Intrigued by Todd Sharp’s portrait of an angst-ridden Jonny Guess featured on the cover of Chapter 9, a friend asked if each issue contains a stand-alone story, or if he’d need to read all eight back-issues before finally learning about the long-haired dude in the purple coat. Well, “The Elect Stories” is a single narrative, but if you, like my intrigued friend, want to know a shortcut (to mushrooms, as it were) here it is: go back and read Chapter 4, which features Bella Berholtz’s portrait of a middle-aged Guess grinding his way through a bad trip. Chapter 9 picks up where Chapter 4 leaves off, continuing the story of Guess’ new job breaking into a wizard’s crypt, as well as the story seen in Guess’ flashbacks: his first encounter with the swordsman called Palm. While all the chapters in between are needed if you want to meet the rest of the ensemble and fully understand the larger saga, you just need those two if all you want is a new Guess adventure and fast. (You know who you are.)
Doubling back
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SPOILER ALERT? “Previously On…” A Fast Refresher Before Chapter 8
John Crye, , Announcement, News, Story, 0
“The Elect Stories” is back! After a pause to catch up on our paperback releases, brand new chapters are...
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Ever Get That Sync-ing Feeling? (Ch. 2 Gets An X-Ray)
John Crye, , BTS, Exploring The World, News, 0
One of the cool benefits of publishing via Amazon Kindle is that the work can be revised or corrected...
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Parallel Lines: Past and Present
John Crye, , BTS, Developing The Story, Story, 0
Some readers expressed surprise when “The Elect Stories” made a leap of twenty years from chapter one to chapter...
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Happy New Year!
John Crye, , Announcement, News, 1
“The Elect Stories” is about many things, but one central theme is the importance of both beginnings and endings....
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Writers Read
John Crye, , BTS, Designing The World, Story, Thoughts, 0
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and...
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Time To Talk About The F Word Again
John Crye, , BTS, Designing The Characters, Developing The Story, 0
I love talking about the stories and answering reader questions. There’s one question that my beta readers asked that...
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Why is it so hot in the valley?
Todd Sharp, , BTS, The Circle, 0
We spent the afternoon at AJS Costumes, picking out wardrobe for an upcoming photo shoot for The Elect Stories....