Author: Barry Nugent
Meet the Reverend
It’s become a bit of a mantra now but whenever anyone finishes reading Fallen Heroes the novel my first question is ‘Who was your favorite character?’ This questions springs from the fact that the book deals with several main characters and it’s nice to know who readers were rooting for. I don’t know if I should be worried that the majority of those who read the book picked the Reverend as their fave character.
Now I don’t want to say too much about the character other than he really is not the sort of man you want to be on the wrong side of. Originally the Reverend was the result of conversation over a few drinks with a friend of mine (yep pete that’s you) who came up with the genesis of the character. At first to me he just sounded like a typical religious zealot turned killer and felt a little stereotyped. As I sat down to flesh out the character I decided to take him on a much more emotionally journey in the book. I was always wanted the core of the Reverend to be that of an ordinary man who saw the world ‘differently’ after what he had been through. He had locked within him a side to his character that was capable of extreme violence a side he had kept it under lock and key from his early teenage years. It is something that the spin off Comic featuring the Reverend will explore more of.
When it came to describing the Reverend in the book I left his description purposely vague. Of course that may be fine when you’re asking people to use their imagination to fill in the blanks but not really that much help when asking an artist to draw the character in the novel adaptation.
Personally I think Steve’s done an amazing job on his final character sketch as I never a clear idea in my head what the Reverend would look like it. The things we did work on was what I did know.
- He wouldn’t be some muscle-bound nutjob
- He wouldn’t be too good-looking, this shouldn’t be a man who turned heads.
- We wouldn’t really stand out from the crowd.
- He always had a haunted look to him
This is what Steve came up with. You will see more of the Reverend in issue 2 and in the spin off The Reverend: Wrath of God, which is in development at the moment.
Update on the Sequel to Fallen Heroes
Most of last year was spent with me telling people that ‘Book 2 was on the way’ but it was a hard year for me writing wise as I had so many other things going on and to be honest had written myself into a bit of a corner with the story.
Towards the end of last year I’m started to get my head around things. I’ve told myself and now I’m telling you that I plan to have the sequel to Fallen Heroes out before the end of this year or die in the attempt (ok maybe not die). Hopefully it’s not been too long that people who enjoyed the first book won’t be after my blood. So hold tight Courtney book 2 is on the way mate!
I don’t think I had been prepared for how bloody hard I was going to find it picking up the story threads from book 1 and laying down the story threads for the third and final book. As well as all that there was the small matter of trying to tell a story that I hope people will find entertaining. In the end I think telling myself to stop procrastinating, stop making excuses and just finish the thing has helped. I also think seeing the energy and passion of the guys working on the Fallen Heroes comic has really given me a boost to get back to these characters that I love and this story.
I can confirm that book 2 will be called Forgotten Warriors. Now I’ve had some comments from people wishing the title was a little more different from the many titles out there. A few more wishing I had stuck with my working title Perdition’s Shroud. All I can say is I wanted to pick titles for the trilogy that reflected the core of the story I’m telling and hopefully will work on a number of levels. Perdition’s Shroud just felt like a title I had quite frankly pulled out of my ass and had no relationship to the story. Forgotten Warriors is very relevant to the core of this story as it will focus a lot more on the sidekicks/secondary characters from Fallen Heroes and let’s face it Fallen Sidekicks would have been a crap title.
I’ve promised myself with the dawn of the new year I would crack on with this and that’s still the plan. I have very rough first draft that still needs a lot of work doing on it before I let my test readers loose to tear it apart. Hopefully thought that’s something I can get underway soon.
Junbobkim, the artist who did the awesome cover for Fallen Heroes will be back again doing the cover for Forgotten Warriors.
I would like to think that I’ve now learnt a lot more about the marketing/self publishing side of things so hopefully I’ll be able to handle that side of things a lot better this time around.
Anyway for those of you who read Fallen Heroes I’ve stuck a short synopsis of Forgotten Warriors. Please do not read if you’ve not read Fallen Heroes as there are some huge spoilers.
You have been warned.
Welcome to 2011 and a Fallen Heroes Novel Update
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New year.
With this first post on this site for 2011 I thought I’d bring you all up to speed with what’s happening in the world of Fallen Heroes.
Fallen Heroes – The comic adaptation.
The company who were supposed to be publishing the graphic novel went bust last year which was a real blow for everyone involved. However myself and the creative team decided to press on and put the adaptation out as a five issue comic. This seems fitting giving that Fallen Heroes was self published in the first place. The comic is going extremely well and we hope to launch it at the Cardiff International Comic Expo at the end of Feb. I’ll leave you with the first teaser poster for the comic.
To learn more head over to www.fallenheroescomic.com
Fallen Heroes the TV series
Not much to report on this except to say that I can conform that Celtic Films are still attached to the project and I’ll investigating the best ways we can take this project forward. Watch this space for more info when I have it!
Fallen Heroes the Audio Book
To my shame I must admit I’ve got all the audio files that the voice actor has done for this but I just to edit the chapters. Hoping to do that and put them out a few chapters at a time on this site for free.
The Sequel to Fallen Heroes
Look out for the next post coming I think you’ll find that one interesting. I’ll have the title for book 2 (which a few of you know already) and brief synopsis of the plot.
One of my hopes for 2011 is to update this site more often.
Fallen Heroes becomes an Amazon Number 1 bestseller!
FRIDAY THE 13TH NOT SO UNLUCKY FOR POD FANTASY NOVEL FALLEN HEROES AS IT BECOMES AN AMAZON NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER.
Friday the 13th a date known for bad luck and misfortune decided this year to bestow a little good luck upon author Barry Nugent and his Print on Demand novel, Fallen Heroes.
Unseen Shadows 