Some years, The Event comes to completion as smooth as butter. Other years, it's a dramatic struggle every minute and every page. With Wreckage, it was absolutely an example of the former. Maybe it's because I gave the project room to breathe ... we had more than a year lead-up to the publication. Maybe it's because the premise itself was short and to-the-point rather than a detailed set-up. For whatever reason, Wreckage was smooth-sailing.

 

The cover, though, is an interesting story. I really wasn't sold on what image to use but had narrowed it down to two. So, throughout the creation of the manuscript itself, I continued working on both covers side by side. Adjusting typography on one. Adjusting coloring on the other. When a final story had been presented, I would update the author list and the description on the back cover on both files. Finally, at the 11th hour, with the interior totally done, I went a completely different direction. The wreckage BEFORE it was the wreckage. The doomed airliner speeding across the skies trailing smoke and flames behind it. Dramatic. Makes you want to find out what's going on.

 

Perfect.

 

It's a striking wraparound, as you can see. And the four stories contained within match it in its simplicity.

 

The Event: Wreckage.

 

200 miles from Prudhomme, New Mexico, a group of urban explorers were filming the latest installment of their popular web series. The star of this episode was the decaying corpse of a crashed airplane in the middle of nowhere. They found no traces of casualties and could track down no survivor accounts anywhere online. A plane that never existed. A wreck that never happened.

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DETAILS

Published: 5/28/2022

Total Volume: 312 pages, 78,258 words

Contributors:

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Steve Metcalf - The Swamp Man (20,539)

Robert S. Miller - The Stowaway from Juarez (17,952)

J.C. Skala - Quantum: The Time-Traveling, Zombie-Killing Ninja in the Wild West (31,265)

Alicia Copeland - Control (5,059)

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