If I Only had No Heart is Heading to The Vault!
The 2016 If I Only Had No Heart was written for a National Novel Writing Month and follows one of the most unique ideas I’ve ever had. It’s a bloody sword-and-sorcery fantasy focused on an awakened machine main character. And, what’s more, it’s currently available for free on the blog.
Quick summary to tease them tastebuds:
Spirit, an acolyte of the machine goddess, performs her duties well and still yet absorbs much torment from her superiors. Thought to be a viral creation, the android is banned from speaking with the goddess until, one day, her friend Klavdiya hands her a prayer card. Spirit hopes that the prayer card will bring her peace, but the goddess has other ideas…
However, this book won’t be free for long! Next week, the Free, Downloadable PDF of If I Only Had No Heart is going away for an unspecified amount of time (maybe even forever), so you’ll need to get it NOW if you want to read it.
Why Am I Doing This?
Though I can attest that the story itself is extremely unique and follows an intriguing plot, it hasn’t been edited quite as well as something I would like to have self or traditionally published for money. In an effort to either show only my best work, I’m taking down all serially posted novels on my website. Evolution of the Predator is already a couple months into the removal process, so get into this one while you have the chance!
Don’t Let the Vault Swallow This Quietly!
Go to the If I Only Had No Heart home page and either read each post (removal dates posted on each chapter) or download the PDF while they last.
Are there any online serials you’ve enjoyed reading? Let me know in the comments!
Cheers and happy reading!
Let Me Tell You the Story of... 
I have downloaded, though I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to read. Sound good. Didn’t want to miss it
Don’t worry about it. It’s not what I would call my “best work”, but I think it would be unfortunate if I just took it away without warning.
That’s very considerate
Thank you, HRR, I downloaded a while back!
Well, I hope you enjoy it!
I’m sure I will. It sounds like you’re doing something with it!
Are you planning to edit your books and take them further. American Chimera has so much potential. I haven’t read this one. I do read some serials on blogs, but not that many. I find the problem is that I sometimes miss posts and then I loss the thread of the story. You only post two episodes a week so that allows me to catch up when I miss and enjoy the story without feeling pressured.
American Chimera won’t be taken down for a while. I don’t know what I’m doing with it long term. Part of why I’m not sure it’s “publishable”, per se, is it’s really kind of artsy fartsy when you get past the insane premise, and the premise itself doesn’t really feel like it’d be attractive in a blurb.
I might ask for beta reading (if you *ever* have suggestions, feel free to let me know – even if publicly in a comment), but part of me thinks that this is pretty much the right home for such a weird little story.
Hi H. I think this is a great story and a brilliant idea for a book. SO original and I am very big on that. I agree that the book would require some work if you went public with it. One thing I have learned is that when you write intricate and sophisticated ideas into a story, you need to get a regular reader to read it and give you comments about how easy it is to understand for a general reader with no knowledge base. My mother does this for me and I always have to include a lot of detail about things I think are completely obvious but apparently are not to others. She is a great beta reader. I am happy to read over your stuff when you get there. I have started doing this for a few other people.
Usually I get my husband to be my “regular reader”. He couldn’t make it through this book, so I was like, “Eh, might as well put it on the blog and see what happens.” I think he made it to about… Chapter 18? We’ll see how it holds up.
And it’s good your mother helps. I have gotten my mother to read 2 things, and she didn’t like them because “too much sex.” There were zero instances of sex in either one, so I’m kind of lost on her advice to reduce it. She definitely wouldn’t make it through American Chimera.
My new book has a rape scene in it. It did disturb my mother but she did read it. She reads a lot of fantasy and some of them are quite violent. My book is about war and rape is an unfortunate bi-product of war.
It is.
I must ask, is it on-screen, or implied and off-screen?
I’ve got so many books I’m currently reading or want to read. And never enough time. While I do like the premises… my tech skills are such that I’m always afraid without help that I’d mess things up when downloading. I’m still working my way through your current Big C. And I started that half way through… With hopes one day to start at square 1.
Thanks though for the offer. I’ve got a small poetry book or two that maybe one day I could do in trade… They aren’t traditionally published either because I don’t have an agent 😉 Nor am I brave or skilled enough to want to self publish.
持续的成功 (That was through the Google translator.)
No problem. I don’t expect anyone to read these – I just know that sometimes there are lurkers on internet places that you don’t know are there, and I didn’t want to pull it suddenly, just in case. Like I said in the post, this isn’t my best work,so I wouldn’t worry about leaving it alone.
谢谢你 – 我会继续努力。
😀
祝您学习轻松
Hi H, sorry I’m late to this. I love the premise of your story, and although I’ve missed the window to download, I’m over the moon to see I’ve still time to read the chapters on your blog. I have bookmarked the page and shall return soon to start reading! 🙂
Haha – sounds good. If you want, I can email you the PDF. No promises that it’s very good – completely unedited, based off a DnD campaign, etc.
That would be fantastic, if it’s no trouble. 🙂 Do you need my email address?
Not unless it’s changed since we traded novellas. Will try to get to it tonight (but have been busy and might be this weekend)
Thanks, H. It’s the same email address as before. I’m really looking forward to reading this 🙂