Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

The Final Gauntlet Author Commentary Introduction

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Here we go again! Welcome to the latest author commentary of yours truly, where you get to read every rambling thought that popped in my head during the making of The Final Gauntlet.

Author Commentaries

I’ve said it before, I adore commentaries. I love behind the scenes dirt on what happened during the production of pretty much anything – from television to film to books and on and on and on.

They make the finished product that much more astonishing to me. That all these obstacles stood in the way and each was overcome in turn to bring something new and refreshing into the world.

I thought they were fun exercises when I started them with Greystone. It was a way to work through my own weaknesses and really hone how the story came to be. Over time, it’s really helped close out a chapter for me. My author commentaries put the entire work into perspective for me more than anyone.

I find them incredibly invaluable yet, most of all, fun. I hope you do as well.

The Final Gauntlet

I won’t delve too deeply into this one here. I’ll save the good stuff for next week. Suffice it say, this book was a BEAR to make happen.

This was the book where the world came crashing down on me. I was six days into the draft when the US went into lockdown.

All of a sudden I had a wife and two kids with me at all times. I had to hit up grocery stores constantly to find toilet paper and buy enough food to last through Easter. (It was supposed to end around then, I’d heard… Whoops.)

Having outlined and scripted the book before the implosion of my writing sanctum sure as hell helped matters. I don’t know what I would have done if I wasn’t already knee deep into the draft. The whole thing might have collapsed.

Every step of the process became hampered. There were days when writing was the farthest thing from my mind, where Greystone was the dream of some other guy.

My family helped me through it. My wife, especially. She saw my struggle and sat my ass at the keyboard and forced me to the finish line. I will always be grateful for that.

The Final Gauntlet was a personal one for me as well. It was a trial and a half, and I tried to inject that level of drama into the events of Soriya and the others.

Next time:

My three goals for the book.

Thanks for reading.

Writing Update February 23, 2021

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The first writing update of the new year. How exciting!

A new series? Are you crazy?

It’s true. After seven months of plotting and planning, I have a brand new series completely outlined.

It’s epic. So freaking epic.

Space opera on the grandest of scales. Ten books. One prequel story. I can’t tell you how excited I am to dig in on it so I can share more details.

It’s everything I love about the genre, with my own personal view on the characters that inhabit these worlds.

I am still kicking around the idea of publishing it under a pen name. It might seem silly to you, gentle reader, but to me my actual name being on the book doesn’t matter. Getting people to read the book(s) has always been my goal.

Why think about it in the first place?

There was some disconnect between readers of Greystone and readers of DSA. I don’t want there to be any confusion this time around.

But again, we’re in early days so we’ll see. Lots of time to figure out the details.

DSA Season Two

This week, I’m back at the keyboard with DSA. I start drafting Book 2 of the second season next week.

It’s called Foundations.

All of the fallout from the season one finale and the opening to season two is dealt with here. Everything about the Trust to recruiting new team members in the wake of the losses sustained during Sullivan’s coup can be found in these pages.

But the main thrust of the book is my favorite: the very first case attributed to the DSA, and the agencies first recognized agent.

What does a mysterious accident from 1973 have to do with the present day?

Our heroes (whoever they may be…) better solve the case quickly or they’ll risk losing more than just an old ally. They might just miss their first clue into the identity of the man called The Witness.

What’s ahead?

I wanted to make sure DSA didn’t just string readers along for years and years. Season Two’s goal was the expand on the mysteries of the first season, while providing new insight and new dynamics at every turn.

The Witness will stand revealed. The secret of the trees will be explored. Thirteen returns. And the mystery of Emily Wright’s disappearance will at last come to light.

It’s going to be a wild ride.

Tell you more soon on a future writing update.

Tearing Down the House

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I am tearing apart two bedrooms this month. Turns out when you’re expecting a new baby, you need to immediately destroy your entire domicile in preparation for the chaos to come. Who knew?

So yeah, I am ripping up carpet and painting and doing crazy things, which have eaten up most of the schedule of late. So the physical writing of amazing things has been lackluster to say the least, but the THINKING of such amazing things has been amped to 11.

