The time has come!

We have until August 28th to get our votes in for my debut book, The Life Engineered, to maybe-perhaps-but-probably-not win a Dragon Award at Dragon Con!

The Life Engineered was, alongside books by Ann Leckie and Kim Stanley Robinson, in the science fiction category of the very first Dragon Awards. It’s a public vote so I ask of you; please vote for my robot book.

Sign up here and fill out the form. You’ll get a confirmation email and a few days after you prove you’re not a robot (discrimination, I know) you’ll get a survey ballot. Make sure you vote for The Life Engineered (and also my fellow Sword & Laser Collection authors’ books Asteroid Made of Dragons and Unattractive Vampire) and we’ll be all set.

Haven’t read The Life Engineered? Well, click on the name of the book and get yourself a digital copy for 0.99$.

I have some incredible news coming for A God in the Shed, so don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten what you all came here for. For now though: vote vote vote!

Cheers,

JF

Good news! 

A Beast Requires has over 100 pre-order!

Yes, I’m exicted too, but we aren’t quite at the 250 pre-orders we need for the Quill goal. With the month coming to a close, I’d like to once again thank everyone who has backed me so far. It’s going to get harder from here, but I know we can do it. So, keep telling your friends, family, and fellow humans about the book, and let’s push those pre-order numbers higher.

This week’s video is all about the origins and inspirations for A Beast Requires. Well, some of them at least. Brevity is not my strong suit, but I’m pretty damn pleased I didn’t prattle on too much. There’s a few things I’m working on for next week, so keep an eye out for those emails. Thanks again for all your support. You all really are that awesome.

- Jay

Hey, everybody. The beta read period is going very nicely; I’m getting great feedback and incorporating the changes.

As Tony Valdez, the author of Dax Harrison (check it out!), mentioned, Inkshares is going through a bit of a restructuring. There is a big backlog of books to be published. As a result, even if I rushed to deliver the final draft of Disintegration, we would still have a significant wait ahead of us. So I’ll be taking my time to make sure that final draft is phenomenal, all the while keeping tabs with the folks at Inkshares to know when is the right moment to submit my work.

I’ll keep you updated on the production schedule, as soon as it exists. For now, though, rest assured that the work continues. If you’d like to read the current draft, drop me a line and I’ll send it to you. If you like it, know that it will only improve and, please, spread the word. I want to get my book to a wider audience. Let’s sell some more copies!

DAX FANS! ...Hey, does my forehead look huge in this photo? Stupid phone cameras. Grrr...

I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! As always, I must thank my backers for your continued patience and apologize for the delays.

For those not in the know, I handed in my completed manuscript at the beginning of July. Unfortunately, it was roughly around this same time that Inkshares began going through some organizational changes.

DON’T BE ALARMED! I have been assured that my book will in fact be published as promised, and you will eventually have your copy in your hands and/or on your e-reading devices of choice. What I still don’t know is WHEN.

To make a long story short, Inkshares has been going through some growing pains, and they have quite a backlog of books waiting to be published. I have not been informed where I stand in this long line exactly, but I understand the Inkshares team is hard at work squeezing everyone in on their production calendar. I thank the Inkshares staff for their service, and I do not envy their herculean task at hand.

Now, let me get to the point. I have a story, and I want to share it with you awesome folks who were gracious enough to buy it. And I know some of you are itching to read it, judging by my daily encounters of "HEY, TONY! WHERE’S THE BOOK?!"

So, if you have purchased a copy of Dax Harrison, you can expect an email from me soon. Check you inbox over the next day or so for the subject line "DAX HARRISON - The Early Ebook Edition".

If you choose to read the story at this time, here’s a couple things to keep in mind:

First, the book has not yet been professionally copyedited. Meaning, you may run into the occasional grammatical error, weird sentence structure, etc. I’d like to think I was thorough, but it happens.

Second, I would love your feedback! If you like my silly little sci-fi tale, please leave a review on Inkshares! I would love to direct you to leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads as well, but those pages won’t exist until we get closer to publishing.

Reviews = more eyes on the book = more books sold = Tony gets to write more books!

