The Marked - Chapter 1

A Vagabond Vigilante Leaps to the Defense of a Damsel in Distress...

Housekeeping

Unlike my political commentary, my fiction is premium content open to paid subscribers only. Fiction and poetry are my true passions, and that is where I think the real value of my offerings in this space truly lie. I am putting my efforts where my mouth is with regard to my previous article about my frustrations with the Republican Party, and I am committing to buckling down and producing one chapter of this novel per week until I finish it, at which time, I will make final cleanup, compile it all, and then seek a means to publish it.

I will give you a blurb before the text to draw you in, and then, if you want to read the rest, you need to subscribe. This is merely an online equivalent of the blurb on the back of paperbacks to get you to buy the book off the shelves at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.

Since all I have to recognize my paid subscribers is gratitude, from here on out, I am going to present shoutouts to my paid subscribers. If you have a Substack publication presence here, my shoutout will include a link to your page and encouragement for my subscribers to check out your space and subscribe to your content. So, without further ado, shoutouts:

Monthly Paid Subscribers

Annual Paid Subscribers

Jeremy Pace

Founding Paid Subscribers

John Poe

Special Gratitude

Holly Mathnerd extended my exposure from a circulation of six subscribers to 30 in April. For that, I will be forever grateful, as I value the extended reach highly.

Additional Note

I will be offering various compensation programs for helping to spread the word by the end of this weekend. I have a couple of tiers in mind:

• One week free subscription for every free subscriber I get from your recommendation of share.

• One month free subscription for every monthly paid subscription I get from your recommendation or share.

• One month free subscription and a shoutout of gratitude for a yearly paid subscription I get from your recommendation or share.

• Two months free subscription and a shoutout of gratitude for a founding subscriber I get from your recommendation or share.

This is all subject to change as I gauge the results of these programs.

Now, on to the first chapter of The Marked.

Blurb

Marked to wander the earth alone, isolated, hated by everyone he meets, Adam McCain seeks one simple thing: that the Creator who Marked him for such a desolate existence would lift the curse that forces him into the shadows. McCain is not a hero. He never wanted to be. He just wants to have a life that isn’t so empty, and he just wants God to stop hating him.