I’ve got 99 problems but readers ain’t one! 99 more readers and we’ll be #1! 

I was in the middle of recording a saweeet rap video update…. Regrettably the videocamera’s batteries died ;-) I know you’re all devastated. 

 So, we’ll just go with the typed jingle...

 OK, super quick update for my devoted Machiners! 

We have 1 week to go!! 1 week. It's homestretch time! 

Over 270 followers and as of this writing, 215 readers! Spectacular! Can we get to #1? Who knows, really. My original goal was 150. Not too long ago 215 was totally farfetched. Maybe we can surprise and hit 300? 

I may agree to a real rap video if that happens. If you think that would be epic, and you haven’t pre-ordered, then do so immediately!! 

My wonderful Machiners! 

Tonight I have an important update for you which includes a call to action. 

Earlier today we reached our 170th unique reader! We continue to hold 2nd place in the standings. 170 is an amazing number, and to be quite honest, we have exceeded what I originally thought possible in this contest. However, with 10 days remaining, it has become clear that it will not be enough. Perhaps not close to enough. 

The standings remain incredibly close, and it's a testament to both the great talent in this contest and the great opportunity presented by Inkshares.

So, I must ask more of you. Having seen the tremendous support throughout this competition - including at least one new reader every day since I jumped in on December 2nd (which I’m particularly proud of) - I have great confidence that my friends, family, co-workers, associates, classmates, athletic team members, and the many supporters who I have no connection to other than through this story, will answer the call. 

Most importantly, please know that I continue to work. Heartened by your support, I am not asking myself, how can I hold onto 2nd place? I am asking myself, how can we make a run over these 10 days to win. I didn't really expect to be here. And now that I am here, why not go for it? It may not be possible. We face a considerable deficit. But the push continues, and in 10 days we let the chips fall where they may. 

So, if you haven’t yet pre-ordered, please jump in and join me. If you have pre-ordered, I need you to spread the word, and implore your nearest and dearest to jump in too. 

Thanks so much! 

Machiner-in-chief

Happy New Year Machiners! 

Based on my map of where pre-orders come from, some of my wonderful supporters are definitely celebrating already. To those all over, have fun tonight, and be safe.

A couple of real quick hits on this 2016 New Year's Eve:

The support the last few days has been tremendous. I cannot thank all of the new followers enough for getting onboard. Monday we hit 100 readers and tonight we may hit 140. That's incredible! 

I had a funny thought after thinking about this today. I hope you all know this book basically has only one character! Well, our protagonist talks about one other important character. For those who haven't read, I won't give it away...

There was a new Inkshares blog post today. Some of the folks in the Sword & Laser contest provided their "best reads" of 2015. Definitely cool to see what everyone is reading. The novels I touched on weren't actually written this year, but to me, they are books worth visiting time and again.

I know I'm behind on the raffle game. At some point in the New Year, I will remedy that. Guaranteed.

Lastly, there is a fun new page on Facebook for The Last Machine. Check it out and Like when you have a moment: https://www.facebook.com/3BillionYears/

And I'll leave you with this brand new, hot off the presses, super rad artwork from Jack Katz of The Last Machine and that "other character." Enjoy, Happy New Year!

My Fellow Machiners!

A fair Monday morning greeting to each of you! We are closing in on the new year and the final two (and change) weeks of the Sword & Laser contest!

We aimed for 100 readers by Sunday and did that first thing this morning! Pretty amazing. So thank you very very much to each one of you who has thought, "yeah, how about this story - not bad, not bad at all - let's get this one into the bookstores." 

I will follow-up in the next day or so once another exciting raffle has occurred for this great milestone.

And finally, though we have held onto 2nd place for the last couple of weeks and remain in the catbird seat, we are not satisfied! People get nipped at the tape all the time. Or as the New York football Giants learned repeatedly this year, leading until the last minute of the 4th quarter counts for bupkis in the win column. So, if you haven't told your best friend or significant other to grab their copy too, please do! 

Thanks so much for the wonderful support!

Machiners!

We have entered Winter, officially speaking, but the weather is hardly frightful and our spirits are so delightful. What a day! 

First and foremost, my congratulations to Tony Valdez on reaching 250 pre-orders for his comedic SciFi romp Dax Harrison!  Meaning books will be on the way! This is really well deserved. Great concept, awesome writing, hard work - check all the boxes. Also, amazing to see how the Inkshares community really banded together to push a colleague toward the finish line. Love it. 

OnThe Last Machine front the beat goes on and such a groovy beat it is. 

