Invasion of The Lovebirds?
What The Hell?

Dedication:  To Helen, Who Told Me to Write Down my Dream.
(My wife, @helenreynolds - talented artist, and my best buddy who, apart from all sorts of personal support and editorial input, has shown me how to use Substack!)

Acknowledgement and thanks are also due to my very diligent and competent editor, Joanna Neiderer of Napier NZ. (She went above and beyond to read my initial drivel, and patiently suggested many helpful changes -- mistakes that remain come from me making too many last minute changes and are not her fault!)

This is an extended yarn in the form of a serialised novel. Think of it as more or less like War & Peace set in the South Pacific. Certainly its got a lot of characters, some of them Russian, and quite a few words. So in that sense it precisely resembles Tolstoy’s work. Although I guess I should warn you that when I say “South Pacific”, we’re talking something closer to Antartica than Tahiti.

Also in the health and safety warnings department, I need to mention that it is a novel that does feature an AI based character and although it touches only lightly on world war three, it does have a couple of scenes involving egrecious violence — especially the mishandling of testicles.

Oh, and being a novel in which many of the heroes are young, healthy Kiwis, it also features quite a bit of sweet stuff about love and romance, a fair bit of swearing, and a few scenes in which body parts become desperately intertwinned. If I remember I’ll put R18 warnings on chapters that might offend those who feel delicate about sex and violence: My novel’s like life, you can mostly skip a chapter without missing too much of the plot. (But if you’re put off by foul language, weird AI’s or meetings in coffee shops, sorry - seek an another substack).

Anyway, if you want a blurb or passionate decription about the brilliance of this yarn, there is one on the page labelled “blurb”. You may also find “reviews” helpful, or even want to read the interview I had with a famous internet influencer. I’m also keen on experimenting with the possibilities of Substack to have pages that provide a bit of the back-story, and some context about Aotearoa/New Zealand and other places in thr story (e.g. places and definitions).

But shit, why read the blurb? Just dip in and figure it out yourselves.

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You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Part One is free and every chapter goes directly to your inbox. (But you can just check out the website every week if you like).

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