After a great amount of thought, I have decided to call the temporary end of Headcase here at book one. Although the whole myth-arc is not done (questions remain and there is a larger plotline left hanging with the Unmakers), this is nonetheless the last jumping-off point where it makes sense to say the MC's character arc has made a complete round. If this were a regular book series like the Dresden Files, you would expect some things to stay hanging while the particular trial of book one is addressed. I believe that this trial was to save the city of New Marion from its attack and for Adrian to re-enter society as a hero, and we have met these goals at over 70k words; a respectable length for a novel, although maybe not a web serial...

The fact is, I simply do not have the creative drive to continue any further in the Headcase universe, at least for the time being. I will be going to university in the spring and do not want to split my attention with anything amounting to a large time commitment. Furthermore, I am ready to take a break from superheroes. It's a fun genre, but it always represented a compromise between what I wanted to write (strangeness) and what I thought would garner more attention.

I had a lot of fun on this project anyway and it will always hold a place in my heart. I am going to give my own opinion here (a post-mortem, if you will) mostly for the reference of my future self, but if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them.

This has probably been my most technically sound work, if for no other reason than I did not totally throw the ending out of the window, either by killing off the protagonist or going to mars (sometimes both!). Instead, I was able to take a theme I cared deeply about, explore it, and find a satisfying conclusion (enough for myself, anyway). In hindsight I think these last three chapters make a good coda to that ending, reiterating what our hero has overcome and cementing his growth. Hopefully this does not feel too precipitous to the reader.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The characters were nothing really new for me. We had a wise-ass and an introspective protagonist. That's pretty much my standard (Ashmedai and Doran) and I don't apologize for loving this combo. The prose is hard for me to judge, but I think it was punchy if a little rushed/repetitive in places. Standard gains in editing-prowess after ten years of writing apply but they also don't make you a wizard, and some errors inevitably slipped through.

This was from the outset an explicit attempt at addressing the flaws in Creep, and that much I believe has been achieved by avoiding over-scaling and an unrelatable/confused character arc. With that, I am happy.

I am sorry that Headcase will not be getting the full treatment it deserves, which ideally would be at least two more books of this equal size. They will remain on the bucket list, but for now I need to focus on art, coding, and short stories. I appreciate you all so much, especially my beta reader Admiralmonkeyman (who has a great book, Witness, which again you must read) and my friends who read along.

You have all made this so worthwhile at every turn and stage. I have been publishing webserials since 2015 or so, and writing now for ten years. I hope to see many of you again in the future on this journey for many years to come. Thanks again, God bless.

- Shaeor