Congratulations everyone, with five new readers yesterday there will be a $50 donation made to the Le Sueur American Legion. Well done!

And today we are starting a new charitable partnership for “Crow’s Gambit”. As some of you know Le Sueur MN is a small town that is very fortunate to have a great public library and librarian. In the past I have helped raise money for the library to continue its many activities (many of them kid related). Today I pledged $1 for every copy sold of “Crow’s Gambit” to the library. Not $1 for every copy sold during the contest but for every copy sold period.  

Of course that puts a little pressure on me to actually get the book published. With only ten days left in the contest if you are still sitting on the fence I hope you’ll decide to jump onboard.

You should have just received an excerpt from Chapter 12 of the story. It helps give a tiny bit of background on what the world faced after Net-Day. I hope it makes you ponder the possible impacts of Net-Day in the story.

Thanks for the support!

PT

NOW, I want everyone to panic. We’ve been passed, aggressively. Crow’s Gambit is currently sitting in 3rd place and only two orders above a worthy contender in 4th. Now would be an absolutely excellent time to make a Pre-Order or drag a friend to a computer to make an order. 

I have to apologize. I promised you a Q&A video. I’m a little behind on that and I wanted to explain why. Besides the normal student advising, starting a major research project on vertical axis wind turbines, and finishing a project related to engineering student retention…I’ve spent the last three days as an instructor for a “Teach the Teacher” program. We had fifteen K-6 teachers from the region come in for an intense workshop exposing them to what engineering is, demonstrating classroom activities, helping them work on curriculum ideas, and getting them into a couple local manufacturing companies for tours. It uses up a lot of my time but it is one of the most fulfilling activities of my year and I feel like it really makes a difference. 

So, bear with me please. The video is on its way. In the meantime make sure to take a look at the excerpts that came out over the last few days and don’t forget the new incentives for each Pre-Order level. 

Thank you all. More to come… 

PT 

I don’t want to panic anyone but 3rd and 4th place are gaining on us in the contest. 

Now would be an excellent time to tell that friend about this great story you know about! 

The second excerpt from Chapter 9 went out earlier tonight. It introduces the rest of Cassie’s team at the Crow Works. I hope you are getting more of a feel for the story now.

We are also starting a short term benefit incentive. In celebration of Flag Day in the U.S., for every Pre-Order received between now and 11:50pm Wednesday July 14th I will donate $10 (up to a maximum of $100) to the American Legion chapter here in Le Sueur, MN. The orders do not have to come from Le Sueur and the book does not have to get published. I will make the donation regardless. 

This is a great deal. If I win the contest you get a cool book and the American Legion gets a donation. If I don’t get published it costs you nothing but the Legion STILL gets the donation. Please help spread the word. 

PT 

Congratulations! Crow’s Gambit is holding at 2nd place in the Nerdist contest and I couldn’t do it without your support. But…there are several good authors coming up strong behind us. Please don’t stop spreading the word! 

I just sent out an excerpt from Chapter 9. It introduces a new character, Susan. There is also an introduction to the Crow Research division known as the Crow Works (modeled after the Lockheed Skunk Works and the Boeing Phantom Works). 

At this time I’m also redesignating the support levels with some new rewards.

• Crow Research Investor ($10) – Supporter will receive a copy of the Crow Research Prospectus. 
  
• Crow Research Employee ($20) – Supporter will receive a copy of the Crow Research Employee Manual and the Prospectus.
• Crow Works Access ($60) – Supporter will receive the Employee Manual, Prospectus, and an identification badge allowing access to the Crow Works.    

The end is near but I need all of your help getting us there in one piece. More to come… 

PT 

The Nerdist SciFi contest is now at the two week mark! And I am both elated and panicked. Crow’s Gambit is currently holding on to the 2nd place in the contest and I cannot thank you all enough. Really, the support and comments on the story mean a great deal to me.  

However, there are some really good authors and stories nipping at our heels. There is also the great unknown of Syndicates that could come into play. Anything can still happen! If you are fence sitting now is the time to jump into the fray. If you have a friend who might be interested in the story now is the time to let them know about the contest. 

In these last two weeks I’m going to start giving you more insights into the story. I don’t want to give out TOO much and ruin the story for you but I’m eager to start sharing some of the other characters and their interactions. Today I’m posting an excerpt from Chapter 8. On Monday I’ll be posting the first of two excerpts from Chapter 9. 

I’m also working on the Q&A video as we speak. That will be coming out soon too. Some good questions have already been submitted but if you are still wondering something PLEASE let me know. 

Stay with me. Your support means more now than ever. More to come…and thanks. 

