Thanks for following up and offering your opinions! If you’re interested in more Sovereign Era material, there’s currently a short story, “The World Revolves Around You” written by myself and an anthology collection, “The Sovereign Era: Year One,” featuring stories by J.C. Hutchins, Nathan Lowell, Mur Lafferty, Matt Wallace, P.G. Holyfield, J.R. Blackwell and Jared Axelrod.

I have plans for more Sovereign Era material in the future… you can stay up to date on that either by signing on to my Facebook page or my mailing list.

Thanks again for your comments!

Best,

Matthew Wayne Selznick

Thanks for starting to listen to the podcast edition of my book “Brave Men Run – A Novel of the Sovereign Era.”

You’ve hit on something about the character all right: that he’s torn between doing as he’s told, or making decisions for himself. I hope you’ll keep listening — the book is all about the choices Nate makes and how those choices change his concept of who he is.

Best,

Matthew Wayne Selznick

In the first six episodes, our hero (who already has a quiver full of pretty cool superpowers) falls for the super-hot girl (who immediately likes him) stands up to the bully/tormentor (and pretty much beats him up), and gets license to reveal his powers to just about anyone and everyone since “superman” has announced that he will destroy anyone who harasses a Sovereign (aka, person with superpowers). True he does have to leave town for a little while, but his very reasonable mother has him back in plenty of time for his perfect date with the aforementioned hottie.

These issues (trouble with the ladies, bullying, not revealing “who you really are” and parental difficulty) are the hallmarks of teen books superhero and otherwise. Don’t let your boy off the hook so easily! Pile on the bad stuff, let him suffer. Your story will be better off for it!

Hitchcock once spoke (can’t remember where) about the art of suspense. I will summarize: Two people are having a banal conversation at a table and a bonb under the table explodes. If you don’t show the bomb there’s boredom then a moment of excitement. If you show the bomb under the table first, every word takes on a new tension and suspense builds with every second.

While the story is told from the perspective of the hero, it is still third person omniscient. That means that the author can break away from the character to show the evil forces gathering against him. The ticking bomb so to speak. In first person singular, you’re kind of stuck with what the character knows so you have to keep the hits flying at him, but there’s no need for that here.

There’s potential for this story. Good dialog. Good idea. But it needs more conflict early on to hook the listener.

Yeah, the intro on the first episode or two is kinda long, isn’t it? That was created back in 2005, when there only a dozen or so podcast novels in existence, and we were all really pretty much making it up as we went along when it came to what was “right” and “wrong.” Good times, back there on the pioneer trail.

I encourage folks who can’t wait to get to the story to use the fast forward controls on their computer or portable media device.

As for being self-serving… I shamelessly admit that. The whole “release your novel in free podcast form” is an exercise in self-promotion. That’s one of the reasons we do this — to promote ourselves and our work, and hopefully encourage the people who enjoy the free content to support us by purchasing the book in other formats like paperback or e-book.

I hope you’ll give it another shot, Bored… and everyone else, just fast forward through the intro if it’s too long for you, with my thanks.

Best,

Matthew Wayne Selznick

If you’re interested in more Sovereign Era material, I invite you to check out my ongoing serial fiction project, “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights.” It begins about a year before the events in “Brave Men Run” and features many of the supporting characters from that book in leading roles.

Also, I have a short story set in the Sovereign Era, “The World Revolves Around You,” on my web site, which you can read for free or enjoy in several e-book formats or as a hand-made, signed, limited edition chapbook.

Finally, look for “The Sovereign Era: Year One,” an anthology of Sovereign Era stories by authors like Mur Lafferty, P.G. Holyfield, J.C. Hutchins, Matt Wallace and others coming from MWS Media, LLC in the coming months!

Lots of Sovereign Era stuff to keep you going! Enjoy — and thanks!

All the best
Jim
Germany

If you’d like to read more from the Sovereign Era — as well as some of my other fiction — I hope you’ll visit http://www.mattselznick.com, where you’ll find my ongoing serial fiction project “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights” and a number of short stories.

Every one of my creative endeavors has a free component, too — so you’re welcome to partake. I only ask that you pay for the things you enjoy.

Best,

Matthew Wayne Selznick

GREAT Job Matthew!

I’ve heard the “half a story” comment more than a few times. My intention was to write a story that describes Nate Charters’ journey of self-discovery and answers the story question, “who am I?” I hope that I did that. Of course, just like our real lives, the lives of the characters go on before, after and around the focus of one particular book. That kind of “fuzzy” approach isn’t for everyone, and I respect that.

Dharma, you wrote that you look forward to supporting future works — to get a look at the lives of some of the characters before the events of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” and beyond, check out my serial fiction webzine, “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights,” with my thanks!