Michael Selden's Blog, page 23

Prologue For THE BALANCE

I posted a draft version of the prologue from my second book "THE BALANCE" on my web site. The Balance is a #YA novel set in the distant future, 200 years after a global nuclear war.

Preparing for The Balance—My Second Book

THE BALANCE—a #YA (Young Adult) novel, set in the distant future was written in parallel with the #MG Middle Grade novel THE BOY WHO RAN.  Each revision of the work was allowed time to ferment and mature as I worked revisions of the other.  THE BOY WHO RAN is told in a parable-like narrative and takes place six thousand years ago and THE BALANCE is revealed as a novel in the usual sense, although it too contains elements of a history at times.

THE BALANCE is a part of an epic tale, futuristic in some respects, but founded in the strong feel of a young adult story.  The main character through most of the book is a seventeen year old named Phoebe.  This is her story, although it is a part of a continuum of a larger story that takes place almost two hundred years after an apocalyptic global nuclear war and revolves around a power struggle between two major organizations: The Order and The Council of God. One side seeks domination and the other seeks The Balance.

I posted the draft prologue for THE BALANCE—a scene taken out of time from the main story, but a part of the continuum of the long tale. It’s available on my web site by clicking on the link below.

The Prologue for THE BALANCE

36 total views, 36 views today

Books in the Works

The Boy Who Ran (Middle Grade Fiction), released in late November 2013, was actually the second book I wrote and one of four books in various stages of maturity.


I plan to release THE BALANCE A Young Adult book set in a future time sometime in mid-to-late 2014.

For most of her young life, Phoebe has struggled to control and hide her special abilities, knowing that—if discovered—The Council would terminate her. What she doesn’t know is that she’s the unwitting product of a genetic engineering program developed by The Order, an organization long since driven underground, but now intent on using her to reestablish a balance of power with The Council.

The Balance is a novel about Phoebe, her dream of a normal life, and the Order’s struggle to keep her alive and safe for their own purpose. The story is set in a distant future in a place ruled by the Council of God called ‘The Land’.

In early 2015, I plan to release I AM

Jenny and her boyfriend Jake had been together since high school and their life seemed to be laid out before them. But that was before her junior year in college, the year the object arrived from beyond the Oort cloud. I AM is a novel of tragedy and hope set in the near future.

And in Late 2015 or Early 2016 I plan to release DISOBEDIENCE

John works at a waterfront bar named The Siren. He’s been a nomad most of his life, drifting from place to place and always one step ahead of trouble. He’s just moved to Baltimore and bad things seem to be catching up with him and happening fast. Disobedience: a supernatural thriller set in present day Baltimore.

All will be released through Woodland Park Press LLC


There are an additional four books already platted out to follow these four.

Welcome to MichaelSelden.com

As an avid, omnivorous reader I know what I like in a good book—and the genre really doesn’t matter to me. A good book is a good book and that’s all that matters.

A good book is difficult to put down, and friends who know me understand how intensely I can be pulled into a reading frenzy. I’ve disappear sometimes to devour a book per day over a period of a few weeks at a time—and I’ve been known to read the same book two or three times in a row if I know that there is more to it than I experienced the first time through. I want to squeeze everything I can out of the author’s work and even expand on it in my head. I want to read good books and know they will take me on a journey.

At the top of the page are links to descriptions of the works I am husbanding through various stages of maturity right now. Some are complete and in the pre-production phases and some are in the middle . . .

The Boy Who Ran. a Middle Grade novel, is planned for release by the end of 2013 from Woodland Park Press

The Balance, a Young Adult novel, is planned to be released in the spring from Woodland Park Press

50 total views, no views today