Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit!

It has been a busy last month. Since you haven’t heard much from me you probably realize that unfortunately that work hasn’t involved Crow’s Gambit. What’s been keeping me busy? An accreditation visit at work, an industrial advisory board meeting, my other book (Fortunes of the Space Sloth) finished in the Top 25 of the Launchpad competition, completed my first 100K trail run, and we hit a deer with our car (luckily no one was hurt).

Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit! 

I’m past due to give an update and I’m getting some questions on the book, so today we’re doing a quick reset to get everyone on the same page. 

Did the book get published? Not yet. To get an automatic publishing deal we needed to finish in the top three of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest. We finished in a strong 5th place. And that was great, I am seriously proud of that accomplishment. 

Then what happens now? I’ve taken the option of trying to sell enough Pre-Orders to get a publishing deal anyway. While the contest was all about unique people ordering the goal is now about shear number of orders. If we can get to 250 the book gets a basic publishing deal. 

If you want people to Pre-Order why haven’t we heard from you? Well there’s this other thing called being a university professor. We just finished the first week of classes. The last two weeks of trying to resolve student and faculty issues has been chaos (I know some of you receiving this will understand). I’m also training to do a 100k (that’s 62 miles)…so there’s that little bit of insanity to deal with too. 

What has been happening with the book then? There are these things on Inkshares called Syndicates. Syndicates are groups of people that pool their money and support books focused on a common theme. During the summer Crow’s Gambit was selected as a pick by both the “Break the Bechdel with Strong Female Characters Syndicate” and the “Staff Syndicate”. This support really does mean a lot to me. 

So what do we need to do? As of today Crow’s Gambit has 178 Pre-Orders. We need 72 more to hit the Quill publishing goal. Tell your friends. Ask me for some book business cards to hand out. Post a Review of the book on Inkshares. Share the information with your friends on Facebook. Pledge to buy another copy if I finish the 100k? 

Anything else I should know? Yes. Don’t forget that part of the Crow’s Gambit proceeds will go to support the Le Sueur Public Library. For every order $1 will be donated. 

So there you go. Other questions, comments, or discussion on the book is always welcome. Stay tuned. 

PT 

Greetings supporters of Crow’s Gambit!

I know I have been quiet lately. The Fall university semester is getting ready to start and the students (and faculty) are scurrying. 

Today I have big news though. Crow’s Gambit has been selected as the Staff Syndicate pick for August. I am honored at this selection and the support it brings for the story. We are creeping closer to our goal. 

Stay tuned for more updates and some Crow’s Gambit activities in the near future...

PT

There is big news on the Crow’s Gambit front! The book has been selected as the July 2017 pick for the “Break the Bechdel with Strong Female Characters Syndicate”. The syndicate comment was: 

Patrick Tebbe’s Crow’s Gambit takes the reader into another world that is fascinating and realized. Luckily for us, our guide is Cassie--a smart, savvy protagonist who will pilot her way through both politics and alien interactions with a calm, cool and collected brilliance. 

The interest and support of the Syndicate and its members is greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

More to come soon...

PT

Just a quick update on Crow’s Gambit to let everyone know that the business cards are in. If you would like some to hand out to prospective readers please let me know!

Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit,

The Nerdist Contest is only a few hours away from ending. I’m sorry to say we will not be finishing in the top 3. With 123 unique orders we are securely in 5th place. However, don’t feel bad. This is still a great accomplishment. There are some strong books in the top ten and according to Inkshares there were over 180 submissions.

I cannot express my gratitude for all the support the story has received. Orders were placed by strangers, co-workers, high school friends, local supporters, and even several of the top ten authors in the contest. I thank you all.

The journey is not done for Crow’s Gambit. While winning the contest would have been GREAT there is another option. I can still try to sell enough Pre-Orders to secure publishing. A full publishing deal would require 750 Pre-Orders…that is a bunch and probably outside my time available at this point. So I have decided to try for the Quill level that requires 250 Pre-Orders. This deal would not get the book onto physical store shelves and would only involve light editing…but the story would get published and that’s a start.

