It's short recap time.

Hey Reader,

It's been over a month since I re-announced Mad City to the bubble. Over that month, reconnecting, rebuilding, and re-learning have been gradual in small, tiny increments. It's been a process.

I'd like to think I'm in between two places. The one half is submerged in a pool where the community resides.

The other half is out on dry land, applying sunblock before fully diving in.

And the reason for that is that dry-land-half is in the rewrite phase. Still.

(No, not Mad City.)

That story has reached a satisfactory level, thank goodness.

The rewrite involves Mad Vigilance. The novella currently stands at 25K words, about 10K words more than the original. About 90% of the original was stripped and rewritten for something I felt provided more layers.

Last week, my editor came back with the dev edit notes for the manuscript. I got my work cut out for me but I truly believe it's headed in the right direction.

The Fun Part

This is something I've noticed when it comes to having an editor, or really any good beta reader feedback, in general. Once they challenge you or call out a specific point. The brain takes a step back to re-wire with one question in mind initially.

'Okay, is there a way to change this blueprint? If so, what can be changed?'

More often than not, the answers do come like sand passing through the waist of an hourglass.

A new scenario. A new perspective of the same scenario. The action and rationale of each character sharpened enough to leave an outstanding imprint.

It's thrilling. We're cooking something great in such a small novella like Mad Vigilance.

The worth?

Sometimes I wonder (or maybe I wonder if others wonder) if it's worth rewriting two works that were already published. Why not just move on and focus on newer things?

Growth is strange. The past me was content with what I published. I'm thankful to have so many, including you, be a part of the beginning of that era.

But, the path I envision for my works is to give each of them a fair chance. And, additionally, make the reading experience as smooth as possible.

At this point, though, one big update is enough for each of these entries. I wouldn't expect to do this with every single book that's published now and that will be published in the future.

​You can check out the new Mad City here if you're interested in cool love letters to the vigilante/revenge genre and all o' that​

Recommendations to kill time

[movie] Alien & Alien: Romulus - The first is an obvious masterpiece. And the newest entry is a great love letter to the franchise. I highly recommend both.

[movie] Prometheus & Alien: Covenant - This is clearly in the same franchise as the other two but I decided to list it separately since this has more mixed reactions in the fanbase. I love Prometheus. And while Covenant is a bit goofier, it is still a fun watch. I think I'll go more in-depth about what I love about Ridley Scott's approach to sci-fi horror in a blog.

[book] The Count of Monte Cristo - I've been circling back to some of my big influences for writing, and approaching some of the bigger classics I had never read before. Monte Cristo is one of them. This stands as a clear foundation of the classic tale of revenge. The amount of domino-building this book does leads to some great payoffs. And the titular character is another great foundation for flawed, morally grey characters. If you're too busy to sit down and dive into this book, I recommend the audiobook!

[comics] Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman - Jonathan Hickman is a killer in the comic book world of writing. Like, the guy rarely ever misses, TRULY. And he's on a roll with Ultimate Invasion, The Ultimates, Wolverine: Revenge, Aliens vs. Avengers (look at that, more Aliens), and the current run of Ultimate Spider-Man. It's been encompassing what fans love about the Spider-Man mythos, and creating new, interesting takes on every familiar character. If you're someone who likes to read runs in one go, wait for more of the volume releases. If not, check it out now.

What have you watched or read lately that you loved? Whether it's old or new, let me know.

Until next time!
~Victor Vahl
​www.victorvahl.com​