As if…
A few days ago, I wrote a rather lengthy explanation detailing where I’ve been, what I’ve been working on, and why I’ve seemingly vanished into the wilderness armed only with a laptop, caffeine, and a series of increasingly questionable life choices.
The short version was simple:
I’ve been writing.
A lot.
Since I’ve already spent several thousand words explaining myself, I figured it was time to put my efforts where my mouth is and actually show you what all that work has produced.
Today, I’m excited to announce that Concrete & Ruin, the first book in the new Fallen World Series, is officially available.
I’ve been sitting on this one for a while. Not because it wasn’t ready, but because I wanted to build something bigger than a single release. What started as one book quickly became two. Then three. Then four. Somewhere along the way I lost control of the project entirely, and it evolved into something much larger than I originally intended.
You know… like most of my fictional worlds.
Set within the As the Light Dies universe, Concrete & Ruin follows survivors trying to navigate the aftermath of a devastating CME that strips away everything people take for granted. Electricity. Security. Stability. The comforting illusion that somebody else is going to show up and solve the problem.
Turns out nobody is coming.
Which makes for great fiction, if somewhat concerning life advice.
What I love most about this story isn’t the disaster itself. It’s what comes after. It’s watching ordinary people discover what they’re willing to do when survival stops being a theory and becomes a daily reality. It’s about family, faith, sacrifice, and the uncomfortable realization that sometimes doing the right thing and keeping the people you love alive aren’t necessarily the same thing.
In other words, it’s exactly the sort of cheerful, uplifting material you’ve come to expect from me.
The response so far has been fantastic, and seeing readers finally getting their hands on this story after spending so much time living inside it has been incredibly rewarding.
What makes this release even more exciting, though, is knowing what’s waiting right behind it.
Unlike many of my previous projects where readers had to patiently wait while I disappeared into the writing cave to produce the next installment, this time I managed to get a little ahead of myself.
And by “a little,” I mean three additional books.
That’s right. While I’ve been suspiciously absent from social media and generally behaving like a cave-dwelling cryptid, I’ve been building this series.
Books 2 & 3 are complete and moving through the edits with book 4 hot on their heels. But somewhere around book three, I realized I wasn’t simply writing a series anymore.
I was building another world.
The scary part is that even after four books, I can already see where the story goes next. New characters keep appearing and demanding attention. Entire corners of the world keep opening up every time I think I’ve reached the edge of the map.
So if you’re wondering whether Fallen World ends with these four books, the answer is simple:
No.
Not even close.
The survivors still have a long road ahead of them. And unfortunately for them, I have plenty of terrible things planned.
Of course, while all of this has been happening, I haven’t forgotten about Fire & Ash.
In fact, new chapters of Year of Ruin continue to drop here on Patreon, and I’ve been having an absolute blast returning to that world.
One of the things I’ve always loved about Fire & Ash is how large it feels. Every settlement has a history and its secrets. Every road seems to lead to another story waiting to be told. Year of Ruin has allowed me to explore another corner of that wasteland, and I’ve loved watching readers speculate about what’s coming next. But this one?!?! In the second year we hear from our young adults and find some Dystopian vibes…and it continues long into the future with a book fully written and edited at year 83.
The funny thing about writing is that readers often think I know where every story is headed.
Sometimes I do.
Other times the characters decide they’d rather ignore my plans entirely and charge directly toward chaos and given my track record, you can probably guess which version happens most often.
And if that wasn’t enough…
Of course, apparently writing apocalyptic universes and new series launch wasn’t enough to keep me occupied. Which brings me to Ward 7.
Now before anyone starts checking my temperature, no—I haven’t abandoned the apocalypse. The wasteland still has my heart. But every now and then a story comes along that refuses to stay quiet, and Ward 7 has been doing exactly that.
What’s interesting about it is that it takes me into darker territory than readers are used to seeing from me. A different kind of dark. The kind where you start questioning what is real, who can be trusted, and whether the thing behind the locked door is actually the thing you should be afraid of. [Probably been binging too much Criminal Minds is what it is]
My apocalypse novels ask what happens when the world falls apart. Ward 7 asks what happens when reality itself starts to feel unreliable.
And honestly? That’s a pretty terrifying question.
I won’t say too much yet, but I will leave you with this: When Lily is transferred to Ward 7, she hopes it will be her final stop before freedom. Instead, she finds herself trapped in a place where the staff seem to be hiding something, the patients are afraid to talk, and every answer raises a more disturbing question.
More on that one soon to be releasing in the next week or so.
For now, thank you.
Whether you’ve been reading my books for years, joined me through Fire & Ash, found your way here through preparedness and self-reliance, or simply enjoy watching fictional people endure catastrophically bad days, I’m grateful you’re here.
Your support allows me to keep building worlds, telling stories, and occasionally disappearing into the writing cave long enough to emerge carrying several completed manuscripts and a caffeine dependency that should probably concern someone.
The world may have ended.
But the stories are just getting started.
— DJ Cooper
I do have a couple of extras for you to check out between books!!! Just give the image a click to see what’s behind each one (plus it says I’m doing my job and sharing if you check em out).
