Hello Heroes!

70% and 10 days to go! Forgive me as this might ramble on as I had no expectation that I would be writing something like this. With ten days left in the campaign, we only need 222 more pre-orders. I say "we" because this is a joint effort. I once heard someone say writing for tv was like being in a band, and writing a book was like being in a one-man band. That has not been my experience. I would not be where I am without the incredible support and collaboration of so many people. A one-man band sounds lonely and I do not feel lonely. With every ounce of who I am, thank you for your company!

I am forever grateful for each and every one of you for contributing your time, energy, and money to this project. It is incredibly gracious and kind, and I will likely spend the rest of my life trying to repay your generosity. And please if you can think of a way, let me know. I’m going to be like Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; following you around until my debt is cleared. And wondering why you don’t have an English accent.

So here’s the pester. I need 222 pre-orders and only have ten days to do so. However, there are far more than 222 readers on this list, so if each of you knows just one friend or acquaintance who might be inclined to read my book, this lofty goal is totally achievable. I know this is a little Bernie Madoff of me, but the upside is you know what you’re getting, and maybe one day Robert De Niro will play me. Or if you want to order an additional copy, you can do so and get a say in the next tattoo I get. Currently the choices are a donut, a sailboat, a train, or a lemon. So if you want to further impact my life forever, you have that option as well. Just order a copy and reply to this with your vote. Or maybe your Mom would like a copy. It seems to be very popular with moms. I’m so sorry for the last minute plea. I’m sure the last three months have felt like wandering in a Target with me as your son, just pointing out the toys I want you to buy me, while you’ve got more important things to do, like picking out a summer jumper. But I figured at the very least, you’d forgive me, and at the very most, you’d send an enthusiastic reader my way. Below are links to selected audio chapters if that’s your jam. Thank you, and I promise only one or two more of these. Hang there. We’re doing great!

https://soundcloud.com/jake-jabbour/til-death-do-us-depart

https://soundcloud.com/jake-jabbour/training-to-be-myself-audiobook-day-1-maricopaphoenix

https://soundcloud.com/jake-jabbour/chapter-from-training-to-be-myself-day-9-new-orleans

https://soundcloud.com/jake-jabbour/day-11-chicago-chapter-from-training-to-be-myself

https://soundcloud.com/jake-jabbour/try-hard-does-not-a-die-hard

Warmest regards,

Jake

It has been a long, long time since I have sent out an update on Inkshares. That is not to say I haven’t been busy; I certainly have been. I have been busy working on the sequel to "Eden M51." But that’s not why I am sending this update. I wanted to tell you all is that I recently self-published a short story ("Laster") which can be downloaded for FREE at all the popular e-book retailers (Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, Kobo, etc.).

This short story is something I wrote about three years ago but never published because it lacked a cover. Well, last summer I pulled out my (very) old set of acrylic paints and decided to have a go at it myself. While I was a bit rusty, I can say I’m not dissatisfied with the result. It captures the retro sci-fi look I had hoped for. So what is "Laster" about? Here is the book blurb:

"Leroy was never the best student at school but he was never the worst either. School was always about not standing out, not drawing attention to yourself. Especially since his father lost his job and became a migrant worker. But when his father gets relocated to the mines on Mars, Leroy discovers that nothing on Earth prepared him for a world where just the air alone can kill you. And being different from the other kids at school? Well, let’s just say Leroy doesn’t want that. Leroy doesn’t want that at all."

Below is the Amazon link to the story. I hope you all will take a moment to download and read at your leisure. That is all.

https://www.amazon.com/Laster-short-story-G-R-Paskoff-ebook/dp/B07QMGTDXH/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=g.+r.+paskoff&qid=1557502403&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Sincerely,

G.R. Paskoff

Dear readers,

We are in the home stretch now! Check out the latest iteration of our cover art, courtesy of our talented illustrator, Senetra Busbee, on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afriendforotter/photos/a.2192518047462491/2192517187462577/?type=3&theater.

Thanks as always for your patience and support! We are both really looking forward to bringing you the best story we can. Watch this space for more updates very soon!

Jesse & Sylvia

Greetings, adventurers! 

 I made... a small error. You see, I’m supposed to do #MushAnchMonday on Monday. This is Tuesday. Oops. Sorry, everyone! Honestly, it completely slipped my mind. 

I have no new updates on the book, but I did, however, get the opportunity to read from it last week at an event at Cafe Cognito here in Moncton. I read excerpts from both chapters 1 and 4 of Mushroom and Anchovy, as well as a touch of my poetry. The reading went well--it was nice and intimate, with a small cafe that was filled with attentive people. If you were there, thank you so much for showing up! I hope to be able to do more events like this in the future. 

 As always, I have been extremely busy with my Twitch channel, on which I will be streaming 3 times a week for the next month. Tonight is one of those days, by the way--I’m making vegan marshmallows and yogurt tonight at 8:30 PM ADT and I’d absolutely love for you to join me! I’ve become an editor and regular contributor to a Twitch cooking newsletter called Cookery Nation, which has made for a fun combination of my writing and editing and cooking skills! 

