Scintilla Vitae

There is a high when I complete a story. A span of elation that screams "I've done it!" that is almost as addictive as the act of writing itself. This feeling is stronger when it's a novel because so much more work went into its creation. After the high comes the second guessing, the re-reading and the revising. I normally don't go into it much when talking about storytelling becuase my sense of accomplishment isn't what you are here for. You want the stories. I don't blame you. If I heard someone else go "I feel really good about finishing that", my reaction would be a polite acknowledgement and nothing more.

The disappointing news is that the work I've just finished is not something I can sell in any way shape or form. Scintilla Vitae takes place in the Warhammer 40k universe, and is nothing more than a fan work. It did have the side effect of getting me back into the swing of writing, allowing me to get back to making progress on my own properties that I can sell and promote.

I can't sell it, but I can give it away for free.

The problem is, because it's free, I can't give it a fancy cover or hire and editor. Those are expensive, and cannot be justified.

I'm not going to claim this is some great achievement that somehow challenges the work put out by Black Library. That's absurd. It's a writing exercise. A character piece to allow me to exercise the creative parts of my mind in a world I happen to enjoy. Of course, I am a brutally harsh critic of literature, just read some of my reviews some time. This is not my assertion of being able to do it better than the official authors. I simply don't have an ego that big. And I can see a number of criticisms already. But then again, I am a harsh critic.

Anyway, enough rambling. You can pick up a free PDF copy of this work here. Or, if you prefer a .mobi file, there's one over here. Of course, if you don't care for 40k, you probably won't want to pick this up.

I'm going back to Stanley and Travis now that this is done. Please don't pick on the proofing errors too much, I didn't pay for an editor (per above).

UPDATE - I realized after posting that what this is is not a finished novel, and I should give the displaimer. It is a first draft. Because my mind continues to percolate on such matters nad because the whole purpose of a writing exercise is to improve technique I thought on what else might be done. I'd definately punch up the events near the end, as they're too flat and lacking in description. I'd re-do some of the events on the Nox Rostrum toclean it up and help build tension properly. I'd look for spots where clarity could be improved and transitions smoothed. A lot of little things (and not so little things)