Tearing down the house has made me think about that process in my own writing.

Whatchu talking about?

Bear with me. I’m a swirling torrent of introspection about 90% of the day so it takes a minute or twenty to get up to speed on a coherent line of thought.

I’m talking about expectations. About the plotted course versus the road unseen (at the time). As many of you already know, I am a plotter – a massively obsessed planner of fiction. I have seventeen outlines sitting on my desk that attest to this.

I am knee deep in a new outline, what will end up being Book 9 of a proposed 10 book space opera series. I’ve been wracking my brain, delving into character motivations over the run of the mill conflict at the heart of the drama. With each passing day, I am becoming more engrossed and wondering if it is time to tear down the precarious house of cards on which the series stands.

Seeing the road ahead helps, but what if it is hindering the exploration of the series itself? What if there is a path I’m not seeing? What if the series fails right out of the gate?

This is where I am right now. I’m at the precipice. Right at the edge of the massive climax of the series, and have been questioning everything. I know what it is, of course.

A fear of completion.

Fear might be the wrong word here. It isn’t fear, per se, but more a trepidation of closing the mind to the story being told. Closing the door on a world of characters and situations when you know – when we all know – that there are so many other stories to tell, places to take these characters.

My original outline was 20 books. I tweaked it down to 10, and it is laser focused now. The throughline is present from start to finish. I love it, I absolutely do, but it could have been so much more, right?

Or is less more in this day and age? Are the stories untold still out there and waiting for me down the line?

Apologies on the ramblings this week. My head is filled with dreams and paint fumes.

I know the long break between releases is a pain in the neck. So are these teases about future books. Just know that they will be coming and they will be AMAZING.

The Medusa Coin is now in audiobook!

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What? A new Greystone novel available in audiobook? YES!!! The Medusa Coin is out now for your listening pleasure.

Another J.S. Arquin masterpiece

I swear the man just gets better and better. J.S. nails every nuance of the story. Every choice he makes, be it voice, accent, or inflection is absolutely spot on. Give the book a listen now through Amazon or through Audible and you’ll see what I mean.

Head over to Amazon and start listening.

Or visit Audible today.

The Medusa Coin

Death has come to the city of Portents.

Dozens have fallen before a mysterious menace hiding among them. Their only connection is the grisly condition of their bodies — hollowed-out chasms where their eyes used to be.

Setting aside the aging case on his wife’s murder, Detective Greg Loren has returned to the city with the task of stopping the bearer of the Medusa coin — an artifact with power over Death himself — from continuing to slaughter the people of Portents.

Soriya, no longer able to control the enigmatic Greystone, grapples with the decision to forge ahead in the case on her own, leaving Loren behind. But without the two counterbalancing each other, Death may be the force that levels them both.

Lou Paduano’s The Medusa Coin, the third exciting installment in the Greystone series, promises to raise the stakes to even greater heights, offering glimpses of a darker side to Portents listeners never imagined.

Still one of my favorite books.

Listening to this one brought me back to those early days in 2016. (Soooooo long ago.) This was the book where I finally realized I knew what I was doing. It was the moment I figured out the end of the first cycle, and had my roadmap for the series.

To hear it come to life is a dream come true. I hope you enjoy it.

Happy listening!

Welcome to 2021!

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Happy 2021!! I know this year has had its ups and downs already, but come on, it has to be better than 2020, right? Right? (Dear Lord, I hope so…)

Picking up the pieces

I wrote about some of the troubles I ran into last year. To me, writing has become more and more engrossing with each book. 2020 was the ultimate pushback on that mentality. The world demanded more time from me with each building crisis until writing became less about the journey and more about an end product.

That’s not what I wanted when I started this game.

2021 is about a firm restart. It’s about remembering the fun that comes with storytelling and the joy of being surprised by the twists and turns along the way.

At the start of 2020 I had a plan in mind for this year. It was audacious with DSA Season Two being released along the back half of the year. That isn’t going to happen after the setbacks of the last year.

