Carpe Diem is Now Permanently FREE!
After weeks and weeks of badgering Amazon about my short story being free elsewhere, they finally got the clue and now the second story to have ever been published by me is now PERMANENTLY FREE!
I thought that in celebration I’d give a more in-depth look into this story and its history. It was written years ago without the intention of ever publishing it. It was actually a challenge from my friend James (the namesake of the main character of this story) who wanted me to write something about the afterlife.
The challenge was to create an idea of what the afterlife could be that hasn’t been done before. It was just a little game we did, and once done we both were happy with how it came out. Fast forward a few months, I had already published my first short story The Fox In The Field and was still in the midst of writing my debut novel, Dehumanized. I was dying to get something else out there to help garner interest in my work. They say the best kind of strike is preemptive. So, I went through my collection of works and of course this story stuck out the most.
At the time the title was Seize The Day, and it actually was a few pages less than what it is now. Calling up my buddy James, as he was so far the only person to have ever read the story, we went through an intense discussion on what could be done to improve this story’s quality. Obviously going through edits was first on the list, which was a fairly simple task. We also discussed lengthening it a bit, adding in more areas where the main character would visit to spice up the story. That whole process took about two weeks; adding scenes, deleting scenes, debating on the validity of dialogue, and overall stressing if this story would even make it.
Once everything was done, we also decided that the name was a bit cliche, so I decided to make it Carpe Diem, as it is the Latin word for ‘Seize the Day.”
Once everything was done, all that was needed was the cover art. At the time, I didn’t know anyone who could make a professional cover art, so I had my cousin draw up a piece for me to scan and upload. Once I had Dehumanized out there and I was making friends with other writers and cover artists, I got my friend Emma Michaels to create the AMAZING cover you see above! No offense to my cousin, but this cover is more appropriate. 
It’s been over a year and a half since I officially published Carpe Diem, and now it’s completely free for all to read. I sincerely hope you take the time to download, read, and review it to let me know what you honestly thought.
I hope you enjoy it!