Good lord...I don’t even have words...

We did it. We finally did it.

After campaigning day and night since March...after losing literally hundreds of orders in the credit abuse scandall....after extending the campaign a whole two extra months...We’ve done it. We’ve reached the full publishing goal of 750 copies.

Tantalus Depths is a book now. It’s an honest to God book with a full publication deal. It’s happening.

It took 461 people and six syndicates to make this happen. Of particular note is the Idosyncraticate Syndicate, which swooped in out of absolutely nowhere and pushed us over the final line. Thank you all, from the depths of my heart. I love you all for this.

I’ll have more words soon, when I can process them. For now, I can only say: thank you.

My life changed forever today. I owe that to you.

  Huge news!
 

Just one day after receiving the Rite of Passage Syndicate pick, we’ve been given the tremendous honor of being named as the Staff Syndicate’s October pick! The Staff Syndicate is the second-larges syndicate on Inkshares, and thanks to them, we are currently now only TWENTY-EIGHT orders away from full publishing!

Guys...we could finish it today. Campaigns tend to build up a lot of momentum once they get this close to a publishing goal. Now is the time! Pour everything you have into getting the word out, because we are SO close.  

Look at us go!
 

That’s sixteen in one day! a bit short of my target, but only just barely. With just three days left to earn 60 more pre-orders, we need to shoot for no less than twenty a day. That can be anywhere from twenty new readers buying one copy each, ten people buying two, or two people buying ten. I’ll take whatever I can get!

It should be noted, however, that the success we’ve seen today isn’t even all mine. Tantalus Depths has had yet another honor bestowed on it!

That’s right! We’ve been backed by another syndicate! This time we’ve received the great honor of being October’s pick for the Rite of Passage Syndicate: a newer syndicate that specializes in supporting first-time authors. Their support has really helped keep this campaign on track in its most crucial hour. All the thanks for today goes to these heroes!

Let’s not let up now, though. There are a few minutes left on today’s clock to reach our original target of 19 orders. Heck, getting a head start on tomorrow would be fantastic as well. Either way, we need to scrape together 60 more orders by the weekend, so keep pushing! The end is in sight.

Guess what?

As of right now, we have officially passed the point we were at two months ago when we lost all the false pre-orders. Tantalus Depths’s pre-order count is now 674: the highest it’s ever been.
We are officially exploring unexplored territory now, which, at the heart of things, is what this book is all about.
I’ve taken off the next three days from work. I’m pushing every single responsibility in my life out of the way and focusing entirely on finding new pre-orders. I will eat, sleep, and breathe this campaign.
To get 76 orders in four days is 19 a day. It’s almost impossible. Almost. I’m not a fan of the concept of impossibility. I aim to conquer it.

Meanwhile, enjoy this gallery of past updates: this time focusing on the vehicles and equipment used by the crew on Tantalus 13. Click any picture to be taken to the original update where it was featured.

 

We’ve passed into the double digits! As of right now, we’re at 97 orders to go. We’ve almost caught up to where we were before we lost all the orders. Keep sharing and spreading the word. The time for the final push is here!

Also, I absolutely couldn’t wait to share this: Kaytalin Platt, author of The Living God, has made this amazing Tantalus Depths poster! Feel free to share it anywhere.

 

We’re catching up...

We’re almost down to double-digits!

Since I’m trying to focus as many of my efforts on hunting down new supporters one by one as possible, and since I’ve largely run out of story-based content I can share without spoiling things I want to hold off on, there will be no new story or lore-based updates this week. However, since this campaign has been going for something like seven or eight months now, it occurs to me that newer readers may have missed earlier updates. So this week I’m compiling archives of previous updates for your convenient browsing. Just click each picture and you’ll be taken directly to the original update for that item.

Today’s archive: crew dossiers. Read up on Exotech’s files for each member of The Diamelen’s crew, and their enigmatic robotic host, SCARAB.

 

As always, please remember to keep pushing for more support! We still need more than a hundred orders in the next six days, but I genuinely believe we can make it.

Seven days....

We’ve seen a major surge in support so far this weekend. I’m not going to stop pushing for more, and you’ve all been helping to bring these last few in. With continued vigilance, I really think we can make it. Keep pressing on! The end is in sight at last...

Also, as a reward for passing the 600 mark once again, as promised, here is my reading of chapter three of Tantalus Depths! Enjoy!

It’s the final countdown...

Meh Update:
Those of you who follow these updates regularly (and I genuinely have no idea how many of you do) may have noticed that I haven’t had much to say over the past two-ish weeks. You may also have noticed that my pre-orders have barely moved at all. So what’s the deal with that?

I’ll be honest. I’m exhausted.

I’ve been working this campaign since March now. This has taken up the majority of my year. We’ve come an incredible distance in that time, but the distance to our goal is still vast. We’ve sold six pre-orders in the past ten days, and only eleven days remain to get the remaining 158 we need, which is virtually impossible barring a miracle. I’ve been told I can get another extension if I need one, (and if I need one I will get one) but...good lord am I ever tired....

I’ve poured my life, heart, and soul into this campaign, and right now there’s just not much of me left. My brain is fried and I’m having a hard time thinking of new interesting story-based content to update with that won’t spoil anything I want to keep secret, or lore-related content that isn’t completely disconnected from this story. I have a few ideas left, but I haven’t had the energy to put them together cohesively yet (expect some soon though).

I miss having a life outside of campaigning. I’ve had to put a lot of the things I love on hold for the duration, and I miss those things. I miss being able to hang out with friends regularly on my days off. I miss going to see movies in the theatre. I miss acting in plays. I miss DMing my custom Star Wars tabletop campaign on Friday nights. I miss...just life in general.

I probably sound whiny in this update, but honestly, I’m saying this more for my own benefit than anyone else’s. I’m still confident this is all going to be worth it. I have a literal lifelong dream within reach, and I’m not about to let it slip out of my reach. If I can get my campaign finished within the next eleven days and get back to having a real life, that’s fantastic. If I need to ask for another month or so, I will do so, and probably die young of old age shortly thereafter, but I’ll die happy.

Obviously I’m not giving up. I’m too stubborn, this is too important, and Tantalus Depths is too freaking good. But man am I ever tired.

P.S. I have something else really cool that I am working on, but it’s nowhere near ready, so I’m just going to be really obnoxiously vague about it for now. But stay tuned.