Today, the Underdogs saga comes to an end (well, sort of). And I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your role in the journey it’s had.

On Friday 8th January 2010, feeling bored, miserable and creative, I opened my laptop and tried planning out an ambitious saga of war stories – a project to keep me busy during times of unemployment, and occupy my brain during times of sadness. It was never supposed to get published – that wasn’t the point. It was a coping mechanism. And even if Guerrillas (as I called it at the time) stayed as a set of documents on my computer, it still would have done the job of making me happy.

The date is Thursday 8th February 2024, and the last of these books just got real-life published.

The great thing about publishing with Unbound (and having an online community at the same time) is that you get to build a relationship with your readers as the book’s journey progresses – you get to know your readers long before your book comes out. And when it does come out, you get to hear their reactions as they happen. And honestly, it’s been wonderful (yes, even during Acceleration!). To those who sent me messages, or even fan art, fan fiction or any other original content, thank you for adding extra colour to my life as an author. For those who left Amazon/Goodreads reviews, or spread the word about the series to their friends, libraries and schools, thank you for encouraging my success.

And to those who have read to the end of Acceleration and are waiting for the physical copies of Uprising to see how the series ends… not long to wait now, and I hope you enjoy reading to the war’s conclusion and the end of each character’s arc.

So, where does the series go from here? Well, besides the Underdogs short stories that I dip into once in a while (chrisbonnello.com/tales), there’s always the chance of a production company picking it up and turning it into a TV series. (I’ve already written a pilot script – purely for fun of course. But once upon a time, I wrote the first draft of Guerrillas purely for fun.) And a few more audiobooks would be nice. Wherever it goes, I have no doubt that the series has only reached its chronological ending, and not its real-world ending.

Beyond that, I’d like to leave you with a few valuable lessons I’ve learned from the years I’ve been writing Underdogs.

1) Sometimes, awesome things take time. Fourteen years sounds like a long time (I’m picturing the 24-year-old me asking “what do you mean I’ll be 38 when this gets published?”), but it’s time worth taking.

2) Don’t aim to get things right first time, and don’t let perfectionism stop you from writing a first draft. Seriously, Guerrillas book one is barely recognisable against the published version of Underdogs.

3) Write what you love, whether or not you intend to publish it. Because best case scenario, it gets published. Worst case scenario, it doesn’t get published and it will still be something you love.

Enjoy the finale, everyone. And thank you again for your role in this series becoming what it’s becoming.

United by our differences,

Chris Bonnello