
I’ve been fighting my impulse to give this novel too much preamble, which I realize comes from a desire to explain my story rather than let the story speak for itself -- thanks, English lit classes.
So, I’ve taken out all the front matter except the Acknowledgements page. Some parts will get moved to the back, preserved for those who still want a little more after finishing the story.
There were a couple of unfortunate typos that needed fixing but I think where I did my best work was streamlining the exposition. It made me realize that I write in at least two different modes. Sometimes, the poetry of the words writes itself, and I follow the flow. But sometimes, the story comes in images, leaving me to decide how much to commit to words, in what order and in what detail.
I guess it's only natural for an author to get lost in those details. I love this world. I love its grit. But sometimes that doesn’t serve the plot.
Some darlings were killed. Hemingway would be proud.
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