The Review-a-Thon this past Saturday was fantastic. Thanks to A.C. Weston for coordinating which undoubtedly took much time and effort. It yielded some amazing reviews for the novella, which I am very thankful for. Some of them I have been able to reciprocate already. Others I haven't gotten to yet. But I will. I promise. Thanks to Michael Valdez, AR Patterson, Jason Pomerance, Dave Barrett, and Byron Gillan for their wonderful words. It really does mean a great deal.

We've now surpassed 80 readers!! Thank you to all the new followers and supporters. Because we hit 75, I've conducted a clandestine raffle of unknown scope and substance....

And the winners are Melissa Berg and Peter Birdsall. You have each won a signed copy of Alter Ego No. 91 from January 2010. It's a super cool magazine and has an epic interview covering basically every topic possible with my friend and The Last Machine artist Jack Katz. Here are a couple of images for you:

We're at 81 readers so we might as well shoot for 100. Yeah, why not? Maybe we can do that by Sunday? Let's try. More cool stuff to come if we make it.

Good evening Machiners!

I hope you are all strong in body and mind. Here is wishing you a fantastic holiday season and New Years!

I don't want to take up too much time this evening. For many of us, tomorrow is a big day (more on that in just a moment). But here are a couple of quick hits...

First, if you haven't seen the new video trailer for The Last Machine yet, the handiwork of fellow Inkshares author Yicheng Liu, go check it out! It's like an early New Years gift.

Second my apologies for being a little slow on the 50th reader raffle. I blame my wonderful readers for the wave of support, which is humbling. We blew right by 50 readers and then past 60. So thank you very very much! Therefore, without further ado, I'd like to announce Paul Robinson as the winner of the raffle for the super early edition of Rudyard Kipling's Mine Own People. Go check out Paul's science fiction book Ghosts of War, a planet hopping tale of revenge and retribution!

The new plan is to have special raffle giveaways at 75 and 100 readers! I know we can do this. You all continue to prove it to me each day. Updates to come on just what those raffles will entail...

OK, and now for the section of this update dedicated to tomorrow's epic Review-a-Thon - Inkshares' first annual! Full details below. 

But first, and importantly, for anybody who pre-orders tomorrow, Saturday 12/19, whether you are pre-ordering for the first time or have before, you will receive a signed copy of the book cover art. It will be signed by myself and the magnificent artist who created it, Jack Katz, author of The First Kingdom.

Looking forward to an awesome day!

------------------------

On December 19th, all authors and readers are invited to leave reviews on currently funding Inkshares books using the Inkshares “leave a review” option. 

Throughout the day we’ll be hanging out on Twitter in the #InksharesReviews tag as we share our favorite book projects, answer author Q&As, debate the merits of astronauts with swords versus cavemen with lasers, and much, much more! 

From 6 - 8pm ET, JF Dubeau and Paul ‘such a nerd’ Inman will be hosting a Google+ Hangout lifestream filled with author interviews, review readings, and live announcements of prize winners! 

Prizes?!?! 

 Everyone who leaves a review on December 19th by 6pm ET will be eligible to win one of our fantastic general prizes: 

• Sword & Laser Contest Winners Package - print copies of the six winning books from the Sword & Laser Inkshares contest! 

• Nerdiest Contest Winners Package - print copies of the five winning books from the Nerdist Inkshares contest! 

• An immediate pre-order of the book of their choice for five winners! 

• $30 in Inkshares credits! 

Readers: Peruse the “currently funding” books on Inkshares and leave as many reviews as you want. You could even start up a “must-have” list of books to order in case you win a free pre-order or the $30 in credits!

Authors: Join our review exchange to leave three reviews in exchange for two guaranteed reviews on your Inkshares project and a chance at author-exclusive prizes! 

Email Cara Weston at cara.c.weston@gmail.com with questions, or simply to learn more.

Hello friends!

This is the update you have all been waiting for - even though you didn't know it! We have the magical release of the movie style video TRAILER for The Last Machine.

I originally wanted to drop this on New Year's Day. But it is simply too epic to hold back for two weeks. I just couldn't do it. Would require far too much willpower. 

I must thank Yicheng Liu for his unbelievable and shockingly fast work putting this together. Please check out his novel The Remains of Civilization and send a pre-order his way.

I also want to thank Melissa Berg and Vincent Lim once again for their wonderful reviews, which are included in the trailer.

At the bottom of this update, I've credited the free source material that was used in this video, which can be used by others as well.

Go check the video out on the homepage; you'll be glad you did. I can't stop watching. Just too much fun. 

OK, and quickly we have a couple of other quick items to hit on. First, the winner of the 40th reader raffle is Nichole Costa! Nichole, you will be receiving a signed and framed illustrated poem. Congratulations!

