What almost was and what happened instead

dueeast on June 4, 2019

I think this is the longest between updates there ever has been…and no, there are no new comic pages coming. For the small percentage of people who might recall this comic or gets its updates, I did feel like posting this. It's quite overdue and I apologize for that. For those who read this, you get a MEGA-update!

Those of you who kept in touch through social media know this already but bear with me. Shortly, I will get to things I haven't relayed before. In 2013 during Nanowrimo, I started writing a Christian fiction novel called MINDFIRE. It was based on characters and story elements from my very first superhero comic from 1980. I finished the first draft within three weeks but it took a couple of years to edit it properly. In 2015, I started writing a completely unrelated science-fantasy novel called Jordan's World. In 2016, I self-published MINDFIRE on Amazon.

Then in February 2018, I participated in a Twitter event called #FaithPitch, where I had 280 characters to pitch the Jordan's World novel to agents and editors. I got a response and submitted the manuscript to Ambassador International, a Christian publisher. Within two days, they contacted me and offered me a contract for Jordan's World. A week later, they offered me a contract for MINDFIRE after reading it. A few weeks after that, they offered me contracts for the two other Jordan books without even seeing the manuscripts. In the last year, I've completed those books and am working on more.

I had some other projects I considered for novels. One of them was the Due East Chronicles. I even made a logo for it (as you saw).

I pondered novelizing the original DE comics and then moving forward with story elements that hadn't been resolved - such as Deon's inner conflict, a romantic subplot between Phira and new character Brendan, Crystal's reaction to Brielle's newfound Christianity and quite a bit more. There was a lot of potential there.

However, after more than a year of mulling over ideas, I finally decided against it. These stories inspired me and my wife, Angel, as early as 2003 and as late as 2009. As those of you followed along know well, I went through a lot of medical problems between 2008 and 2009. I was hospitalized several times, had one surgery and was on a lot of pain medications. And those medications wreaked some serious havoc on my brain, more or less disrupting my creativity on a regular basis. Worse, I was in constant pain. So I could relieve my pain and disrupt my creativity or suffer. Ultimately, I stopped all of the prescription meds and eventually had a surgery that saved my life in December 2012.

All during that time, the inspiration for Due East had been fading. The main story had always been with Brielle and Carolyn. The other characters were a wonderful support and offered contrast and insights into their lives. But when Brielle's story reached its zenith, so did Due East. I think I fought against that in ignorance until I could accept the truth: Due East had an excellent run. I'm proud of what we accomplished. But it's been done for a long time.

I had to learn how to make the transition from writing comics to writing novels. I suppose it was inevitable that as I got better at novels, my time and focus on comics would diminish. Now it's more or less gone. And that's okay. I love writing novels! Below is my new logo:



A few more updates:

My wife, kids and I are well (as you can see):


Feel free to stop by my website at https://allensteadham.com

I also am on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

I'll also be dropping in on comics and maybe even the Forum here on the Duck. Sorry I've been a stranger for so long. I'll try to change that.

Thanks for everything!

- Allen aka dueeast