The Next Chapter
Not One, But TWO Ongoing Serial Stories!
One of the things I’ve discovered over the last few months is that I really enjoy telling stories one piece at a time.
That’s probably not a surprise to anyone who’s been following along with The Summer Garden, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about lately.
In a world where we’re used to binge-watching entire television seasons and buying novels by the dozen, serialized storytelling feels almost old-fashioned. And yet, I think there’s something special about it.
When you read a serial story, you don’t race to the ending.
You spend time with it.
You live with the characters for a while. You think about what might happen next. You wonder where the story is going. Sometimes you even find yourself looking forward to the next installment in the same way people once waited for the next episode of a television show or the next chapter in a magazine serial.
Reading a serial isn’t better than reading a novel all at once.
It’s just different.
The story becomes part of the rhythm of your week.
That’s certainly been my experience writing The Summer Garden.
Every Sunday, Scotty and the residents of Mill Creek Community Garden show up in my inbox and, judging from your comments and emails, in yours as well. The response to the story has been far stronger than I expected, and earlier this week several members of a mastermind group I’m part of encouraged me to lean into that idea even further.
So I’ve decided to do exactly that.
Starting this Friday, I’ll be re-releasing Credible Threat: Season One here on Substack, one episode at a time.
For those of you who haven’t encountered it before, Credible Threat is a thriller series rather than a quiet character story. Different tone. Different pace. Different problems.
Instead of community gardens, retirement, and second chances, you’ll find conspiracies, danger, political intrigue, and a family caught in the middle of events far larger than themselves.
In other words, it’ll remind everyone that I still write thrillers.
The first episode will arrive this Friday, and then a new episode will follow each week until the entire thirteen-episode season has been released.
Of course, if you’re the sort of reader who hates waiting and would rather read the entire season immediately, that’s an option too. The complete Season One is already available on the Stories Rule Press website.
And if you haven’t yet started The Summer Garden, you can begin right here with Episode One:
Whether you’re here for the essays, the gardening story, the thrillers, or some combination of all three, thank you for reading.
It’s been a lot of fun sharing these stories with you.
And now it looks like we’re going to have two serial adventures running at the same time.
That should keep things interesting.
Don’t Want to Wait?
Credible Threat: Season One is available right now from Stories Rule Press. If cliffhangers aren’t your thing and you’d rather binge the entire thirteen-episode season, you can grab it here:
Credible Threat on Stories Rule Press
New to The Summer Garden?
Start with Episode One here:
Excellent! Looking forward to this.