Note from the author:

On this historic date 47 years ago, Mat the alien chose to make his escape from captivity, holding the late JFK to his word. He adopted this day as his Earth birthday.

18 days of funding left and we seem to be stalled at 162 pre-orders, which is not really close to the 250 required for publication by Inkshares. But I am not going to worry too much about that. My plan is to keep refining the Mission 51 manuscript, which I think is already a riot (of course I would think that, it is my book, LOL) and just keeps getting better all the time! It will get published one way or another when the time is right, and maybe this is just not yet the right time.

So, the other part of Mission 51 refinement relates to the art. Chris Pyke just finished another piece, this one to go with the chapter "Roswell Revisited." Take a look. It is too spectacular for words. Absolutely awesome talent! :D

Wow! @Kendra Namednil has reached the Quill publication mark for her book, Borehole Bazaar! Further proof to me that the Universe shines on happy, positive, generous people!

Only 21 days of funding remain for Mission 51. I would love to see 9 pre-orders over the weekend. Can you help? Here is how:

1. If you have not yet pre-ordered, please click the green button below and follow the pre-order links. Time is of the essence. I need 4.2 pre-orders a day to qualify for Inkshares’ Quill publication services!

2. If you have already pre-ordered a copy of Mission 51, thank you! Now please take a moment to gently encourage/persuade (harass!) a friend to do the same! :-)

3. If you have already pre-ordered a copy, consider purchasing another one, for a friend, family, or neighbor. It could be a birthday present, or an early Christmas present. Particularly good for readers! :-)

Thanks again, everyone! YOU are the ones launching Mission 51, and I greatly appreciate it!

And the Winner of the Mission 51 Raffle is...

Jaye Milius!!

Congratulations, Jaye! You have won an original, personalized, signed sketch by Mission 51 artist Idan Carré! :-)

The Nerdist contest is over. Wow! That was exciting!!

I want to send out a big congratulations to the multiple authors contributing to Too Many Controllers, and to @Prescott Harvey for In Beta, and to @Peter Ryan for Destiny Imperfect. Great job, everyone! I am looking forward to reading your stories!

I do want to congratulate @Alisa King for Are You Sure You Want To Quit?, @Regina McMenomy for Mothering: The Game, and @Matthew Poat for Squids In. That was a very good effort! Alisa just missed the top three, but she made Quill! That’s fantastic! And Regina and Matt are a good ways to that goal.

Congratulations!!! :-)

Woohoo!!  Mission 51 just passed the 150 pre-order mark! This is very exciting! Do you know what that means? It means we can run the Mission 51 Raffle!

I will now enter the names of every person who pre-ordered Mission 51 so far into Riffle Raffle. Here is a link to the original post and rules for the raffle. The winner will be chosen randomly, electronically.

I’ll announce the winner sometime this weekend. Good luck! :-)

And please, keep pushing Mission 51 to all your peeps. We still have 97 pre-orders to go, and only 22 days in which to do it, for Inkshares to publish this book! We can do it!!! :-)

Dear Inkshares family,

With only 24 more days of funding, I am asking for your help! The first little step: I need 5 pre-orders to reach 150. If you could find it in your heart to fuel the fire with a pre-order or two, I would be forever grateful! Also, at 150, the Mission 51 Raffle kicks in. Someone is going to win a personalized Idan Carré sketch suitable for framing!

Thanks, everyone!

Peace and love!  :-)

I’m still on a bit of a high after Mission 51 was honored with the July selection of the GREAT SCIFI for the 21st CENTURY and BEYOND SYNDICATE! Now there is an extra badge on my project page, to go along with the Inkshares "Staff Pick" badge. Wow!

But really, this is not the time for celebration. There are only 27 days left for Mission 51 to get to 250 pre-orders before it can be published. Time is running short!

Mission 51 has 167 awesome followers. Of those, 109 have pre-ordered their copy of the book, some ordering multiple copies. Thank you very much!

This update is actually a request to the 58 others who have yet to place their pre-order. If you have been waiting for some reason, the time to act is now! Please, take a moment and click the green button below to place your pre-order. And remember, I will match it dollar for dollar with a donation to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, who do an absolutely awesome job helping families with sick kids.

Thank you in advance for your kind support! And thank you for liking and sharing my endless posts, and for promoting to your friends. The Mission 51 family has grown because of you! Thank you! :-)