PT 

Big news! The Crow’s Gambit book trailer is now live!

 https://youtu.be/3bWdosAP0oc 

Let me know what you think. The contest is still very tight and I need all of your support. Please share this link with others and encourage them to Pre-Order. 

Now for upcoming events. This weekend I’ll be taping a Q&A session about the book and its characters. That means I need your questions. Email, DM, or post your questions to the Facebook page over the next few days. I’ll do my best to answer them and post the video the start of next week. 

As always, thanks for your support. 

PT 

Happy Wednesday afternoon! 

The Nerdist Contest continues to roll on and we’re doing alright but (there’s always a but)…we’re closing in on the final two weeks when ANYTHING can happen. Now more than ever I need your support with Recommendations, Pre-Orders, and spreading the word about Crow’s Gambit.

For your entertainment today I thought I would explain how the original concept for Crow’s Gambit started. In 2001 I was living in New Jersey. If you have ever lived in that region you realize it is saturated with airports. Philadelphia, La Guardia, Newark, JFK, DC and Boston aren’t that far, regional airports, air strips in fields, and a few military bases. The point is there are ALWAYS several planes and contrails in the air. 

Then on September 11th the World Trade Center was attacked and the FAA grounded all flights. And the skies were empty. It’s kind of a like a noise you don’t notice until it’s gone. I wouldn’t say it was eerie exactly, more unsettling. That was when I started to wonder, what would happen if the planes never flew again?  

For several years I thought about it (I do that, I’m an engineer, I think about things for fun). How would society adapt? What new or old technologies would be called into play to fill the gaps? I started writing the resulting story for NanoWriMo in 2015 and here we are. 

Thank you for following along and supporting the next phase of this story’s journey. Please let your friends know about the story and if you’d like to contribute a Recommendation it would mean a lot. More to come… 

PT 

We are under the three week mark and Crow’s Gambit is in the top three (at this posting)! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate not only the Pre-Orders but the comments and well wishes. Thank you. 

In today’s update I’m going to give you a little background on how travel by rail has replaced air travel in the world of Crow’s Gambit. The following section is excerpted from Chapter 5. 

“When the decision had been made to replace air travel with rail travel the U.S. had finally embraced the idea of superfast trains, or bullet trains. A new railway system, the Puma, had been designed unique to the North American continent and the new world reality. Construction was far from complete but the Puma already ran from Los Angeles across the southwest and up to Chicago and from there across to New York City. Necessity may be the mother of invention but it is also the destroyer of barriers. By slashing government red tape, providing large amounts of funding, and excessive use of eminent domain the new system had been designed and completed in record time. Trains could now run the breadth of the continent at over 300 mph.” 

The next few weeks will be exciting. More to come… 

PT 

Thank you so much for joining the team to get Crow’s Gambit published. We are currently in fourth place but it would only take a few fence sitters or referrals to get us into the top three. If each of you asked one person to consider pre-ordering or at least Follow the story it would be a tremendous gift (copy link to send here).

Today I’m going to share a little background on what TYPE of story this is. 

What it is not. This is not a dystopian future story. Yes, bad things have happened and the world has been upended. However, the underlying theme is that humans adapt and persevere. They find new technological solutions when old ones are taken away from them. And yes, they psychologically stop noticing the constant menace around them. 

What it is. While I would not tag the story as full blown Hard Science Fiction it is grounded by existing knowledge and theory. Let’s face it, I’m an engineer. It’s really REALLY hard for me to put something in a story without trying to figure out how it would work. 

We are almost to the three week mark. Stay with me. More to come… 

PT 

Here you have it, part two of the background information on Barnstormers where I talk a little bit about the drones themselves. 

The concept for the barnstorming drones is based on existing remote controlled model jets. If you’ve never seen one of these check out this video (takeoff is at 2:15). The world record for these remote controlled hobby planes is 440 mph (for comparison a Tomahawk cruise missile can travel at 550 mph). 

In Crow’s Gambit traditional GPS and satellite communications don’t exist anymore. Communication with the drone is maintained by “borrowing” cell towers or over-the-air transmissions. This makes communication spotty with limited bandwidth. To account for this the drones use a form of supplemental artificial intelligence that reduces the amount of information needed from the pilot.

Barnstormer drones are crewed by two, a pilot and a RIO (radar intercept officer). The RIO manages the communications connections and maps the route ahead. The pilot and RIO interact with the drone through advanced virtual reality headsets. Often they are not even in the same physical location. 

If you have any questions or comments about the story please let me know! And please Recommend the book or offer a Review. 

PT