It's been a year! A year of Empress! Hurraaaaaay!
I need a break.
Well guys, here it is. Originally I was going to include another chapter with a big slam-bang fight scene and a bunch of pivotal character moments alongside a permanent death or two, but the previous chapter, VIRTUE, seemed to me, to be an almost perfect wrap up for book 3. Ending on a horrifying cliffhanger, with an unsettling victory for Evan and the introduction of someone who's going to be worse news for Everly and her crew than he is. He's going to be renamed "The Tarnished Knight" when it gets published, by the way. I don't know why I included that. I'm sleepy.
While I'm off on a tangent and running on those A.M. fumes, how'd you guys like Evan? Wasn't he fucking creepy? I always liked how in comics books, guys like Superman and Shazam had plenty of enemies who were as strong as they were but the ones who really made them work for their victories were ordinary men like Lex Luthor and Doctor Sivana, who didn't need powers of their own, just horrible, focused minds and a willingness to do anything to win. That's where Evan popped up in my skull. Basically, a charismatic cult leader who sells people on false hopes and abuses their faith in him to get what he wants, all the while he's convincing himself that he's a good person and that others are at fault for believing in impossible things.
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A lot of readers have told me that Everly is a convincing example of a person with borderline personality disorder who succeeds despite her self-destructive urges. What could be a worse matchup for her then a psycho who actually can keep his shit together and is better at faking empathy? Especially someone willing to let others die for him and his greater good?
Wooo.
So, we're taking a pause at this point to let things marinade and also to let me get some serious outdoor time in, because staying inside writing for hours as it turns out is terrible for your health. As Max would say, WHO COULD HAVE KNOWN?!
The Main Empress series will be on downtime for a bit, (yes, the dreaded HIATUS) but worry not. While Everly languishes in limbo and probably threatens my life, the re-make of F*** You, I'm an AXE! will begin next Monday.
Sadly, because Royal Road still refuses to be as cool as it can be, it's going to be renamed "Hey there! I'M AN AXE!" Which I feel kind of captures those wonderful axe vibes in a completely different sort of way. Like you're minding your own business, eating some Cheetos when an axe sneaks up behind you to politely introduce himself, and he seems like a pretty good guy (for an axe, anyway.) But that's when you notice that he keeps staring at you.
Jeez, Max! You're such a character!
So, yeah. Hey there, I'm an Axe next Monday. You think you know the story? Well, you don't anymore, because it's a rewrite!
Laaaater