Walking Dead goes on sale today in North America. It starts in the Republic of Georgia and ends in British Columbia. It moves from Turkey to Dubai to Amsterdam to Las Vegas. Alena Cizkova and Bridgett Logan are major players. Lots of guns get pointed at lots of different people, and more than a few of the latter end up very unhappy.

It's not an easy sensation to describe, actually, putting a novel out into the world. The parenting metaphor has been abused to death, and with good reason -- there is very much a sense of letting go of something very precious, releasing it into the Big Wide World with all of its wonder and gnashing teeth, and hoping that it will survive, and, perhaps, even thrive.

I've been pondering why I write a lot lately, and I tend to come back to the same default: I write because I tell stories, and writing is the medium by which I can most readily accomplish that goal. Or, to rephrase, I am a storyteller, and thus I write.

Which is half an answer, certainly honest enough, but not complete. The fact is, I write because I have to, I don't know how to not. Either you suffer from the compulsion or you don't, but it is a compulsion, an addiction, as terrible and terrifying as nicotine or caffeine or any other substance that can get the blood racing and the adrenaline flowing. There is a thrill to writing. I'm something of a junkie.

Walking Dead was a very difficult novel to tell, but not a difficult novel to write, if that distinction means anything. The subject matter, as I found myself researching it, was horrifying at the outset, and only became more so. There's nothing pretty to be found in the reality of slavery, and while I am always aware that I write fiction, it matters to me that my fictions retain some sense of groundedness in the Real World (patent pending).

A bookseller I know recently opined that I'd written this novel not so much because of the characters but because of that subject matter. He was mistaken. I always have, and always will, write character stories, because, to me, that's the only story that matters. But the character is a window to the world, and the view out that window, in my opinion, must be on something worth viewing, no matter how sordid, awful, and painful that may be. If I raise the level of awareness, no matter how slightly, so much the better, but my goal is always, first and foremost, to entertain in the telling. I leave it to my betters to relate the facts; I am content to wrestle with Art in an attempt to tell a truth.

For fans of the series, Walking Dead marks the end of a journey that began in Critical Space, which, according to my website, I apparently wrote back in 2001. That's a long trip to take, but, in retrospect, it makes sense. For Atticus, this is the novel of his reckoning, the story in which he is forced to reconcile the man he has become with the man he once was. His success in this endeavor I will leave to the reader to decide, but I am content with the way his journey has ended.

At least for the time being.

Once again, I urge people to take a look at the Appearances page at my website if you're interested in attending a signing and hearing me speak. And, as stated before in the blog, if you're after a signed and/or personalized copy of the novel and cannot attend any of the signings, you should certainly consider contacting one of the booksellers listed to request a copy.

Thanksgiving. Birthday. Another bout of illness running rampant through the household. Long-form project completed, now in rewrite stage, with revision due December 17th to erstwhile and long-suffering Hollyweird agent, Angela Cheng-Caplan. Too much time spent on Fallout 3 (with planned long-winded thoughts on the game and on the state of console RPGs in general to eventually follow). Comic scripts.

And Dan DiDio, in true fashion, remains a man who cannot keep his powder dry, God love him. (It's his answer to number 1, for those of you who have neither the inclination nor the time to read the whole thing.)

The announcement about Action Comics is the first of three (well, kinda four, but two of them are joined at the hip) upcoming books for DC. It is not, as some have speculated, that I left the industry in a huff, nor was it that there was a grand falling out. Nothing so dramatic. I do not live that kind of drama. It is, more than anything, that my enemy in all things is time, and time has effectively tied me down to the surgical steel table and is casually walking away as the industrial laser inches inexorably towards my nethers, saying, "No, Mr. Rucka, I expect you to die."

Elliot and I will be watching Goldfinger today. No, I do not plan on explaining the meaning of the name "Pussy Galore." Sue me.

I am behind on just about every single thing I need to be doing at this point. Matthew Southworth is waiting for Stumptown pages. Steve Lieber is waiting for Whiteout: Night pages. Michael Siglain is waiting for pages on REDACTED and REDACTED. Philip Tan is not waiting for pages, but that's only because I type exceptionally quickly, if I may say so myself, and will have him squared-away before the end of the day.

