Life is like a bowl of cherries

   In that there's always the weird-shaped ones. Update is straightforward - working full time and dancing around finding time to write in a well-scheduled manner. I may well have to rethink weekly updates as I've only got 15000 words banked and am running in smallish circles.
   ah well, it's all about adaptability. Onwards!

And the first hurdle looms in the fog

   Not really, but bad news. My laptop's hard drive is now a briquette, so we're going to suffer a hiatus while I get another computer and reclaim my work from the cloud and the bad drive. On the plus side I very recently did full backups, both to the cloud and DVD.
    DO THIS OFTEN. That is all.

 Side Effects

Chapter One

A Fix Four novel

Copyright 2013 Michael Lane

This is a work of fiction, any resemblance, etc etc.

Rhianne dug her nails into my arm.

“Is the pilot just imitating a lawn dart or do we have a problem?”

I tried to be helpful.

“Well, we’ll know in a few seconds.”

The plane came into Spokane on a steeper angle than I liked, and I watched the desert scrub below as it came nearer and nearer, going green with a few trees and then with the patterned viridian of little lawns. The houses were older, small and shrinking away from their neighbors. I wondered if the owners ever got used to the howl of jet engines just few hundred feet over their roofs. Probably. You could get used to anything.

Side Effects, coming May 5. Apply directly to forehead.

   My name is Michael Lane and I write stuff.

   It’s almost time to embark on the weird path that is Side Effects. I thought I’d preface the first installment
with a brief explanation of what I’m doing and what you can expect.

    Side Effects will follow the career of the four odd individuals from Tokyo Pizza. It picks up more than a decade after the group’s sophomore work in Tokyo, at a time when Mark, Rhianne, Dave and Jack are established as an illegal problem-solving team that works under the name Fix Four.

    The four are not special ops. They’re professionals in their given fields, but with the exception of Dave’s fascination with explosives, none of those fields touch on lethal skills. Fix Four does not kill people to solve problems, though people do sometimes die.

    Side Effects follows the group as it takes what starts as a simple corporate espionage job for a pharmaceutical company based in eastern Washington. It’s not long before that “simple” situation is complicated by murder and treachery. When their employer and the man they stole from both show up dead, the group realizes they are the last loose end in someone’s carefully woven skein of conspiracy. The four find themselves hunted both by curious law enforcement and a murderous third party.

    To save their own skins, Mark and his band of misfits will have to solve the mystery before the powers behind the scenes retire Fix Four once and for all.

    The first installment will be released on May fifth. It’s a pay-what-you-want proposition. You’re invited to click the little Donate button in the column to the right and pay what you feel you should. You can pay once, dribble a bit as each chapter releases, or do whatever floats your boat.

    If you read and enjoy Side Effects, I encourage you to follow the blog, tweet your interest or blog about the project. It is, in its way, a very modern experiment. I’m trusting that consumers will recognize value and pay for it, and that they will tell others. Leave comments if you like. I do read them.

    So, unhook your brain, get some popcorn and don’t sweat the side effects. The FDA wasn’t worried, after all.

    Side Effects, coming May 5. Apply directly to forehead.

Side Effects portal - Serial Novel - Pay What You Want

Side Effects - the serial

    This is where the joys and wonders of Side Effects will unroll. This serialized novel - sequel to the 30-hour novel finalist Tokyo Pizza - will come out in weekly pieces, and readers are invited to pay what you think it's worth using the fabulous Donate button over on the right.
    If you feel like a chapter is worth a dollar, that's great! Or if you felt it was 25 cents of good, then do that. You can read for nothing, of course, but I trust that people understand writers have to eat, too, and a few pennies do help.
   So you enjoy the serial, what should you do? Easy. Tell people and send them here. Tweet it, blog it, scream on Tumblr, wave cardboard signs on the freeway off-ramps. It all helps. Subscribe to the blog and your email will let you know when pieces go up. It also makes me feel good.

   Expect the first chapter in May, with weekly updates planned. There will be art, too, if the gods are kind.


And lo, a provisional cover appears!

Just a general caution to all: The images, characters and text of Side Effects are all rights reserved, Copyright 2013 Michael M. Lane. That being said, none of the content will have DRM and can be exchanged free for fair use, so feel free to send a copy to a friend. All I ask is that you point them to the web site. Selling or hosting the work, or any portions thereof, is not allowed without express permission, however. As usual, you may use excerpts for review purposes and so on.


Next update: May 3 What you can expect in the upcoming weeks, in a nutshell.