New Nation

Author notes

Page 20

StudioNFC

on Feb. 25, 2007

Thanks for all of the wonderful comments thus far everyone. I can't wait to see what everyone has to say about issue #4.

There are two comments I'd like to address specifically though…

New Nation as "fear mongering propaganda". I suppose it could be viewed that way yes. And if that's how one views it, all the more power to you!!! Hey if you think my book is worth total crap, all the more power to you! We have the right to like or dislike whatever we wish to. So is it "fear mongering"? Possibly. Of course, one would then have to state that this book is created to cause fear. And if that's the case then it's doing it's job well since it's been classified as HORROR for MATURE READERS. Does the book make you afraid? If not then calling it "fear mongering" doesn't make a lot of sense, since it is a HORROR book.

Is the book "propaganda"? I suppose it is, if your view of "propaganda" is a make believe web-comic/printed comic book that isn't real, and was just made by a 30 year old dad who enjoys watching SpongeBob SquarePants with his kids at home…..if that's a person's view of "propaganda" then yeah….it's "propaganda". Enjoy it to your heart's extent!

The second item I wanted to discuss was the mention of this book's similarity to the New York Time's Best Selling Series, Left Behind, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

There are lots of similarities. I've never denied that. In fact I am a huge fan of the Left Behind Series, and the movie series. However when I read the series one thing did bother me….this was supposed to be mankind's
darkest hour….yet those books seemed a little too light-hearted. Perhaps LaHaye and Jenkins wrote them that way specifically for the Christian community. I don't know. But to me, it just seemed like if our world was going to be thrown into Nuclear Holocaust and ruled by the anti-Christ….well, I just thought it should be a tad darker, and a tad more realistic. So I wrote New Nation. Are their similarities? Yes. But there's tons of differences too. Did Left Behind have a big huge guy using a chainsaw hack up another one? Did it have water as the primary source of revenue? There are tons of differences…but to be fair there are tons of similarities. It's kind of hard to write a story based on Revelations and not have similarities to another book based on Revelations. But hey, what stories are original anymore? How many vampire stories are out there? Or how many zombie stories? And man……I guess Stan Lee should have hung up his boots, when he learned DC beat him to the punch when it came to super-heroes.
Geez….it's a good thing I didn't put a lawyer in my book….I may be compared to John Grisham then.

My point is, there aren't any original stories left. They've all been told. The trick to creating good stories today, is trying to find a new way of telling great stories….because coming up with an original one is near to impossible.

If New Nation isn't your thing, that's cool. I totally understand, and personally I don't want you to read something you don't enjoy. And I truly hope you find a story you do enjoy. And thank you for giving it a try anyways. I really do appreciate that. Even if it means not reading my book. And if it is your thing, then I thank you for sticking with me. It's not an easy book to work on, and your comments and critiques only make it better with each issue.

For those who are enjoying it….thank you, from the very bottom of my heart. And for those who just down right hate it and think it's crap….thank you for at least taking a look and giving it a try.

You guys are the best!

-Craig