Lastly, I want to thank everybody again for the amazing support during this Sword & Laser campaign. The last few days have really shown widespread support for this story, from people I know personally, to my fellow authors. It's truly gratifying. We now have 48 readers and 99 followers. That means two more readers before our special 50th reader raffle. So get in the door while you can! And I'm thinking up something for the 60th reader. It'll be great, like the trailer. I promise.

Source Material

Earth zoom: http://youtu.be/HL0waHkIkps 

Urban city fast motion stock footage: http://www.videezy.com/urban/2649-night-traffic-fast-motion-free-footage 

Green circuit image: http://webneel.com/post/freedownload/vector/object/circuit-board

Dystopian world: http://rootnotion.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dystopia-page-1641069.png 

Music by Sirius Beat - the unknown: http://youtu.be/lblqJoZ72bY

Good morning - or afternoon to some of you!

Really a splendid morning... We have reached 40 readers (41 to be exact), and that's fantastic. You know what they say... slow and steady wins the race, or maybe in this case, finishes second?? We'd take that too.

It also means we will be having another raffle. This time for an illustrated and framed copy of my poem "Bound in Earth." I will circle back with the results for that lucky person as soon as I manage to cut up 40 little pieces of paper and find a baseball hat to stick them in.

Two more quick points: 

First, as a reminder, I am encouraging those fence sitters to hop on down and join the fun. At the moment we have 92 followers who are receiving this update, and only 41 readers. I'm a writer not a mathematician, but I believe that leaves in excess of 50 followers who can still pre-order and bump us up the standings. The next ten pre-orders from existing followers will all receive a signed piece of cover art for The Last Machine! So please do come off that high fence!

Lastly, only 9 readers away from the special 50th reader raffle for Rudyard Kipling's Mine Own People. The book is super old. Like older than anybody on the planet (well, maybe). That's next...

Thanks again for all the amazing support!

Good evening Machiners!

We have an exciting update tonight! We will be covering a lucky raffle winner, announcing the item to be raffled at 40 readers, and revealing a new surprise promotion. So lots of goodies here.

OK, first off, we have a winner of the 30th reader give away. As a reminder, the item was a super cool copy of Haunted Horror #12 autographed by Jack Katz above his illustrated story "Bride of Death." And the winner is, drumroll.... Janna Grace! Congratulations! Apparently you are full of raffle luck - I'm well up to date on my Tony Valdez Dax Harrison mug give away videos (which are amazing BTW - everyone go pre-order Dax Harrison immediately and let's get Tony published!) and clearly Janna is full of raffle luck. No videos here though. You all will have to take my word for it. It's legit, scout's honor. Janna, my people will talk to your people and we'll figure out where to send your comic!

Second, and this is serious business. I am astounded by the fact that The Last Machine now has 80 followers. That's incredible! I am amazed by the deep interest in the story. However, I am getting the sense that we have some readers sitting on the edge of the pool only dipping their feet. Trust me, the water's fine - it's time to jump in! Now for the little push straight into the deep end: For folks who are already following but haven't yet pre-ordered, the next ten who take the plunge and pre-order will receive a signed copy of The Last Machine's cover art. I will sign and so will the illustrator, Jack Katz. Now I'm done with swimming metaphors. But seriously, time to get wet.

And last but not least, when we get to our 40th reader - which we are quickly approaching - all readers will be in the running for a framed poem of mine that was illustrated by Jack Katz and appeared in the Alameda County Fair poetry competition this past summer. The poem and the illustration will also appear in California's Lost Gold, an illustrated poetry collection of mine also on Inkshares. Go check it out and give a follow to stay updated on progress there. The illustrated poem is called "Bound in Earth," and you can read the poem without squinting on the California's Lost Gold page. 

Carry on readers!

Good Evening Lovers of the Written Word !

I'm super excited to check in at the end of week #1 of the Sword & Laser with our 30th pre-order. That's an impressive week, much of which we spent in second or third position. Not bad at all! I cannot thank all of you readers enough for the amazing support.

Because we have reached our 30th unique reader, as promised, I will be raffling off the signed copy of Haunted Horror #12. I'll send an update tomorrow with the big winner - but for now, I must call it a night and briefly leave you in suspense.... I know, it's shocking. How about that for a proverbial cliffhanger?!

OK, I'll sign-off for tonight with this: I'm already thinking about something special to raffle away when we reach our 40th reader. I expect I'll announce that tomorrow with the winner of Haunted Horror. Also, don't forget, the super early addition of Kipling's Mine Own People is up for grabs to all supporters when we reach 50.

Now that you've finished this update, time to put your nose in a book! Until tomorrow...