Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago · 2 likes

Hi everybody!

Curio Citizen is still in 2nd! You are all fantastic people! I really appreciate all of your support. With 10 days left in the contest, we are no doubt going to face a fierce surge of competition for the top 3 spots, and I’m not going to lie--a girl can only know so many people. I could really use your help to widen the circle of supporters for my novel. If you could please find one person to sit down in front of a computer and pre-order a copy, I would be forever grateful! We are so close to being published, I would hate to have all of our hard work not be enough at the last minute! Thank you so much for helping!

Here is today’s look into the world of Curio Citizen:

High Gravity Zones:

Paz is pocketed with areas of increased gravity known as "high gravity zones". These zones have a thickened planetary crust and are packed with the super dense metal known as void. These zones are uninhabitable and consist only of mining facilities, as no one can withstand the immense gravity without the aid of specialized, mechanized suits. Even then, the time the paz or human body can survive there under such intense pressure is short.

,

                    "Spoken words were accompanied by three-dimensional diagrams, which leapt out of the screen to hover in the living room. I stood up, curious, and circled a sphere that rotated on an indicated axis. Paz.

                    A white, pinpoint circle sat in a frame of blue in the lower portion of the northern hemisphere, labeled as the Capitol. Otherwise, the planet’s diagram was colored on a gradient spectrum from bright red to deep blue. Many red small, irregular splotches seemed to be the focus of the illustration.

                    The sphere continued to rotate, but its rotation stopped being smooth and steady. Instead, it began to wobble, not much, but enough to alter the shadows and light that played around the sphere’s poles, presumably cast by an imaginary sun outside the realm of the display. The dot of the Capitol moved in a subtle southern shift. Words popped up on the diagram, but they did little to explain the topic that streamed from the woman’s lips as incoherent babble.

                    High Gravity Zones.

                   ’Huh,’ I uttered, scanning the globe, pocketed with red splotches.

The diagram was smoothly swept away, and the room was empty of projections. I heard a few understandable words about wind intensity and the time the sun would set that night. I fervently wished it would hurry up. Maybe then it would cool down."

---

Thank you so much for trying to get one other person’s pre-order. I would love for you all to have the ability to read Curio Citizen, and if we don’t finish in the top 3, that can’t happen! Please continue to help. Thank you again for everything you have done already. Have the best of days, everyone!

--Katherine

Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago

Hello everyone!

I am SO thrilled to announce that Curio Citizen is currently in 2nd place!! I am so grateful to all of you who have pre-ordered or who plan to pre-order. HOWEVER, there are still 11 days left in this contest, and 3rd and 4th place aren’t far behind! Not to mention, any books further down the list could get a large amount of pre-orders at any time and surprise us! So please continue to personally ask your friends, family, and fans of sci-fi to pre-order. Thank you so much for everything you all have done for me and Curio Citizen!

We have hit 86 readers!! This means that I will now announce the titles for the next two books in the Curio Trilogy:

Curio Conspiracy & Curio Criminal!

Catchy, no? :P If we reach 100 pre-orders from separate readers, which I am confident we can do with your continued help, I will release sneak peeks into each of these books (without giving too much away, of course!)

Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me!

Here’s today’s look into the world of Curio Citizen:

Quadrisphere:

Quadrisphere is an exciting sport played on Paz. It draws countless crowds and is the only form of entertainment that rivals the Curio Museums in scale and enthusiasm. It is similar to soccer, played without the use of hands to discourage any form of aggression.

Paz "’sphere" players are greatly admired for their skills. Having evolved to be a generally docile species, most paz lack the needed physical prowess and desire for active competition. They find it highly entertaining to watch, however, and come out in droves for every match. Even more come out to see Carmen when she earns a chance to play on the field.

                   "The pounding beat of aggression, the focused breaths of trained endurance, the adrenaline-fueled drive to take what was mine, the need to prove I was better than any person who dared to stand in my way...

                   ...Did the paz around me feel such a surge of channeled, instinctual violence? The players themselves were focused, athletic, and showed a transcendent joy in the game I had rarely seen in any human player, perhaps because it wasn’t tainted. Their focus was collected, their drive was to support their teammates, and their enthusiasm extended to the opposing team. They sought to win, but they did not fight to win...

                   ...Anyone who had ever said the point of playing sports was to simply love the game, win or lose, was a pathetic liar. This was the dullest game I had ever played...

