Avarice Desperation Valley

Most of us long to “Be” but when the path gets too costly, or steep, we take solace in what we “Have.” Remove the trappings of what we own, and then what is the sum of us?

They were the survivors, abandoned by the allies who swore to protect, in the ultimate gesture of greed and betrayal. Their world plunged into annihilation and chaos. With the passage of years in this blighted landscape order was established anew. Those who had been anonymous before the war found their will to rule, those who had experienced the comforts and ease of western life, thrust into darkness and despair.

This brutal conflict had awoken those long sleeping, those who had ceased to care, those of immense power, the ones entrusted with the safe keeping of the often volatile mankind. Although their parallel world too was at risk, lethargy and arrogance ruled them.

Against the backdrop of this savage landscape the saga of three such tribes of survivors unfold, and the unwitting chosen among them. One tribe sought to prosper via savagery, one by organized military might, and the other who ruled with no more than fairness and love. Three tribes thrown together, competing for the limited resources to survive, in a world teetering on the brink of total decimation. Driven by human avarice.

I began work on the Avarice series at a time in my life when I had stifled my impulse to draw, as it was necessary to work to pay the bills. I found I could still have the time to sit and write in between my work, and the pictures still had to get out. So I began to experiment with painting with words. Being profoundly dyslexic made words a difficult medium for me. So religiously I tried to improve my work by reading classic literature, not so much reading the story component, but instead dissecting how it was written.

The initial manuscript was begun on scrap paper. The maps in my book were also hastily scribbled on to the same materials as you can plainly see. (You can even see if you look carefully, my beloved and long deceased dog Devil in the upper right corner of map two. He was just a pup then.) This was a very messy affair for me, and with my dyslexic difficulties almost impossible to make sense of. Yet I persisted.

On the purchase of my first computer I felt as if I had been given wings. The word program helped me to spell, and it was wonderful to be able to type random things down and later assemble them in a coherent order. Though the initial transfer of my dog eared manuscript was painful to compose, the computer was the best thing writing wise that had ever happened to me.

Avarice in many ways is the sum of all things. It's about locations I have visited, things I have felt, desired, and experienced. Avarice has traversed in its creation many years of my life. From its inception when I was still a child, creating an imaginary world. To taking years of my adult life to commit to words.

Being an artist I feel blessed to also be able to bring my tale alive with my own images. Something I am sure very few authors have the luxury of.

My grandfather had a wonderful way with telling stories, and in his stead I have simply decided to do the same. I do hope you enjoy reading Avarice as much as I have loved writing it. This book for me is all things, and if I only have one story to tell I'm glad it is the one I have chosen to write.