Hello backers and supporters!

Fae Child will have been out in the world for a month on January 15th, and I couldn’t be more pleased. You should have received your copies (ebook or paperback) of the book by now, and if you are still waiting for a paperback or not sure if you ordered a paperback just email me and I can check your order for you. 

Thank you for making this possible! In a month I have sold nearly the same amount it took me six months to crowdfund. Amazing!

Amazon is running a sale on the paperback for $7.59 right now, which is a fantastic deal and I encourage you to jump on it if you want a copy to hold in your hands (or to give to a friend!). Look at that cover art -- how could you not? I do not know how long this sale will last, as Amazon sets its own prices.

Once you’ve read Fae Child (and I hope you’re reading it now!), please please please log in to Amazon and leave a review. It could just be "I liked it a lot!"-- there’s no need to think you have to have paragraphs or fancy reasoning to justify your star ratings. The book is sitting at 9 reviews right now, and I’d love it if we could bump that way up. (In contrast, we have 70 ratings and 60 reviews on Goodreads, which is very exciting.)

The SEQUEL is underway, and I am nearing completion on the first draft. I would love for Inkshares to publish THE FURIOUS HOST, and I have entered it in their current competition. It is open for preorders but you don’t have to preorder to support it in the competition. Just click this link: [The Furious Host] , sign into your Inkshares account, and FOLLOW the book, and (after you’ve read Fae Child) READ the sample chapters!

Pre-ordering would also be wonderful, if you want to reserve your copy of The Furious Host (The Fae Child Trilogy Book Two) in advance. Thank you for your support.

Additionally, I have written a short story that takes place before the events of Fae Child, detailing how Nadiene and Charles met for the first time. THICK AS THIEVES is published in the Passageways anthology, for sale now! If you pick it up, let me know how you like it/leave a review.

Thank you so much for all your support,

Jane-Holly Meissner

Hello backers and early supporters of Fae Child!

Hello Fae Child supporters!

Hello supporters, backers, and pre-orderers of Fae Child!

Dear Followers and Supporters -

I have been radio silent for quite some time, but I do have news to announce regarding the status of Fae Child. 

Since the book funded in March 2017, I finished the first draft in July of that year. After that my family and I had several life changes that stole my energy and attention, including becoming small business owners and having a fourth child. The THIRD draft of the book is now underway with a few small tweaks to accomplish before I send the manuscript in to Inkshares.

At that point I will find out when they anticipate the book being published - there would be a copy edit to do and a few other miscellaneous things.

I have a cover for the book well underway with a talented artist, Aliana Wong ( www.alianawong.com ) and I have updated the cover on the Inkshares site to reflect the in progress work. I am in love with it already.

I also have had a short story accepted into an anthology which should be published later this year. Here is the link to the announcement: https://writingbloc.com/announcement-of-the-stories-and-authors-for-the-upcoming-deception-anthology/

That is all for now! I will send out another update when I am sending it off to Inkshares. 

Thank you all for your support and your patience,

Jane-Holly

 

Hello backers and followers!

Sometimes when I am sitting at my computer in the early morning, finishing up the first draft of Fae Child, I still can’t quite believe that you all believed in me enough to back my book and secure me a publication deal with Inkshares under their Quill imprint. I am working hard to finish up the book and prepare it for editing. THANK YOU all, so very much, for your support and encouragement.

As you probably already know, I have a second book which I entered into Inkshares’ newest contest, a science fiction novel competition sponsored by Nerdist. While work continues on Fae Child, this contest is a fantastic opportunity for me to line up another book series for publication. The top three books will win full publishing contracts with Inkshares, and at least one will be chosen by Nerdist to join their own imprint, with all the publicity and support that entails.

Mutants: Uprising is currently in the top 3, and I would dearly appreciate your preorder to help me remain in the running to win. There are just 18 days left in the contest, and the rest of the contenders are beginning to up their game and creep up on the leaders. You supported me once, please consider doing it again!

If the contest ends and I do not place, I will not be extending the campaign to try to get to 250 orders and publication that way. I did that for Fae Child, but I don’t have the time to do another long crowdfunding campaign. Mutants: Uprising will return to the backburner and refunds will go out, while I finish up the edits on Fae Child and get the manuscript polished. (Even if I do win, Fae Child will be completed first, so do not worry on that front.)

Thank you so much for your continued support,
Jane-Holly

What people are saying about Mutants: Uprising -
"Such a cool concept with unique execution, in 2nd person. Meissner is an engaging, creative author and I’ve no doubt that Mutants: Uprising will be a brilliant read." - J. Graham-Jones, author of 1000 Faces and Witherfist

"A brilliant concept promising inventive action, compelling characters and an exciting new world, with a unique 2nd-person narrative style. An automatic buy, for me." - Evan Graham, author of Proteus and Tantalus Depths

"X-Men is the obvious link, but the story also kind of strikes me as bring like a mutant version of True Blood. 2nd person POV is a novelty, and in this case well-written. Bought my copy, look forward to reading the finished piece." - Chris Picone, author of Kanimbla

"X-Men and Lovecraft. Two of my fave things in one book, also with a rather unique writing style, makind it stand out from other books I’ve read trying to do the same. Interesting and looking forward to seeing where this ends up!" - Anniken Haga, author of Artificial Generation

Hello friends!

I hope you’re all gearing up for a lovely holiday weekend (here in the States), or a lovely regular weekend (everywhere else). You are getting this update because you believed in me, and my writing, enough to preorder Fae Child - and I have another book to ask you to believe in.

