The origin of The
Darkest Place is a strange one.
Sometimes I write a supporting character, and I think his or
her story is compelling enough to warrant its own novel. Caleb Hicks is just
such a character. He appeared in two of my previous novels, The Passenger
and Fire in Winter, in the latter of
which he played a major role.
Now, this is going to seem non sequitur, but stick with me. During
my tenure on a VBSS team (Visit, Board, Search and Seizure) in the Navy, I had
occasion to do a couple of training exercises with the Navy SEALS. The first
thing that struck me about them was how young they were. Most of them did not
even look old enough to buy a drink legally. The second thing that struck me
was how well trained they were. And unless I miss my guess, the initial
training a SEAL undergoes after BUDS is somewhere around a year and a half to
two years. (I could be wrong about the timeframe there, and if I am, I
apologize.)
But think about that for a moment. In roughly two years, the
Navy can take an ordinary civilian, and if that civilian is properly motivated,
turn them into one of the world’s elite warriors. I remember the question
occurring to me, What if these guys
started training when they were very young, like, five years old? What would they be capable of?
In Caleb Hicks’ character, I get to explore that
possibility. And that is about all I can say about him without giving away any
spoilers.
As for the novel itself, let me be clear on an important
point: This is not Surviving the Dead Volume Five. The Darkest Place is a standalone novel set in the Surviving the
Dead universe, much like The Passenger,
although I wrote this one on my own.
Eric Riordan, however, does feature in the novel, and his
actions are important to the next volume in the series: Savages.
So I guess it would be fair to call The Darkest Place Surviving the Dead 4.5. Or you could call it a
companion novel to Savages. Either way,
I hope you all enjoy it. The Darkest
Place was supposed to be a short novel, no more than 60,000 words (about
200 pages), but it took on a life of its own, and even if it is not well
received, I am proud of it. I think it is a good book. At 165,000 words (over
500 pages) it is a long read. It was written during the most difficult time in
my life, and I think that will be plainly obvious to anyone who reads it.
I wish you all the best, my friends, and as always, thank
you.
Jim.