I will keep you all informed on the publishing news as soon as I have it. For those of you that prefer to wait for the official ebook/paperback of Dax, I hope I won’t have to keep you waiting too much longer.

Thanks again! You’re the best. Now I’m off to outline some more of Dax 2: Space Boogaloo. (No, that is not the actual title)

-Tony

You know how in Parks and Rec when they’re in city council meetings, and Jeremy Jamm says something like,

"Let the record show, there was a standing ovation," and there wasn’t?

Well... let the record show, I sent out my manuscript to my beta readers on the 1-year anniversary of my joining Inkshares!

Haha jk no I didn’t, I sent the first half of it out LAST NIGHT!



I’m so excited, you guys. SO. EXCITED. And nervous. But mostly excited. I really think there are at least a few people out there who will end up truly loving my story and characters, and my brilliant and generous beta readers will increase my book’s chance of reaching those people.

The first half of my book is 82K words long, so it’s plenty for them to chew on. (My book is long, okay? It is full of wonder and emotion and excitement, so I’m hoping it is the good kind of long - the kind where you don’t want it to end, even after 150K words.)

Here are the episode titles for the entire book, for your intrigue:

Episode I: Wake
Episode II: Ally
Episode III: Foe
Episode IV: Earth
Episode V: Consequences
Episode VI: Tower
Episode VII: Prophecy
Episode VIII: Rest
Episode IX: Rescue
Episode X: Whole
Episode XI: Dock
Episode XII: Wake

***

Alex and I will be finishing up the second half of She Is the End in the next few weeks and sending them out to betas, as well. Then... while we wait... I will be doing the illustrations for the book! I think I’ll do one illustration per episode, maybe two here and there, and it’s going to be a lot of work. I’ll keep you updated on my progress and probably give away a few more of the originals as a prize.

Stay tuned!

Dear Readers,

Or should I say...Listeners? For behold, thanks to the magic of Inkshares and Drew Campbell’s British accent...

An Unattractive Vampire is on Audible!!! 

Thank you to everyone at Inkshares, Audible, and Mr. Campbell for making this happen. 

So I know you’re all thinking: "Jim, I need this for my sound holes, but money has decided (literally) to see other people right now." Well, here’s a thing: Audible sponsors just about every podcast in existence. They offer so many deals and promos, it’s kind of ridiculous. For example: Lore podcast, Hardcore History, and Blurry Photos all offer trial codes. So yes, listen to awesome inspiring podcasts and when you’re done, listen to my book as well.

Also, just a reminder that the Dragon Awards are quickly approaching, so time is running out to VOTE for Inkshares/Sword and Laser books including The Life Engineered, Asteroid Made of Dragons, and, of course, An Unattractive Vampire which also all happen to be available in e-book for the special low-low price of 99 cents until the end of the month. (Completely coincidental, I assure you. *WINK*) So please, vote for An Unattractive Vampire because what could be better than mixing vampires and dragons?

Hi Everybody! We reached 50 reviews on Amazon! That’s amazing!

You guys are amazing! At least, 50 of you are amazing, the rest of you have SO MUCH POTENTIAL TO BE AMAZING! Do you want to live up to your potential today? Do you want to be a part of the miracle? Do you want to stand up and cast your vote for the funniest book on Inkshares?

If you do, click on this little linky here and leave your own review of Monkey Business!

And once you’re done with that, share the book with someone. Share the laughter, share the joy, share the monkeys! Do you know we’ve sold over 400 hundred copies? I don’t know exactly how many because the Amazon reporting isn’t in yet but it’s definitely over 400. I have all of you to thank for that. You’re the best!

So thank you, from the bottom of my silly, monkey-filled heart.

- Landon

Hello there wonderful followers, 

Sorry for the long time of radio silence. All my time have been devoted to going through the edits of my very, very, helpful beta readers and working hard at my new job. 

But things are trucking along well. I will be making an appearance at the Edmonton Expo so if any of you are visiting for the event (Princess Leia’s going to be there) come by and see me. I’ll have some more details later when we get everything organised. 

Thank you all so much for your continuing support and feedback. We’re shaping Beyond the Code into something special. 

Kelsey Rae Barthel