                  ...But here we were, in the second half. And the Harmonics scored.

                  I felt a surge of indignation rise up in me. How dare they score?!

                 As soon as the ball was put back into play, I raced forward.

                ’Tenaz!’ I shouted. He stole the ball from an opposing player and met my eyes in determined acknowledgement. I ducked beneath a red player trying to block me and caught the ball between my feet from Tenaz’s kick.

                 Pumping with adrenaline, I shifted the ball from foot to foot with increasing speed. I dodged every player who attempted to steal my ball, racing around them, slipping underneath with startling agility, and in a glance, caught an unobstructed sight of a hoop—directly behind me. I stopped the ball, kicked it vertically, then spun around and delivered a sideways kick with all my might.

                It sailed through the hoop.

               ’Yes!’ I grunted, my fist in the air. The noise from the crowd was deafening, and my teammates were grinning ear to ear. More striking, there were zero boos in the crowd from fans of the opposing Harmonics, and even the players in red right next to me were enthused.

               From that point on, the game got much more interesting. My skill seemed to fuel the other players—on both sides—to match it. Well, they tried, bless them.

               Invoking my thrill for competition, I performed more feats of skill, some greater than I ever thought possible of myself. Most were moves I had done before in a state championship game, impressive on a high school level, but to the paz, who had evolved to be physically weaker and less competitive than humans, I may as well have been a Hall-of-Famer."

’

Thank you so much for your continued support! Please help me stay in the top 3 so Curio Citizen can be published and you all can have a chance to read it!!

--Katherine

Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago

Hello all again!

I am happy to say that Curio Citizen is still in 4th place! We are climbing rapidly, and I have all of you to thank for that. I am truly humbled by your support. However, we still have to get into the top 3 for Curio Citizen to be published. We are getting fresh pre-orders every day, but so is the competition. There are only 12 more days in the contest. That’s enough time for us to keep climbing to the top 3, or we could fall far behind if we lose momentum. That’s how tight this race is! Please consider asking one person today to pre-order. It would help me and my daughter so much if Curio Citizen could be published and launch my writing career.

Here’s the link to the book trailer to help you spread the word! Curio Citizen Book Trailer

Prefer Youtube? Click here.

And, as promised, here’s today’s look into the world of Curio Citizen:

Void:

Void is a super dense metal found within the bedrock of Paz. It is so dense that it can be used to generate a gravity field within the space ships that seek out curios across the galaxy, as well as a slight grounding of a person within a vehicle as normal as a hovering taxi to ensure the rider’s safety.

Its most important function, however, is to facilitate interstellar space travel.

                             "’Let me see...’ Inquieto murmured, tapping his finger on his chin as he searched for words. When he spoke, his words came slowly, and I suspected he was greatly dumbing down the description.

                            ’Within the vacuums of void, the cracks are so thin, and often positioned in such a way near one another, that they become plates of refracted metal, which can produce negative energy between them through vacuum fluctuations. As you said, we can create vacuums, and two simple metal plates placed close together within a vacuum can produce the same effect in a small amount, but void aids the process so that the negative energy and exotic matter it produces is much higher.’

                            ’Oh,’ I said, vaguely following him.

                            ’We have developed technology that can further extrapolate this energy and matter to such a degree, it can surround our ships to create a bubble that will keep the ship and crew unaltered while the exotic matter warps space. It contracts space before a ship while expanding that behind it to create, essentially, a short-cut to circumvent the speed of light and travel otherwise impossible distances.’"

Without void, space travel would be nearly impossible for the paz, and certainly too costly to enact. And it is because of the lack of void that the other two intelligent species of planets within Paz’s solar system are mostly confined to their respective planets, for which the paz are grateful.

,

Thank you for your continued support for Curio Citizen. Once again, if you know anyone you can personally ask to pre-order this book, please do so. We are so close to getting into the top 3 and realizing my dream of becoming a published author. This could be the start of my career and be the beginning of an exciting Curio Trilogy, which is now in the drafting phase. If we reach 80 pre-orders from separate readers, I will release the names of the second two novels of the trilogy. If we reach 100 pre-orders, I will give you all a sneak peek (sans spoilers) of the next two books!

You all are so amazing!

--Katherine

Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago · 2 likes

Hello all!

I have an exciting announcement to make--a brand new book trailer is up on Inkshares! Click here to view it now!