 I have a full monthly roundup over on YouTube, by the way, if you’re curious about my many monthly projects and happenings. I have a convention appearance coming up and will be sharing the promotional materials on my Facebook page once they’ve arrived.

 The weather here has been bright and sunny for the past three days. The grass is getting greener and flowers are everywhere. Happy May, all, and I’ll talk to you in June.

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

K. M. Cooper

I bet you are thinking, "Damn, that was the fastest 20 days ever..."  No, dear patron... you have not experienced a time anomaly. Saran has not climbed out of the pages of her book to shift us two weeks forward... Inkshares is releasing your digital ebooks for download. That’s right. If you preordered 3 years ago, you are getting The Living God... today. 

Print books will be mailed out in the next week or so. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear word of when they hit the mail. 

Please remember to review on Goodreads and Amazon. Every review, even just marking the stars, helps. The goal is to get 60 reviews from backers! Can we do it? Can 60 of you review The Living God? I hope so. I’ve got faith in you. 

Things are moving – and they’ve gone about as far north as you can go.

Greetings my friends and readers of Ripe For Execution!

I’m sorry it’s been a looooong time since my last update, I know, but I wanted to wait until I had more to say than just "...watch this space!"

Now, though, things are really exciting.

By a quirk of fate, I’ve found myself sat in the tippity-top of the Scottish Highlands. Look out from my godmother’s lodge here, and you can see Cape Wrath – about as far north in the UK as you can go. I’m really here because I drove my father the 1,000-mile journey to see some of his oldest friends (starting with a detour from Cambridgeshire to Hampshire, y’see...) – but, while we reside here for the next few days, where better to bring all my focus into a book about a thrilling competition for dominance than a place called "Wrath"?

But this is by no means the start of the next chapter. As in the Bond movie Skyfall, a fair bit has happened before your protagonist finds himself hiding away in an isolated lodge to enact the final stages of a plan. I’ve taken onboard the thoughts of my editor Adam... the insights of writing coach Lisa Cron... inspiration gleaned from a range of "research reading" including JK Rowling, Gillian Flynn and Christopher Huang... and observations from many of you, dear readers... and I’ve distilled them into a final revision plan for Ripe For Execution that prompted Adam to say, in our phone call last Saturday, "This is getting me really excited!"

Many of you, including Adam, told me that you loved the character of Theo, and wanted to see more of him – which, given he’s the main character in the book, was both heartening and a subtle nudge to me as a writer that I’m doing a great job... but I could do it better. With the help of Adam and Lisa, the story is now much more Theo-focused, and is going to be less And Then There Were None and more Gone Girl – that is, less about whittling away a cast of suspects and more about one man’s struggle to be understood.

That doesn’t mean we’re stripping the suspense and mystery away though. Far from it. Adam has got me pressure-testing the motivations of my villains, wrapping them in a more believable set of clues and red herrings, all the while not losing sight of the original terrorist plot, the theme of control, nor the story question – the clash between compassion and unchangeable evil – all of which I’ve honed with the help of Lisa Cron’s amazing book, Wired For Story.

There’ve been other activities "behind-the-scenes" which are also stoking my creative fire, including the comments from many of you backing up Adam’s words to me that "Your prose is excellent" and "You write some great voices". There’ve also been a few things said to me that are really, really encouraging – but I fear I mustn’t say them here in case I jinx things...

So, as I chat with Adam and plot the novel’s final course over the next few days up here in Cape Wrath, I hope you feel as excited as Adam and me about the (very near) future of Ripe For Execution; so as I now say "watch this space", you really want to!

With that, then... watch this space!

Ciao for niao, folks – and thank you again, ever so greatly, for your support so far.

–Chip

12 days left!

Thank you to Jack Quaranta, Brian James Freeman, Brian Keith Jones, EvaMarie Davis, and Catherine Newman for their recent orders! We’re now at a solid 275! I plan on asking for one more extension post-May 17th (the newest end date), and getting Showtime’s order total to 300 by then, which is my mini-goal, would help make the case for Inkshares to approve one last push!

Remember, eBooks are only $10.00 and you CAN e-mail them as a gift. Two lattes at Starbucks will cost you roughly the same amount as an eBook, but a 400+ page book will give you more hours of entertainment and bang for your buck. It’s math, people. ;) So if you’d consider buying an extra copy for yourself or a friend (or maybe you drink too much on this Cinco de Mayo and order ten), I’d be super appreciative (and a special thank you to those who already have).

I’ve gotten a lot of comments from people who want to read the whole book and I can’t emphasize this enough: it can’t happen without you!

Thanks again to every single one of you who has pre-ordered so far, read, reviewed, shared, and showed enthusiasm for me and my book since January. We’re almost there, you guys. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Ricky