šµIntroducing: The Blue Beaconšµ
In which I begin telling adventure stories starring animals and Oregon.
Today Iām launching The Blue Beacon, the first in a series of adventure novels called The Cascadia Chronicles which I hope to build on through the rest of my career.
The Blue Beacon is inspired by a lot of cool stories, but mainly by Redwall, the middle-reader series closest to my heart as a boy. Through grand adventures and epic feasts, British author Brian Jacques wove a world of brave mice, brawling otters, and thickly-accented moles in which I wanted to live. We (including my brother and cousins) obsessed over those tales.
But for all the joy I found in Mossflower Forest, Redwall Abbey, and Salamandastron, I also couldnāt help wonder how the Redwall universe would look set in my stretch of the world. We had otters and mice and weasels, too, but we also had more varied terrain and so many other unique creatures besides: coyotes, grizzly bears, moose, and possums.
Basically, I wondered: What if Redwall was set in Oregon?
So the seeds were planted way back then and the details filled in like saplings. Then the branches flowered and the trunks filled out out into more of a orchard, and now the fruit from my decades-long imaginary wandering is ready for harvest.
Well, almost ready. Thereās still work to do, but now thereās a deadline to chase. The time has come to make this happen. I hope you will join me! Here is the first post of this journey:
Now, certain business-minded friends have implied multiple Substacks is a bit confusing, and I hear that! Like, why not just publish the novel through the Green Room?
The short answer is the Green Roomās readership is mostly not 8-12 year-old middle readers! While I hope everyone enjoys these stories, the audience is distinct enough that The Cascadia Chronicles needed their own space. Still, Iām sorry for the hassle and confusion! You can subscribe to The Cascadia Chronicles here:
Some other good questions are:
What are your goals here?
Why not find a publisher, or print your own copies?
Whatās the deal with serialization?
Here are some answers:
To build on the beginnings of a readership; to complete a final draft; to earn a decent wage for my labor; and, if the story is up to snuff, to find the right publishers to carry The Cascadia Chronicles on to a wider audience.
Through Substack and other avenues, like Royal Road, I can share with readers, and also show publishers what Iām up to while maintaining a high degree of creative control. When the work is finished, print copies can still easily be made. Also, Iām not a big enough whale yet to sell this series on my own, but if I build an eager readership, Iāll be harder to ignore.
Serializing novelsāreleasing chapters at a time over months or yearsāgrew into an immensely popular practice in the early 1800s. Writers as varied as Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Hunter S. Thompson all made names through serialized stories. In an era of memed attention spans, maybe weāre due for a revival?
In a less literary sense, I hope to evoke that feeling of mornings around the kitchen table with family and the comics page. I loved reading Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side along with my bowl of Just Right, and I relished starting my day with an ongoing story to consider.
So thatās the plan for the next couple months. Iām just hoping to work my butt off building up this little writinā empire, and Iāll be checking in here every so often. You can also follow along with @JordanGreenWords on Instagram for a video journal of the process.
Thank you, reader, for encouraging my writing life and carrying me to this point. Iām deeply grateful for you and I hope to make you proud with these books.