It's Memorial Day, 2021 and I've finally finished the edits for "Run to Ius'. It has taken nearly two years of story collection, five rounds of edits and a Beta read return to get to this point. After much consideration of advice received, and re-reads and polish edits, I have concluded that to push the story to further pages would in many ways detract from the impact of, or at the very least dilute the message. As such, I am content to deliver this tale as a novella.
"Run to Ius" is a story of a man's struggle to keep his family safe amid world-wide crises, corruption, pandemic and even person-to-person conflict. It is a Sci-Fi/Noir story told from the standpoint of a single person, Jak Wilder, who's character arc evolves from a meek-mannered husband and father, through various stages of grief, insecurity and guilt, to eventually rise as a pivotal person in a global revolution.
I'm in the final stages now of putting together a cover, a book blurb and promotions. My inclination is to self-publish, as I did with my first book, "Sparrow's Flight", book one of a fantasy series on which I am actively working with book two expected to be ready to release this Fall. But that one has yet to reach a wide enough audience to garner much attention.
Whether or not to continue to self-publish or rather try my hand at the traditional route has been a major struggle for me. I would gladly welcome any comments on the matter. But first, let me post a tiny excerpt of the story. A taste of what you, the reader can expect: