Final Fantasy VIII, Book I

by Micah Rodney

Squall Leonhart,student at the prestigious Balamb Garden, is a candidate for an elite mercenary organization known as SeeD. Together with his classmates, he will find himself thrust into a conflict between nations that will decide the fate of the world. What is the tyrannical nation of Galbadia planning, and who is the mysterious Sorceress behind it all?

1. Introduction

Introduction:

I've been writing and rewriting this particular work for almost five years now. Today, on the twenty-second anniversary of the North American release of Final Fantasy VIII, I decided to begin the final push to finish releasing Book I.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the preview novel of this book SeeD: The Beginning, was published by KupoCon. It was a novella assembled with the painstaking efforts of not only myself, but about eight other people including KupoCon's founder Alex Maine, the incredible artist Kayley Henderson who provided interior artwork, Fiveonthe who produced the cover artwork, and a team of editors: Chantelle Gousseau, Kira Ravens and Tabitha Potter.

Above all, however, credit must go to M.J. Gallagher, a man without whom I would not have an identity or even half the writing chops I currently possess under his amazing tutelage. He has gone on to write not only his own Final Fantasy VII Novelization and side novella The Nibelheim Incident, but other incredible works as well. Of particular interest would be Norse Myths That Inspired Final Fantasy VII and its kickstarter sequel Greek Myths That Inspired Final Fantasy VII (which was funded in 12 minutes and, at the time of writing, sits at nearly 600% funding with 26 days to go).

M.J. Gallagher was so instrumental in the production of this novella that the first 18 chapters are basically half him and half me. He is listed as co-author for a very good reason, and I wouldn't have it any other way. What we started together I have gone on to finish, and while I am only approaching the end of Book I, I am committed to completing this project no matter how long it takes.

The book will be released in serial form, with one chapter per week, every Thursday until the whole project is out. A final version is being edited and may be slightly different from the product you see here, but not by too much. All versions of this work that exist online are free, public and available to everyone. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me on (/micahrodney) where you can get behind the scenes access to all of my work (not just the FFVIII novelization).

Thank you for your support, and please enjoy!