Greetings, adventurers!

A quick note that tonight at 9 PM AST, I’ll be reading chapter 3 live on my Facebook page! Please come join me, and I hope to see you then!

K.

Greetings, adventurers! 

I haven’t had many updates lately because I’ve been doing a lot of background work. I’ve been putting up posters, writing blog posts, submitting press releases, and even more. This campaign has kept me very busy, and I’ve learned a lot! I’m learning more about self-promotion and crowdfunding every day. There’s still over a month and a half left of the campaign, and I imagine I’ll learn even more during that time.

As I mentioned last week, local radio hosts Scotty and Tony talked about and did a writeup for Mushroom and Anchovy, and that was awesome! 

This week, I did a guest post on world-building for John Robin’s collaborative blog, Epic Fantasy Writer. There’s a writeup at the end about #MushAnch as well. I really enjoyed collaborating with him, and hope to do so again in the future! If you’d like me to write for your blog, please get in contact with me. 

Hubcity Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park this year is Hamlet, and, as I used to act with them and have been in many Shakespeare in the Parks in the past, I decided to sponsor the show and slip an ad for #MushAnch in there. Congratulations to the cast and crew of Hamlet for a spectacular opening night! If you’re in Moncton, you can take in the show this Friday and Saturday at Victoria Park at 6 PM, or next week on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the same time and place. I was able to go last night, and they put on an amazing show!

(Also, that’s my husband Brad Butland at the top there. Not that I’m proud... or anything...)

A little reminder as well that I’m going to be doing a live reading of chapter 3 next week, Wednesday the 26th, on my Facebook Page. This reading will be strictly a reading, not a live Q&A--unless, of course, anyone has any questions during--so it should be much shorter than the last few streams. This will be taking place at 9 PM AST. Also, if you’ve preordered a copy of the book and haven’t entered the contest on my page, please be sure to do so! You could win a $50 Amazon gift card!

There’s no real update on numbers at the moment, but hopefully I’ll have gotten a few preorders over the weekend and will have an update for you next week. I really want to get you guys chapter 4 to read, and have another surprise if we get to that point soon, so if we can get just three more preorders I will be able to deliver that to you ASAP! 

Thanks for following along with the campaign, folks. 

May all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting, K. M. Cooper

Greetings, adventurers! 

A very brief update today with some great news: we got a local news plug this week! Thanks to local radio hosts Scotty and Tony of XL 96.9, who mentioned the book both on their show and on their blog. They were very supportive when Hub City Survival first released, so it’s no surprise that they’re supporting #MushAnch as well. Thanks, guys!

I’m thinking I may drop down to just doing a weekly update. I liked the bi-weekly, but I’m finding there’s not as much to say these days other than "please buy the book and tell friends about it"! So, this will be the final Monday update for a little while. This will likely pick up again as we draw nearer to the end of the campaign. 

If you’re in the Greater Moncton Area, please be sure to check out Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, running from Thursday-Saturday this week and Friday-Sunday next week. My husband, actor Brad Butland, will be playing the role of Hamlet, and the show is free!

I should have some more exciting news for you this Friday, adventurers. I have been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work for the campaign lately, and some of it should be coming to centre stage very soon. Keep your eyes on your inbox!

Until Friday, may all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting.

 K. M. Cooper

Greetings, adventurers! 

You may have noticed I was silent this past Monday. I didn’t have any updates, so I decided not to do an e-mail! Makes sense, right? This one is a little later than most of my Friday updates, too, because I’ve spent the past few days with my family. 

The campaign is seeing a bit more movement this week. While preorders haven’t moved much, I’ve been making strides by reaching out to others and getting the word out, and those people have been telling their friends as well. 

Can I ask you to help keep that energy going? Would you share the link with at least one friend who you think might be interested? I would really appreciate your support! We’re over halfway through, but haven’t reached the halfway threshold of numbers yet. I’d love to see that change soon!

We’re just 3 preorders away from dropping chapter 4... and when that happens, I just might have a little surprise in store, too. 

A contest announcement: I have decided to extend the Amazon gift card contest until the end of the campaign--early September. If the campaign picks up, I’ll add a second prize later on! Fingers crossed that we get to do that!

I’ve decided to do yet another reading on Wednesday the 26th! I’ll be reading from chapter 3 this time, and, as always, it will be held live on my Facebook page. The reading will take place at 8:30 PM AST.

That’s it for this week, folks. Hope to have more news soon.

 May all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting, 

 K. M. Cooper

Greetings, adventurers! 

I want to give you a really brief numbers update. I’m afraid I don’t have great news. We’re already over a third of the way through the campaign, but we’re not even at a full 1/5 of the orders we need to fund in time for the campaign’s end. We have lots of time, but action is starting to get critical and necessary. As it stands, we’re at 18% of the Quill goal and 6% of the Inkshares goal. 

So, now I’m faced with the reality that my humble book won’t make the cut, and whether I should continue to try getting it published should the campaign fail. 

That’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get to it, folks. For now, I’m going to keep getting the word out in any way I can, and hope for the best. Unfortunately, I do need to keep a small amount of realism, but I want to remain optimistic. 

 In any event, I DID promise Double Lore this week, so I have come to deliver! 

ISLE OF JAMDERO 

 Jamdero is an island south of Burdon, with a giant bridge built atop the waves to house train travel. The journey takes about 8 hours, and the climate changes drastically during that time. The latest and best locomotive technology was used to craft a train and bridge able to traverse such a distance, and Burdon is currently the only station to travel to the island. 

In addition to beautiful beaches, sun, breathtaking flora, and vacation spots, Jamdero also has its share of secrets. A dense jungle leads up a mountain to the entrance of the Forbidden Cave, so named due to its dangerous nature. People who go in there rarely come back. It is said that the Cave houses historical artifacts and riches, but no one has been able to venture deep enough to prove it. 

The island itself is home to a single large city and a few smaller communities, as well as a thriving tourism district on the outskirts of the city. 

 That’s it for now, folks. I’ll see you all on Monday! 

Don’t forget about the contest over on my Facebook page  if you’ve already ordered a copy of the book! 

 ’Til next time, may all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting, 

 K. M. Cooper

Greetings, adventurers! 

 HAPPY DOUBLE LORE WEEK! 

Before I get into today’s lore entry, I want to say a great big THANKS! We had an awesome weekend for preorders and jumped up by quite a few! Thanks to everyone who’s preordered so far, and everyone who’s been sharing the link. We’re just 6 preorders away from chapter 4. We’re so close! I’d love to give you something new to read for the coming weekend! 

Without any further ado, here’s your first dose of lore from Double Lore Week. 

THE PANZEROTTI GROUP 

The Panzerotti Group was founded nearly 75 years prior to the events of Mushroom and Anchovy, by Roberto Lombardi. Lombardi was heir to a family restaurant, but felt the call of adventure from far beyond the confines of his humble home. Lombardi tossed pizzas in the air and folded panzerotti, and he pantomimed the toppings as adventurers travelling. Yes. He really did that. 

One day, while working front of house in his family restaurant, he overheard a couple of travellers talking about finding a statuette in an abandoned church and getting rewarded for it. Roberto initiated a discussion with these two gentlemen, and the next day, he closed his shop for the first time in years and ventured out with these two men. 

The trio found the statuette and brought it back to the standing church—and they received a lofty reward. The three split it evenly and started talking about more adventures to come. Before they knew it, they had a waiting list worth of treasure to be found—and they needed more adventurers. They began to outsource, and Roberto found he also had to outsauce as his restaurant was being neglected. 

Roberto “Crust” Lombardi, Abramo “Marinara” Conti, and Salvatore “Mozzarella” Romano became the three founding fathers of the Panzerotti Group, which then grew and flourished into the entity you will read about in Mushroom and Anchovy. 

---

See you on Friday, adventurers, with another Lore Day update and, hopefully, another numbers update. 

 May all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting, 

 K. M. Cooper  

Greetings, adventurers!

The Wednesday reading went well, despite some technical/parental? hiccups. You can watch the reading right here! I’ll do a reading of chapter 3 in a few more weeks--around mid-July. After some feedback, I’m going to try and keep the live readings to a shorter amount of time, keeping it just to the reading.

I announced my backer contest on the live stream on Wednesday night as well. Here are the rules!

1. Preorder the book! 
2. Like and share the pinned post on my Facebook page (NOTE: make sure the share is public so I can see it!) 
3. Those three things are the pre-requisites for the contest. You can earn bonus entries, however... 
4. Share a picture of the book’s cover OR the business cards on Instagram  (1 entry each)
5. Tweet a link to the book using the hashtag #MushAnch (1 entry) 
6. Being a Patron on my Patreon account gives you 1 entry per dollar value of your monthly contribution (i.e. $5 month = 5 entries) 
7. Referring a friend who preorders the book will get you 10 entries! Please get them to contact me after they have preordered. This is the only one you can do multiple times. If you refer 3 friends who preorder the book as well, you’ll get 30 bonus entries! 
8. Requesting a "street team" package and posting pictures of successful promotional material placement will get you 5 entries. 

The prize? A $50 Amazon egift card (in YOUR CURRENCY). This contest will be going on until July 31st. 

