In looking back at the tragedy of the Titanic, my co-writer Erik James and I considered what would have happened if someone had predicted the event fifteen years before it actually happened. Think about how many people believe the predictions and prophecies we have right now about the Mayan calendar. Scientists have published proof that the prediction is almost entirely impossible, yet people still cling to the possibility.

Of course, every time a prediction proves not to be true, we all look back and remark how silly it was that we ever considered the idea. (Remember Y2K?)

The other problem with these predictions is that visions and prophecies historically have been symbolic and oftentimes vague, so the details may not make sense in a literal interpretation.

Well, what if you were the person who had the prophetic dreams? What if you were given the knowledge that something terrible might happen, but you might be able to stop it? Those were the questions we set out to answer in Titanic Sinking: Episode 1.

Of course, a straight re-telling of the Titanic would leave the conclusion of the story a little obvious, so we’re mixing things up a bit. Titanic Sinking takes place in a storytelling world of Erik’s creation, complete with enemies who enjoy seeing mankind suffer. Can dreams and prophecies help man avoid the same troubles we experienced in our world? Who can say? (Not me. That wouldn’t be any fun.)

As always, I’m thrilled to have the artistic stylings of John Davis (also my partner on Dark Heritage) on the cover art. He does fantastic work.

Check out Titanic Sinking, on sale today in Amazon and coming soon to the iBookstore.

But after seeing what John can do with a book cover, I’m totally spoiled.

John Davis and I work together on the horror comic Dark Heritage, and he did a huge favor for me with a new design of book 1 and the design for book 2 (Indebted Army, which launches today!).

Part 2 of the Indebted series picks up from the cliffhanger ending of part 1 and amps everything up a few degrees. One of my favorite parts of writing for this episode was the idea of writing about Nashville, one of the key settings in this story. I haven’t lived in Nashville since college (eons ago), and it was fun to reflect on some of my favorite parts of the city.

If you haven’t been to Nashville, you really should check it out. Broadway is a blast, and you’d be surprised at the diversity of music that comes out of a city so closely identified with country music.

As far as I can recall, they did not have to deal with any sort of alien attacks like the characters in The Indebted Army, but I can’t say for certain.

The best part of the creative process for part 2 of this series was the formation of my art and editorial team. Between John’s fantastic covers and my wife Rebecca’s patience and editing, the series can now move ahead full steam. Now that I don’t have to worry about the art or about careless writing showing up in the final draft, I’ve set a schedule to get each of the following episodes out every other week. So, you can expect part 3 by the end of March, and the whole story will be wrapped up by the end of May.

This new schedule would be entirely impossible without the help of John and Rebecca, so thank you both!

For the rest of you, The Indebted Army is out today. Why are you still reading this?

Until the Debt’s Been Paid is my first title on Amazon as the sole writer. I had the chance to participate as a co-writer for the story Ninety to Nothing, but Until the Debt’s Been Paid is an updated, expanded version of a story I wrote while living in Charlotte, NC. I noticed the piece of art that’s shown there in the picture several times while living in the Queen City, and I was always fascinated with it. I mean, just look at it. That piece is dying to be part of a science fiction story, right?

With the ease of use of the Amazon Kindle and the growing market, I’m thrilled to be able to tell the full story of Indebted. We’ll see Steve Murphy come a long way from the corporate manager that he starts out as.

For now, start the seven-part saga of “Indebted” with me by reading Until the Debt’s Been Paid.

I’ve been trying different websites and publishing ideas for probably the last four or five years now, but I don’t think I’ve ever been as pumped about a new idea as this one.

Revive Your Creativity is more than just a platform for me to write down my ideas. It’s meant to be a connecting point for a new community.

During my time working for churches and in several conversations that I’ve had over the years, I have heard people express the idea that they are not creative enough to pull off whatever artistic vision they have. It’s as if, somehow, that person could unlock some hidden chamber in his or her heart and then be able to live out some meaningful purpose.

Creativity becomes the mystical, overly-complicated ideal that we can never attain if we do not keep regularly practicing it.

You’ve probably heard before how we’re all creative as children but we lose momentum along the way. Part of that decrease in creativity is due to societal pressures and part of it is simply due to the fact that we stop exercising that “muscle” of creativity. Falling out of the habit of creativity leaves us feeling as though we’ll never be able to re-capture that freedom again.

Revive Your Creativity will specifically focus on helping individuals learn to practice again in the field of creative writing. Whether it’s fiction writing, screenwriting, writing comics or whatever, writing is a perfectly accessible way for anyone to re-kindle creative expression.

I’ll work to bring you resources on writing and creativity, but we’ll discuss it in terms of people learning to get back into regular practice. If you need expert discussion on the exact nuances of metaphors in historical fiction, then you’ll need to go to a different site. Revive Your Creativity is more focused on helping people unlock the creativity they didn’t know they possessed.

If any of this stirs anything in your creative heart, I invite you to check out the new site about writing and creativity. I’m really pouring myself into this one, and I honestly feel that it could be immensely helpful to people.

The official launch date for the site is February 28th, 2012. I hope to see you there!

Since comics are rather time consuming, we also have The Dark Heritage blog, which features everything from cool comics and art to (real-life) news of the supernatural and weird. We enjoy the discussion and invite you to be a part of it.

Keep on the lookout for future fiction stories to pop up in ebook format on the website and on Amazon!