Hey there,

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? The reason I’ve been quiet is because I didn’t have much to say and I didn’t want to bother you. That being said, it doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Aside from life doing it’s thing and my full time job, I have been doing some significant amount of writing, which is what I suspect you really want to know about.

Let’s get to it.

(A God in the Shed: Part II)

The bulk of my time has been taken up by work on the sequel to A God in the Shed, titled : Song of the Sandman.

Writing, editing and rewriting this sequel has been one of the most depressing and difficult creative journey of my life. I very nearly quit writing entirely at one point, and writing is one of those things that brings me the most joy in life.

But the storm has been weathered. The book is on the verge of completion. We have a date to go to copy editing, which means a solid release date isn’t far behind. While I apologize for the delays in getting this book to you, I hope the wait will have been worth it.

I do have a little something to help tide you over until Song of the Sandman hits shelves.

Achewillow is a side project I’ve been working on with my friend Amy Frost (winner of the first season of America’s Next Top Podcaster). It’s a ‘cozy’ horror story that isn’t as intense as A God in the Shed, but has a much weirder background setting. I wrote the story, so you can expect some strange characters, old gods and bizarre magics. It’s also codeveloped with Amy who brings a layer of cooking and coffee to the story. Also, she narrates it, which really elevates whatever I put on the page.

Achewillow takes the shape of a storytelling podcast, the first season of which spans 15 half-hour episode. It’s essentially a free audiobook. It tells the story of Miriam DuFour, a young adult who’s life is spiralling into the gutter until she receives a strange envelope. In it, Miriam discovers that she’s inherited a coffee shop from a relative she didn’t know she had in a town she didn’t know existed: Achewillow. From there, she is drawn into a world of subtle magic, baking, demons, coffee and the occasional raccoon.

I’m really proud of Achewillow and I hope you listen and enjoy it. This is the first of a few projects I have in mind to make sure you and I, dear reader, don’t lose touch for so long again. Of course, the more successful Achewillow is, the easier it becomes for me to put things like this together. So, if you do like our little podcast, consider rating it on iTunes, or leaving a review. I can’t overstate how much impact this has on the success of such a project.

The last time I put Arch-Android, the sequel to The Life Engineered, back on the shelf, I was done with a second, mostly satisfying draft. Once Song of the Sandman is out of my hands, I’ll be doing a third draft which will be sent to beta readers. From that point on, we’ll be in good shape to get this book into your hands.

The Life Engineered has always had a special place in my heart and I’m very eager to bring you the next chapter in that story. 

That’s it for now. I apologize again for the long silence. I didn’t feel like had much to say that was worth your time, but that’s about to change.

Cheers and much gratitude,

J-F.

Many people have gone out of their way to compliment the immersive quality of the prologue to "A God in the Shed"...and I’ll gladly second them! The clarity of the fairy-tale narrative perspective mixes wonderfully with the personalities of the kid and the equally naive alien god...even before his ominous power goes on display, the tension I felt I as I read about the kids and the gods playing kid’s games together, waiting for the shoe to drop...it was quite simply exquisite!

Done! GOOD LUCK!!!

Well, well, well.

Look who needs your help again.

Actually, this time I come to you with a plea on behalf of the whole Inkshares Horror Family.

NPR is putting together a list of 100 scary books and stories. It goes without saying that it would be an honour to be included in that list (along with as many of my horror friends here at Inkshares). And you can help.

All you need to do is follow this link and submit A God in the Shed as one of your five choices. Voilà! You’re done. If you’re looking for other titles to fill out the other four slots, here are some recommendations from me to you:

Kill Creek, by Scott Thomas
Devil’s Call, by J. Danielle Dorn
Abomination, by Gary Whitta
Dracula vs. Hitler, by Patrick Sheane Duncan

(Kill Creek and Devil’s Call are particularly close to my heart as they’re from my brother and sister of Inkshares Horror)

As always, thank you so much for your support. There’s so much cool stuff on the horizon and it’s all because of you gorgeous humans.

JF

Let me get to the point: There’s a sequel to A God in the Shed being published an it’s titled Song of the Sandman.

“Oh great another campaign.”

Nope.

We’re just going to go ahead and publish Song of the Sandman. There’s still a pre-order page however and I’d love for you to pre-order your copy today.

Well, obviously it helps the publisher with the initial publishing costs, but more importantly, it allows me to offer some exclusive perks to my readers.

Pre-Orders get you:

• For digital pre-orders you get the book early. I’ve seen readers get their e-copies up to two weeks ahead of the official release date.
• For physical copies, you get a signed book in the mail
• Physical copies also come with the e-book through the Inkshares website
• If you pre-order 3 physical copies or more, your name will appear in the book’s acknowledgements. NOTE: This one is subject to extremely tight timing as the book is already in the middle stages of production. You want you name in this book? Don’t delay.
• I’m going to be putting together a few art pieces and getting prints to slip into the signed copies. 

Pre-orders also allow me to put together project page with information about the book which, let’s face it, is pretty exciting.

Check out Song of the Sandman now and consider putting in a pre-order. Show Inkshares the raw power of A God in the Shed readers.

Thanks!

JF Dubeau

Temporary cover

JF,

Happy New Year my friends!

Well, 2017 won’t be accused of being uneventful. I think it’s safe to say that it will go down as a year with many bitter memories for some. I lucked out however and, because of you, 2017 turned out to be an awesome year. I say ’you’ because you are responsible for A God in the Shed becoming a reality. You helped us get to over 5300 books sold. We’re staring down the barrel of the sequel going into production and all of it is because you took a chance on this book.

My gratitude knows no bounds.

But, I will be asking you to trust me again.

I have another book currently funding on Inkshares. It’s a science fiction novel called Arch-Android. It’s the story of our robot descendants and how they’ve lived without human interference for centuries, but now, as signs of humanity making a comeback start to appear, they have to decide how best to prepare sharing the galaxy with us once again. Check out the sample chapter and please, consider pre-ordering a copy (or more!). It’s not horror but I swear you won’t regret it.

Again, thank you so much for your continued support. Great things are coming in 2018 and I’m looking forward to sharing that journey with you.

JF

I ordered a paperback copy in September and have yet to receive it. 

Done!