THE BURNING WORLD is finished

Last weekend I read a book that I've read dozens of times already. Usually when I read this book, I get angry and dismayed and I want to change things about it, but yesterday I had a strange experience. I finished the book, and I didn't want to change anything. I read the last page and I thought, “You know what? It works. That was a damn good book." And then I sent that book to my publisher and said, “Publish this!"

THE BURNING WORLD update

Publishing is one of the slowest art industries because books are one of the slowest artforms. While films--even massive, globe-spanning blockbusters--can be shot in a few months, novels typically take several years to write, and while a film can be experienced in two hours and passed from person to person to reach hundreds of viewers in a matter of days, a book moves slowly. A book requires weeks or months between each link in the chain. It requires deep investments of time and attention. It doesn't travel virally on a surge of impulse clicks. A book demands a committed relationship. It's laughably ill-suited to the modern age.

WARM BODIES - THE NEW HUNGER - THE BURNING WORLD - THE LIVING

A few months ago, I told you I'd finished the sequel to Warm Bodies. I told you I was calling it The Living, and then I retreated into the editing cave to read what I had wrought. It was the first time I'd experienced the whole story as one piece, and upon reaching the end, I had a realization:

This wasn't the single mammoth tome I thought I'd written. In structure, rhythm, and theme, it was actually two books.

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