Afterword

Afterword

 

HELLO! This is Kiki, the author of Roll Over and Die: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword.

Those of you who picked up this book realizing there was something darker lurking underneath the cover, those of you who were hoping for a “slice of life” story of happy days in the royal capital, and even those of you who already knew this series from when it was serialized online—I thank you. I hope you enjoyed the story.

The story is basically a mishmash of all of my interests: fantasy, lesbian romance, horror, and fight scenes, so I’m well aware it’s meant for a pretty niche audience. Going to print was the furthest thing from my mind when I began work on this story, so it’s still hard for me to even comprehend. I guess you just never know what life will bring, huh?

Back to the story itself, I’ll be honest: I know the title’s really long, and actually, the vast majority of it is dealt with all in the first volume. We could probably reduce it to “I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life” without any real issues. That’s right—basically, the goal of this story is to tell the tale of how Flum and Milkit establish…fight for?…struggle to create?…a normal life for themselves.

But a slow, uneventful life is pretty boring.

In the latter half of this book, I tried to focus on creatures other than the typical fantasy fare of slimy blobs, goblins, harpies, and dragons that you’re all used to. I made up some mock-ups of my own, but I’m truly indebted to the amazing work of the book’s illustrator, Kinta, and my editor. Let me just apologize now, though, because certain…things will be making an appearance in volume two of the series, and the story will definitely be picking up the pace.

…You know, as I write this, I can’t help but notice that it’s a lot harder to write an afterword than it is to just write a novel in the first place. After flipping through several books to see what other authors put in these things, I’m relieved to see it’s not just me. I guess my only real option is to go with the tried-and-true approach of letting the characters speak for themselves and insert myself into the conversation.

 

FLUM: “Heya, it’s Flum!”

MILKIT: “Um, h-hi, Milkit here.”

AUTHOR: “And it’s me, Ki…”

 

Okay, never mind, that was awful. Let’s just stop there. It added a little to my word count, fortunately, so it looks like I’m almost done with this thing.

Lastly, I’d like to thank those who worked on this book.

Kinta, you truly are amazing. No matter how bizarre or absurd my request, you always managed to work up an image that was 100× better than I’d ever even imagined. Every time you sent me your latest work, my heart skipped a beat. I can’t thank you enough.

I also can’t forget my editor. If it weren’t for you constantly keeping a first-time author like myself on track, and your unfailingly prompt and polite responses, I don’t think I could have done this.

And of course, there were the many other people who helped publish this book, and you, my dear readers, who also deserve credit for making this project a reality. I am truly in your debt.

I hope you’ll stick around for the continuation of Flum’s exciting adventure.