Oct 16, 2015

Hi Readers,

Have you ever stood on the edge of a diving board, the branch of a tall tree over water or, in my case, a pile of hay, and been afraid to jump? I was a kid that was physically reluctant to put himself in harms way, and terrified of heights. 

As I grew older I had less and less issue with physical pain and had zero issues putting myself out there, on stage, presentations at work, meeting customers were all no problem.

In starting off putting together my reading appointments I find myself with that feeling of reluctance again. I'm eleven years old again watching Adam O'Hara do back-flips twelve feet down into a pile of hay made from broken bails and I can't follow.

Any advice you all could give me in places to read, and how to approach it would be great. I am going to bite the bullet and do it. I've worked on what I'm going to read too, which brings me to my next point. 

At the suggestion of my amazing editor Colette, who I will never be able to thank enough for everything she's done on this book and all my writing. I have moved chapter 2 and made it the prologue. We believe this has far more impact. I also have a chapter I wrote for an earlier draft that goes back to the kingdom of Lagash and explains in more detail how the vampire god Nergal came to be.

Anything else would be an anti-climax.

If you haven't read the chapters that are on Inkshares I of course encourage you to. If you haven't Pre-Ordered yet please do, its free. If you haven't told your friends about Murder House Warriors, I get that, its not easy to promote a book about vampires and zombies to people.

One of the themes of the book however is faith. Not faith in an obtuse, religious sense, but faith in just something that simply resonates with you. You have to really believe in something in this life or you're lost, its part of what makes us human. I believe in my family and I believe in love and I believe in stories and their power to change the world.

I believe in this story too.

I guess in the end that is what will motivate me to go and face the librarians and bookstore managers of New England and start to schedule readings. 

Thanks

John