THE CHOSEN: First Draft Finished & A Look At The Forward & Chapter Titles

Cover Art By Greg Opalinski

The first draft of The Chosen is completely finished. This is the first sequel that I've written, and it has been an incredible experience. It was both much easier to write than the first book, Rooms, and at the same time very difficult.

In the last few days, I have completed the final chapters, and today I finished both the Forward and the Epilogue. I actually dreamed how to do the Epilogue last night and used that dream in the final draft.

The characters, plot, and setting of this book, I believe, demonstrate that I am progressing as a writer. I have worked much harder on every chapter and have slowed down and done my best to fill out the story and the characters. It has been my goal throughout to give the reader more to think about and experience.

One other thing that I'd like to mention is that I've wanted to put an original poem in a novel, and I did that in The Chosen in chapter 4 with the poem "We Are Not Alone." Also, I'm excited that I was able to reference one of my favorite poets in the book. In the last chapter, Robert Frosts' poem "The Road Not Taken," which was published in 1916, had an important part to play.

Now, I'm going to leave this book for a while and go back to work on Beatrice. I have a few changes to make on that book before I enter it into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest in February. After that, I'll also make some changes on the first two chapters of Rooms and send Beatrice and Rooms out to some other agents. Then I'll get back to work on The Chosen and get it ready to be published.

Below is the Forward to The Chosen and the titles for all of the chapters.

Forward to The Chosen

The Chosen is the second book of the Rooms’ Series. In Rooms, we saw the human race spread out across the galaxy, dispersed from a ruined and decaying Earth. We also learned about the planet Loon, and even though it’s humans were spawned from the same malicious seed as the Chosen, the people of Loon opted for a much different way of life – a way that cherished the environment and worked within it– a way that advanced civilization and yet also had the capacity to care about, enhance, and value the lives of all of its people.

As with Rooms, this book, The Chosen, is first and foremost a story about people – people with real feelings, beliefs and emotions – people with dreams and hopes, who are doing their best during a difficult time in history. The book also brings to a head the struggle between the "haves" and the "have nots;" the conflict between self-indulgence and living as a village; and the battle between power, greed and profit and the daily lives of people and the health of their planet.

The Chosen also looks at how people, religions and governments have settled their differences over the millennia, and that the evil and destructive nightmare of war might not be the answer.

We as humans have the capacity to either hinder or advance our evolutionary growth through the choices we make. Choices do make a difference. We can use our wit and intelligence and the factual nature of science to chart a new course for the human race, or we can bow to corporate greed and the lust for power at any cost and watch our lives deteriorate along with our planet.

Choices matter…

Chapter Titles

Forward
1. The Tower
2. The Reboot Ceremony
3. The Ship
4. Loon's Story
5. The Favor
6. The Club
7. Reunion
8. The Pulse-Signal
9. Stealth
10. M-78
11. Data Mining
12. Espionage
13. Rage and Remembrance
14. Recon
15. The Circle
16. Glide-Trains
17. The Gathering Storm
18. In the Dark
19. The Razor's Edge
20. The Insurgence
21. Paradox or Possibilities
22. The Maelstrom
23. Rewind
24. Revolution
25. Two Roads
26. Epilogue