Jon Mackey's Tale is Told

Well, I finally finished Last Call, Last Stand.

I'm not going to tease you with a pedantic outro; I don't give a shit. I'm just glad the story is done.

There are no plans for publication. Some folks have PM'ed me or emailed me to inquire if I have plans in that direction for this story, and i don't. The entire premise of the story relies on the inversion of certain survivalist fiction tropes, and that just isn't a broad enough audience to market the book to.

Rather, it was something simple, a half assed junkie morality tale with an entirely undeserved happy ending and a couple of badass fight scenes. It takes place during SHTF, but it isn't about SHTF; it is about Mackey's redemption, and like all obvious junkie-finds-his-place stories it devolves into something heavy handed and entirely too self aware. But I enjoyed writing it and apparently some motherfuckers enjoyed reading it, so in the end, I feel it's purpose is served.

In the future, I will probably add another ZS Fiction Forum story to my list, but it will have to wait until I have Codex cleaned up for publication. I have two stories waiting in the wings and honestly I'm foaming at the mouth to post them; I really like the way they both start. Like LCLS, these stories are not without purpose-they are helping me refine my ability and promote my blog and my future commercial shit.

To those of you who stuck around for the whole show: thank you. I make it a point to snub the validation of strangers, but somehow every comment on my ZS thread kept me energized enough to finish the main story. It ain't perfect, but it was free.

I've got one more post about LCLS to make before I never visit it again, one entitled "Survival Lessons from Jon Mackey." I think some of you might be surprised at the advantages Mackey has, and it will manage to tie the story in with survivalist relevance. Look for that in the upcoming week.

Thanks, you scum. It has been a hell of a ride.