The Reaper Saga ends with this final chapter and the epilogue. It's been a long run, but it needs to end, and this seems a good point to do it. From what I've been hearing, everybody seems to like the way it's been going.
For the readers who want me to keep going, to tell Riley's story or Seamus' story, sorry, no. I was uncomfortable enough moving into the near future, 2020 to 2028. When I started writing nobody had ever heard of coronavirus, Black Lives Matter, or any of the other events we've seen this year. What strange events will happen in the future? And how can I even begin to wonder what will happen to the rest of the family in the next ten, twenty, forty years? What I wrote in the Epilogue pushes my imagination to the limits. I can imagine writing scifi set in the far future, but not in the immediate future.
Still don't know if we've been exposed to Covid-19. Still haven't heard yet whether we have it or not. Hopefully not. This is nuts. Thanks to everybody who sent their thoughts and prayers for my family with coronavirus. I've had two heart attacks so that's a comorbidity issue. I hope I still have a few years left.
Speaking of coronavirus, my wife works at a local grocery store. Last week she got assigned as a greeter, to tell people to wear masks. An old lady shopping with her grandkids came in without a mask. When my wife said she needed to wear one, she replied, no, she didn't need one, it was all nonsense. My wife replied she must not have known anyone who had it. The old lady answered that her sister had died of it, but she was old and had other diseases, so she was dying anyway. My wife just blinked and sent her inside. I can't make this shit up!
I had a reader respond and part of their comment included the term baited breath. Something didn't sound right, so I googled it. It actually refers to the words bated breath, which comes from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and is an abbreviation of abated breath, to hold one's breath due to suspense. Odd, the things you latch onto.
Anyway, enjoy!