Curio Citizen is in 4th place! This is great news, but 5th place isn’t far behind, and 3rd and 2nd are gaining pre-orders fast! Please keep asking your friends, family, and any other fans of sci-fi you may know to pre-order their copy of Curio Citizen. We are so close to getting in the top 3, and once we get there, we have to keep getting more pre-orders to stay there for the next two weeks!

Here’s today’s fresh look into the world of Curio Citizen:

Family Structures--Houses:

Every person on Paz belongs to a familial "house". Every person within a house wears a unique pin as an emblem for their house. In addition to a pin, each individual family unit wears the same color clothing to unite them further.

But instead of creating rivalry, the house social structure is a way of encouraging and maintaining peace throughout the globe. They connect not only immediate relations, but also distant relatives with shared ancestral beginnings. Why should you care about someone in a far away city and their problems? Because they are a part of your house!

"I stood, getting the distinct impression Marea did not want me dirtying her furniture.

      Inquieto hurried over to my side. ’Mother,’ he said stiffly. ’May I introduce you to Carmen?’

            Marea’s eyes scavenged my appearance, and they finally landed on the small jewel upon my breast.

’Inquieto,’ she said in a polite tone that was iced around the edges, ’why is it wearing our pin?’

I drew a breath.

           ’She lives in my household, Mother,’ Inquieto answered steadily. His words were careful and precise, as if he had practiced ahead of time for this conversation.

   ’So, get her a tag,’ Marea uttered coolly in breathy elegance."

,

Orphans exist on Paz as they do everywhere else. The Paz government provides the Salvan House for these special cases.

            "’What did Oyente mean when he suggested I be placed in the Paz House?’ I asked.

            Inquieto sighed. ’The Paz House, Salvan, is that of the government. It is rare an individual does not have a house of their own, but Salvan provides a place for such instances, most often due to orphans who were lost and could never be reunited with their parents. Salvan offers all the services a house would normally provide. Medical decisions when an individual is too ill or injured to make them alone, representation in court if needed, that sort of thing.’

            ’Oh,’ I said. I frowned. ’Inquieto...that does make sense. Why would you put me in your house? Clearly, your family doesn’t like it.

            ’Carmen,’ Inquieto said. ’You were taken from your family. I know I may not be much...and I know today was not a good impression of my family, but...you need a family. You deserve a family.’"

As perfect as Paz strives to be, there is still an undercurrent of resentment among some of the Salvans.

"...I stopped in front of this paz woman, dressed in robes as gray as her skin so she resembled a pale ghost. She wore no pin. Her eyes glared at mine on my chest. I wanted to say something, though I didn’t know what, but Inquieto placed his hand on my hair and nudged me away.

’Come on, Carmen,’ he said, nodding politely to the woman as we left, and I noticed that her bitter enmity was aimed at Inquieto just as much as it was at me."

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into paz life. Please pre-order a copy of Curio Citizen to dive deeper into this universe. I can’t wait to share this world with you!

--Katherine

Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago · 5 likes

Alright, everyone, guess what? Curio Citizen is now in 4th place!! We are only 4 orders away from reaching 3rd, and 10 orders away from 2nd place! Remember, I only need to be in 3rd to be published, so please continue to spread the word. If you haven’t pre-ordered, please consider doing so. It would mean so much to me and could help launch the Curio Trilogy!

In addition to hitting 4th place, we have also reached 51 readers! As promised, I have posted a brand new excerpt which delves into Paz technology, and in so doing, reveals a deeper level of the species’ psychology, which Carmen must face and overcome if she wishes to gain acceptance in this new world. Check it out here!

Also, to count down the last two weeks of the contest, I will be posting a new look into a part of Curio Citizen’s world each day! Here’s today’s:

A look into the Paz Species:

The inhabitants of the planet Paz are known simply as the paz species. They are humanoid beings with an intellect that soars above the level of the average human. They are inherently peaceful, a state of being many humans seem to find difficult. However, paz are less vivacious and emotional than humans, and some would say they have lost the tenacity needed for survival.

There are pros and cons to each of these traits, of course, and Curio Citizen explores those differences so the reader can form their own opinion of which species is preferable. Should humans become more like paz? Or should paz learn from humans? Are there lessons we can learn from each?

