Alright...hey folks... Welp... I've officially brought the Outbreak series to an end. I really don't know what to say, really. The story and characters have been such a big part of my life for well...about the last five years or so now. It's kind of hard to put it into words.
Part of me can't help but experience the absolute joy that Senior Airman Amy Frays would experience throwing herself down on a brand new mattress for the first time. I can't help but think about Specialist Francesca Rodriguez every time I walk into an all you can eat buffet. Carl Frays will never know the stress of a midterm or taking his driver's test. Most certainly Paulie and Becca Lacey never will. So I suppose I'll leave you with some of the songs I listened to on my iPod that got me 'into character' so to speak...and that some of my characters wouldn't have gotten to hear (or at least not prerecorded)...
This one of course made me think of Senior Airman Amy Frays. The anger and frustration she felt at first becoming the targets of the people she had come to help then the...confusion of returning home to a country that doesn't seem to notice what's going on outside its borders... Never mind the reference to 'smoke and explosions' or the 'flood of hate'... Frays was very angry and confused by this return to this society that forced her to turn her entire belief system on its head...but expected her to behave as if nothing was wrong when she returned...
"Hero of War" by Rise Against makes me think of not only Senior Airman Frays ("and when I come home they'll be damn proud of me...when she couldn't even get an extension on her thesis) and Specialist Francesca Rodriguez, a character who takes a more central role in Outbreak: Brave New World. She had been wounded in an IED attack well before the start of the series. A pretty young woman before being disfigured and forced to experience the hell of trying to regain normal use of her limbs... I can't help but picture her reaction to "A hero of war...is that what they see? Just medals and scars so damn proud of me."
Body covered with scars, face covered with burns and shrapnel... She ended up drinking and taking pills just so she could bear people staring let alone being able to sleep at night.
"Hero" by Skillet was another song that I listened to a lot. I mean listen to it! If that doesn't make you want to go headbutt Nazi zombie terrorists til they explode into huge goopy piles of failure and rotten hamburger I don't know what will. Strangely enough by some weird coincidence it started playing when I was working on Outbreak: Boston during the bit where Frays rallies her little group to go across the blasted ruins of Hanscom Air Force Base to rescue a bunch of civilians. I also listened to it again when writing the daring extraction of Spc. Rodriguez during the same book.
So I guess that's all I got for right now. I'm setting up a new Facebook page for myself where I'll put up stuff for all the new projects I'm working on and stuff. Also I'll be starting a new blog while trying to keep this one going as often as I can. Don't worry I'll still post funny zombie memes and stuff on Outbreak: Boston's Facebook page that you can get to here.
Thanks again for all the support over the years. I really mean that. If you have read my stuff and you liked it take a moment to click the link at the top of this post and write a review. Again I'm a one man operation and world of mouth advertizing is VERY important. Every time I get a good review it moves the books up in the rankings so it comes up in the search results. Or if you've got friends that you think might like the books send them a link to the free chapters I've put up on this Blog.
I'm really looking forward to the new projects I've got lined up and I really hope you'll all follow me over to the new blog and Facebook page!
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