All right then, so I’m going to have a go at belting out something that might approach an idea I’ve been toying with: to write fictional commentaries on my next novel, The Killer and The Dead.

Now before you decide I have disappeared entirely up my own fundament, TKATD is structured as a first person narrative with a framing device of a prisoner being forced to tell the story of what he did before being captured, and why he thinks he ended up in the chair he finds himself in at the opening of the tale. Furthermore, his story, being told into darkness, is being listened to by an unknown number of apprentices, who are instructed by their master that they must write reports based on the story the prisoner, and that the worst three reports will result in their writers being culled, whatever that may mean.

Of course, the final products will be appendices, therefore placed after the action of the book, so can be fruitfully riddled with spoilers. Indeed, half the point is to show the same events within the book looked at through multiple lenses. Well maybe not half, but it does feel like an interesting avenue to explore.

So, the plan is to write a non-spoilery version of one of those reports, or at least perhaps the apprentice’s rough draft – their life may depend upon this piece of writing, so I’d imagine they would look to polish it up!

And this is where the power went out last night. Or rather, my screen died, flickered, flickered, flickered, really died at the start of the previous paragraph. I sat in darkness and waited. No joy. Gave up, went to bed by kindlelight.

Tonight. I pinkie swear.