Aug 21, 2017

Hi All,

I’m long overdue for some news about Lost in the Fog, so here we go!

First, I must express my continued gratitude.  Because of all of you, my novel surpassed the 250-pre-order requirement (272 thus far) and will be published by Inkshares!  Your support brings a ginormous smile to my face, and I am beyond grateful.  For years I’ve wanted to share Lost in the Fog with the world, and I will be able to do it because of you.  Merci beaucoup, danke schoen, arigato, mahalo nui loa, and thank you!

Second, I want to provide an update to the question you all have: when will I receive my copy of Lost in the Fog?   While I wish I could give it to you right now, unfortunately the world of book publishing moves at a slower pace.  Here’s a recent example.  Robin Sloane, author of the outstanding best seller Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (which I highly recommend), announced to his fans on July 15, 2016 he had finished a new novel.  On September 5th of this year, Sloane’s Sourdough will be released to the world.   

For those of you who don’t want to do the math, that’s almost 14 months from completion to publication for an author who just had a best seller. 

While I’ve yet to have a best seller, the goal is to get Lost in the Fog to you a whole lot sooner.   Here is where I am with the process.  While I’ve gone through so many drafts of my novel that I’ve lost count, I am still working on one more.  When that is finished I send it off to the publisher, and then they assign an editor to work on it with me.

The editing process can take several months, and then there’s the cover, the clean-up of the final version, printing, marketing, and distribution.  This meticulous process will be done to produce the best possible version of my book.  Because you should never over-promise and under-deliver, my goal for Lost in the Fog is that it will be published next summer. 

Inkshares is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I plan on flying back there to sign every book before they ship.  So while a little patience is in order, I’m happy to report that everyone who pre-ordered a paperback will receive a personalized signed copy!

Third part to this update: as we walk down the long and winding road to publication, I will keep you informed along the way and hopefully have some fun with it.  I plan to share with you, the ones who have made Lost in the Fog possible, special items akin to DVD/Blu-ray extras.  Here’s a sneak preview.

In the beginning of Lost in the Fog (which you can check out right now on the "Read" tab), the main character Camden takes the Caltrain (the commuter rail) from San Carlos into the city of San Francisco.  Here is what he sees and thinks that morning:

Tired and hungover, he could only stare slack jawed at the lavender and pink clouds which appeared to be crashing like waves over to the East Bay sky.  Camden couldn’t get it out of his mind that he was a yo-yo.  Slung up the Peninsula to San Francisco in the morning, he was suspended there in a “walk the dog” move for the day.  As the sun set the giant wrist flicked and he returned to his home thirty-five miles south of the city.

 At the Caltrain Depot in San Francisco, Camden exited with the mass of commuters and began his usual walk up Fourth Avenue…….   

Below are some pictures of what Camden would have seen as he approached the San Francisco station on that morning, and also the view of when he exited the train to walk to his job as a gallery attendant.  Back when I was writing the first draft, commuting into the city was my life.  Those thirty-five to fifty-five minutes (it all depended on whether it was an express or a local), I used to spend working on Lost in the Fog.  That time on the train fueled my creativity and was very important to me. 

Thank you all again, and looking forward to sharing more updates soon!

-Michael