Pull Me Under — The novel a year later!
I'd love to get your thoughts!
Hey everyone! We’re approaching the anniversary of the last chapters of Pull Me Under, posted last year.
If I didn’t have the bright idea to serialize it, a good chunk of you wouldn't be subscribers! So I can't help but gush about this “silly” nanowrimo project, that wasn't ever supposed to see the light of day. But it has, and here we are!
I just wanted to thank everyone who has given it a read, and I have a small request: because it isn’t a novel that has a goodreads page or anything, I would love to hear from you! Use this post to comment your thoughts and reviews on the book, honest reviews of course, and if you haven’t checked it out you can find the whole thing in a handy dandy ebook to download on the main post (linked below) or you can read the chapters here on Substack too.
An extra special thanks goes out to
who has been a champion of PMU since day 1, when I was fresh and new here. Thank you, Jimmy!And to
, who read it before it even had a title. You rule!There are a few who did comment as I was posting each chapter and THANK YOU for those! It’s just hard collecting them for readers to find in a nice tidy spot, so I decided to make this the place.
I also have a question, is it something you’d like to see a proper release for? Should I get it cleaned up, get a cover and put it on Amazon? Let me know! If yes I’ll have to schedule it after the release of The Ghosts of Tieros Kol (getting close to that release too!!) so it would highly depend on “popular demand”—if you want a copy for your shelf, speak up!
And, yes, I do have ideas for a sequel. Who knows what it’ll look like or when it’ll get started, but, the thought is there. Because…
I still think of that world, the Dvarri and the characters I created. Tanner in particular was a very divisive character, some readers really connected with him and some thought he was a shithead, and I think that's why I love him. I do! Lauren, too, was initially a kind of subversion of the portal fantasy heroine trope I was seeing a lot at the time, but she wound up like I was writing about my sister smashed together with so many of my girlfriends growing up so she’s one of my favourite FMCs I’ve written. Ddun, I gave him a name I knew people would struggle to pronounce because I thought it was funny, and he's got that barbarian swagger that winds up getting humbled—and enhanced! We love barbarians in this house! And character arcs!—through his relationship with these two newcomers to his tribe. I even find myself thinking of the side characters and how they shaped the story. Really, I had a ton of fun writing it, WAY before I ever thought I'd publish anything.
The Dvarri as a culture was also a result of my utter frustration of seeing nomadic horsey cultures done super wrong in fantasy (looking at you, GRRM.) While I am poking fun at fantasy worldbuilding, it is all out of love. I also did a ton of research on nomadic steppe/indigenous cultures, and learned a lot. Put on some Tuvan throat singing in your metal PMU-inspired playlist, I highly recommend it.
So, watch Bakshi's LOTR or Fire and Ice or Wizards, and if you haven’t given PMU a read, consider it. It’s a ride!
Find the chapters or the ebook here:
And, if heavy-metal-inspired portal fantasy isn't your thing, I’ve got other books out:
Pallas, scifi with a horrific fungal bent
The Highwayman Kennedy Thornwick, literary fantasy (you want divisive asshole characters?! It’s turned up to 11 here!)
And coming soon, The Ghosts of Tieros Kol, release TBA, scifi in the planetary romance tradition. ARCs going out soon!
Cheers!
PS, go ahead and follow me on Instagram if you want. I sometimes post book stuff on there, and Substack crossover events:
This is really inspiring.
I remember when it was Horselords