As you've stated, this was a good way to flash back towards the beginning of the book and refresh/reseed some of the ongoing story elements. A little prequel action at the act break. Now, I don't exactly remember when SDC was founded, and I don't feel like scrolling 60+ chapters to find that - 1963? - but Callahan's "Feels like it was put together in the 60s" reads odd to me in 1971. It's like in 2021 saying, "that's SO 2018," but that type of "a couple years ago is old" thinking is an offshoot of our digital age and speed of communications. The 70's was a time when shows from 10/20 years before would be in heavy rerun rotation and general cultural change still felt slower. (I could be overlooking sociological factors from Max-Earth contact here). Still, if SDC dates to the 50's maybe change Callahan's line to "50's" or to something like "Feels like the place hasn't been changed since day one?"
Note taken about the '60s' comment. I've tweaked that to be '50s'. Played around with a few different variants, but that seemed like the simplest fix. The idea was more that it just felt like it needed some care and a lick of paint, rather than it being a decade-specific style comment - but I think it works better now either way.
I've heard from one reader that this chapter was in fact their entry point to the story, and they've now gone back and not only started reading from the start but also became a paid subscriber. So I guess my thought that this could be a good intro worked better than expected!
I've just realized I've not commented on the most recent chapter, so I'll get to that after the Amazon review I'm about to write for this optimistic book about the end of the world.
Oh, I'd stopped looking at this sort of thing after you'd said that Substack was doing better with the "Next Chaper" button, but this chapter doesn't have one, so I went back into my email to grab the link for Chapter 66. You may want to do another pass for those. Make your new "from the top" reader's life easier.
I don't even remember when I hopped on at this point, but I feel like I know John Callihan more now. Seemed like a decent fella.
He was clearly supposed to be the lead character, but then got his head chopped off.
As you've stated, this was a good way to flash back towards the beginning of the book and refresh/reseed some of the ongoing story elements. A little prequel action at the act break. Now, I don't exactly remember when SDC was founded, and I don't feel like scrolling 60+ chapters to find that - 1963? - but Callahan's "Feels like it was put together in the 60s" reads odd to me in 1971. It's like in 2021 saying, "that's SO 2018," but that type of "a couple years ago is old" thinking is an offshoot of our digital age and speed of communications. The 70's was a time when shows from 10/20 years before would be in heavy rerun rotation and general cultural change still felt slower. (I could be overlooking sociological factors from Max-Earth contact here). Still, if SDC dates to the 50's maybe change Callahan's line to "50's" or to something like "Feels like the place hasn't been changed since day one?"
Apparently I never replied to your comment!
Note taken about the '60s' comment. I've tweaked that to be '50s'. Played around with a few different variants, but that seemed like the simplest fix. The idea was more that it just felt like it needed some care and a lick of paint, rather than it being a decade-specific style comment - but I think it works better now either way.
I've heard from one reader that this chapter was in fact their entry point to the story, and they've now gone back and not only started reading from the start but also became a paid subscriber. So I guess my thought that this could be a good intro worked better than expected!
Awesome sauce!
I've just realized I've not commented on the most recent chapter, so I'll get to that after the Amazon review I'm about to write for this optimistic book about the end of the world.
Oh, I'd stopped looking at this sort of thing after you'd said that Substack was doing better with the "Next Chaper" button, but this chapter doesn't have one, so I went back into my email to grab the link for Chapter 66. You may want to do another pass for those. Make your new "from the top" reader's life easier.