Wild Mary's Way

I was looking thru some of my old files today and I came across a novel I'd started about 10 years ago. It was based on a dream I had. Since I don't really want to put Dawn's Rise up here, I thought it would be a good idea to publish some of my earlier work. You can get a taste how I write. This is one of the few "fantasy" books I've written...although I throw in a hefty dose of post-apocalyptic technology.

Wild Mary's Way is a story about a fighting woman who leaves home to seek her fortune in the world. Mary is about as opposite a character as Dawn as you can get. She is mean, murderous, hateful, and violent. While Dawn seeks to save the world, Mary seeks to destroy it. I think when I wrote the character of Dawn, I sought to get away from the Xena-like characters I'd written in the past. Although Dawn is strong, she's no fighter. I don't believe she uses a single weapon in the entire novel, even though she has opportunities. I see her more as an irresistible cult figure.

On the other hand, Mary has no compunctions in killing. She's ruthless and heartless, and probably more of an anti-heroine. The novel is more about her struggles with herself and her inner demons than any external things. As it stands the book is about 100+ pages and 48K words which is manageable. It's more like the first part of a full novel, but I haven't really written or conceived the rest of the book.

Well here's the first chapter of Wild Mary's Way. I'll be posting more chapters as I get a chance. Any feedback is welcome.

[update] I got the second chapter posted. I don't know why I like to write about crazy people. Maybe it makes the story more intense. Mary's pretty gory in this one.