And Now, Why I'm Here - A First Look at "Family History".

Family History.


What is it?

Put simply, and without much explanation, it's a project I worked painstakingly on for about 2-3 years.

And now, it's just "gathering dust" in my hard drive, because it's a 180k word monstrosity that I was sure was pretty much unpublishable.

Well...okay, so I didn't really try that hard, I'll admit, because reading so many "We don't like stories that are over 100k words unless you're Stephen King" was pretty daunting to me.

But, I kept it around while simultaneously working on my other (and current) project, The Night Life, thinking that I would one day do something with it.

And now, I think that day has finally arrived.

With the latest e-readers becoming so popular and self-publishing becoming more relevant, I figured that I might as well take this project and put it online. Hell, maybe I'll make $10, whereupon I could treat myself to a nice cheeseburger.

More importantly: maybe somebody would read it!

So, what's it about?

Well...it's about a lot of things.

But namely, it's about a family, and how they cope with an old curse.

But rather than attempt to type out a boring old synopsis, here's a preview:

Pressing the pen to the paper, Calvin Connor Dowling Deland began his last words: “It was the beginning of the end…”

            He paused to think, contemplating everything that had happened throughout his too-short life. He thought of Amber Ozzly, of Henry Austin and Marie, and of Northgate. He thought about all of the pain and suffering his ancestors endured and of the horrific consequences of fate’s twisted sense of humor. He thought of Jamie, time travel, and the limitless supply of drugs; Thalopolis, sex, Joel Barrett, and his mother. Though of course, nothing occupied more space in his mind than Collie. Picturing her face, he continued to write.

            “She was the beginning, and I was the end. She was the matriarch while I was the last loser at the end of the line… yet how could I possibly be the end when I’ve completely given myself over to the beginning?”

            “Because,” he scribbled, “I am not the end. My family line is not a line at all, but a circle. Because when you take a piece of string and connect the two ends, they will inevitably meet. Thus, like a circle, like Joel Barrett’s love for his wife, and like my enduring love for Collie, Family History does not end. In fact, it’s only beginning…again.”

            When he finished scribbling his last thoughts, Calvin gently placed Family History on the floor and replaced his pen with a small pistol containing a single bullet.