Oh, and the LiTG "amber" that was posted last week regarding mercuryeric's and my "difficulties" doing FC: Resist? Total and utter bullshit.

If you've made it this far, bless you for sticking with me.

I promised Chapter Five of Walking Dead quite a while ago. Been holding off on posting it for a couple of reasons. Time, as mentioned, was one of them. I've also been arguing with myself about giving so much of the book away so far in advance of its release. And then there's the nature of the ending of this chapter. And other things. As it stands, I suspect this'll be the last of the preview chapters, though I may relent and post Chapter Six around the start of the new year. I don't know. I am, as they say, undecided.

Again, it is worth noting that there will be minor differences between what has been posted and what will be published at the end of April. We're through the copy-edit now, and I expect the galley pages by the first of the year. Things will continue to be tweaked, adjusted, and corrected.

As ever, the review course may be found here (Chapter One), here (Chapter Two), here (Chapter Three), and, finally, (Chapter Four) here.

For your patience and pleasure, I present ( Chapter Five )

My son woke-up at five this morning having a coughing fit of such ferocity he was unable, literally, to stop for several minutes. Scared the beejeezus out of him, and I can't say I blame him for that. By the time we got him calmed down and sorted out and back to sleep in our bed, there wasn't much point in going back to sleep.

I don't know what this bug is, but it's a particularly mean one, and I don't like it, and I would appreciate its speedy departure from my house and those I love.

I'm late in posting the next preview chapter of Walking Dead, as jonlaw has been gently (okay, nigh-hysterically) reminding me. So here I offer redress for the perceived slight, and a promise that Chapter Five (which will be the last one I post) will be up on Friday of this week (happy Halloween!).

The refresher course can be found here (Chapter One), here (Chapter Two) and here (Chapter Three).

This is ( Chapter Four of Walking Dead )

Meant to post Chapter Four of Walking Dead this morning, but the day escaped my grip rather early, wrapped itself around my forearm, and then proceeded to bite the living hell out of me.

So, uhm...I'll probably post it tomorrow.

Carry on.

In all honesty, I haven't been that sick in a long, long time. Have to go back to college for it, I think, freshman year. Spent a week in bed fighting a fever. A very nice young lady named Cathy York brought me food from ACDC. Terrified my roommate at the time (though, admittedly, he was easily terrified, and already frightened of me to begin with).

Not. Fun.

Better now. Can manage to walk and talk and do cute little human things with my hands without falling into convulsive coughs. You know it's bad when your five year old looks at you with big eyes, pats your arm, and says, "you're going to get better, right?"

Criminy.

Still angry about having to miss B'con. In the main, I do not look forward to attending the convention, but this year was different, and I was excited about going. So this year I get sick. Go figure.

Anyway, enough about me. Here's some more about Atticus. The refresher course is available here (that'd be Chapter One) and here (that'd be Chapter Two).

This would be ( Chapter Three of Walking Dead )

Still clawing my way back to respiratory stability.

Will be posting Chapter Three of Walking Dead before the end of the day.

So, I've got bronchitis.

Which means I won't be getting on a plane today to fly to Baltimore for Bouchercon.

And I won't get to spend the time I was very much looking forward to spending with people like jonlaw. Or get to meet the people I've never met before that I've been corresponding with over the last several months.

On the flip side, if I can get antibiotics today, I'll be able to attend Kol Nidre.

But in the main, yeah, very unhappy about this.

By way of apology to those who were counting on seeing me, I've decided to post through Chapter Five of Walking Dead here on the blog. I'll put Chapter Three up on Friday.

It's not a great apology, but it is, at least, a sincere one.

To those of you attending the con, have a great time.

I now return me to my regularly scheduled bout of coughing.

Friday, again ("Saigon...I'm still in Saigon...."), and not the best week I've ever had, to be frank. This one seemed to both crawl and fly past. The current script is giving me hell, for reasons that are almost entirely beyond my control, and, in brutal honesty, I'd cheerfully wring the neck of the man responsible for my current nightmare. It's like sausages; you don't want to know.

