Dear friends and followers,

It has been an exceptionally slow week, but I did say I was going to sit back a bit and consider my next steps. So ... with the manuscript for "Murder at the Veterans’ Club" done, what have I been up to?

Those of you with a taste for Interactive Fiction might be interested to know that I am putting together a little game for our friend Eric Peterkin. Join him--well, BE him--in a little investigation! I expect to have this out in a couple of weeks, so watch this space.

With all the news currently coming out of the UK, I’m reminded that the action of "Murder at the Veterans’ Club" is supposed take place in November 1924. Among other things, this is the month immediately following a general election in which the Conservative Party ousted the incumbent Labour Party with a landslide vote. Much of the Conservative victory was attributed to the publication of the Zinoviev letter a few days before the election, fanning fears of communism and suspicion against the left-leaning Labour Party. Interestingly, this seems to have hurt the Liberal vote more than the Labour vote: perhaps the non-Labour partisans of the day were voting strategically by throwing their collective weight behind the stronger of the two remaining parties.

Was the Zinoviev letter a forgery, though? And would anyone at the Veterans’ Club have cared? The military branches seem to tend towards the conservative, but that’s not exactly a rule. And conscription in the Great War meant that a lot of men, of non-military backgrounds, now qualified for membership at the Club....

I suppose we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, what’s on the shelves at Inkshares?

1) "American Art Killers", by Andrew Oye. This has some very slick production art, and Oye appears to really know his stuff. I’m honestly a little surprised that this hasn’t had more traction over the course of its campaign.

2) "Falling from Grace", by Felecia Downing. A supernatural mystery, rather than a straight-up murder mystery. The sample is very well executed and shows personality right from the first paragraph.

And now, friends ... it is a glorious afternoon, and I intend to take full advantage of it. Until next week: have fun, and keep reading. 

Dear friends and followers,

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I spent the past week catching the shows at the Montreal Fringe Festival, and reviewing them. I’ve been lucky this year in having picked some very strong performances; even the worst among my picks was merely "okay".

So I haven’t really been focussing on the pre-order sales for "Murder at the Veterans’ Club", and, to be honest, I think it may be time to sit back a bit, regather my energy, and reconsider my approach. Also, I need to finish that short story for "Too Many Controllers".

For now, let’s have another look at the Veterans’ Club officers. This time, Edward Garrett:

And meanwhile! What’s happening on the Inkshares bookshelves? Let’s take a look at a couple more books in the Nerdist contest:

1) "Destiny Imperfect", by Peter Ryan. I think I said something similar back when I talked about Ryan’s other book, "Sync City", but Ryan has a great "voice". He does "angry dystopia" really well, and a good voice is 75% of a book’s quality. "Destiny Imperfect", which appears to be a parallel-world "who’s really in control?" deal, is no exception.

2) "SideScroller", by Andrew Fantasia. Swashbuckling adventure/romance, it says, and who doesn’t love a bit of that in their lives? The story progresses on video game rules: when we get a peek at one character’s ID card, it looks more like an RPG character sheet than any sort of real-world ID. It’s a sort of "meta" sensibility that would appeal to anyone familiar with video game mores.

And that’s it for this week. Until next week: have fun, and keep reading.

Dear friends and followers,

Today, 12 June, is day number 85 in the campaign. The suggested timeframe for a campaign is 90 days, which means that, had I not specified my timeframe, this thing would be over this coming Friday night / Saturday morning. At present, we are at 349 pre-orders, and you know what? It would be really nice to end Friday night at the halfway point of 375. That’s doable, right? If you know anyone who might be able to help, please encourage them to do so ... and if you’re still on the fence about ordering, I encourage you to come down on this side of it. The grass is greener here.

With the writing for "Murder at the Veterans’ Club" done and simmering on the back burner, I’m focussing more on my short story for "Too Many Controllers". How does a Wodehouse-inspired tale of a VR gaming companies, ruined castles, and stuffy aristocrats strike you? Well, if not Wodehouse, then at least Westlake ... that should give an idea of where I’m thinking of going with this.

With the Nerdist contest going on, I thought we might take a look at a couple of the other books in the contest:

1) "Reb1rth", by Xavier Auger-Mailhot. I remember reading one of Auger-Mailhot’s works, once upon a time: a very rough thing hot off the NaNoWriMo press. I remember thinking to myself as I went along, "my goodness but this reads like a video game". And now he’s written something that’s actually about the fusion of reality with video games, and I know he’s pushing his strengths on this one.

2) "Squids In", by Matthew Poat. An octopus gets hold of a controller and proceeds to dominate the video game circuit. Poat has some prime comedy material invested in this, and, from what I’ve seen, it is indeed hilarious. I get the impression that this is going to be a madcap caper with wacky hijinks in abundance, and I’m looking forward to see this book happen for real.

That’s it for this update. Until next week, have fun and keep reading. Cheers! And here’s hoping to hit that 375 milestone by Friday night!

Dear friends and followers,

I delivered the first cheque to Chez Doris on Wednesday, for $74. I was given a quick tour of the place. They do some good work there, providing meals and legal services to women who need it. $74 isn’t a lot, I’m embarrassed to say, but every dollar counts.

Things have been getting steadily crazier without my realising it. To everyone who has contacted me recently about anything, I apologise. I’ll make time somehow.

