Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
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This story began on November 8, 2018 and ended last week. In a way, this puts the ‘Bedlam’ series on hiatus since I don’t have time to do much beyond the main series and the fantasy tip book. Any extra writing time that I get will be going to Ichabod Brooks since I have his stuff outlined already. Anyway, we’re here to talk about Derailing Bedlam. Maybe share fond memories of the characters and adventures. I’m going to start things off by retelling how I came up with this series.
Now, I’m known as a fantasy author, so jumping into a non-magical dystopia adventure was unexpected. I had tinkered with the idea of a USA that’s been isolated and driven into anarchy by unknown forces before. The problem was that I kept trying to be political with heroes that wanted to fix the country. After watching ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, I went with another idea. I simply used the dystopia as a backdrop for characters that had no interest in restoring the world. They wanted to survive above all else and had a few personal quests to attend to. At first, it was Cassidy alongside a quarter of criminals that she breaks out of prison. The others paled in comparison to the serial killer who would eventually be named Lloyd Tenay. My group adventure became a duet and the ideas rolled in. Published two books that can be accessed by their covers above and put two more on the blog. Then . . . I had to retire them.
For anyone who has missed my rants, I’m not continuing ‘Bedlam’ because the books don’t sell. My audience is definitely more into fantasy and my original series, so everything else tends to fail regardless of promotions. The others take place in Windemere, so they get occasional twinges of activity. ‘Bedlam’ is the odd one out since it doesn’t match my other projects in genre and tone. Once I had to get a full-time job, sacrifices had to be made and this series was top of the list. I still have all of my notes, so I can get back into their adventures if things ever change. Can’t see me publishing them again since nobody ever bought the books, but they sure were fun to post on my blog.
That is one question that I want to bring up. What should I do here now that Thursdays are free? I was thinking for next week, I can answer any questions that people want to post in the comments. Things that will take a while to explain like why certain characters came out the way they did or various decisions being made. See if I can extend Bedlam’s life to the end of 2019.
Legends of Windemere 
I would love to see how you envisioned the Shattered States. The train went through so many territories with colorful characters. I would like to know how you came up with them. Who runs what territory? I’m not sure how many posts that would cover. I’d also like to know more backstory on how the world came to be, if you’d like to explain that.
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Honestly, I don’t have a lot of details beyond what they ran into. I designed as I planned their route. Not much territory division either since there’s a lot of unclaimed space and nomads. I would check the route in Google Maps, look for towns that caught my eye, research them for a local quirk, and plan around that.
As far as the backstory of how America collapsed, I have no clear explanation. I never decided on anything definite beyond international blockades, armed border walls, and then someone nuked DC. Since the heroes didn’t care, I didn’t see a point in flushing it out.
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Could you do a post on writing dystopian fiction?
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I think I have, but I can do another after the book promos of February and March.
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I loved the Bedlam series. In the finale, it looks as if Lloyd and Cassidy were going to continue their partnership. I wonder what they are doing since they no longer have to show up on Thursdays?
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First, a less hectic train ride home. Then, some rest and small jobs.
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😊
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Things end, and I understand that. You struggled a bit with the last Windemere story, too. Fortunately you can keep the environment for the Dawn Fangs. I like the way you pieced the story together. I got that from the comments, but thought it was worth weighing in, too. I use Google Maps a lot. It feels kind of odd when writing Lanternfish, since I can’t use it as a crutch.
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The struggle with Legends was figuring out who delivered the last blow. I established a reason for nearly every champion to get it and have it make sense. Feels odd with this one ending outside of my terms.
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That makes sense, too. Still, onward an upward. Maybe your next creation will catch and make you famous.
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One could hope.
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