C. Brennecke liked an update for Deus Hex Machina

First Draft is Complete!

Thursday night at about 10:30 I wrote the final words of the Deus Hex Machina first draft. I had been pressing to get it done by the end of June, and through some help from motivational guru and all around fabulous person Elayna May Darcy (seriously go order They Are the Last, it’s funding now and it’s awesome), I was able to get all twelve chapters finished on time.

So what happens now? Well, first off I’m going to celebrate with some gaming. Then probably Tuesday I will start working on my short story for Too Many Controllers. After that is complete it’s time to start planning for the Shadow of the Owl sequel, Shadow of the Panther. I know many of your have been waiting to find out what happens to Mylena in [spoilers], and I promise you I haven’t forgotten her.

That’s not to say things aren’t progressing on DHM. My cover designer is already working on comps and I have a developmental editor lined up and waiting. But first, I want to get the first draft in its raw, unfiltered state into the hands of a few select readers to get initial impressions. If you are someone who likes to help make a good book better, I am trying to build a beta reader group. Please email me amanda [at] goldleafbooks [dot] com and let me know that you’re interested. Warning: must love cyberpunk and have an eye for spotting egregious errors in the plot.

Once I have the round done, I’ll head into the second draft and fix anything that stood out to me and my readers (I have a mental list of weak areas I want to shore up). After the second draft is complete it will be off to dev edit land, and hopefully, plot perfection.

Thanks for following along on this journey. The book is done! Let’s celebrate!

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C. Brennecke liked an update for Ageless

Happy early 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans and non-Americans, I hope you have a great day too!

Quick update - You may be interested in following a new idea that I have placed here on Inkshares. Here’s the extremely short pitch:

Follow the life of Eugene Trickens, a survivor of WWII genetic experimentation with a secret, in this indirect sequel to AGELESS.

That’s right, I am in the planning stages for TIMELESS, a sequel to AGELESS! The plan (currently very, very rough) is you will see a lot of characters again in some capacity and dive deeper into some of the mysteries of the first book! I want to stress, this is not a direct sequel and we won’t pick up where the last book left us but don’t worry...possibly someday...whoops, I’ve said too much!

Also, we are less than two weeks from the end of the Nerdist Video Game Contest, and it’s time to jump in feet first and support TOO MANY CONTROLLERS! For those that have, I say thank you! If you haven’t, (and I’m looking at YOU James M. and a few others too) NOW is the time. We still need you! I still need you.

Lastly, if you have some time to listen, I had to pleasure of sitting down with Elan Samuel of The Warbler Books for a great interview (there are heavy AGELESS spoilers)!

And we can’t forget THE ROAD TO 100 REVIEWS on Amazon! Please leave a review if you can!

Have a safe, happy holiday and thanks for everything!

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C. Brennecke liked an update for The Seventh Age: Dawn

Greetings! Continuing in the theme of my vampire post a few weeks back, I’m going to bring you some Western Esotericism today.

Magical occultism that was highly popular during the early nineteenth century and the driving force behind the magical rules system in the world of The Seventh Age.

Don’t worry. I’m only going to give you 3 fun facts about it.

L.W. Delaurence (1868-1938) was one of the great tricksters who preyed on the rich. Conning publishing houses into printing books with his name listed as the author and selling door to door pamphlets on hypnotism. Curiously, he founded a Chicago occult society called "The Order of the Black Rose" which worshiped a cigar store Indian. This allowed him to smuggle in occult supplies for US shipping from Jamaica. Without tax evasion, many hoodoo and other poor occult sects would of died off.
If you want a masters degree in Hermetisicm, regarded as one of the highest arcane spell casting and sorceries in the world, you need only go to the University of Amsterdamn. As of 2008 they offer official programs.
Occultism and the rich have always had a love affair. Their parties and association with Freemasons, The Order of the Golden Dawn, and other bodies continue to this day. But one of the most infamous is the 1972 Rothschild Party. I’ve attached some pictures for you.

Illuminati Ball 1

Illuminati Ball 2

Illuminati Ball 3.... this is the table setting!?

Inspiration for The Seventh Age is taken heavily from these occult societies and their oddities in the shadows. A future update will focus on the other side of the fence: The anarchists.

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C. Brennecke liked an update for Dax Harrison

Are you there Inkshares? It’s me, Tony.

What’s this? A prideful look with my morning coffee and unapologetic insane morning hair? What could this mean? It means that after an obscenely long journey, I have handed in my manuscript to Inkshares. That’s it. It’s done. No more tinkering. No more hemming and hawing. Save for any grammatical errors the team finds during copy editing, the book is exactly what it will be when it reaches your hands in the hopefully nearish future.

I know what you’re thinking. WHEN, TONY?! WHEN?! I don’t have an answer at this moment, but I should very soon. The Inkshares team will post a Production Status timeline on the Dax Harrison book page with estimated dates. With Inkshares’s booming growth, they have a LOT of books in various stages of production. Which is great news! But hopefully that doesn’t mean any major delays for Dax. We shall see.

This has been one long strange trip for me. A challenge, a huge learning experience, crazy rewarding and crazy humbling. I can’t thank you all enough for your patience and support. I think I’ve probably said that in every update, but it is absolutely true. There will be a Thank You section in the back of the book listing all the contributors who bought multiple copies during the funding campaign. If I could though, I’d list every single person who helped make this possible. You guys are all my heroes.

In the meantime, I’ll be updating the posted sample chapters of the book from their original versions to their finished edits. Unfortunately, this means some of the lovely comments people have left will be removed in the process. So if you feel like re-reading your favorite chapter and commenting again, have at it!

Also, if you haven’t tired of hearing me blabber on about this book (I really don’t know how that’s possible), you can check out a new interview with me on Christopher Irvin’s author blog! Chris is an experienced writer of crime/noir fiction, and he is now branching out into sci-fi/fantasy with his new Inkshares book WRESTLETOWN! Wrestletown is an illustrated adventure novel and a love letter to professional wrestling and comics. I highly encourage you to check it out!

One more thing: I ALSO encourage you to check out Monkey Business by Landon Crutcher! Now that I’m out of writing mode, I’ve finally been able to fully dive into this one, and it’s great. Landon was the first to be published through Inkshares’s Quill imprint, and he’s provided some great insight into the process for us other authors. And his writing is hilarious. Look, it even has my endorsement on the cover!

All right, gang. That’s enough out of me. I’m off to do very important author things: Getting off the computer and washing the dishes for the wife like I promised. :)

-Tony

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