Hello there! Happy holidays to you all. Today is Christmas Eve, for those who celebrate, and I thought it would be nice to give you a short break. You're probably hard at work cleaning the house before guests arrive. Or maybe you're wrapping last minute presents. Whatever you're doing, take a short break and take a short read. I've got something fun for you today. As you may know, my upcoming novel Deserted is about a group of urban explorers who get trapped in an evil, abandoned town. They don't know what, or whom, to trust as they look for a way to escape. But what you might not know is, the book was inspired by a real trip to some abandoned places with my good friend, Josh. Pictured below is the actual abandoned neighborhood we were visiting when the idea sprouted. It was an eerie and interesting place to be. A whole neighborhood had simply up and left. It was like something straight out of The Walking Dead. Every minute we spent there, I thought I might see a zombie shamble around the corner. As we explored, which you can find video of over on his YouTube channel here, we started talking about how creepy it would be if something terrible happened. We joked how crazy it would be if we left the neighborhood and went to lunch, only to find ourselves magically back at the neighborhood and unable to leave, much like the movie 1408. And the idea was planted in my mind. As you can see above, we found a door riddled with bullet holes. Nothing more than bored gun owners out for target practice. But our imaginations turned it into what if questions. What if something was loose in the neighborhood? What if they were trying to keep something out? What if there was some creature stalking the place? We had a lot of fun with that. But that wasn't the only abandoned place Josh and I explored which helped fuel the fire for this book. Possibly my favorite place was an abandoned apartment building on the water. It was beautiful and relaxing. Not good material for a suspense novel, I know. But it did help me get into the mindset of urban explorers and, in fact, inspired the opening scene. Without giving too much away, in the first couple chapters of my book the urban explorers are on the roof of an abandoned hospital. The roof is crumbling and dangerous. However, the two carry forward. One of them falls through the roof and nearly to their death but manage to climb back up. Now, neither of us fell through the floor at the above location. However, Josh did make it to the roof while I stayed on the ground and I started to wonder what would happen if he fell through the roof or the floor? How would I get to him to help? What would I do? And thus, the scene was born. If you want to see more footage of the abandoned apartment building, check that out here. Both days were amazing adventures and I was so glad to be a part of them. I can't thank Josh enough for allowing me to tag along and helping to inspire the idea that is becoming Deserted. I'm still writing the book but it will be available to read next year. I promise you that. If you want to be informed on its progress and when it will be available, consider signing up for my newsletter here.
I'll let you get back to your preparations for Christmas now. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the journey. Because that's what life is, a journey. And sometimes you have to explore a little and move out of your comfort zone in order to make something special. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
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ABOUT BONDTo cover up his search history, Evan Bond is a thriller/suspense author. As an outdoor enthusiast and horror lover, Evan Bond enjoys writing stories where the two come together. He lives in Florida with his wife and two sons. |