I wrote a prologue for Amara’s Prayer yesterday. I still think it’s unnecessary and runs the risk of giving away too much, but … I do kind of like what I came up with. Or maybe it just felt good to finally create something new. Or do something that counts as writing fiction. I haven’t even touched The Prometheus Syndrome in weeks. That could explain some of my foul mood. I get really grumpy if I go too long without killing people. You know, in fiction.

Oh. Yeah. The prologue. It’s still pretty rough. I need to go back over it and give it the jungle setting feel, provide some insight on just who the point-of-view character is, that kind of thing. But the events are there and the piece is anything but slow moving. Lots of death — exploding chickens, goats that boil alive from the inside, a suicidal village shaman, people roasting in a church and one pissed off supernatural entity. Nothing else in the book is this catastrophic, as it becomes a study of one man’s struggle with mid-life complicated by a mysterious woman he finds in the ruins of the village. Yes, there are supernatural things happening throughout the book, but most of them are much more subtle and Milton, the main character, tries to explain them away until the end.

The fast and violent prologue may cause disappointment in horror fans who read to the end. And it may turn off non-horror readers who would otherwise have liked a character study with supernatural overtones. Since we’re marketing to the horror audience, I suppose the prologue may be a good thing.

I’ve made a decision about Shara. There are still details to work out before I announce anything, but at least the indecision is over.