I entered the current SciFi contest on Inkshares (Mutants: Uprising) and am sitting tied for 3rd place (that’s guaranteed full publication). One preorder - your preorder - will make my position more secure. I am only a few readers away from 2nd, honestly. But I can’t do this alone, and I need your help. 

If you can preorder right now, all the better. If you can’t help out until next week, that’s good too. I need preorders then, too.

Unlike Fae Child, Mutants: Uprising is written for adult readers, which is to say there is strong language in it. It already exists as a first draft, and as of now it’s in the running to WIN THIS CONTEST!!!

 
Thank you so much for your time,
Jane-Holly

 

Dear supporters,

The first draft of Fae Child is nearly finished. I have been a bit blocked/busy, but I’m eking out what I can, when I can. However, Abbie’s story arc is completed! I am writing her father Dan’s chapters to catch him up with her. It’s a bit of a switch mentally, but once I get going I think it will wrap up quickly.

Quill books ahead of me in the queue are starting to get editors assigned! They are still looking at a production schedule of 6 or so months before they are published, but there is finally some movement. This is great news for those authors, and for Fae Child as well.

Now, I have a favor to ask: Inkshares has started a new Science Fiction contest, sponsored by Nerdist. I have a story already written that just needs editing, and I have decided to enter the contest! Am I crazy? Probably. Please click the picture below and follow Mutants: Uprising. Once it goes live, I would be so appreciative if you preordered. In the meantime, if you could read the sample chapters/excerpts, and recommend or review it on the site.

 

X-Men meets Call of Cthulhu

It’s hard to be the ’good guy’ when you lead the local cell of the League, a terrorist organization. Gang warfare turns out to be the least of your worries when shadowy organizations start targeting your friends.

Mutants: Uprising is written in SECOND PERSON, and I hope you enjoy it! Just following the project is all I ask. Thank you!

Have a great Tuesday!
Jane-Holly

 

Once upon a time there was a friend. This friend asked me to join a contest, and I didn’t think about it too much and just did it. First mistake: had I known what I was getting into, I would never have pulled the trigger on Inkshares in August ’16 and started the journey that culminated in a publication deal in March ’17.

Second mistake: She asked me to join another contest, this one a flash fiction writing contest from Sci-Fi-London (the 48hr Flash Fiction Challenge), and I did that too. On April 8th I opened the site to view my story requirements. A title, a line of dialogue, and an optional bit of science. The maximum word count was 2,000 words, and I had just two days to write it in.

Title: NOT ON MY WATCH
Dialogue: When the clouds are this low it can be a nightmare to get a clean signa
lScience (optional): Augmented reality becomes so good we neglect reality, when the system to fails, the decay is revealed.

Except I worked all day on Sunday, so I really had just one day. And then I knew that in all honesty I probably just had Saturday morning to write it. The good news was I already had a pretty good idea what I wanted to put to paper. I popped open Scrivener (worth it’s weight in gold), wrote out descriptions for about seven story points, and then just...

...wrote.

I finished up a little over 2k words before noon, trimmed it down, sent it to some friends to read, edited the mistakes, and then sent it off. I’m not sure how I got that word count done so fast, but my brain was sizzling with ideas and I just let it get on with it.

And now YOU can read it! I published the short story through Pronoun, making it available for free on all major ebook retailers’ sites, and you can access it here: NOT ON MY WATCH.  If you download it, please rate and review it! It’s only 8 pages, so it shouldn’t take you long at all. Every review or rating helps boost it’s status among other ebooks, and in return gives my author page more recognition, and all of this will help me when Fae Child comes out.

I don’t know if I’ll win the Sci-Fi-London contest, but hey, stranger things have happened? And those things I listed as mistakes at the beginning of the post? Actually they were probably the best decisions I could have made, regarding my writing. Thank you Jenny!

~ Jane-Holly
p.s. Of course, the work on Fae Child continues! We are #2 on Inkshares in Teen and Young Adult, how cool is that?

 

Dear Readers,

Since my campaign for Fae Child ended, SUCCESSFULLY, I’ve been a little quiet. Part of this is the fact that my family got a cold and then I got it (and still have it) and part has been just hunkering down to type out the last bit of the book. I have it all in my head, I merely need to transcribe it. I have also nailed down the last bits of my character motivations that were bugging me, which has led me to the realization that this could be a trilogy of books. But, of course, first things first.

I have secured an editor to help me polish the manuscript! I am very excited about this, and eager to see how much better the book can become with some professional notes.

Inkshares has also made the decision that they are discontinuing the practice of offering signed books. They fulfilled this in the past by mailing all the books to the author, and then shipping them back to Inkshares HQ for fulfillment. This cost Inkshares a lot of money (not necessarily covered by preorder dollars), and I can understand why they are stopping, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me, or for backers who purchased ’signed paperbacks.’ Unfortunately this means that once Fae Child is in physical form, I will not be sent the books to sign, and when you receive your copies they will not be signed. I am very sorry that this is the case, but there isn’t anything I can do about it.

Of course for backers local to me (Pacific NW) I will certainly sign any book I am within arms length of (even if they’re not mine!), and will probably be having a signing party after the book has been published. I am looking into bookplates, which are stickers with my signature that can be fixed into the book, but of course, first things first.

Thank you all for your continuing support,
Jane-Holly

p.s. You probably have noticed that the Cover has undergone several transformations. It is certainly closer to it’s ’final form’ but it may change again!