of Retaliation. I knew what I had to do from the start, and put it off until I had to pull the proverbial trigger on a character that was like a child to me. I created him out of the maelstrom that is my mind, and it was not a pretty sight when it finally happened.
Now to address some of the questions/comments I’ve seen requesting more books. Not my call. Michael Anderle is “Da Boss” and has the final say on this. In the style of that TikTok thing my kids are so obsessed with, I have a request/challenge for those who want more Akio. How many FB group tags/messages/reviews/telegraphs/smoke signals (you get the picture) to Michael will it take for him to cry uncle and request more Akio? He conveniently puts how to reach him in every book. What say we find out?
Three more Akio Revelations are coming over the next year!
Thank you all—the most AWESOME fans in the world—for the love and support you have shown this series. If you liked them, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or BookBub. This helps keep the books visible and is another way that we can judge if we need to do more.
Again, thank you all for reading this book. Please drop by my Author page and say “Hi.” I respond to messages as fast as I am able.
If you want to reach me, you can find me on:
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Author Charles Tillman
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Join my mailing list if you would like to know what I’m working on and updates on future works.
Until next time,
Charles
Author Notes Michael Anderle
July 19, 2020
Thank you so much for supporting new stories, new ideas, and new authors!
Like Charles, I remember writing anywhere I could when working on the first books of The Kurtherian Gambit. I wrote on planes, trains, and automobiles. I wrote during the day, during the night, and way more than once, I fell asleep typing.
It is an odd reality when you read what you typed going to sleep the previous night. I remember believing (with complete faith) that I WAS coherent as I typed whatever the hell it was I read the next morning.
I blame it on the sleep faeries. They ARE cousins to the lawn faeries, you know.
Each time you support us with a purchase, a read in Kindle Unlimited, a comment on Facebook, or a story you bring to us about something you liked, it is encouragement, a shot in the arm, and an all-around wonderful feeling.
So is pushing a new author so much that he/she digs deep and wants to do another trilogy.
When I spoke to Charles about it, I had to put on my publisher hat and provide (in my opinion) my best advice.
Effectively, do it because you want to.
Writing is emotionally draining, and staying with a character or set of characters (especially after you have ‘killed’ one of your creative children) can be challenging. The realization that something that is bits and bytes born of the imagination can make you weep is illuminating, to say the least.
To have to see it play out in your mind and put it to paper can suck.
I remember writing the scene where Michael is running with the bomb and has to try to save everyone.
Then I remember the tears as Bethany Anne is giving a eulogy as his empty coffin is sent to the sun.
Sadness.
However, from the same wellspring of thought comes new characters, new friendships, new opportunities to have conversations with ourselves. As authors, we have a go-to excuse for mumbling random words. We should just wear a t-shirt that proudly states:
“I’m not crazy (yet). I’m an author, and my characters are back-talking me.”
Or you know, something similar.
We are looking forward to having you join us for the continued adventures of Akio in the future!
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
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Books By Charles Tillman
Akio Revelations
Reprisal (Book 1)
Retaliation (Book 2)
Retribution (Book 3)
Books By Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
Retribution Page 30