The BIG ANNOUNCEMENT... now with Acknowledgements

Hello, everyone, and welcome back. If you're looking for the acknowledgements, skip down to the bottom.

I have a lot to say today. Some of it is more important than others. If you're impatient, just skip to the BIG NEWS. You'll know you're in the right place. For those of you still here I'd like to say thanks again. Thanks for reading the books, and for helping me learn how to write effective serialized novels. Thanks for your comments and your emails and your good thoughts. It really made a difference and it made this project a joy to write.

I've been tallying up your emails to see what kind of epilogue you'd like for the story (keep 'em coming, folks) and I have to say I'm a little surprised. I wanted to know whether you'd prefer Gary or Sarah to win, but the vast majority of entries haven't mentioned either of them. Most of you, it seems, would prefer to see Bannerman versus a great white shark, with the shark winning. You're a very strange bunch of people.

In other news... don't stop watching this space. It is my intention to always have something here for you to read. Starting soon I'm going to start a blog on zombies and horror in general. I'll review movies and haunted houses and books and so on: whatever I find interesting, which I hope you will also enjoy. I'll send a notification when the blog is live.

In the coming year there will also be a new serialized book here, though it won't be a Monster Island book and that's all I'm saying. If your signed up for email notifications you'll get one when the new book starts. And whenever we have big news.

Well, most of you guessed already. I got a book deal! Monster Island will be released in April of 2006 by Thunder's Mouth Press. I'm extremely excited and I have all of you to thank for it, all of you who legitimized my silly zombie stories by actually reading them.

Don't rush out to Amazon.com yet--there's nothing there right now. And when it does appear there, hold off on ordering. In order to launch the book we want to coordinate the orders so that they all happen around the same day. We don't know yet what the exact on sale date of the book is, but when it happens, if you're signed up for notifications, you'll get an email telling you the book is available. And when it is, we'd like for you to buy the book that very moment to improve the sales ranking. The idea is to pop the book on the online booksellers so that reviewers (and who knows, maybe even movie studios) take notice.

Ah, to heck with it, I hear you thinking; I've already read that book. Why should I buy even one more copy?

That's an excellent question. And I have an excellent answer.

When you order the book that day you'll get confirmation email. And if you forward the email to contactmonster@hotmail.com (don't worry, other than you name and shipping address, the confirmation doesn't have any personalized information) I'll send you a PDF file of a collection short stories set in the monster universe. The PDF will also include never before seen illustrations of the major characters by Joel Carroll (http://www.joelcarroll.com/art/ ) and whatever other cool bonuses we can come up with between now and then.

So keep your eyes out for that email.

I'm going to ask you for one more favor which is what you've been doing already: and that's to spread the word. It was your word of mouth that brought Monster Island to the attention of the publishers, and it's word of mouth that will help sell the book. Maybe you know some people who thought MI sounded interesting but didn't want to read something on the web. Maybe you know some horror fans who don't have internet access. Maybe your friends and family are just looking for a good read. Just let them know how much you enjoyed this trilogy. That's all it takes. Give them the URL or, when the time comes, point them toward the book. Believe me, it makes all the difference.

We're also planning all kinds of guerrilla zombie events to help spread the word about the book next spring. If you're interested in taking part in any of them, keep an eye on the blog, or send me an email.

So. For now, I'll say thank you. I'll be saying it a lot from now on. I owe you guys. You see, I've been writing for twenty-one years now, ever since I was thirteen. I've gotten a few short stories printed here and there but never anything serious. This book deal is the culmination, in all seriousness, of my life's work, and without you it wouldn't have been possible. Did I say thank you yet? Thank you.

Aw, shucks. Anyway, the PDF file is just the start of the goodies we'll be handing out, so stick around, and keep the faith!

Sincerely,
David Wellington

...and now... the long-awaited ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS!

When I finished Monster Island I put up a page thanking the readers and especially the commenters and especially Adrian (from Scotland) who at the time was a source of drunken comic relief. I did it again with Monster Nation, and I need to do it one last time.

It's tough, though. There are so many people who have contributed to the trilogy in one way or another. So many who encouraged me or threw a little money in the tip jar or just came by and read a few chapters and emailed to say they liked it.

I'd like to say thank you to all those people by name, but I can't. I literally can't keep track of everyone who helped me out along the way, there have just been too many of you. So if your name doesn't appear below, please, know how grateful I really am for all your help and support. It made all the difference.

Here are some names, in no particular order: Ashnack, digbeta, Raul, Don, briangc, Meek, Laura, Pencil Lad, Mike, bagelgod, Donny D, saketini99, Ed Adkins, Javier, Timmy, liam, Scarecrow, shadowfusion99, Ann Towey, davidkaye929, iGame3D, Carlos, Rakie, Senecal, Mendoza, dreadlocksmile, hearwritenow, and marbotty.

Some of those names have been with us for the whole long ride, some are almost brand new. They're the people who commented the most often (no science was used in computing this alleged piece of data) and who made it a treat to come back again and again, Monday after Wednesday after Friday. Thanks. I know I'm forgetting somebody--go ahead and include yourself in that list if you want.

alnjo, who is in fact two people sharing one virtual identity (the handle with two brains?), gets singled out for being such a hardass over and over again, right from the start, and sticking around even though there were mummies, stupid, stupid mummies. alnjo kept me from thinking I was all like hot shit--which believe me, is a valuable service for someone with my runaway ego.

Joel Carroll gets a special mention for drawing the most incredible picture of Gary I've ever seen (be nice and I'll show you some time). You should really check out his work at joelcarroll.com.

Ann Towey drew the creepiest picture of Gary. No, there was no contest or anything, people just liked to draw pictures of Gary.

Adrian, who is still from Scotland but is now 21 and could drink in America, too, is still around. His work schedule kept him from commenting much on Monster Planet (and he was sorely missed) but he never lost touch and in the end he rallied like a champ. Seriously, Adrian made this process a lot more fun than it could have been. His antics got me through some pretty tough times.

I need to send a very special thanks to Mark Frauenfelder, who liked Monster Island so much he not only gave me a great review on Boing Boing, he then went and helped me get the book published. Cory Doctorow (also at Boing Boing) gave us another mention on Oct. 13th, which also helped.

John Oakes, my publisher, gets a big thank you, for taking a chance on all of us, one which I believe is going to pay off for everyone.

My wife Elisabeth needs to be thanked profusely. Maybe we could have a receiving line. In a year when death and destruction stopped being the proper subject of fiction and became far too real she stood by me. At times when she had her own worries she never stopped cheering me on. When I told her I had a book deal she cried tears of joy--how can you ask for more than that?

And finally (yes, finally) we need to thank Alex once again. Everyone started clapping... NOW! Hey, I think I heard you all the way over here. Alex made this thing happen with his own two hands. I just wrote about zombies. I would have written about zombies anyway. Alex turned this thing into the culmination of my life's story. I've been writing for twenty-one years, if you can believe it, but nothing of any note happened until I met Alex. Thanks, Alex!

Okay, okay, dry your eyes and let's move on. There are blogs to be written and guerilla marketing tactics to be tactified. See you all very soon!

Sincerely,
David Wellington