It all ends here!
After six years writing the Apocalypse: Diary of a Survivor series, I’ve just launched the final book in the series. So many mixed emotions right now.
Firstly, it still hasn’t fully hit me that the series is over. It all started in 2013. I had three different book ideas, pitched them all to a few friends to see which received the most interest and, well, they ALL said Apocalypse. So, begin writing I did.
Well, writing AND researching. There was so much research required to write something I felt was believable enough in the post-comet strike world I’d imagined. I wanted it to feel real to Jack and the readers. Anyway, it was certainly worth all the documentary watching, website trawling and survival reality show binging (actually, it wasn’t really very hard at all). In 2014, the first Apocalypse: Diary of a Survivor was born.
After a near thing with Big Publishing, I decided to self publish on Amazon. After nagging all my friends and family to buy it over the first couple of weeks, it was still selling when I no longer knew who was buying. Lots of copies, every day.
A couple of weeks later, I got fan mail from the US, the next day, from the UK. The book also managed to rise to no.4 on Amazon.com’s dystopian fiction bestseller list – 4th in the world! Somewhere in all that, I decided I should perhaps give this indie writing thing a crack.
I’d never really thought about the story, beyond the first book, I only knew it was a world I wanted to write in again.
The sequel launched in 2017 and book three in 2018. I’m pleased with both subsequent books and I know they rate higher from readers, although I also know the original holds a special spot, giving it introduced the world.
I was intending the third book to be the last in the series, but when I was about 70% through the manuscript, something told me the story had different ideas and the concept of Apoc 4 was born.
In the end, book one works as a stand-alone, while 2-4 seem to form a trilogy.
It was the final instalment of that I started writing late in 2018.
There was a lot of pressure to get this manuscript right. I’ve written a number of books, but I have never completed a series. There were a couple of points along the path of the first draft where I wasn’t happy and hit pause on writing to add in story elements or change things up to keep the plot and tension where I wanted them. I hope that translates when you run your eye across it.
Beyond that, I’m glad I let the story drive me to a fourth book. This seems like a far better, satisfying and more encompassing finale to Jack’s tale. Again, I hope that translates as you read the book, but that’s not up to this author to judge anymore. Just to cross my fingers and hope that you find a story that delivers on whatever expectations you may have had when you picked it up.
So, over to you, readers.
Before you do though, I want to say thanks. This series, and how it’s resonated with readers, is almost completely responsible for me pursuing writing to the lengths that I have. It’s brought more things to me than I can begin to explain – most of those just enjoying the satisfaction of what my words can bring to other people.
So, here it is – Apocalypse: Diary of a Survivor 4. Enjoy.
If you’re looking for me, I’ll be hovering over a phone or website somewhere, hitting refresh as I nervously wait to the first ratings and reviews to drop. I wish this wasn’t true, but it is.
Buy signed copies direct from the author on ETSY
