Hello Machiners! And a happy Saturday to all of you!

So have you seen it yet?? 

You must have. After all it’s been up on the Inkshares homepage for The Last Machine for more than a week.... And I know each of you must be checking in over at Inkshares.com almost daily as you eagerly anticipate any updates on when Jonathan, the last machine, will finally arrive on your doorstep (as a book, not a 9 foot tall robot)!

It’s going to be a bit longer, Inkshares has decided April 2017 is more conducive to a successful publication date than February. So Spring 2017 it is!! And back we all go to our thumb twiddling...

And now, without further ado, for those of you who don’t frequent Inkshares as often as you should, the final high resolution cover art!!!

Awesome, isn’t it?! Many thanks to artist Dan Stiles for this tremendous result. It’s going to absolutely POP on the bookstore shelves!

Lastly, Jonathan and Nikolai are officially back in action, together, billions of years earlier in a new short story called "The Creator and The Machine" to be published in the Nerdist contest winning video games anthology Too Many Controllers!!! I may have BURIED the LEAD here. Go check it out and grab a copy of this epic book full of work by exciting Inkshares authors!

And believe me, there are a ton of great books funding right now on Inkshares that deserve your attention; in particular there is a Geek & Sundry sponsored FANTASY contest going on right now. Lots of cool potential books to peruse! 

Have a great weekend!

Hello, readers! I hope you’ve having a great weekend.

I’ve added two more pieces of content to the Witherfist project page: a new chapter, introducing the Imperial scribe Sunderei, and a small excerpt of world-building lore, called ’An Oral History of the World’. Have a read! I think you’ll enjoy them.

  Register for #DragonAwards here: http://tiny.cc/pd3zdy 

I know. I know! You heard me the first time. And the second.

But!

Register for #DragonAwards here: http://tiny.cc/pd3zdy 

I have no way of knowing how many people will vote for this thing - the 2016 Hugo for Best Fantasy Novel had 2903 voters - but that required membership (money) and, shall we say, there were some other factors in play there. This contest could have WAY more. Or WAY less. No one knows! But if all 614 of you voted - that seems like it could move the needle.

Vote for me. And THE LIFE ENGINEERED and AN UNATTRACTIVE VAMPIRE if you want to share the love with the rest of the Sword & Laser shelf.

And ...exhale. 

There, this’ll be my last salvo on this! The window to register closes this weekend - so it’ll all be over soon and I can focus on what really matters at DragonCon: consuming alcohol responsibly and talking about Ravenloft.

I usually try to do very short updates that only really pertain to Monkey Business but today I wanted to write you about something completely different.

If you have a few minutes to spare over the weekend, please, please, please consider voting for these fine novels in the DragonCon; Dragon Awards. These are all Inkshares, novels, they’re all freaking great and they all deserve to win.

So here’s what you do. Go to this link and register to vote (takes about a minute.)

Then go vote for the following awesome books!

Asteroid Made of Dragons by G. Derek Adams is a supremely enjoyable mashup of sci fi and fantasy. I mean, this book has long dead ancient technologies in the same world as wild mages, dragons, knights, gnomes, half-dead pirates, goblins... and it’s funny. I really can’t say enough, this book is awesome.

The Life Engineered by J.F. Dubeau is an beautifully realized exploration of artificial intelligence, civilization, and the implications of what it means to exist. If you’re a fan of smart science fiction, do yourself a favor and check this book out. Also if you just like robots this shit is rad.

An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel is a wonderfully fun read that really turns some vampire tropes on their ear. Light-heated, fun reads are always a favorite of mine, if you feel the same way, you’ll really enjoy this book.

That’s all folks. Please take a few minutes to do this for all of us who choose to publish at Inkshares. A win for any of us is a win for all of us. And a Dragon Award is a super cool thing to win.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh and if you’re really bored, click here and leave a review of Monkey Business.

Firm handshakes, kisses on the cheek and Top Gun style "feel the need for speed" high fives,

- Landon

Map!!!

Okay, maybe my initial excitement was overblown as I’m clearly not the best cartographer.  I hope that one day my topographical sketching/watercoloring skills improve, but that is not today.  At least this time its a map that none of you have seen before.

The bulk of this map covers the western half of the Zaltruscan empire.  They control most of the Sea of Serpents, the exception being the Isle of Karpa which is controlled(mostly) by Pentaz’ home country - Thierdenvolgenlund.  Pentaz’ journey first takes him south along this sea and onto the plains near the river.  During an ordeal on these plans he meets Buscidia who guides him safely around the swamp and to the city of Jacirst(you can read more about these events starting at this collection of chapters).  She continues acting as his guide and bodyguard afterwards, doing her best to improve his knowledge of the mainland and its languages on their way to Llanchland.

Llanchland(near the left edge) is also not part of the Zaltruscan empire, being an independent city-state ruled by Llargas Llanch II, son of the city’s founder Llargas Llanch and one of a long line of Llargas Llanch’s who will rule over a city which has a far larger part to play in the future of the world than one may suspect from such a seemingly insignificant city-state.  Buscidia and Pentaz go through another ordeal while under the employ of Llargas Llanch II, growing closer to one another in the process(you can read more about Llanchland and the ordeal starting at this collection of chapters).

From here they sail around the unnaturally circular island(which you can find out more about in this collection of chapters), and south off of this particular map.  They eventually find their way back to this map, heading north along the purple road you see winding through the mountains to the Calden barony, home to the Magus Baron Caldus whose family crest graces the book’s cover.  Pentaz makes his way north out of the Calden barony, into the foothills then mountains of the Frozen North, eventually reaching the tip of the Dragon’s Head Peninsula for the book’s conclusion.  The Zaltruscan empire also claims the Frozen North as their territory, but this is an entirely unenforced claim as the landscape is too treacherous and the environment a bit too hostile to easily field/garrison an army with which to truly hold the area.

Beyond this you may be able to make out the circles drawn on some of the coastlines, these being some of the more significant port towns.  There are certainly more settlements than I’ve marked on the map, but I tend to only mark those which are included in my books in an important manner.  Naming some of the unnamed features(rivers, lakes, bays, forests, etc) is among the list of "wild card" rewards that I would be willing to honor for anyone winning the referral giveaway or the preorder giveaway.  Hopefully by next week’s update I will have made a more reader friendly, bullet pointed list of rewards and how to win them.

I hope you enjoyed the map and my very abbreviated textual trek through it with you.  Keep reading, enjoying, and recommending!