Moving on down to Royal Road…
This is a bit of full circle for me in a way. When I was 19, I moved from the suburbs outside my hometown of New Orleans into the city proper, as it were And never one to do things half-way, I set up digs in an apartment at a complex my uncle owned in the back of the French Quarter.
That apartment was on Royal Street, corner with Barracks. I assume the other thoroughfare had something to do with the city’s colonial past as a French/Spanish outpost.
This being 1988, such a move was exactly what you might think - pretty soon, I was up to my tender young neck in ill-lit alleyways, egotistical rock-n-roll excess, and occasionally twenty-four-seven debauchery. The Quarter was a war zone of the body and spirit, a place that tested both sanity and the ability to function without sleep (although - given the number of gay delis in the neighborhood - never without excellent food). Artistically (and, at the time, music was my primary bent), I learned about punk, noise, bop and free jazz, industrial, gospel, and incorporated all of it into my perspective.
And it wasn’t just the tunes - you couldn’t walk down the street without soaking up some amazing new cultural influence in those days. I mean, where else could you learn about French film, drag shows, Noam Chomsky, Zen Buddhism, and the finer points of ordering off the sushi menu, all on a busboy’s budget?
I discovered some stuff about girls, too, both good and bad. Although, having lived this long, it’s been my experience that a gentleman never asks… but he also never tells. It’s bad form and bad luck to talk about old girlfriends.
It was a heady time, and grist for many of my stories. My only real regret are the old friends and faces that didn’t live through those days. Some were going for a quick exit, but most deserved more time on the clock. I hope to meet them again someday, hopefully under more Celestial circumstances.
So, what does all this have to do with Royal Road? Simply put, I’ve decided that the best way to get the public my fiction is to give at least some of it away for free. Use this link to connect to my Royal Road account: Royal Road.
I’m also setting up a Patreon, which you can check out here: https://www.patreon.com/c/CEHigginsAuthor
The first of these stories is going to be seven chapters, and it’s titled: Kenny and the Drowning Citadel. The idea is that someone can log into Royal Road, check out the stories, say nice things about them online, and then come back the next time more stuff is up. But there’s a larger agenda at work, too - this first tale (told in chapter installments which will hopefully be available soon as the RR genies give their stamp of approval) will connect with others which are already in the works, from the writing to the plotting stages.
Eventually, the Patreon supports the publishing and audiobooks I intend as part of this new project. That’s the plan, anyway.
More details coming soon - watch this space!
