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As we are nearing the end of The Trials Of Carstairs, you might like to know I just completed the sequel. It will be called This Is Your Carstairs Speaking and the story arc I set up turned out to be so ambitious I'm going to need a second book to finish it. Right now the book is slightly longer than Best Sister Ever and I'll need at least as much space to complete the story. That might easily take another year and I don't want to make you wait that long. Still, this one has a lot of great scenes, which I won't ruin for you right now. You'll have to wait and see!
I just typed 'The End', but that doesn't mean I can just upload the PDF and be done with it. Now follows another reading session, to clean up roughly 207.000 words spanning 384 pages. Then I will hand it over to my army of proof readers while I have a word with my cover designer. I also asked two pilots to have a look at a specific scene, but haven't heard (much) back yet.
All in all I hope I can put this out before Christmas. At this time I don't think I can coordinate between any more proof readers, but if you are an experienced illustrator who doesn't take as long to draw as I do to write, do let me know. Or if you're an Airbus pilot who actually has time to write back. That would be nice, too.
Ron
The free giveaway of Best Sister Ever has ended on my site. I might have learned this after putting out six books so far, but people really don't value anything offered for free. I got hundreds of downloads, but those people can't be bothered with so much as a thank you, never mind an Amazon review or something similar, so now it's $10 again.
I know that you, dear reader, are just one person. You're not a group, all hunched over one screen and discussing my story. However, I have to deal with you as a multi-headed monster. Some of your heads are lovely, but most of them don't care if I live or die. They're just here for a quick wank and any author that catches their eye should think himself lucky for the attention.
That's fine. I know that's the deal. I live off the .01 or .02 percent that DOES care, that DOES buy the book. (If it even is that high a percentage.) But I'm currently putting out book 4 in a series that received high praise so far and I barely get any emails. (Well, there IS some abuse.)
Now I've had enough kind email over the past few years to last me a lifetime, so I'm not all that bothered. But if you find a NEW author you like, drop him or her a line. Hearing from readers is the lifeblood of any author.
Ron
This version of the book is abridged: the chapters about the birth of Martin's son and his disastrous wedding are not included. Why? Because I wanted to do something extra for those who support me by buying my books. If nobody ever bought them, I'd never even have started this series.
So... I'm mentally bracing myself for some death wishes and verbal abuse, which is what I got when this story appeared elsewhere and people found out I had left out a few chapters. But then again, StoriesOnline is visited by a far nicer crowd, so it'll probably be fine.
But even without those chapters, about 100 pages or so, this is still a large and coherent story with lots of weirdness for you to enjoy. There's a marriage proposal, a fight in a popcorn kitchen, a scene on Tower Bridge and a grand finale starring Carstairs and Kelly on stage.
I'm sure you understand and hope you'll join Martin and friends for another weird and wonderful journey.
Chapter 2 will follow shortly, but I can't submit it until chapter 1 has been approved. That generally takes mere hours, if that. After that it's weekly, as per usual.
All the best and have fun!
Ron Dudderie
And with chapter 14 came and end to 'The Most Hated Man'. Your comments and reviews are welcome.
Thanks to those who wrote in, many thanks to those who support my writing by buying a book or two from my site, thereluctantguide.com
If you just can't afford to buy my books, you could still do me a solid by finding 'Best Sister Ever' on Amazon and giving it a nice rating. No purchase required. And get 'Best Sinterklaas Ever', the prequel, for free to increase the download numbers. That costs nothing except a few minutes of your time. (How much time did you spend on this book? It takes me ten hours to get through it.)
I'm working on a new part in the Carstairs series now, so the Professor and his girls will not make another appearance, except perhaps as side characters in the life of Martin King.
I just renewed my subscription for this website. I say this not to boast, but because I'd like you to consider doing the same. This is not just a place for titillating stories, you see. It is one of the few places that I know of that brings authors and readers together, offers a positive and supportive environment and has practically no restrictions. (The other site is Literotica, which has banners, more restrictions and a very unresponsive support staff.) Here, admins reply promptly and I feel like I have somewhere to turn for any type of question.
I agree it looks like a site from the early 90s, but just because it's not heavy on slick CSS, don't think for a moment it isn't a massive amount of work to keep this running. It just HAS to be.
I became a writer because of this site. Because I needed a place to try out some ideas and received great feedback from nice people. And this site never once said: 'No, you can't write that.' Not when it came to the age of a character, not when I referred to a (fake) URL.
Even if an annual subscription is a bit much, buying just a few months (or one) will help. We need sites like this, or all we'll have left soon is Buzzfeed lists of 'Ten Vegetables That Cure Dandruff!' (You won't believe #6!)
To quote from Team America World Police: Freedom Isn't Free. Thank you, dear StoriesOnline team, for offering this platform.
Ron Dudderie
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