On the writing front: well, "Murder at the Veterans’ Club" is complete but for some minor editing, and I can set it aside to concentrate on other business. I’d have liked to move on to "Best Man for Murder", the sequel, but--some good news, actually--I’m working on something for Choice Of Games, and that’s taking up a good portion of my creative writing energy. And also some of my logic-coding energy. Don’t worry, though: a first draft for "Best Man for Murder" has in fact been completed, and what I should be working on there will actually be a complete rewrite--changing names, key plot elements, and maybe even whodunnit. What’s the point of a second draft if you don’t rethink everything, right?

(Those of you who’ve read the second chapter of "Murder at the Veterans’ Club", did you know that in the original first draft, the thing Benson had stashed away in his safe deposit box was a Gutenberg Bible? Fascinating little Macguffin, but it ended up making no sense.)

Also on the writing front, I am involved in this: "Too Many Controllers", a submission for the current Nerdist contest.

Now, what could a guy whose writing is mostly set in a video-free era possibly have to offer in anthology of video game stories, you must be wondering. Well ... all will be revealed in time. At the very least, follow the book to keep tabs on the news. Or better yet, pre-order a copy. It could be worth noting that this book will almost certainly see daylight before "Murder at the Veterans’ Club"; and short stories can so easily be thought of as little appetisers before the main course.

Until next week: have fun, and keep reading. (Seriously, crazy as things are, I wish I had time to read more.)

good gob and great cause! chapeau!

This cheque was delivered this morning to Chez Doris.

Thanks, @ZUrlocker ... the writing is actually complete, although every now and then I find the need to tweak this, that, or the other. My primary project right now is something for Choice Of Games, and then there’s a thing for Too Many Controllers in the upcoming (in a few hours!) Nerdist competition. I’m afraid the sequel is going to have to take a back seat for a while.

Great progress. How about some updates on how the writing is going?

Dear friends and followers,

Things are moving along, but at a slower rate than before. The plains of 300-400 really are a desolate expanse. I’m sure things will get interesting against once we crest that 400 order mark, even if doing so does not entail any references to impressive Spartan exploits.

I will be delivering the first donation cheque to Chez Doris on Wednesday. Right now, it’s an even $70: pretty respectable, I think.

Coming up this week is a new Nerdist contest! Video games! I will have a bit of a stake in this one, so expect further news.

And of particular interest to other hopeful writers, there’s DraftShares. Check out the related thread on the forum for more details, but the basic gist of it is the promotion of projects that are still in the draft phase. Readers, you may find some of the drafts highlighted next month to be of interest as well, so keep your eyes open.

As for what’s happening with projects in the funding stage, let’s take another look around the bookshelves....

1) "Tantalus Depths", by Evan Graham. An expedition discovers the "planet" they’re surveying is more than it seems, and their ship AI somehow has a stake in it. It’s a sci-fi thriller. I’m told that the "Evil AI" is a common trope, but I think this goes a little above that with its focus on motivation. If the planet is unexplored territory, how could it have any connection to the ship’s AI? I’d like to add that I found the excerpt to have a very nice feel for the "ensemble cast", even if what we see is entirely through one viewpoint character. It goes a lot towards immersing the reader, not only in the environment but also in the social context.

2) "Teddy Roosevelt and the Lost World: a Tale of the Dinosaur Century", by Lou Yuhasz. you know, I think that title says everything I could possibly say about the plot. You know it’s going to be an adventure to make H. Ryder Haggard proud, it stars an historical figure who could give good old King Leonidas a run for his money, and it involves dinosaurs. And yet somehow it’s managed to slip under everyone’s radar.

And that’s it for now. It looks like June is going to be ... pretty full of stuff. So, until next week: have fun, and keep reading.

Dear friends and followers,

As I write this, we are at 303 pre-orders. Wow. I was sitting here yesterday morning, thinking, "oh, would it not be cool if we could clear 300 tonight?" And here we are. 303. You know what this means?

It means we now get to gaze across the desolate plains of 300-400 and despair.

Okay, sort of but not really. Clearing 300 is crossing a psychological barrier. It puts the end goal of 750 that much closer, and makes it look that much more attainable. It’s that first digit that makes the difference. We can do this, people. I believe this in a way I didn’t back when we were at 299, and I have you all to thank for it. (The image in the header above is from Jacques-Louis David’s "Leonidas at Thermopylae", because everyone knows "300" equates to "Spartan Awesomeness".)

So ... how about a look at another of the characters you’ll be meeting in this book? Introducing Patrick Norris:

And here’s our weekly look around the bookshelves on Inkshares:

1) "Upload", by Mark Meredith. In a world where people clone themselves in case of death, a New York cop has to solve his own murder. I just came across this today, and it looks SO GOOD. The writing has a deliciously gruff, cynical tone, the sort you might expect in a noir thriller--so I’m jolly well going to read it as one.

2) "Patria", by Robert Groves. A Mexican immigrant to the UK and his adventures with Mexican cuisine. I love food, and I love a story where food makes things better. And anyone who loves Mexican cuisine as much as Groves does (check out his MexiGeek blog) is bound to come up with something suitably poetic.

3) "The Dead Wizard", by Brian Marsden. I’m not a fan of the title, but hey, these things may be changed in production. It’s about goblins investigating a murder ... I’m hoping for a bit of a Pratchett influence, and maybe some observed interaction between goblins and other fantasy races. Also, goblins can be so damnably cute when they’re just messing around.

Clearly, the way to impress me is to include in your premise the words "investigate a murder". Can you blame me, really? Until next time: keep having fun, and keep reading.