Links

Text. (eSoulSearch.pdf, 1.15MB, ISBN 978-1-936204-02-1)

Audio. (SoulSearch.m4b, 548.38MB, ISBN 978-1-936204-03-8)

• Featuring "Seymour Walks" by Kid Icarus
• Part One (SoulSearchPt1.zip, 49.09MB)
• Part Two (SoulSearchPt2.zip, 42.82MB)
• Part Three (SoulSearchPt3.zip, 53.52MB)
• Part Four (SoulSearchPt4.zip, 53.46MB)
• Part Five (SoulSearchPt5.zip, 50.70MB)
• Part Six (SoulSearchPt6.zip, 50.38MB)

Hardcover. (from Lulu, US$19.08*, ISBN 978-1-936204-00-7)

Paperback. (from Lulu, US$9.58*, ISBN 978-1-936204-01-4)

* - cost of printing, no markup

Synopsis

Joe is having trouble getting over the death of his wife. He goes through Hell trying to rid himself of her memory and move on. However, the past seems to be always in front of him as he tells his story to William Faulkner.

Creation

Dante's Inferno takes a cue from Vergil's Aeneid, giving the hero a guide through Hell. Tyler's idea was that the 'guide' would have no more of a clue about Hell's geography than himself. And who better to drag through Hell than Faulkner?

*

Tyler started writing this story twenty times or more. Every time, it just didn't feel right. So he wrote the backstory to get a better understanding of what Joe was feeling. It worked, and he folded the backstory into the narrative.

*

Originally, Joe was going to wander through Tennessee before someone suggested he go to Haiti. Tyler scrapped that as pointless. Plus, it was really hard to get Joe to Haiti. The scene with the herbalist/shopkeep was supposed to take place in a beach house on a Haitian shore and Joe was supposed to collapse on the beach just as his eyes are first opened to this immense tower that touches the sky. And Faulkner was supposed to carry him back inside. So not only did Tyler have to get Joe to Haiti, but Faulkner too? Psh.

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The scene with the soldier in the desert is one of the most dramatic overhauls from its version in the drafts. And both are a void away from what was originally in Tyler's head.