The Nerdist contest is officially over, so I imagine people will be looking to the LaunchPad contest now. This would be a great time to preorder and help Mushroom and Anchovy move up the contest ladder. We’ve dropped down to 6th place as another contender has swooped in to 5th! We still have several months of the contest left, however, so it’s still anyone’s game. I will continue to keep a close eye.

Speaking of the Nerdist contest, congrats to everyone in the Sci-Fi contest! Special congrats to backer and author of Curio Citizen Katherine Forrister, who got 2nd place! As you know, I was really pulling for her, so I’m so happy for her that she got in the top three! I can’t wait to read Curio Citizen!

I changed the name of the backer categories to something a little more in-universe: Adventurers are ebook tier, Agents are print book tier, and Commander is the 3-copy super backer name-in-the-back-of-the-book tier. 

I know this is Lore Day but I’ve already inundated you with so much today that I don’t want to hold your attention too much longer! I’ll move it to Monday instead so you can get a DOUBLE LORE WEEK next week, and I’ll try to keep the updates to a minimum. Unless something awesome happens.

A final note: I’ve been submitting a press release for the book to multiple sources, and will be reaching out to different avenues over the coming weeks. As well, we’re just 11 preorders away from the chapter 4 posting. I hope to be able to share that incredibly zany chapter with you soon!

Whew! That’s a lot. Thanks for your attention, folks. Next week’s e-mails will be a lot more fun. ;)

May all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting,

K. M. Cooper

Hey adventurers,

I wouldn’t normally send an update outside of the Monday-Friday schedule, but this is pretty urgent! 

I also wouldn’t normally send an update about someone else’s book, but, well, this is pretty urgent. ;)

Katherine Forrister’s book, Curio Citizen, is entered in the Nerdist Sci-Fi competition, which ends today. She’s been a great supporter of Mushroom and Anchovy and is so very close to first place! I’d love to see someone else’s dreams come true. Would you consider giving her book a preorder as well? 

That’s it from me for now. I know you’ve heard from me a lot this week. Good luck, Katherine!

Greetings, adventurers! 

 Not much to go over today—it was a quiet weekend, seeing only one preorder. The past few weeks have been similarly quiet, but I really feel this is the quiet before the storm. Thanks to all of you who have been sharing the link! Please continue to do so! 

 A little reminder about live reading of Chapter 2 on Wednesday night at 8:30 PM AST, plus a contest announcement, over on my Facebook page. Come tune in! 

 This Friday will be another Lore Day. Please give me a shout if there’s anything about the world of Mushroom and Anchovy that you’d like to know more about. I’ll see you then, and hope to see some of you on Wednesday, as well!

 May all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting, 

 K. M. Cooper

Greetings, adventurers! 

 It was unfortunately a pretty quiet week, but thankfully, I was prepared—I saw this coming due to the end of the Nerdist Sci-Fi competition. A lot of focus has been on that particular contest as it reaches its completion. I don’t know how, but we’re still managing to hold onto 5th place in the Launchpad contest. As soon as the Nerdist contest is over on the 27th, though, focus should return to the Launchpad one. A couple of preorders to secure our fifth place position and work up the ladder would be extremely helpful at this point. 

 Here’s an update on our current numbers: we’re 14% of the way to the light goal (250 preorders) and 4% of the way to the full goal (750). There’s lots of time, still—the campaign is going until early September—so please keep sharing the link! This is a marathon, not a sprint. 

 Next week, I’m going to be doing a live reading of chapter 2 on Wednesday night at 8:30 PM AST over on my Facebook Page, as well as answer any of your questions, should you have any. Plus, there will be a special announcement about the backer-exclusive contest on Wednesday night! 

 Lastly, I did promise I’d be giving you a bit of information on the lore and world of Mushroom and Anchovy, so here’s a bit for you to enjoy. 

THE CITY OF BURDON 

 Burdon is Particia “Anchovy” Finnigan’s hometown, where she resides in a modest flat at the time of the first book. It boasts a population of approximately 800,000, and is the world’s largest manufacturer of steamcars. It also happens to be where the Panzerotti Group’s main headquarters is located. 

Exports include steamcars and locomotives—to which there is a massive station just on the outskirts of town—travel, and clockwork mechanics. People come from all over to have their vehicles and machines repaired by the industry’s top professionals. It is considered to be somewhat of a hub, where people go to travel, or stay on their way someplace else. It is central to a lot of cities and countries, including the neighbouring city, Merconia. a city of schools and universities. 

That’s it for this week, folks! I’m hoping I’ll have more to report next week, and I hope to see some of you on Wednesday night! 

May all your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting, 

 K. M. Cooper