Jude
asked
Edward Aubry:
I purchased Static Mayhem (Book 2) some time ago, and recently purchased Prelude to Mayhem (now Book 1), but have not yet read either book. Should I read Prelude to Mayhem first, or read them in the order they were published? Thanks!
Edward Aubry
Hi Jude! That's a great question. The short answer is you should read Prelude to Mayhem first.
The longer answer is that you probably have the original, out-of-print version of Static Mayhem (purple cover showing the ruins of the Brooklyn Bridge, by any chance?), which includes some of the content that eventually became Prelude to Mayhem. Two years ago, when that novel changed publishers, I took the opportunity to revise it, and split it into two books. The first book, Prelude to Mayhem, is a heavily expanded version of the first section of the original Static Mayhem. The second book is a less heavily revised version of the rest of the book, so I chose to keep the title Static Mayhem for that one. The new version of Static Mayhem came out last month for Kindle, and should be available in paperback soon. For a wordier description of that process, check out my blog post about it from last year:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Ideally, you should read Prelude to Mayhem first, then the new version of Static Mayhem, and consider the out-of-print version you bought to be a rare collector's item. Alternatively, you could read Prelude to Mayhem first, then skip past the first section of the version of Static Mayhem you have, and read it to the end. You will get the whole story that way, with the caveat that you will miss out on the few scenes I added in the rewrite, suffer through a couple scenes that I have since cut for reasons of them not being very good, and generally experience an earlier, less polished version of my prose. I recommend getting the newer version, which I think is a much, much better book, but that's entirely up to you.
Either way, I hope you enjoy them! Book 3, Mayhem's Children, is due out this December, and is a brand new book without a complicated revision history.
Thanks for reading!
The longer answer is that you probably have the original, out-of-print version of Static Mayhem (purple cover showing the ruins of the Brooklyn Bridge, by any chance?), which includes some of the content that eventually became Prelude to Mayhem. Two years ago, when that novel changed publishers, I took the opportunity to revise it, and split it into two books. The first book, Prelude to Mayhem, is a heavily expanded version of the first section of the original Static Mayhem. The second book is a less heavily revised version of the rest of the book, so I chose to keep the title Static Mayhem for that one. The new version of Static Mayhem came out last month for Kindle, and should be available in paperback soon. For a wordier description of that process, check out my blog post about it from last year:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Ideally, you should read Prelude to Mayhem first, then the new version of Static Mayhem, and consider the out-of-print version you bought to be a rare collector's item. Alternatively, you could read Prelude to Mayhem first, then skip past the first section of the version of Static Mayhem you have, and read it to the end. You will get the whole story that way, with the caveat that you will miss out on the few scenes I added in the rewrite, suffer through a couple scenes that I have since cut for reasons of them not being very good, and generally experience an earlier, less polished version of my prose. I recommend getting the newer version, which I think is a much, much better book, but that's entirely up to you.
Either way, I hope you enjoy them! Book 3, Mayhem's Children, is due out this December, and is a brand new book without a complicated revision history.
Thanks for reading!
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