Sending my heartfelt congratulations to Donna Fung for being the December selection of the Great SciFi for the 21st Century and Beyond Syndicate! If you haven’t checked out her love story frozen in time, Where the Sun Sets, I recommend you do. And just a little more preorder love gets her to Quill!

OMG, I just had to report on this! Rob Batten and his Human Resources has just won one of the major prizes in the 2016 Launch Pad competition! He is one of the two recipients of the Scott Free prize. That’s Ridley Scott!!!

Congratulations, Rob! What a terrific accomplishment! I am happy for you, and actually, this helps us all on Inkshares. It helps solidify this platform as one that can deliver top-notch works, with ideas suitable for mass consumption. We are on Hollywood’s radar! Thanks, Rob!!

Again, congratulations, Rob! Great job! :D

Earlier this year, despite some solid success, I let the Inkshares funding campaign for Mission 51 end without asking for an extension for two reasons: I wanted to focus on the writing and not on the campaigning, and I wanted to submit Mission 51 to Hollywood’s Launch Pad Competition 2016. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed it didn’t make it to the finalist group, but today I received some very strong encouragement!

I received the formal Feedback Notes from Launch Pad, essentially an opinion about my submitted sample from an industry judge. Let me give you a few excerpts from the report:

"This is a knockout premise, and those are very rare."

"The fact that Mat’s story... is an immigrant story, takes this premise from being a great high concept to being a great high concept with real emotional subtext, and one that has resonance with our modern world today."

"The pages here consistently communicate the story clearly, with great momentum, and a very palpable sense of empathy for ALL the characters... This is a great read, and a very capable execution of a highly evocative premise. This project has tremendous potential."

"The quality of the writing here, not just on the conceptual level, but also in terms of the story in these pages and the writing of that story, is uniformly strong. The dialogue’s good too, voice specific and smart in its use of subtext."

"This project feels like it has strong potential for either a TV or feature adaptation, and stands on its own as a great read as a manuscript."

Well isn’t that just awesome!!! I am greatly encouraged that I am on the right track!

Looking forward to the next suitable Inkshares contest so I can jump in and try again. I really want you to read the story!

Peace, and Happy Thanksgiving!

👽

While Mission 51 waits patiently for a suitable Inkshares contest, I thought I would send this little reminder to you all about tomorrow’s supermoon.

As you may or may not know, the moon plays prominently in Mission 51, so I take every opportunity to observe it and bask in its glory!

On Nov 14, 2016, the full moon will be as close to the planet Earth as it has been in decades, or will be for decades hence. It will appear significantly larger than usual. Expect great photos from all over the world.

Here is a bit of moon info from NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/novembers-spectacular-supermoon

Don’t miss it! Enjoy!

Peace and love!

Finally, the Launchpad contest is taking off on Inkshares. The 75 finalists will be added to the currently growing list. I am writing to STRONGLY encourage your support of one of our own Inkshares authors, Robbie Batten. His project, Human Resources, has made it to the 75 finalists of this prestigious competition!  I would love to see our Inkshares community rally around him and get him off to a flying start!

I have purchased my pre-order. Please, drop everything and go get yours!

Good luck, Rob!!! :D

Idan Carré just finished a super-cool watercolor illustration of several key moments in the Mission 51 chapter called Full Moon. It is the chapter that documents Mat’s escape from his 15-year captivity in Area 51, according to the details I was given by Dr. Linda Deltare herself, who is also pictured in these images.

As usual, Idan has captured the heart and soul of these moments in her playful, colorful style, in contrast to the monumental significance of these serious, historical events. I hope you get to read this pivotal chapter someday soon.

Thank you, Idan!

Late in the fall migration hawk-watching season, which usually peaks in late September, Princess Gail managed to capture this amazing image of a mature Red-tailed Hawk. This was taken two days ago at Pilot Mountain State Park, close to our home in Winston Salem, NC.

There are only tangential mentions of birding in Mission 51, but still, I thought you might enjoy Gail’s pic.  :-)

Milestone Update!

I am pleased to report that a good draft of Mission 51’s final chapter is now complete! I am so very pleased with how the story has turned out! I can’t wait for you all to read it someday, and I hope that day is soon.

Now I will review and edit, embellish and improve, cut and paste, drag and drop, twist and shout, etc, etc.

Even after edits I anticipate the story will remain at around 80,000 words. That’s not a bad number for a sci-fi story that did not require a ton of world-building. But of course there has to be some. Mat is an alien after all, and this story is a second-hand recounting of the actual events, so I have details for you!

The book will be back in Inkshares funding, hopefully in the near future. I am waiting for a suitable contest. When that happens, I hope that you, my cherished Inkshares family, will help Mission 51 blastoff!

Peace and love to all,

Ferd   :-)

This is a different sort of update! :-)

Last week we traveled up to our Ohio homeland to participate in the mass-baptism of our 6 grandchildren! It is always great fun when the family can get together for any reason, and few are much better than a joyous occasion like this!

In the picture is the newest member of the family, baby Olivia, and me!

Life is great!  :D

Oh, man!!! Feast your eyes on Chris Pyke’s phenomenal, two-pane illustration that goes along with one of Mission 51’s earlier chapters, The Press Conference.

You can read the chapter it in its entirety here: The Press Conference.

So what do you think!?!?  :D