**MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD**
If you’ve read my novel Lost Dogs (and if you haven’t, you can find it here), then you know how the story ends. Months after unearthly beings (Aliens? Angels? Something else?) attack the world and wipe out mankind, the German Shepherd Buddy finally locates the bodies–what’s left of them–of his former owners, dashing his hope of ever being reunited with them. That hope had driven him throughout the novel.
Stricken by grief, Buddy visits his old home one more time, then goes back to where his companion Sally, a Beagle mix, has been staying with Roy, an elderly man whom Buddy and Sally had been taken in by. Sally entreats Buddy to stay with her and Roy, to make a new home, but Buddy decides instead to leave and live in the wild.
It’s a tough ending, and not one that most people see coming, but it’s honest. And it hasn’t much hurt how readers feel about the book: as I write this, Lost Dogs has 126 reviews on Amazon, 87 of which are 5-star, 21 are 4-star. If the ending reminds you of The Call of the Wild, that’s no accident, as Jack London’s story was a big influence on this one.
But it is not the only possible ending, and after many years, I thought I’d share an alternate one with you. If you loved Lost Dogs but were heartbroken at Buddy’s choice, perhaps you will like this one better. And no, he doesn’t die.
Click here to receive the alternate ending sent to your email address, and if you have thoughts on either ending, or anything else to do with Lost Dogs, let me know in the comments or by contacting me.
If you want to see more of the dogs, you’ll find that many of them–Penny, Jake, Sally, Rex, and Buddy–appear in my dark fantasy novel This Wasted Land, available on Kindle or in softcover.
TWL isn’t a sequel: it’s the story of Alexandra (“Alyx”) Williams, a 17-year old misfit, who’s lost and alone on a desolate world of monsters she (and you!) have never imagined. And if they don’t kill her, the witch who has her boyfriend probably will. If you’re a fan of absolutely terrifying horror novels, This Wasted Land is for you. Get it here.