This means we now shift to Plan B and spend the next couple months trying to sell more copies. With 136 copies already sold we only need 114 to get to the Quill level. There are two things to remember in this:

• While the contest was focused on unique Pre-Orders, Quill is focused purely on number of orders. If everyone who has already purchased a copy bought one more tonight we would be at Quill.
• The pledge to support the Le Sueur Public Library remains. If the book gets published $1 of the proceeds from every copy will be donated to the library.

So stay with me. Keep spreading the word to your friends. Updates will come a little less frequently but hopefully will include more interesting tidbits.

PT

Thank you supporters of Crow’s Gambit! What we have done so far is truly amazing. However, we are still in 5th place. If only half of you asked a friend to Pre-Order...and only half of them did...we would be in contention again. This is very doable...with YOUR help.

For my part I just posted the Question and Answer video I’ve been promising. I’ll admit I hate myself on video but hopefully you’ll learn something about the story or just have a chuckle.

https://youtu.be/KP7borfTwLg

The end date of the contest has been shifted. It will now be Tuesday night (6/27). That gives us a few days yet.

Stay with me...

PT

Hey there supporters of Crow’s Gambit. We are still battling in the contest (at 5th place) but could honestly use some love today.

To keep you up to date on the story I just posted and sent out an Excerpt from Chapter 13. This tidbit gives a little more background on the alien Sylph.

I am very grateful for all of your support and I know everyone’s time and money is limited. But if you have ANY friends (enemies are good too) who might be interested in the story please share the information and suggest they make a pre-order. Remind them that if the book does not get published their money is refunded. However, if the book does get published then part of the proceeds go to benefit the Le Sueur Public Library.

PT

Greetings followers of Crow’s Gambit! I’ve wanted to talk about this topic for several weeks and with the contest ending soon now is probably a good time. The topic is how I selected the book description of “The Day the Earth Stood Still in a Tom Clancy setting.” I’ll admit it was a tough decision and I’m still not completely satisfied with it. So let’s break it down.

Were there any runner up descriptions? Yes, War of the Worlds. Not the Tom Cruise remake but the 1953 classic. Aliens with technology far in advance of ours wipe aside our defenses in days. That kind of sounds like the Sylph. Except the Sylph never came down in landers and haven’t (as yet) tried to wipe out mankind.

Ok, we want advanced unstoppable aliens who really don’t care about us. How about The Day the Earth Stood Still? Not the Keanu Reeves remake but the 1951 classic. Klaatu comes to Earth and basically says they don’t care what we do to ourselves but if we try to spread our violence off the planet we’re done for. Ok, THAT sounds much more like the Sylph…except the Sylph haven’t even bothered to send a messenger down.

There’s something else about that movie that always struck a chord with me. After the saucer lands in D.C. everyone kind of goes about their business. I mean they just leave it sitting there with a couple guards on it. Proof of alien life in the universe but after the initial encounter everyone just goes home to take care of their lives. This is a lot like the world of Crow’s Gambit. Humans know they aren’t alone and they are outgunned technologically. A net of alien spheres surrounds the planet but after a time everyone gets on with their lives and just accepts it as the new reality. Except for a few people like Cassie and Darrow. 

And Tom Clancy? That one was a given. Besides political intrigue and competing personal agendas Tom Clancy novels are always steeped in advanced, if not exotic, science and technology. Clancy described himself as a storyteller, not a writer. Really that’s what I’d like to be. A storyteller. I’m trying to entertain you with a good story.

I can’t do this without you though. We are close to the end and locked in a back and forth for 3rd place. Don’t just share the book link…call a friend and ask them to Pre-Order. Don’t just click Like on this post…write a Recommendation on the book’s page. We can do this!

PT

For those still trying to decide if they should Pre-Order Crow’s Gambit, I offer you the following flowchart to help. If you have a friend who is undecided please feel free to use this to help convince them!

PT