Traveler trilogy Book 2.
Five years after killing Levi Cornwall, Arthur Morgan is happy. He has a wife who loves him, an honest job he enjoys, and two beautiful children named Sadie and Hiram. All of it is turned on its head, however, when Francis S...
It's over at last! I didn't bargain on this massive undertaking of a story to take me almost five years to write, but write it I did! I remember when I was first starting the outline for it after I finished Pipe Bomb Dream, and I was worried if it would be nearly as compelling as PBD. After all, this was always supposed to be kind of a filler to get from book 1 to book 3, and I was worried it would drag and get boring.
Oh Lord was I wrong! It ended up being much darker, much more bittersweet, and more thought-provoking and a commentary on society as a whole. It was supposed to be some fun science fiction, and over time it evolved into a story about nature, women's rights, trauma, and the human condition. This story and Jenny have become such a big part of my life that it'll be really hard to leave them behind now and focus on book 3 (which I'll cover in a moment). In fact, I ended up getting a tattoo of a hummingbird on the inside of my right forearm to commemorate Jenny, and to remind myself to be strong when things seem bleak. I'll really miss being in her head, sad and dark as it was to get into that headspace to write. Here's a picture of my tattoo in case you wanted to see:
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But now it really is time for me to get serious about book 3. I've had a vague outline in my head for a while now, and while I haven't written down an outline or storyboarded anything yet, I can say for certain that it will follow the events of RDR1 just like this story followed RDR2. There will be six main characters (not including John, who's not really the focus of the story, believe it or not): Sadie Morgan, Hosea Smith, Jack Marston, and three others I won't mention yet because of spoilers. These characters are all in their 20's when the story takes place so even though they're not teens anymore, I want it to still feel like a bit of a "coming of age" story that wraps up the trilogy in a neat, little bow. It's also supposed to be much lighter than this story, although it will get heavy at times. I am extremely excited and I cannot wait to start the outline for it!
So what are my plans going forward? Well, I'm taking the summer off from the Traveler Trilogy as I normally do, even though I'm not working this summer for a change. To avoid being idle, I will still be working on one or two things in addition to the outline for American Remains (the official title for book 3!).
First on the agenda is finishing Runaway Train, which you should check out if you like John Marston. It's a "what if" style story that explores what might have happened if Abigail really had been killed in a prison riot like Ross says at first in RDR1 when he's messing with John.
Second, I want to work on a novella that I've already mentioned over on my profile if you follow me. But if you don't follow me or if you don't check your notifications much like I do, here is the announcement explaining my idea for this other thing I want to work on over the summer. It's purely for me to have some fun and indulge myself:
"Ok hear me out (skip the first paragraph if you don't care about or don't read The Traveler Trilogy).
I have the last two chapters of Cowboys and Angels 90% complete (I wrote them together since they're an epilogue 1 and 2) and am hoping to finish them this week. Meaning I will be done with that humongous thing that took me like three years to write (the first chapter was uploaded in 2023 believe it or not) just in time for summer. I want to take my time off this summer (I am a high school teacher) to have a little fun with writing while I work on the outline for American Remains (the sequel to Cowboys and Angels and the final book in the Traveler Trilogy). It needs to be very well thought out and storyboarded before I start because the idea I have for it is really special and has been kicking around in my head literally since I started Pipe Bomb Dream like 5 years ago. That's what I want to spend my summer doing.
But I also don't want to spend my summer idle or I'll get out of practice with writing, so I'm doing a thing just for fun.
I just got into the Resident Evil games recently and was playing the Leon Must Die Forever DLC to RE9 and it occurred to me that Leon's purgatory would be really similar to Arthur's. They even both have a disease that makes them cough up blood in their games.
And so an idea was born. I want to write an action-packed, swashbuckling, smut-filled, comedic novella with my limited time this summer, featuring Leon, Arthur, and The Ghoul from the Fallout show fighting their way through purgatory as a team to get to heaven. There will be zombies, there will be blood, there will be horses, and there will be penises. Think of it as Undead Nightmare 2, LMDF, and The Wasteland all rolled together in a hodgepodge of chaos that shouldn't work but totally does.
I'm going to write it anyway because it sounds ridiculously fun, but I am just curious. Would you read something like that?"
So there it is! That's the other thing I want to work on this summer. I have other plot bunnies for other stuff kicking around, but they'll probably have to wait. As with this last book, I'll post a new update with a sequel announcement here in this story when I post the first chapter of American Remains in the fall.
Until we meet again, have an awesome summer and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading. Lots of love!
