such a great and heartfelt update Jay. I love Captain Jack too. I am a huge Torchwood fan. Well deserved selection from our Syndicate. I’m so glad we were able to support your campaign.
A Beast Requires is the Write Out Loud Syndicate’s selection for October, which also happens to be LGBTQIA+ History Month! You have no idea how much this means to me. When I was a tiny little queerling, my life was an absolute mess. The late 80’s and early 90’s weren’t particularly kind, especially to a kid growing up in the suburban sprawl of Cincinnati. There weren’t a whole lot of LGBTQIA+ people in media, especially positive ones. Most of the time they were either stock villains, AIDS patients, or some sinister force serving as an antagonist. Of course, there was Divine, but at 8, I had no clue who Divine was, let alone had even seen a John Waters movie.
As I got older, and was able to find queer cinema, it improved, but there was still a lack of a LGBTQIA+ presence in fantasy and scifi, which were my go to genres of escapism. It wasn’t until the revival of a popular British tv show that I saw an actual representation of me in the media, someone who wasn’t 100% straight or 100% gay, and I fell in love with Captain Jack the moment my baby blue eyes first saw him.
Diversity does not exist in a vacuum, and any character’s defining characteristics should never be their race, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. When I started A Beast Requires, it was without question that the city of Aurum would be a diverse place, and part of that diversity was having LGBTQIA+ characters. Deputy Rilley, resident alchemist and mail order academic, is a trans man, and in a world where dragons are bankers and wizards use magic to grow pineapples in winter, no one bats an eye. Diversity in Aurum is a part of life, and when the nice troll drag queen asks you if she looks pretty in her dress, you say yes.
Then there’s Priz, who openly states with pride that he, in fact, loves everybody. Having a pansexual character, who loves without limitations, wasn’t difficult for me to write. Hells, Priz himself wasn’t difficult for me to write, since I was Priz for most of my life pre-2010. Out of all the things Priz is, and trust me in that there are a lot of them, his sexual orientation is the least interesting thing about him. I could have gone the entire book without mentioning it, but I had to. Agency is important, and by having that one line, he becomes a visible member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Being selected by the Write Out Loud Syndicate means the world to me. It’s an absolute honor, and I am damn proud to be part of the community.
Recently, Rick Heinz, the author of The Seventh Age: Dawn and all around mensch, wrote an article highlighting five of the underdogs in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest. Yesterday, A Beast Requires returned to the top ten list, with 95 backers and 117 pre-orders, putting the book 45% of the way to that elusive Quill goal. With 57 days left, doubling the number of pre-orders is totally doable, so let that specific type of hustle begin.
I like underdogs. Hells, I write about underdogs, seeing as I am one. When I told people I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, they laughed. There was no way the kid who couldn’t spell, let alone write, would ever string more than five words together in a coherent thought. I’m a stubborn one. Tell me I can’t do something and I will bust my ass to prove you wrong, then send you a postcard with a crudely drawn middle finger.
I’ve been an underdog most of my life. I lost a lot when I came out, especially my family, and survived for almost two years living out of my car and on people’s couches. When I got sick, they told me it was terminal, and this month now marks my 6th year in remission. Yea, I’m so stubborn I told cancer to fuck off. When I lost my job of ten years, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever recover, I wrote a book. A Beast Requires has taken me four years of blood, sweat, and tears. When you tell people you’re writing a book, they think you’re a fool, that you’ll never finish it, and that there is no way in hell that it will be any good. Well, fuck those people.
Don’t ignore the underdogs. While they face incredible odds, eventually they will be victorious, and they will have done it their way.
First of all, A Beast Requires is closing in on a 100 backers! So far 93 people have pre-ordered 115 copies of the book, pushing it towards that first hurdle of 250 pre-orders. Yea, it’s pretty damn awesome. What isn’t awesome is that this entire month has gotten away from me. There was a carefully orchestrated schedule of events and a timeline set in place, that went out the window to find a shallow grave in the backyard. Granted my entire backyard is a shallow grave, see as it’s the place where good grass comes to die.
See, I have this job, right? It’s at night, doesn’t pay great, and ever so slightly eats away at your soul. It’s difficult to describe, mostly because of the sort of work they do. Say you’re out at the zoo, and you’re walking through the primate house, unless your zoo doesn’t have a primate house, which would make me sad. But let’s say hypothetical zoo has a hypothetical primate house, full of hypothetical primates. Now there is a spot in this hypothetical primate house, where hypothetical primates fling hypothetical poo. There’s no avoiding the spot, no matter how much you try, and before everyone leaves, they are always pelted with hypothetical poo. My job is to block the exit and ask you which hypothetical poo smells the hypothetical best.
On Monday I gave them my two week notice. On Monday I was offered a much better job. It will take me a few days to adjust to a new work schedule, but it will be much more conducive to updates. With 70 days left in the campaign, there’s a lot to get done, and expect the videos to start returning next week. Thank you all for supporting A Beast Requires. Without knowing it, you’ve all helped keep me sane and helped me to survive the hypothetical house of poo.
First off, A Beast Requires is clinging to 10th Place in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest, with 85 backers. Yea, it’s getting to that part of the campaign where every backer matters, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to back A Beast Requires yet, now is definitely the time. At 107 pre-orders, we’re almost halfway to the Quill goal, which is nice.
So, dragons.
I count myself lucky that so many of you following me are writers. We all know The Struggle. It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve written, or what sort of genre you write, all of our work starts with that first glimmer of an idea. We all cultivate that glimmer, scribbling in notebooks or banging away at a keyboard. We draft, and draft again, searching for beta readers, grammar checkers, and if we’re lucky, an editor.
While we are all at different places in our writing, we all remember that first book we poured our souls in. Mine was an absolute train wreck of a fantasy adventure, involving a book, a dog, and an angry teenage wizard. I loved it so much, but twenty years later I can look back and say with absolute certainty, it was a complete pile of words. We get better with every story. Hells, we get better with every draft, and we all know the joy that comes from finishing that final edit. But it’s not our final edit, and we all know the frustration and sadness that looms off in the distant horizon.
I like writers. Actually, I like content creators, but I’m particularly biased towards writers. And cooks, but that’s an entirely different story. It’s why I’m so thankful so many writers follow me on Inkshares, and how I absolutely lose my shit when another writer backs A Beast Requires. We all know how rough it is, especially how rough an Inkshares campaign is, so it comes as a welcoming comfort every time one of likes the thing I struggled for. I will always try to back as many writers as I’m financially able to. Support means everything to a writer, especially when you’re just starting out. There will always be The Struggle, and there will always be dragons, but none of us are ever truly going through all this alone.
And we will always fight them. It doesn’t matter how well you plan, or how much you;ve organized yourself, a dragon will always rise. The dragon might be a massive creature, casting a shadow that devours all light. The dragons might be tiny, fearsome beasts, nipping and snarling as they clutter around your path. There will always be dragons, and we will always fight them.
Last week I fought dragons. I knew they were coming; that their approach was only a matter of time. I felt them out there, looming where the light ends. I know my dragons well, after all, that’s a big reason why I write humor. For now the dragons are gone, and though I am a little wearier, I will continue to push forward. A Beast Requires lives, and so do I.
It’s Wednesday! That solemn day we set aside for Woden, because what’s better than celebrating the middle of the work week than a day to remember the Norse god of the gallows. Granted, he did some other stuff too. But, yea! Wednesday!
As it stands, 81 backers have pre-ordered 103 copes of A Beast Requires, putting it at 41% of its Quill publishing goal. This is pretty great news, but the 91 days left in the campaign are going to go by super fast. I’m working on this week’s video right now, but after that, I’m leaving it open to you guys, the backers.
So, what do you want to see me talk? What aspects or parts of A Beast Requires are you interested in? I’ll touch on any subject, or can spend time answering each question individually. Every backer put their hard earned money behind me and my book, so I figure it’s a good opportunity for you all to be involved in the crowdfunding crazy train. Let me know on Twitter, or by DM, and let’s see what we can come up with for next week.
Last week A Beast Requires broke 100 pre-orders! That’s right, 80 amazing, wonderful backers have pre-ordered 102 copies of my book! My deepest and sincerest thanks goes out to all of you who have backed me so far.
Still on the fence? With September on the horizon, now is definitely the time to check out all the bonus content I’ve uploaded to the campaign site. I have another video planned for later on this week, so be sure to stay tuned for that.
So, I have a couple things. About twenty of them, give or take a prologue. The first twenty chapters have been edited to a point where I feel comfortable sending them out for reader feedback. If you’ve back the book, and are interested in seeing where the story goes and are willing to provide feedback, shoot me a message.
Yes, I’m exicted too, but we aren’t quite at the 250 pre-orders we need for the Quill goal. With the month coming to a close, I’d like to once again thank everyone who has backed me so far. It’s going to get harder from here, but I know we can do it. So, keep telling your friends, family, and fellow humans about the book, and let’s push those pre-order numbers higher.
This week’s video is all about the origins and inspirations for A Beast Requires. Well, some of them at least. Brevity is not my strong suit, but I’m pretty damn pleased I didn’t prattle on too much. There’s a few things I’m working on for next week, so keep an eye out for those emails. Thanks again for all your support. You all really are that awesome.
A lot of fantastic things happened last week, and I’m absolutely tickled pink. Ok, so it might be a sunburn, but I do have this adorable, pink sheen going on right now, which is a huge improvement over my greater shades of pale.
As of this moment, 72 phenomenal people have backed A Beast Requires, pre-ordering 94 copies between them. If you haven’t backed it yet, take a look at all the content I have up there and watch my ridiculously awkward author video. If I make you laugh, even just the slightest of giggles, back it. Back it real good, and ensure my spastic flailing for the remainder of the week. If you’ve already backed me, you know that I already love you, so why not spread the love? Share the gift of laughter. Show them the funny. Tell them how badly you need A Beast Requires to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
If you haven’t checked out the video uploads yet, then why not now? There’s nothing in the world quite like starting the week off with some amused chuckling, so take a listen to me discus world building through food and reading the prologue to A Beast Requires out loud. I’ve got a few more things in the works, so expect those to be popping up online in the near future.
Woo! 103 backers and 126 pre-orders!
A Beast Requires is the Write Out Loud Syndicate’s selection for October, which also happens to be LGBTQIA+ History Month! You have no idea how much this means to me. When I was a tiny little queerling, my life was an absolute mess. The late 80’s and early 90’s weren’t particularly kind, especially to a kid growing up in the suburban sprawl of Cincinnati. There weren’t a whole lot of LGBTQIA+ people in media, especially positive ones. Most of the time they were either stock villains, AIDS patients, or some sinister force serving as an antagonist. Of course, there was Divine, but at 8, I had no clue who Divine was, let alone had even seen a John Waters movie.
As I got older, and was able to find queer cinema, it improved, but there was still a lack of a LGBTQIA+ presence in fantasy and scifi, which were my go to genres of escapism. It wasn’t until the revival of a popular British tv show that I saw an actual representation of me in the media, someone who wasn’t 100% straight or 100% gay, and I fell in love with Captain Jack the moment my baby blue eyes first saw him.
Diversity does not exist in a vacuum, and any character’s defining characteristics should never be their race, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. When I started A Beast Requires, it was without question that the city of Aurum would be a diverse place, and part of that diversity was having LGBTQIA+ characters. Deputy Rilley, resident alchemist and mail order academic, is a trans man, and in a world where dragons are bankers and wizards use magic to grow pineapples in winter, no one bats an eye. Diversity in Aurum is a part of life, and when the nice troll drag queen asks you if she looks pretty in her dress, you say yes.
Then there’s Priz, who openly states with pride that he, in fact, loves everybody. Having a pansexual character, who loves without limitations, wasn’t difficult for me to write. Hells, Priz himself wasn’t difficult for me to write, since I was Priz for most of my life pre-2010. Out of all the things Priz is, and trust me in that there are a lot of them, his sexual orientation is the least interesting thing about him. I could have gone the entire book without mentioning it, but I had to. Agency is important, and by having that one line, he becomes a visible member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Being selected by the Write Out Loud Syndicate means the world to me. It’s an absolute honor, and I am damn proud to be part of the community.
- Jay
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
Recently, Rick Heinz, the author of The Seventh Age: Dawn and all around mensch, wrote an article highlighting five of the underdogs in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest. Yesterday, A Beast Requires returned to the top ten list, with 95 backers and 117 pre-orders, putting the book 45% of the way to that elusive Quill goal. With 57 days left, doubling the number of pre-orders is totally doable, so let that specific type of hustle begin.
I like underdogs. Hells, I write about underdogs, seeing as I am one. When I told people I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, they laughed. There was no way the kid who couldn’t spell, let alone write, would ever string more than five words together in a coherent thought. I’m a stubborn one. Tell me I can’t do something and I will bust my ass to prove you wrong, then send you a postcard with a crudely drawn middle finger.
I’ve been an underdog most of my life. I lost a lot when I came out, especially my family, and survived for almost two years living out of my car and on people’s couches. When I got sick, they told me it was terminal, and this month now marks my 6th year in remission. Yea, I’m so stubborn I told cancer to fuck off. When I lost my job of ten years, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever recover, I wrote a book. A Beast Requires has taken me four years of blood, sweat, and tears. When you tell people you’re writing a book, they think you’re a fool, that you’ll never finish it, and that there is no way in hell that it will be any good. Well, fuck those people.
Don’t ignore the underdogs. While they face incredible odds, eventually they will be victorious, and they will have done it their way.
57 days. Yea, we’ve got this.
I’ve never been so thankful for a Wednesday.
First of all, A Beast Requires is closing in on a 100 backers! So far 93 people have pre-ordered 115 copies of the book, pushing it towards that first hurdle of 250 pre-orders. Yea, it’s pretty damn awesome. What isn’t awesome is that this entire month has gotten away from me. There was a carefully orchestrated schedule of events and a timeline set in place, that went out the window to find a shallow grave in the backyard. Granted my entire backyard is a shallow grave, see as it’s the place where good grass comes to die.
See, I have this job, right? It’s at night, doesn’t pay great, and ever so slightly eats away at your soul. It’s difficult to describe, mostly because of the sort of work they do. Say you’re out at the zoo, and you’re walking through the primate house, unless your zoo doesn’t have a primate house, which would make me sad. But let’s say hypothetical zoo has a hypothetical primate house, full of hypothetical primates. Now there is a spot in this hypothetical primate house, where hypothetical primates fling hypothetical poo. There’s no avoiding the spot, no matter how much you try, and before everyone leaves, they are always pelted with hypothetical poo. My job is to block the exit and ask you which hypothetical poo smells the hypothetical best.
On Monday I gave them my two week notice. On Monday I was offered a much better job. It will take me a few days to adjust to a new work schedule, but it will be much more conducive to updates. With 70 days left in the campaign, there’s a lot to get done, and expect the videos to start returning next week. Thank you all for supporting A Beast Requires. Without knowing it, you’ve all helped keep me sane and helped me to survive the hypothetical house of poo.
- Jay
Happy Monday, y’all!
First off, A Beast Requires is clinging to 10th Place in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest, with 85 backers. Yea, it’s getting to that part of the campaign where every backer matters, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to back A Beast Requires yet, now is definitely the time. At 107 pre-orders, we’re almost halfway to the Quill goal, which is nice.
So, dragons.
I count myself lucky that so many of you following me are writers. We all know The Struggle. It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve written, or what sort of genre you write, all of our work starts with that first glimmer of an idea. We all cultivate that glimmer, scribbling in notebooks or banging away at a keyboard. We draft, and draft again, searching for beta readers, grammar checkers, and if we’re lucky, an editor.
While we are all at different places in our writing, we all remember that first book we poured our souls in. Mine was an absolute train wreck of a fantasy adventure, involving a book, a dog, and an angry teenage wizard. I loved it so much, but twenty years later I can look back and say with absolute certainty, it was a complete pile of words. We get better with every story. Hells, we get better with every draft, and we all know the joy that comes from finishing that final edit. But it’s not our final edit, and we all know the frustration and sadness that looms off in the distant horizon.
I like writers. Actually, I like content creators, but I’m particularly biased towards writers. And cooks, but that’s an entirely different story. It’s why I’m so thankful so many writers follow me on Inkshares, and how I absolutely lose my shit when another writer backs A Beast Requires. We all know how rough it is, especially how rough an Inkshares campaign is, so it comes as a welcoming comfort every time one of likes the thing I struggled for. I will always try to back as many writers as I’m financially able to. Support means everything to a writer, especially when you’re just starting out. There will always be The Struggle, and there will always be dragons, but none of us are ever truly going through all this alone.
Last week I fought dragons.
And we will always fight them. It doesn’t matter how well you plan, or how much you;ve organized yourself, a dragon will always rise. The dragon might be a massive creature, casting a shadow that devours all light. The dragons might be tiny, fearsome beasts, nipping and snarling as they clutter around your path. There will always be dragons, and we will always fight them.
Last week I fought dragons. I knew they were coming; that their approach was only a matter of time. I felt them out there, looming where the light ends. I know my dragons well, after all, that’s a big reason why I write humor. For now the dragons are gone, and though I am a little wearier, I will continue to push forward. A Beast Requires lives, and so do I.
It’s Wednesday! That solemn day we set aside for Woden, because what’s better than celebrating the middle of the work week than a day to remember the Norse god of the gallows. Granted, he did some other stuff too. But, yea! Wednesday!
As it stands, 81 backers have pre-ordered 103 copes of A Beast Requires, putting it at 41% of its Quill publishing goal. This is pretty great news, but the 91 days left in the campaign are going to go by super fast. I’m working on this week’s video right now, but after that, I’m leaving it open to you guys, the backers.
So, what do you want to see me talk? What aspects or parts of A Beast Requires are you interested in? I’ll touch on any subject, or can spend time answering each question individually. Every backer put their hard earned money behind me and my book, so I figure it’s a good opportunity for you all to be involved in the crowdfunding crazy train. Let me know on Twitter, or by DM, and let’s see what we can come up with for next week.
And it’s Monday.
Last week A Beast Requires broke 100 pre-orders! That’s right, 80 amazing, wonderful backers have pre-ordered 102 copies of my book! My deepest and sincerest thanks goes out to all of you who have backed me so far.
Still on the fence? With September on the horizon, now is definitely the time to check out all the bonus content I’ve uploaded to the campaign site. I have another video planned for later on this week, so be sure to stay tuned for that.
So, I have a couple things. About twenty of them, give or take a prologue. The first twenty chapters have been edited to a point where I feel comfortable sending them out for reader feedback. If you’ve back the book, and are interested in seeing where the story goes and are willing to provide feedback, shoot me a message.
Thank you all again. Y’all really are the best.
- Jay
Good news!
A Beast Requires has over 100 pre-order!
Yes, I’m exicted too, but we aren’t quite at the 250 pre-orders we need for the Quill goal. With the month coming to a close, I’d like to once again thank everyone who has backed me so far. It’s going to get harder from here, but I know we can do it. So, keep telling your friends, family, and fellow humans about the book, and let’s push those pre-order numbers higher.
This week’s video is all about the origins and inspirations for A Beast Requires. Well, some of them at least. Brevity is not my strong suit, but I’m pretty damn pleased I didn’t prattle on too much. There’s a few things I’m working on for next week, so keep an eye out for those emails. Thanks again for all your support. You all really are that awesome.
- Jay
Yay. It is Monday.
A lot of fantastic things happened last week, and I’m absolutely tickled pink. Ok, so it might be a sunburn, but I do have this adorable, pink sheen going on right now, which is a huge improvement over my greater shades of pale.
As of this moment, 72 phenomenal people have backed A Beast Requires, pre-ordering 94 copies between them. If you haven’t backed it yet, take a look at all the content I have up there and watch my ridiculously awkward author video. If I make you laugh, even just the slightest of giggles, back it. Back it real good, and ensure my spastic flailing for the remainder of the week. If you’ve already backed me, you know that I already love you, so why not spread the love? Share the gift of laughter. Show them the funny. Tell them how badly you need A Beast Requires to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
If you haven’t checked out the video uploads yet, then why not now? There’s nothing in the world quite like starting the week off with some amused chuckling, so take a listen to me discus world building through food and reading the prologue to A Beast Requires out loud. I’ve got a few more things in the works, so expect those to be popping up online in the near future.
You all are amazing.
- Jay