WHY DID WE DO IT THIS WAY?
Instead of dropping the whole story as a stand-alone book, I wanted to try something new by doing something old.
Stories have never been more available, yet rarely do I feel their pulse anymore. I binge entire seasons in a weekend, inhale novels in a single sitting, then move on to the next. The rhythm of anticipation (aka waiting for the next installment, or obsessing over cliffhangers for days) has been eroded by steady streams of unending dopamine.
I miss how stories used to feel. I miss how I used to read.
I grew up on a steady diet of classic sci-fi. My first encounters with authors like Asimov, Herbert, Heinlein, and Scott Card were often in novellas or magazines, where their stories were serialized. Purchased for a dollar each at library liquidation sales, Analog and Astounding Science Fiction were my lifeblood, and have served as my inspiration for this project.
Credit nostalgia. But also credit this unique community.
When I wrote Red Rising, I hoped I would have readers. I didn’t even know I could hope to have a community like the one the Howlers have become. You’ve let Red Rising into your lives, tattooed it on your skin, named your progeny after my brooding brood of wacko characters, and kept the flame of excitement for this series alive for more than eleven years.
I write my books like a tyrant. In a vacuum, sealed away. For The Book of Lorn, I wanted something different–a medium that allows the Howler community to be more involved, to help shape not just the story, but the experience around the story in real time.
For those reasons, THE BOOK OF LORN is available now, with new pages dropped twice each week, only to members of my Patreon.
I hope you join us there, and that you help us evolve this experiment into something truly special.
Xo,
Howler One
P.S. Yes, of course The Book of Lorn will eventually be available for purchase as an actual book! We will be offering this to Howlers who aren’t particularly into reading in a digital format as soon as we have enough Episodes to bind into a volume.