Though there are surface-level differences, physically, paz and humans are very alike. They are genetic kindred, despite the light-years between their planets. How that came to be is one of the countless mysteries the universe holds. Why the paz cannot see the similarities is a mystery Carmen needs to uncover before she can gain acceptance on Paz.

"Their skin was pale slate, a smooth gray with a subtle tint of blue. None had hair whatsoever, not even eyebrows that I could see. Two of the five had arcing, bony ridges along their shoulders, partially visible before the outer edges were covered by the coarse fabric of varying, worn hues they all wore. Otherwise, their features appeared human, but it was difficult for me to see the similarities past one other striking difference.
Their eyes were haunting, the same shape and size as any person’s, but completely black, with no whites or distinguishable pupils or irises at all. I could only tell they were appraising my features by the glitter of the light that caught their dark orbs with each of their stares’ subtle shifts. They were all roving my hair, my face, my torso, my limbs.One spoke, a smooth, low voice in a foreign tongue. A couple of murmurs swept in from others. One of the two with shoulder ridges responded to his words and stepped forward. This individual’s voice was lighter, and as I listened to the other one with similar ridges, I decided both must be female..."

             "...A short one, small in frame, pointed a little blue finger right at me and shouted a high-pitched word. Taller, grayer beings, like all I had seen so far, spoke in a hubbub of interest as they followed the little one’s scamper towards my invisible wall. A gaggle of more little ones, all dull blue with pale gray spots, pressed their palms against the barrier, skin smushed flat, spreading their fingerprints wide.
            I needed no interpretation to guess the meaning of their thrilled words.
            Look!
            The tiniest ones, clearly infants, stayed in the background, clinging to their mother’s backs by clasping the shoulder ridges, revealing the boney projections’ use. They were almost entirely a dull shade of blue, with big black eyes that stared at everything around them with an infant’s wonder. Their heads were smaller in proportion to their bodies than any infant’s I had ever seen, and they had no trouble swiveling their necks as they stayed upright with ease.
           Their pubescent siblings resembled a bad case of acne, the large, round spots of childhood fading to leave the opposite coloring of tiny specks of blue as the slate gray pallor of adulthood took over. The wonder faded as well. The youths looked bored, lurking behind their parents in protest.

Seeing the unexpected children made me consider that these beings, whether human or not—a distinction I still had yet to decide—were not so very different than those I knew as family, as friends, as any people I had seen on my numerous travels. And yet they clearly saw me as something other, something lesser."

Please SHARE on social media, personally tell all your friends and family who would love to read a book like this to pre-order, and comment on the Discussions page on Curio Citizen’s Inkshares page with any questions, ideas, or anything that comes to mind involving Curio Citizen.

Pre-order your copy here!

Thank you so much!

-Katherine

Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago · 3 likes

Hello my dear followers!

I have exciting news! I was a little bummed last night because we dropped from 9th place to 10th, but today, we have jumped from 10th to 6th place! Thank you so much to everyone who pre-ordered today. and to those who have pre-ordered in the past week.

The race is till extremely tight, however. One pre-order could make a difference. As of right now, I only need three more to put me in 5th place! Curio Citizen is climbing the ranks. Please help me get into the top 3! If you haven’t pre-ordered, consider doing so today. If you have, please tell one friend or family member personally about my book and encourage them to pre-order. If everyone who has pre-ordered already got just one more person to pre-order, I would be in a solid 2nd place!

My updates for Curio Citizen are about to get more exciting! A book trailer is on the way, and starting tomorrow, I will be sending out fresh tidbits about the characters and world of Curio Citizen daily. There are two more weeks left in the contest, and anything can happen!

Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy Curio Citizen. Let’s get it published so you can read it!

Katherine

Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago · 2 likes

Wow! Curio Citizen has only been up for 7 days and already has 34 pre-orders! This puts this exciting sci-fi adventure and romance in 9th place in the Nerdist contest. We’ve breached the top 10, so keep those pre-orders coming so I can make it into the top 3 and get published!

Curio Citizen is very dear to my heart. It features a strong female protagonist and explores the hardships of immigration, celebrates diversity of culture, and tackles the difficult subject of mental illness in a world that doesn’t understand anything but the set, "normal" standard of behavior. I decided to take on these themes in an interesting and unique alien setting, throwing in humor, action, and romance to create an entertaining story worth telling.