This time next week I'll be in Charm City for Bouchercon, and thus, as promised, I offer up the second chapter of Walking Dead. If you're looking for Chapter One, you can find it here. Again, please forgive typos I have missed and potential formatting errors; this is from my draft of the manuscript, and not from the copy-edit (which, incidentally, I am told will be arriving today).

As before, comments welcome.

( Chapter Two. )

Well, it's Friday, so that's "later this week," and as promised, here's the first chapter of the new novel, Walking Dead.

I have no firm release date as yet other than "Summer '09." Discussions with my editor have lead me to believe it could be as early as the end of May, perhaps June, maybe July, but certainly by August, depending on what else is on Bantam's publishing schedule. That being said, though, the book is pretty close to locked; I'm awaiting the copy-edit, which will, in turn, lead to requisite minor revisions. But structurally and story-wise, we're final.

Unlike Patriot Acts, this is not a direct continuation from the previous novel in the Kodiak series, although it begins with the status quo as implied at the end of the previous novel; for those following who've been following Atticus, Walking Dead begins some three years after the end of Patriot Acts. If you've never read the series before, you should be able to dive into this one without confusion. In fact, that was one of the things I was hoping to accomplish in this book, that the reader could come to it with no prior experience of the series.

All in all, I suspect I'll post the first three chapters in the coming months leading up to the release; I may post more, I'm undecided. If you've never read my prose work before, figure this is a good way to wet your whistle. For the rest of you who know the novels, I hope you enjoy this first taste. Comments welcome, of course.

( Walking Dead, Chapter One. )

Back in the world, now, back from vacation. Vacation was a combination birthday present-slash-eighteen-year delayed honeymoon for myself and Jennifer. We flew to Anchorage with Nunzio and Christie, then took the Sapphire Princess from Whittier down to Vancouver, a journey of some seven days of cold, rain, damp, and spectacular scenery.

I suck at vacations. I find it next to impossible not to work. I inevitably end up in a corner with the laptop, telling others to go on without me, as if I'm bleeding from some terminal bullet wound while shells are exploding all around us in Verdun. Seriously.

For a variety of reasons, most of them beginning and ending with the concerted efforts of my bride, that was not the case this time, and - despite coming down with a rather nasty cold just before the half-way mark of the trip - I think I actually, uh...vacated. Which was remarkably pleasant, once I got past the whole "must check email must finish script must keep editors happy" panic. Far as that goes, I suspect this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for all of us, and for that reason alone, well worth it.

I was in Alaska last year for Bouchercon (which will be in Baltimore this year, by the way, beginning on the 9th of October, and which I will be attending). As it was on the last trip, the scenery left me in perpetual awe. I am not a city boy, though I suppose I can't claim to be a country boy, either. But growing up with a father who, to this day, thinks a good time is walking in the woods and mountains for eight hours at a time did instill me with a certain familiarity with nature, as well as an appreciation of the same. I have hiked Big Sur, camped in Yosemite, nearly started a forest fire in the Sierras. I am not a stranger to spectacular scenery. But seeing Alaska from the water, as we did, was something else, and that, alone, recommends the trip.

My photography skills do not deserve a "z," but me and my digital camera did our best all the same. Below the cut are some shots from the trip, almost all of them taken in Glacier Bay National Park. What the camera absolutely fails to capture is the sense of scale, the enormity of it all, the ice and the water and, even aboard a cruise ship, the tremendous stillness and silence.

( Feel free to take a look. )

It was a very good trip. It was made all the better by the company of Nunzio and Christie (who've posted about the tip on their blog already, with the addition of the story about the Epic Fail: Symbolism Moose) ( and who are pretty damn adorable together )

Of course, the penalty for going away for ten days is that the whole fucking economy collapsed and I didn't notice. OK, I overstate. I noticed. I just didn't care. Kinda makes me want to go on another cruise.

But instead, I think I should probably get back to work. Last FC: Revelations script still to write, and another Stumptown, and Whiteout, and, uh...two other things I'm not talking about.

I'll be posting the first chapter of Walking Dead later this week, the second chapter a couple days after that, to get me into a Bouchercon mood. I'll also be posting my B'con schedule early next week, for those of you attending.