Are you ready to get in on a closely guarded best-selling-author secret of success?

Yeah. Me, too. Maybe the ghost of John le Carré will post something in the comments.

In the meantime, I will confess that Maroli Tango’s early-draft first chapters were nothing like what you’re reading here. Not to say the audience will never see them — it was great material, only in the wrong place, too slow for an opening salvo.

And so, I’ve been chapter-shuffling for weeks, moving my tastiest prose toward the front of the book, and guess what?

Maroli Tango is the last volume of a trilogy, concluding a massive story arc. If I lead with explosions, readers will say, “Who are these people, and why should I care what happens to them?”

I tried the old swapparoo — heads roll, flashback. My first readers went for it, but they’ve read the other books. You and I have not built that kind of relationship.

Yet.

Chapter 4

AMV Anuraga, The Dust Cloud

Residential Deck 41, also known as Tourist Deck A, was busy-busy.

The outer ring bustled with hospitality staff, the middle ring a spawning ground for linen buggies, the central column festive with open stateroom doors and maroli cabin stewards wearing adhesive bowties.

Mason did not expect to see his workmate Chester waiting on the threshold at 4137, a two-bedroom, deck level patio suite.

Continue reading “Serialize This — Chapter 4” →