Please help support Curio Citizen by pre-ordering now and spreading the word. I only need 7 more pre-orders to make it to 3rd place! There are still two weeks left in the contest, and it’s a tight race, so every single pre-order counts! Just one could make a huge difference and be the one I need to win! It’s only $10 for an ebook--a small amount that could help launch my career and be the beginning of the planned Curio Trilogy.

Thank you so much for following Curio Citizen’s journey towards publication. I am incredibly grateful to have so many people rallying behind me. Let’s make this book a reality! We’re SO close!

If we hit 50 pre-orders, I’ll post a brand new excerpt which delves into Paz technology, and in so doing, reveals a deeper level of the species’ psychology, which Carmen must face and overcome if she wishes to gain acceptance in this new world.

Please SHARE on social media, tell all your friends and family who would love to read a book like this to pre-order, and comment on the Discussions page on Curio Citizen’s inkshare page with any questions, ideas, or anything that comes to mind involving Curio Citizen.

Let’s get this book on the shelves!

Read more and pre-order here: http://www.inkshares.com/books/curio-citizen

-Katherine

Headstrong and passionate anthropologist Carmen O’Dwyer encounters a culture she never imagined when she is collected from her home on Earth to be a curio in a museum on the planet, Paz. Treated as a feral animal on display, Carmen convinces the curio’s life behaviorist, a native who shows keen interest in Carmen, to see that she has more than a primitive intellect and help her escape. He sees her humanity--what she sees in him may endanger them both.

Katherine Forrister · Author · added over 8 years ago

Wow! Curio Citizen has only been up for 6 days and already has 34 pre-orders! This puts this exciting sci-fi adventure and romance in 9th place in the Nerdist contest. We’ve breached the top 10, so keep those pre-orders coming so I can make it into the top 3!

Curio Citizen is very dear to my heart. It features a strong female protagonist and explores the hardships of immigration, celebrates diversity of culture, and tackles the difficult subject of mental illness in a world that doesn’t understand anything but the set, "normal" standard of behavior. I decided to take on these themes in an interesting and unique alien setting, throwing in humor, action, and romance to create an entertaining story worth telling.

Please help support Curio Citizen by pre-ordering now and spreading the word. I only need 10 more pre-orders to make it to 3rd place! There are still two weeks left in the contest, and it’s a tight race, so every single pre-order counts! Just one could make a huge difference and be the one I need to win!

Thank you so much for following Curio Citizen’s journey towards publication. I am so grateful to have so many people rallying behind me. Please don’t hesitate to comment here to start an open dialogue. I would love to hear from my followers!

-Katherine

Katherine Forrister · Author · edited over 8 years ago

Hello everyone! Welcome to the start of the first full week of my funding campaign for my science fiction novel, Curio Citizen. I have devoted myself to this manuscript for the past year, and it is finally ready to enter the world and (hopefully) bring joy to the masses.

In the midst of juggling all the pieces needed to submit a manuscript for publishing, I stumbled across the information for the current science fiction contest run by Nerdist and Inkshares. I knew immediately this could be a perfect opportunity to present my book to the public and to launch my career as a writer. What I didn’t expect was the incredible community that Inkshares has to offer, one of which I am certain I will continue to be a part of whether Curio Citizen receives full funding or not.

If you’re reading this, it means there’s a chance you’re interested in reading my work! If the first three chapters and two excerpts posted in the "Read" section aren’t enough, please consider pre-ordering Curio Citizen so it can be published. Then, you can really dive into the world of this planned sci-fi trilogy!

Curio Citizen is currently 12th place in the Nerdist contest after only three days in the running!! If it hits 3rd, 2nd, or 1st, Curio Citizen will be published!

I only need 20 more pre-orders to bump me up to 3rd place! Then, keep ’em coming so I can stay in the top 3!

Every single pre-order from a new reader counts. With the current numbers how they stand in the contest, every pre-order can make a HUGE difference. For just $10, you can pre-order an ebook of Curio Citizen. Let’s make this book a reality! We’re SO close!

If we hit 50 pre-orders, I’ll post a brand new excerpt which delves into Paz technology, and in so doing, reveals a deeper level of the species’ psychology, which Carmen must face and overcome if she wishes to gain acceptance in this new world.

Please SHARE on social media, tell all your friends and family who would love to read a book like this to pre-order, and comment here with any questions, ideas, or anything that comes to mind involving Curio Citizen.

Let’s get this book on the shelves!