Like father...

I just got the news that my father had a stroke earlier today. He’s in intensive care, and I’m not quite sure how to deal with the news yet. I really care about him and love him very much, but he’s never really been there for me when I was younger. My parents were divorced when I was way too young to remember and after YEARS of searching, I finally managed to get a number for him. I then called him up and the very first thing he asked me was: “So how is your sister?”

My sister has always been the apple of his eye. She got the gifts and the money while I got the IOUs and the apologies. I was the boy who—on his 10^th birthday—spent the entire afternoon and evening waiting on the front porch; excited about his daddy coming to pick him up for dinner, only to end up crying himself to sleep. It stings every time he responds to my sister’s Facebook wall posts, but not mine.

Still, I really do love him dearly.

He never abused me or anything… he just wasn’t there. I guess I coped with it by using writing as an outlet. You will notice father/son themes sprinkled through almost all of my books. At the moment you’ll only have access to two of my stories: Love and a .38 and The Son of Perdition. In Love and a .38, the father/son theme is subtle, but it’s there and ties up at the end. In The Son of Perdition, the struggle between Timothy and his father was most probably my sub conscious dealing with my own inner issues. When The Incubus and The Succubus go up, you will see it there too. I don’t plan it on purpose… but I do recognize it when it weaves itself into my words.

He is currently going through a very messy divorce, which stripped him of almost every single thing he owned and all his money. Without a medical aid, this stroke thing might become an expensive business with regards to hospital bills and medication and whatnots. The only way I can help out from my side is by donating the little money I make through my books to cover his expenses.

And I’ll gladly do it. Because I love him and know that deep down, in his own special way, he loves me too…

Okay, so I've taken the time to create a quick teaser trailer for The Son of Perdition. A forum member pointed out a few things that would improve the clip, so I will play with those changes tonight and then upload the new version later. For now, take a look at what I've got:

Feel free to let me know what you think :)

There are few things in life as exciting and nerve-wrecking at the same time as seeing that you have a review on your book. You're excited that someone felt passionate enough about the novel to go through the trouble of leaving a review, yet, in the back of your mind, you're dreading that inevitable 1-star, "this sucks!" post.

With a novel like The Son of Perdition it's not a matter of if—but when, that review will come. Until then though, take a look at this fantastic opinion that a reader left:

This is quite a read from beginning to end, packed with action and very well written, if a bit on the long side.
Nevertheless, as a Christian I loved it. I found it surprisingly challenging, it forced me to question the strength of my faith. It's not a book I will easily forget, a complement to the author's skill as a writer.
The characters are believable and I really cared what happened to them.
The book is incredibly descriptive and in places almost shocking. So much so, I pray I don't get left behind when the rapture happens!
My only criticism is the books length, but it's a great story and a book I am more than happy to recommend. 

You can't help but float around on cloud 9 after reading words like these. Yes, The Son of Perdition is a long, LONG book, but I'm proud of the fact that I managed to fit the entire story into one single novel instead of a series or something.

It's in reading reviews like these that I begin to realize that the two years spent writing it was not a total waste of time. Although I might not post every single review on here, I do appreciate each and every time someone shares their thoughts on the novel.

You guys and gals are the best!

Fourth Amazon Review

I just received my 4th review on Amazon. This is how it reads:

It took me some time reading Son of Perdition from Len Du Randt since it's quite a long read...BUT every word, is worth it. The story flows from one setting to another and leave you wondering...what if this is the truth? The characters are interesting and Len Du Randt has a unique style of writing, unconventional, interesting but above all flowing. I simply loved the story, writing, plot and setting. For me the Rapture and final battle scene left me in the book, I felt I was there with the characters and was some of the best writing I have ever read. Du Randt has become one of my favorite authors with one book! I do hope this secular piece of art finds it way to the mainstream. Although a Christian novel I have to admit that non-religious folks would enjoy this as well! I will endorse this without hesitation and is well worth the price.

This reads like one of those reviews that only a loving mother would write. So I checked up the reviewer's details and called up my mom and she swears that it wasn't her. I kind of believe her as creating a fake user account on Amazon is a little above her computer skill level.

That said, I really do appreciate the awesome review and thank the reviewer from the bottom of my heart :)

Update: Editing for The Incubus is coming along nicely and if all goes well, it should hit Amazon late in April. I might release a little teaser before then. Who knows?

Catch you on Twitter!

End Times Now?

Are we living in the generation that will see the rapture? Check this vid and make up your own mind.

Do you agree with some of the things in the vid? Do things like this excite or scare you? Share your comments and thoughts below :)

I heard a birdy tweet...

I've converted an old Twitter account of mine to a dedicated Twitter account for The Son of Perdition. I'm going to spend some time away from this blog while polishing and formatting The Incubus for Amazon and will use the Twitter account to just throw some random updates into the air.

To check it out and follow me on there, simply head on over to https://twitter.com/perdition_novel

Did you finish reading the book yet? If so, please take a minute to share your thoughts as a review at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079II88M

Take care :)

Publishing Woes of SoP

It took me two years to write The Son of Perdition. Editing it afterwards took another chunk of my life. In-between feedback and applying the changes/fixes, I decided that time would be best spent writing another novel. I then jumped into The Incubus (to hit Amazon.com soon) and finished it about a year or so later. At more or less the same time, I had implemented all the suggestions (those that I agreed with, at least) of my proof readers and started sending SoP to all the local publishers we had here. At three months per response, it took me 9 months just to get feedback from the three major ones here. All of them shot me down.

Not deterred, I somehow managed to land an agent that was very excited about the book. She sent it to the UK, Australia, and the USA. Every publisher sent it back with a, ‘not for us’ letter attached to it. During this time, I managed to finish The Succubus as well.

After being rejected more times than I bothered to count, my agent decided to rather call it quits. It seems that no publisher wanted to touch a book the size of Son of Perdition written by a nobody. Printing costs alone would be through the roof and there was no way that they could determine whether the book would sell or not.

I then tried an experiment and uploaded the first few chapters to a blogging site and then offered the rest of the eBook at a cost. I managed to sell a whopping three or four copies, but the feedback from all of them was fantastic. I knew in my gut that people would like the book if I could only find a platform through which I could reach more than just a handful of people.

A local entrepreneur started his own publishing firm and I offered him The Son of Perdition, The Incubus, and The Succubus as a means to help him, help me. He asked me to remove the chapters from the site, which I promptly did. A few days later I found out that I won the blog page’s 2007 Best Fiction Writer’s award for The Son of Perdition, much to the dismay of the other contenders. They argued that since I removed the book, I was no longer eligible to win. The admin guy came back and said that the decision had been made before I removed the chapters and so the award stood.

 

The publisher guy never got off the ground, so I pulled my books and shelved them while I blogged around a bit, during which time I got halfway through two novels. I’ll tackle and finish them both later this year.

A friend of mine recently called me and said that he heard an interview with an author over the radio and that this author made him think of me. He then told me about the Kindle thing on Amazon and I decided to check it out. After some research and a final polish-through of The Son of Perdition, I felt that the book had found its long-awaited platform and was finally ready for upload.

Those 10+ years had been part of a LONG and very, VERY lonely road, but one I would be happy to trudge through again and again.

If you haven’t done so already, grab your copy of The Son of Perdition over at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079II88M - Amazon Prime members can borrow the book for free. Your support would be appreciated more than words would EVER be able to describe.

Son of Perdition on Facebook

The Son of Perdition now has a unique address on Facebook. To view and LIKE the page, simply go to http://www.facebook.com/perdition.novel or click on the image below to go and take a looksee.

Enjoy!