I’ve been meaning to edit the first chapter and re-upload it to the Inkshares page. “The fox’s eyes WERE dazzled as he passed from the darkness beneath the arch and stepped into the daylight. Maxan HAD BEEN following his mark…” Argh! Those passive verbs are killing me! One of my weaknesses as a writer that I’m trying to work through is the fact I obsess about the quality of every line, every arrangement of words, practically every letter that I produce. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it all happened AFTER I committed the sentence to the page, you know - like normal editing.

But no. No. Oh no. Unfortunately it happens to me DURING the writing. I’ll type something that’s maybe not perfect but not so bad, and then I’ll instantly convince myself there’s a better way to say it… *backspace*backspace… “Aaah, there you go, Joe. Now we can move o… Hold on, what was I going to write next?” By the time I get ready to move on, I’ve lost the rhythm. Anyway, as I said, I’m getting better at ignoring the perfectionist riding on my back. I need to be a bit more Blaster, a lot less Master and just get the g*d**n first draft done!

Besides the superficial edits that need to be done… There are some sweeping changes that need to be made to all of The Animal in Man’s earlier chapters. You see, one day, I got tired of worldbuilding and just said “Hell with it! Let’s write!” And I did. Only while I was writing it, I was discovering things about the world that I hadn’t prepared for. Like this plague called “The Strayn” that grips the Herbridian population.

When a Herbridian develops a case of Strayn, they have quite literally ‘gone astray’ or become ‘stray.’ It’s not a physical affliction. It’s a complete breakdown of their mental faculties. It’s a complete reversion to a wild, feral nature. They lose anything and everything that makes them more than an animal, starting with coherent speech. They growl. They stop using utensils to eat their food, opting instead for the more natural claw and fang to scratch and rend and tear into their sustenance. And they develop an ‘unnatural’ taste for meat. Live meat. They hunch, they stoop, they start to move on all fours as opposed to upright. Their entire bio-mechanics change. The most advanced cases of stray Herbridians are relatively indistinguishable from the animals you or I might see behind a cage at a zoo in this world. Only a Herbridian is roughly the size of a human. So imagine that Lion-man, standing upright, 6’6” tall, powerful, proud, the sunlight of Yinna glinting off his golden armor, his hand gripping a Gladius hilt buckled at its side, and then some hunger sets in, some beast whispers within the veil of this Lion-man’s dreams, reminding it how much it enjoys the flesh of the gazelle, the thrill of the chase, and soon the Lion starts slouching, just a little, over time, inch by inch, and soon the Lion starts staring down the cobbled street toward a block of Crosswall it knows many gazelles call home. More and more, it catches itself there on that corner, week to week, day to day, every minute, and soon the lion doesn’t bother to wear its armor any more. Wearing clothes has no point, nor standing tall, when one moves so much faster, when one hides so much better, beneath just the fur that covers its skin. And one day the hunger overcomes the lion, the whisper has grown to a scream that can only be silenced if the beast slakes itself on the blood of that gazelle.

And thus the once-proud Lion-man has fallen astray.

So when I edit The Animal in Man, I will need to remind readers of the danger that surrounds Maxan when he skulks through the Western district. He doesn’t just shadow from the rooftops because it keeps him hidden. Oh no. It keeps him safe. The Western District of Crosswall is an enormous cage. The Leoran King has ordered all Stray to be quarantined within the high stone walls that run the length of its miles-long perimeter.

But are all those Leorans locked in this district Stray? No. Many are falsely accused of going stray and exiled. Neighborly disputes in the other areas of the city can be solved by whoever bribes corrupt city guards to believe that their rival’s fangs might be showing a little more involuntarily these days… “Right? Maybe his shoulders are stopping a little more than they used to. Maybe he doesn’t feel so right in the head?” And after a coinpurse changes hands, that perfectly healthy rival might find himself flung into the Western District, surrounded by Stray, separated from his family and from his claim to property in the city. His life completely destroyed.

Such is the nature of greed, or of revenge. Of opportunity and betrayal. Besides our tendency for violence, there are many ugly parts of ourselves we try to hide. There’s just not enough room in this update to list them all. Stay tuned for the next weekly update, due this Friday Dec. 11th, wherein I’ll tell you about Maxan the fox, The Animal in Man’s reluctant hero.

Greetings all,

The eBook version of Journey has been released and everyone should have received a link to download it onto whatever device you use. I know how busy everyone gets this time of year, but I hope you are able to somehow squeeze in some time to read the book and possibly post a star rating or a review online.

This afternoon I had my first media interview. I was on WRJN in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for 20 minutes of live air without a commercial. I have been apprehensive about how I would perform in these situations. The host was smooth and professional - I was not.

I was a stammering idiot who talked too fast. I also got a little tongue tied when he asked a couple questions that I hadn't anticipated. But I got through it and realized that I can do this. I know that I will improve over time and will eventually become adequate, which is my goal.

My publicist is pitching the book's connection to Donald Trump, which makes the story both interesting and topical. If I am able to become articulate enough doing these interviews, I should be able to book more of them.

I was surprised at how they handle these things. I had imagined that the show host or a staff member would interview me first off air and we'd discuss what we would talk about. I don't expect most of these radio hosts to read the whole book before the interview but I thought there would be some pre-show prep.

Basically what happened is that they recieve a one page pitch with a little background on the book and a few proposed questions. The station booked me with just two days notice.  The host (Glen Klein) glances at the pitch sheet and calls me a minute before we go on air; we chat for 30 seconds while a song is playing on his station and then we go live and the host just wings it. It was kind of impressive how smooth he was with near zero preparation.

As this process unfolds, it becomes more important that I have star ratings and reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. If people hear about the book in the media and go on Amazon to check it out - 99.9% of them will click away from it if they see that it doesn't have many ratings or reviews.

That is why it so important that my supporters here on Inkshares become the first group to post knowledgeable reviews. One of the keys to the book's success is for the reviewers to know or believe that the Donald Trump, Dan Brown, Governor Weld, Columbine Memorial etc. stories really are true stories that I fictionalized. That is what will make this book stand out and so far the people reviewing it on Goodreads don't really know about this aspect. It just went live on Amazon so almost no one has reviewed it there yet. 

You are the people who got this book published and I hope that you also become the ambassadors who will write the early reviews that give the backstory some credibility. I don't expect any strangers to take my word for anything, but they will give credence to your thoughts. And I can't claim to be  a so-called "Great Impostor" and then expect anyone to believe any claims to truth that I talk about. 

I would like to see ten Amazon reviews by the end of the weekend - who's up for that?

Here's the link to the PR material that relates the fiction to the real-life episodes.  

And once again, here are the links to the book's page on Amazon and Goodreads where reviews can be placed. A few kind words or a couple of sentences are fine. If anyone wishes to do a longer review that's great, but that's above and beyond what I'm asking for.


I still can't thank you good people enough for making this Journey possible for me! I will keep updating you on any developments so that you can continue to experience it with me.

Kindest regards,

Rich Saunders