"Tu, Ruthless," by Ed Calkins Steward of Tara

Good morning!

I received the following telegram from Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, a week or two ago with his progress on the sequel to his first BryonySeries novel Ruthless.

The list of chapters for the second book is below...along with a few that are not numbered. I don't know if that's on purpose or an error as Ed has not clarified yet.

Ed had originally called this second novel Tu, Ruthless, but he's considering changing it. For now, Tu, Ruthless is the working title.

If you're wondering about the strange greeting, Ed's telegrams typically address me as MOMI (Mistress of My Immortality) or Goddess. 

So here is the update. I'm sure Ed's goal is to release the book by Calkins Day, since he missed last year's deadline. 

I hope that's enough time for me to edit it!

Dear Goddess

 

The goal is Sept 7 of this year. There, I hope to give you my revisions to all the chapters as well as my wife's drawings for each chapter and a cover page, looking like a newspaper (see cover of Ruthless) with stories explaining the divisions.

 

The rewriting has been ongoing and my Nancy's questioning of this or that has been helpful which might save you some on the ed-did-it part of being my publisher.

 

I have started both the Autumn Sisters and Return of the Knights Templar which are then only two chapters unfinished

 

This late in production, I am almost certain the Table of Contents will not change.

 

 

Introductions

 

1)     Four words to go forward or four more to back out

 

2)     Copa of the Hunt

 

3)     Susan’s Swim

 

4)     Welcome to Munsonville

 

5)     Second Showdown of Wrath Park

 

6)     Trudy and the Bottle of Scotch

 

 7)     Karla’s Cry

 

In The Last Days of Daddy Don

 

8)     Council of Scantly Clothed Merrows

 

9)     The Vampire Report

 

10)  Reality’s Wooden Club

 

11)  The Devil’s Moonshine

 

12)  Creatures of the Night

 

13)  Friends, Lovers, Liars, and the Redacted Poem

 

14)  The Bishop Moves

 

 15)  Bad Coffee

 

 16)  Good Monster

 

 Daddy Don is Dead- Consul of the Damned Takes Over

 

 17)  Rules of the Damned

 

 18)  Plot Armor

 

 19)  Who’s Glorna This Time

 

 20)  Preparing for the Worst

 

 21)  How to Execute Your Husband

 

 22)  Buying Time

 

 23) Happy Hunting Grounds Hospital

 

 24) A Dangerous Proposition

 

 25) Love and the Lynch Mob

 

 26) Green Sharks and Yellow Submarines

 

 27) Crime of the Times

 

 A Satisfying Stalemate

 

 28) The Worst Christmas in Beulah County

 

 29) Third Showdown in Wraith Park

 

 30) The Autumn Sisters

 

 31) Return of the Knights Templar

 

 32) Beulah County Haunted Tours

So Far "Ruthless" is a Really Fun Read

About halfway into this week, Ed Calkins began sending me final drafts of Ruthless for editing.

We are up to thirteen of the twenty-four (including the prologue).

I returned a sample chapter and did a close read and some general editing. Over the next few weekends, I'll be a bit pickier.

For those reading this blog for the first time, Ruthless is the Ed Calkins back story and will be part of my BryonySeries.

Ed Calkins is a real person who allowed himself to be fictionalized, legally, for my series. A BryonySeries fan asked me to write his back story. 

But if you know Ed (the man or the myth), you will know that's a story only Ed can write. He's been working on it all year.

Here are some of my initial thoughts:

This book is not for everyone, even if you are a fan of the BryonySeries, due to the brand of strange humor it contains.

You know how some authors like feel their book is for everyone? I can (kind of) say that about Ruthless. It has something offensive for nearly everyone. 

But the biggest putdowns are in Ed's direction. And I think many readers (if they are honest with themselves) will relate to his self-deprecating form of humor since it is very, very human.

For example, Ed, as an imaginary "ruthless dictator," when faced by angry mobs he must address, hides under his desk and must be coaxed out by his secretary. 

"Ruthless" is like Lewis Carroll for adults. You have no idea where Ed is taking the story or what he might do in each sentence (the fact he's dyslexic adds to the puzzle, so lots of copy editing as I was reading), which is part of what makes this fun to read (for me, at least). 

And yet, I could see the underlying structure and purpose in the work, even if I can't tell where it's heading.

I never laughed so hard at a single, well-placed word ("Bunny").

But then, I did a lot of laughing out loud.

The characters are over the top and strangely very human.

If you've read Staked!, you will understand the mirror concept. However, Ed has taken it to degrees I never imagined and made woven it into his story in ways that makes total (non)sense.

Satan is a were-goat (part goat, part leprechaun) and speaks in Gaelic brogue.

A few BryonySeries characters make cameo appearances (and some, cameo mentions). Glorna is a secondary character, as is Angela. But they may not be as you recall them. 

This is fine with me because Ed Calkins the character is completely unreliable as a narrator. If you've read the book young adult "drop of blood" BryonySeries trilogy, you'll know what I mean.

I make a cameo appearance as The Goddess. And that nickname preceded the current one from Ed (Mistress of My Immortality). He adds a flashback on how that nickname came to be (and splices that scene together with one from Visage).

Speaking of "The Goddess," today I enter the last full day of my second at-home writing retreat of 2020.

I might not hit every goal and some of my resolve went sideways (I actually did some marketing last night), but I will be very close, and I accomplished a few additional projects that ought to forgive the rest.

But I still have a day and a half. It's not over yet.

Steward Setback Saturday: On Becoming An Ed Calkins Wife, Part 3

For context, here is the link to the first and second posts.

If this is your introduction to Ed Calkins, read more about him here.

BTW, I am NOT an Ed Calkins wife and that is not a proposal depicted here.

I am this instead.

On Becoming An Ed Calkins Wife, Part 3

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Dear MOMI,

There exists a confusion about age limits for wives of Ed Calkins. After all, did I not put the minuim age of thirty-one in my last post?

Understand, though, that age is as relative as time. When I was sixteen, I did not require a prospective bride to be thirty-one. So, too, if a woman who was quite young had met me in the nineteenth century, such as Byrony/Melissa had, I would not be so dismissive as if I had met the same woman/girl in the present.

However, in the book, Byrony/Melissa did not agree to marriage (thus forever changing the ending). I'm sure you're thinking Bryony's current marriage prohibited it. This is simply incorrect.

Wife number one has three husbands other then me: one for gambling, one for gossip, and one for shopping and drinking. Should she decide to acquire other vices, say comic books, I'm sure she'll find a husband for that.

Ruthlessly yours,

Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara