Mar 27, 2016

Friends, it is Easter in the Western Church, and I hope everyone is having an excellent day. The weather up here is lovely, and it definitely looks like Spring out there.

It is also one week since we opened up for pre-orders! Some of you have already stepped up with your support, and I am grateful for it. I do confess to moments--no, hours--of crippling self-doubt. And some of you may already be aware of this, but I’m promising to donate $1 for each pre-order beyond the first 250 to a local women’s shelter. I have plans to add other charities at the 450 and 600 levels, but it may be a little early to think of that right now.

Now, let’s talk about some of the other books out there.

First off: Sync City, by Peter Ryan. This story has a really excellent narrative voice: Ryan’s hero is earthy, a little salty, and self-assured enough to make his toughness believable. That voice is going to grab you and take you for a ride, believe me.

A couple of hidden gems: Vendetta in Valletta, by MT-B, and Samba: Princess of Thieves, by Kevin Smith. Please take a look at them. They’ve somehow managed to slip under everybody’s radar, and I’d like to correct that.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The Amaranth Chronicles, by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman. I do not understand why this hasn’t already hit the 750 mark: to my mind, it’s got sci-fi geek bestseller written all over it.

Of course, there’ The Traveller’s Cup, by A.C. Baldwin. Enough has been said about the space dragons (maybe too much has been said) but, as Alex Barnes notes in his review, the interesting thing about the story is the fact we have an aristocratic hero being forced to work in isolation with the underclass ... never mind the worldbuilding; I suspect we may have some very interesting social commentary on the side.

And I’d still like to see A God in the Shed, by JF Dubeau, reach its 750 pre-order full funding. Seriously, I think this will be better than Dubeau’s first book.

That’s the news for now. I’m still looking at books here, so this catalogue is far from complete. Until next week, dear friends.