Author’s note: I have previously published the prologue, and first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh chapters from my unpublished (and unfinished) novel, provisionally named Icebound. I’ve been noodling on the idea of serialized fiction for some time, and thought it would be a fun and challenging exercise to occasionally publish further chapters, and perhaps continue to write more, here on Swimpruf. The risk with serialized fiction, and writing forward, as it were, is that I can’t go back and edit or change details later since it will have already been put out into the world. A bit like removing your climbing anchors as you go up a rock wall. But there’s something thrilling in that challenge. So I’m going to give it a try, aiming loosely for once every month or two. So here is the next installment. I hope you enjoy it. — JH
“After I climbed the Seven Summits and trekked to both Poles, I figured, the only other place to go was down.” Raynald Cornelius was talking loudly as they suited up. Tusker nodded half-heartedly as he strapped the crampons on to his Mammut mountaineering boots. It was only 8:00 in the morning, but he’d already tired of Cornelius’s bluster.
“I realized that although all of the world’s highest peaks had been conquered, very few had seen the bottom of the deepest oceans,” he continued.
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