Luke as a surgeon’s mate in the American Revolutionary War. Cover thumbnail for “Against Heaven and Hell”
Hello, neglected readers! Do you remember Luke from my vampire diaries? I hope you like him (or love to hate him?), because he is the main character in a serial novel I’ve entered in the Writers Camp serialized novel contest on Tapas.ie. Please don’t wait to check it out, because the contest ends on April 19. Here is the direct link to the story, “Against Heaven and Hell:
https://tapas.io/episode/1030848
If you think the story has merit, please join the site and subscribe to it by April 19. A subscription does two things: It allows you to read the whole story easily after I post in it every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, and it is a vote toward making it the readers’ choice winner.
“Against Heaven and Hell,” a horror novel set in 18th Century America–a story of the younger years of the character I like the best among those I have created so far, Lucas Fleeland (Luke). He’s interviewed, and takes over the interview of Carletta, in these earlier blog posts (the last too are better):
Calm, Cool, and Condemned: Luke answers 11 questions
Carletta’s Second Interview: Not-so-sweet 16 Responds to the Rest of the Questions
At Last–Luke Answers the Rest of the Questions (Dual Vampire Interview Continued)
After exploring the experiences and processes that make Luke a complex and secretly rebellious young man (and something more than that), the novel intricately weaves in an often misunderstood historical figure, General Benedict Arnold, in ways I hope you will find both informative and entertaining. According to my fiction, Luke meets Arnold when working as a surgeon’s mate (medic assistant) in the Revolutionary War, and attempts to mold the heroic general into someone he can better relate to.
Banner for the online novel, “Against Heaven and Hell”: General Benedict Arnold, “the Dark Eagle,” is lured by more forces than history knows, according to this historical horror novel.
I originally wrote “Against Heaven and Hell” as a novella I submitted to a collection called “War is Hell.” It was not accepted for the anthology but the editors liked it enough to say they might want to use it in another publication. I wasn’t satisfied with the story as it was; I wanted to expand and deepen the plot, possibly making it a stand-alone novel that is a prequel offshoot to my AVS series. And here I am doing so at last!
I started rewriting the story after I heard about the contest, which started March 19 and would continue for just a month. Last night the artwork was completed, and this morning I posted the new banner. I have just less than two weeks to attract a following large enough to win the readers’ choice award or to interest the judges enough to win by the second option.
I don’t expect to finish the whole novel by the deadline, which is okay. I’m working hard at the new parts and even the old parts require editing for improvement and consistency with the new version. On top of that, I must return to the historical research needed to recreate the time period and historical figures accurately. I WILL finish it, though! I just may not post as often once the contest ends, because I don’t want the quality to suffer (the quality either of the novel OR of my life).
So far, 4 installments are available for your reading pleasure. More to come tonight! At least 10, probably more, will be completed by the April 19 deadline.
Hope you enjoy it!
Robin Layne, Author 