Instead, this year is all about building my content library. DSA Season Two is at the top of my to-do list, with the draft for Book Two coming up next month. From there, I am going to finish Army in the Obelisk and set the monthly release schedule of this Greystone serial that has become very near and dear to me for the challenges it has provided along the way.

Those are my big projects for the year. The DSA release schedule has not been set, and will definitely NOT be monthly like with season one.

2021, in my eyes, is the year of the draft. By the end of the year, my goal is to have no less than six books written (I’m pushing for 8 or 9).

DSA Season One Sale

To celebrate the new year, I’ve put DSA Season One on sale. Each book is only $0.99.

Ben Riley, Morgan Dunleavy, and the rest of the cast have been creeping into my mind lately. They need their next adventures to be told and Season Two is going to blow your mind. Revelations about The Witness, the truth about the trees from The Clearing revealed, and the secret history of Susan Metcalf comes to light. That’s just the tip of the iceberg with the DSA.

The best is yet to come.

It’s corny to say that, right? I truly do believe it though. I’m disappointed there won’t be more releases this year. I’m angry at the world on most days about what we’ve had to endure over the last 9 months. But I’m dedicated to make the future brighter and better by continuing the stories you’ve come to enjoy.

I’m excited about the journeys ahead and hope you will be too.

Happy 2021. Let’s do our part to make it a great one.

End of the Year Wrap Up

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This year started out quite differently than it ended. I imagine it is the same for most people out there. 2020 kicked the ever-loving crap out of me.

The triumphs

I published FIVE books this year. It takes my breath away every time I think about that. So many long nights, so many revisions and edits and headaches and tears and then more tears when each and every one finally came together. Just a whirlwind of emotions when I think about these books.

On top of these five, two audiobooks came out with a third in the review process for early 2021. J.S. Arquin has done an incredible job bringing Portents to life. I am so grateful for all his hard work on the project and can’t thank him enough for reaching out and suggesting the partnership.

The second half of the DSA’s opening season launched last spring. With each one I quietly freaked out. I waited for the readers to call me out for the hack I believed myself to be. See, the DSA is the largest story I’ve ever tried to tell. I don’t know the end, and coming from a plot-oriented writer like me that is scary as hell. Yet, that was what keeps me loving this series, keeps me dreaming up new twists with each installment. It’s all about the unknown, about something bigger out there than we can imagine.

I’m immensely proud of the season. It was a lot of years in the making.

Greystone-in-Training finished up its run over the back half of the year. That was never the intention. My original premise was to launch one per year. The plan was that would give me time to map out the rest of the main series, so there wouldn’t be a large gap between Greystone novels.

Soriya wouldn’t leave me the hell alone though. She hasn’t since then either. Greystone is going to be a big part of my 2021 writing schedule.

The failures

These are what I perceive them to be. Everyone else is quite understanding about how my schedule has been ripped from me. I, on the other hand, always push myself harder than I should.

The Final Gauntlet was written back in March. It was one of the most challenging drafts I’ve ever put together, thanks to the outside world collapsing at the time. I think the book came out better than it should have given the circumstances, yet I’ll always wonder if I could have done more – made it more – if the world would have just kept on trucking.

Since then, there has been little in the way of drafting. That’s never happened before, not since I started this crazy train over 5 years ago. There has always been a project on my desk, always another edit to work on, something in the way of writing. But quarantine took over.

More than that, teaching took over. The kiddos won out over my priorities, as they always should.

The sad fact is that 2021 is going to be the lightest year of my career in terms of releases. Where I hoped to launch DSA Season Two and Greystone Book Six, where I thought Army in the Obelisk would give readers something to talk about every month next year, now there will be silence for a time.

Only for a time.

Everything is still here, jammed in the ol’ noodle and waiting for release. I’ve outlined twelve books this year, one of the few tasks I can squeeze in between Google Meets and math homework.

The End of the Year and Looking ahead

I find myself doing this more and more in the hopes of a better tomorrow. I hope you are too. That we can put away this dismal year and start dreaming again.

Please stay safe this holiday season. I will talk to you in the new year.

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