There’s a long list of things I didn’t think would ever happen when I first decided that writing fiction was going to be ’my thing’. Obviously, getting one of my books optioned and meeting an academy award screenwriter weren’t on this list because I hadn’t even conceived of that possibility at the time.

The Living God has a new cover! Thank you to everyone who voted and left comments that helped make these better. I liked both covers so much, and since I did like them so much, I’ve decided to use them both! After all, this is a series, and I have four books to make covers four. So, I present to you the new book cover for The Living God, and the official cover (and title) of the second novel. 

May I present you Maxan - former thief, city guard, “Shadow of Crosswall,” and the hero of my novel “The Animal in Man.” 

I tend to think of the creatures in Herbridia as having almost entirely animalistic features - fanned ears, fangs and claws, bushy tails, triple-jointed hindlegs, things like that - while the proportions of their bodies are almost entirely human - shoulders, waists, arms and legs, walking upright, the capacity for speech. There’s a reason this book isn’t 100% “Watership Down.” (Richard Adams, RIP.) There’s a reason that although the world and all its inhabitants appear as your typical ‘Fantasy’ expectations, the book is listed on inkshares as Science Fiction.

There’s always more than what there appears to be.

This brilliant work of concept art (the first entry in a series of visual aids I plan to flash in front of your eyes this year) was created by Paco Guidice. I’m so absolutely lucky to have stumbled across Paco’s work when I was searching for just the right artistic style to capture the vision I had in mind when I wrote The Animal in Man. I came across his portfolio site HERE. Fellow inkshares authors, you’d do yourself a favor to seek Paco out if you ever thought to commission art for your own project(s).

More art on the way, including everyone’s favorite Wolf Sorcerer Feyn (featured prominently in chapter one), and Hawk Knight Sarovek (also featured in chapter one, where she gets skewered on the serrated teeth of the hyena’s wicked sword).

Until next time, Animals.

Hey everyone!

Thanks for casting your vote for the covers. I’ve narrowed the field and made some changes based off suggestions from the voters. Below is the link to the final face-off between the two. Cast your vote by liking your favorite cover! Also, while you’re on the Facebook page, how about giving it a like? 

https://www.facebook.com/KaytalinPlattAuthor/posts/1397915053572417

Hello everybody,

I hope everyone had a great holiday period and are off to a good start for 2017. It’s been a couple of months since the last update on The Battle Within, so here’s the latest information.

Timeline

We’re still on track for a book launch of 27 Jun 2017. At this moment the manuscript is about to enter the proofread stage and while that’s happening, advance reader copies are going out for endorsement. I’m happy to say that initial feedback has been very positive. We’re already starting to make plans for the book launch party, so if you’re going to be in Ottawa during the last week of June, please include that in your plans!

Upcoming Developments

Being new to the publication process, this experience has been great in learning everything that goes into marketing a book. One of those aspects is getting the book into brick and mortar stores (or their electronic equivalents). Believe it or not, but there’s great opportunity for an author to get involved here and one thing I’ll be working on over the next few months is engaging the regional distributors in the United States who provide books to the Army Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES – or the PX for a more familiar term).

Also, The Battle Within is featured on Goodreads at  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31922135-the-battle-within?from_search=true#other_reviews. If you have a minute, please click on the link and add the book to one of your shelves!

Other Projects

The big news on this front is that I’ll be finished the second draft of my next novel, Jihadi Bride, by the end of this coming week. After that comes the search for beta readers and then I’ll start the editing process in earnest. Still a lot of work to accomplish, but I’m very happy with how this novel is taking shape.

That’s it for this update, but as always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions. Thanks again for your support and patience, and all the best in 2017,

Alastair Luft

Dear friends and followers,

It is now three weeks since we won the Full Publication deal with The List. The manuscript for "Murder at the Veterans’ Club" was submitted two weeks ago, and now it is a matter of waiting for an editor to be assigned to me. This could take a while; here’s the article about the publishing timeline, in case you missed the last update: I know there are a couple of new faces among you since then.

So, what lies ahead?

Well, I am currently halfway through working on a story-game project for Choice Of Games. I expect to see it come out some time in the latter half of this year. (I encourage everyone to check them out. I’ve enjoyed their stuff over the past few years, and I’m excited at the possibility of seeing myself in their lineup.)

There is also the matter of what to do with the Peterkin franchise. With the publishing timeline being somewhat longer than I expected, and with the additional time required to properly fund a campaign ... plus the sheer chutzpah it would require for me to begin asking for orders on a second book before the first book is even in anyone’s hands.... If I plan on getting the Full Publication deal on something, I should probably start the funding campaign after the launch of this current book, which means it could be two years or more in between books. That seems ... likely to result in an overall loss of interest.

So, I’m toying with a couple of ideas.

One: start a new campaign anyway, for the short story collection "Peterkin Investigates the Anthology"--but aim only for the 250 orders required for the Quill imprint. It won’t get all the services of the Full Publication deal, but then it isn’t a sequel and it isn’t a full-length novel, and it will be out there and available within a year after "Murder at the Veterans’ Club".

Two: take that collection apart and publish the stories individually via Kindle Direct; say, one every two months.

I haven’t quite researched these options yet, nor have I decided on a course of action. It seems the adventure is only just beginning....

Faoii! Have you looked outside? Have you seen the news? Millions of women (and men, too, of course) are marching. Are making their voices heard. Are being more today than they were told they could be in the past. I am amazed to live in this world. I wrote THE LAST FAOII and created its society to encompass these women. I wanted to give them a world where they could be who they wanted to be--warriors. And here we are, making this world into that place. In real life. Right outside my door. Isn’t that amazing?

It has been just one week since the 90-day campaign began, and The Walls are Closing In has reached 123 preorders. This is phenomenal. We are halfway towards the Quill light-publishing deal already, and are on a brilliant trajectory towards the full publishing contract.

Thank you to everyone who has taken this leap of faith with me. I realize that putting down hard earned money on a book that is a ways off is not everyone’s cup of tea. I want you all to know that each time I see a new order come through, I am dancing on the inside ... and sometimes on the outside. 

A special thank you to my super readers (who have ordered 3 or more copies), Inkshares authors and followers who have already sent referrals my way, and to those who have left a review or recommendation.

The manuscript is complete as is, though it will continue to be fine tuned until the last minute. I am spending long hours locked in staring contests with my manuscript, striving to ensure that the story walks the line between fact and fiction just enough. Sometimes it wins and sometimes I do.

As I mentioned in a previous updated, The Walls are Closing In has been selected as this month’s Thriller Night Syndicate pick. This was a huge honor. My book’s page now sports the Thriller Nights badge!

Blog posts and youtube mentions will start to go live this week or next, and I will share those links when they do!

Today is a rough day for a lot of people, and I hope that all of you are able to stand strong, find solace in numbers, and surround yourselves with friends and loved ones. Buckle up. It will be a rocky ride.

Until next time,

-Jacqui

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to let you in on the Facebook poll for the new cover. As I mentioned before, as much as I love the illustration, from the comments I received it wasn’t sending the message that I would like. So, I’m experimenting with a photo-manipulated cover, which is pretty much the standard for a lot of covers these days.