Little Monsters is on the loose!

Little Monsters is done. You can pick up copies of my first tragic fantasy here for free, or you can buy a copy for 0.99 from the Amazon Kindle and Mobipocket stores. Given the huge size of this novel, I recommend the “try before you buy” approach.

Eight years have passed since I penned the first draft of Little Monsters in spiral-bound notebooks. The story has undergone two major rewrites and many revisions. It has been seen by numerous test readers, and always with mixed reviews. People loved or loathed it, and there was no middle ground.

Part of this is because it’s hard to figure out the what the “core story” is about. There is of course the “right” interpretation, but I left the final verdict up to readers. The main story can be about Jarred’s search for his true identify, or it can be about the formation of a dysfunctional family made up of abused and neglected strangers. It could be about the dangers of using telepathy without proper training, the cyclical nature of abuse, or the immutable influence of fate in each person’s life. Each of these is a valid interpretation, because each theme is explored during the course of the story.

For a book covering so many troubling ideas, the events within are often…sedate. The tone of the narration tends toward the sentimental, and most of the characters express hope for better days. There are two parties, random acts of stage magic, practical jokes and a musical number. There’s also a violent assault on a child, several murders, and a murder mystery made more confounding because the victims aren’t dead. And in spite of the lighter narration, I can assure you, this won’t end well.

I can admit that this story will not fly with mainstream publishers. It probably won’t fly with a lot of readers either, but I never wrote this with the intention of achieving mainstream success. I wanted to challenge readers with a story they wouldn’t find anywhere else. I feel like I’ve succeeded, but ultimately, it’s not up to me to decide whether this is a good story or not. Writing in this way is harder, but I’m giving you the choice to decide if the characters have redeeming qualities, or if they are truly little monsters.

Out of all my stories, I expect that this trilogy will challenge readers the most. Writing it and getting every detail just right has been a major challenge for me too. It remains my longest and most complex work to date, and after years of tweaking and polishing, I’m proud to present the first book of the Collins family to the public.

Intrigued? Then grab a copy today.

Oh, and welcome to the family.

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