I know this isn’t what I’m supposed to say when promoting a new project, but Kindle Vella, Amazon’s new-last-year episodic format for storytelling did not impress me. When it launched, it was made for cell phone reading, something one could glance at on a coffee break or bus ride. I liked the idea of a serialized story, one with episodes reminiscent of a soap opera or the old fashioned cliffhangers, so I wrote one. Fifteen episodes about a time-traveling dying woman. It instantly got lost among a zillion other stories, and that was that.

But now Vella has expanded to Kindles, themselves, which will open reading up to a whole new audience and I’ve decided to try again. This is a longer project that, at two episodes a week, should span several months. It’s called Catwoman-A Journey, and began as a Nanowrimo project of 50,000+ words. It’s the story of Lorett Glass, a woman who inherits a chunk of money and learns she has terminal brain cancer on the same day. From the moment I was hit with the premise, I loved it. Writing it was a gift and a revelation, and serialization is the perfect way to present what I believe to be a riveting tale.

Catwoman-A Journey,  coming March 1st on Kindle Vella

Lorett Glass finds out she’s inherited a cool fifty-million from a wild-man uncle on the same day she is diagnosed with a terminal brain cancer. Taking what’s left of her life in a fresh direction, she sets about to right wrongs, wreak vengeance, and generally kick ass. With the help of a charmed personal assistant, a teenaged computer geek, an elderly Mr. Fix-it, and a smart car whose super power is the ability to park anywhere, she becomes the person she’s always wanted to be—Catwoman.

For those who missed my first Vella story, you can find it here:

TIME BEING, a serialized story by Mollie Hunt

An elderly woman travels through time to significant points in her life, but things are not the same as she remembers them. Joined by a handsome young stranger and her childhood cat, the fate of both past and future lie in her hands. Read my post here.

With Kindle Vella, the first three episodes are free. After that, each episode costs tokens to unlock, which you buy in various increments from Amazon. I’ve been told it comes out to about the same cost as buying a Kindle book. If you try out this new format, let me know how you like it. Don’t forget to leave stars, the only way for a story to float to the top of the pile.