Hellhound: End Paper #3 – The accidental 3-book novel
Two-thirds of Hellhound was previously published in hardcover by Macmillan/Forge as Perfect Killer.
That incomplete version has about 110,000 words. By comparison, the length of the average novel varies widely, but is generally considered to be around 50,000 to 70,000 words.
By contrast, Hellhound, contains 174,110 words. That restored third finally completes the book with concepts and ideas I believe are important and really wanted to express.
That’s why I obtained the rights back from the publisher and have restored the complete book as Hellhound.
Perfect Killer, as published by Macmillan/Forge was about 110,000 words.
Hellhound, on the other hand, is 174,110 words That shows that about 64,000 words was cut — That’s the length of a whole new book!
It’s important to recognize that a publisher’s costs go up with the length: more paper, more printing expense and even with an ebook, there are even more costs with editing, proofreading and other production costs.
Complicating the situation was the fact that my relationship with the publisher was strained (eventually to the breaking point) by my public revelations that author Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code plagiarized an earlier novel of mine: Daughter of God. I made the controversy very public, and learned that the publishing industry does not like people who make waves, even if it is “good trouble.”
I never actually intended to write three novels. It just sort of happened.
I began Hellhound the same way I had with my other thrillers: a core of solid, factual non-fiction surrounded by plausible “what if” speculations to drive the characters and action.
But the fact that the incredible true part concerned a drug that could rob individuals of their ability to make moral decisions about killing other human beings raised much larger issues than my previous books.
The horrible consequences of using that drug ultimately shaped the creation of characters, settings and action. It also sparked the exploration of my own personal experience as the white, privileged offspring of prominent ancestors who had made historical decisions enabling them to have a direct and lasting hand in the oppression of African Americans.
Some Relevant Links To Supplemental Material
- Hellhound: A multi-generational saga of racial injustice & redemption wrapped around a thriller.
- Author’s Note
- Why Did I Write Hellhound? (End Paper #1)
- Write what you know (End Paper #2)
- The accidental 3-book novel (End Paper #3)
Hellhound on Amazon:
Both versions contain the 1/3 of Perfect Killer that was deleted by –the original publisher (Macmillan/Forge). Plus thousands of words in supplemental materials.
Kindle Unlimited – Free for Kindle users … with hardware device or free app.
Softcover – 455 pages
