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15 years . . . “The End”

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I’m staggered to report that Book 8 is DONE! EVERYTHING IS DONE! You can find all of the chapters here: https://www.youtube.com/@forestedgebooks/playlists

Almost exactly 15 years ago I started writing what I thought would be a short story.

Today I recorded the very last chapter of nine books, and said, “The End” as I finished it.

(Then I may have sobbed a little in my closet and tried to figure out what to do with my life.) This series has been such a huge part of my life. I was feeling both elated at my accomplishment, and utterly deflated at its conclusion.

Then I took a walk as the Florida sun was setting, trying to dry my tears and balance my emotions.

And then in my mind’s eye I saw a tall man, pacing back and forth in front of a line of trees. He’s been pacing there for a while now, and suddenly I realized it was his turn. I walked up to him (but only in my head; in real life, I paused to look gaze out over a canal looking for alligators–I saw only some large fish and turtles today), and I asked the man, “Lek Shin?”

He answered, “Yes, and it’s about time you came to ask my story.”

“It’s about time you tell it to me.”

I came home an hour’s walk later with about 20 pages of material. Who knows how long it will take to finally get this book to you, but now names, connections, politics, and relationships are revealing themselves.

Lek is a lot more talkative than I expected. Check back in a few months or a year or so. I hope to have something for you then.

Now, on to the NEXT 15 years!

Book 8 “The Last Day” is alive and well on YouTube!

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Just a reminder that if you want to listen to my chapters, head on over to YouTube. I’ve uploaded nearly half of Book 8 so far, and I’m hitting the really good parts right now!

Go to this link for specific playlists of the books: https://www.youtube.com/@forestedgebooks/playlists

Book 4 chapters 3, 4, and 5 are ready!

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I’m sorry, I hadn’t realized I didn’t tell you that chapter 3 was done. Now a few more are.

Warning to those who are sensitive to suicidal thoughts and behaviors: there are a few depicted in these chapters, along with PTSD. Chapter 5 is short but difficult.

But it gets better, very soon. I promise.

Book 4, “Falcon in the Barn” Chapters 1 and 2 are here in audiobook format!

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Moving right along to the next book. I love this book, but the first few chapters are painful.

Warning for anyone who has dealt with PTSD. The first few chapters deal a lot with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. My mother suffered from PTSD because of what she endured as a teenager during WWII in Germany. She lost her home, most of her family: some kidnapped to Russia and killed there (one a teenage cousin), then others interred in work camps in Poland and starving before they were rescued (another young teenaged cousin). Then she was a refugee and starving when she was 18, and was never able to go home to her family again. Naturally, her mental health suffered for the rest of her life. She didn’t trust therapy and also refused to believe she needed it. Denial and paranoia were her constant companions.

I studied PTSD as an adult, trying to understand some of what she was going through (and what I went through as a child because of her distress).

I was startled to discover this suddenly affecting Perrin, but I shouldn’t have been. Writing these chapters was surprisingly painful, then cathartic, and ultimately healing. I only wish my mom could have experienced this before she passed away.

But I believe God has a way of healing all wounds. Time isn’t a hindrance to Him.

Book 3 is DONE! Here’s the last audio chapter–27! “The Mansions of Idumea”

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I don’t know why this one was so, so hard to get done. I had so many problems, redos, edits, and it took me days to finally finish it. But whew–here it is!

On to Book 4, The Falcon in the Barn. (Maybe in a couple of days–I need to regroup my head and my ability to read out loud.)

Audiobook Chapters 24, 25, 26 of Book 3 here!

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(Hurricane Ian was gentle with us. Let us keep power but took away our internet for a time. Now I’m able to process and upload what I recorded during the long weekend.)

Chapter 26, “Snakes, cats–I know you hate them all,” is another one of my favorite chapters because it’s one I didn’t “write” as much as I “transcribed”.

This part of the story appeared in my head, as quickly as I could type it. About 85% of the chapter was a surprise to me, and why I realized early on I couldn’t really make a full outline of the books because I didn’t know what was coming until suddenly I was tapping out the words. This chapter helped me realize there was a LOT more story that would take place later, which I hadn’t even begun to imagine.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to. When it came to those chapters, they, too, were downloaded straight into my mind for me to copy. I’m just not this smart or insightful.

Audiobooks Chapters 22 and 23, book 3!

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Here are two more chapters! Not having school today let me get a little work done. However, since we’re in the path of a little storm called Ian, due to come over us tonight, it might be a little while until I get another chapter uploaded. Maybe we’ll lose power and internet, or maybe we’ll just get tons of rain and it will be a big nothing burger, and I can get another chapter done tomorrow.

The red circle and arrow show where we live and work.

We are well prepared, so no worries there. (Plenty of flashlights, water, chocolate, Crumbl cookies, and Dr. Pepper.) I just don’t enjoy the suspense of waiting to see what’s next . . . (So I record chapters in my closet which contain suspense of what happens next.)

Audiobook Chapter 17, Book 3 ready!

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“Had she looked to the sky, just once, she would’ve noticed the signs. But she was like everyone else in Idumea, rushing around here and there, constantly inspecting this and that, but never looking up.
It was as if there was a drum in the heart of the city, pounding the same rhythm over and over again in a quietly hypnotic way: diSTRACTion, diSTRACTion, diSTRACTion. And she had
fallen under its effect in record time.”

I readily confess the biggest problem in my life is distraction–not paying attention to the issues and people and needs I’m supposed to.

But whenever I look up, I’m suddenly grounded again.