PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 20, 2025

 I have briefly paused work on the HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE PREQUEL because there is a
short story contest I want to enter and time is running against me on it.

Just found out about the contest last week and the deadline is September 30, although the contest has been going on since August 1. 😕

Thankfully I only need between 1,000 and 5,000 words so it's not like this will be a long project, but still...

For better or worse I still haven't heard anything regarding that comic book horror story contest I previously entered, but I'll give them until the end of this month before I make an official inquiry because the deadline for entry was the end of August and who knows how many submissions they got.

Besides, there was no formal statement as to when the winners would be announced so for all I know, they could still be on schedule judging and trying to make decisions.

In any event, I better get back to writing now.

Take care.

STAY SAFE!

And I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

21 September, 2025

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

Okay folks, I'm going to be totally honest with you here.
I'm having trouble with the villains in ALPHA, BOOK 2: WAYWARD SON.

Not in regards to what I want them to do, but in trying to make them as believable as possible.
As I said in last week's Progress Report, I'm at a crucial juncture in the book.
Chapter 8 did not pass muster with either my friendly neighborhood beta/proofreader Nancy A. Hansen nor myself.
So because of the villains, I'm rewriting Chapter 8 once more and tweaking Chapter 7 accordingly.

No matter what their objective(s) and how they go about obtaining them, a villain's motives should make sense, at least to themselves if no one else.
After all, there are plenty of instances through (entertainment) history where the hero didn't figure out the villain's dastardly plan until right near the very end, before racing to the rescue while risking life and limb in the process.

A black hat today

Well, in this case, you also have to remember that in BOOK 2, Alpha has been <somewhere I'm not revealing yet> for less than a few hours as we measure time, so he obviously hasn't gotten the hang of the place yet. All the people there are as alien to him as he is to them.

And if that isn't bad enough, Alpha has to stop <???> from <???>, or else <something really bad>!!!

I'll have it all worked out in time.

Conalaric by Marc Guerrero

And for those wondering, Conalaric (Alpha's arch-nemesis from BOOK 1: PROJECT ALPHA) WILL be in BOOK 2 as well! But when and how are my secrets. For now.

I better get back to work.
See you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior
21 September, 2014