Hello friends,

You purchased my book, The Loving Wrath of Eldon Quint, and I wanted to update you on my progress.

In two months, I will send my manuscript to the publisher, Inkshares. They will assign an editor to help me make the book better. Then, one or two more editors will come aboard and help make the book even better. While that’s happening, someone will design artwork for the book cover. This whole process takes about 9-12 months from beginning to end. So sometime in early 2018 you can expect to receive your book or e-book.

That may sound like a long time to wait for something you already paid for. But there’s that saying, ’good things come to those who wait’, and hopefully it will apply to this book.

Once more, thank you for your support and your patience. 

Much Gratitude,

Chase

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

We’re coming down to the wire. I spoke with the team at Inkshares yesterday and they are aiming to have galley proofs for Sorcery for Beginners in four weeks time. "Galleys", for those who don’t know, are the final print-outs of the book’s pages before it’s sent to the printer. So we are getting close to the final version. Even as I write this, I’m reading through the manuscript and making a few last tweaks.

But for now, I want to show you what the actual Codex Arcanum looks like. This is the bookstore where Owen first meets Euphemia Whitmore and gets his copy of Sorcery for Beginners. The store has entrances at 10 different spots all over the globe, which is why it’s made up of all these different architectural styles. It serves a few other functions as well, but to learn what those are you’ll have to read the book. 

Hope everyone is well, and I’ll send out more illustrations and updates soon!

mh

n

Top of the something, Space Crew! 

I have emerged from the confines of the writer’s cave to give you all a well-deserved update. 

Turns out the manuscript, and my mental health, needed more reworking than expected. I am declaring it now, and please don’t scream at me: I am a month behind! 

(best if you imagine me shouting it like this)

So March is wrapping up, and so is this story, finally! At last! The end is on the horizon. I expect that in one week I’ll be finished writing and onto editing. 

Here’s the updated total timeline:  

To compensate for my lateness, I’ve made sure to boost the quality of this thing, so I’m expecting editing to take half what I had planned (about two weeks). This means that if you think about it, I’m only a couple weeks behind. 

Beta readers wanted! The next phase requires a couple of people to read this thing for early feedback. I have some folks in mind, and I have specific requirements, but if you’re interested, hit me up on Twitter (@acbaldwin) or by email at acbaldwinbooks@gmail.com. No promises, but if I need you I will call on you. 

So that about sums up the remaining work. I’m really excited about this story after a lot of progress has been made, and I can’t wait to make it a reality. 

Your Silly Space Captain who forgot their drawing tablet today, -AC

Yesterday Inkshares finished the final layout of The Punch Escrow and sent it off for galley printing (that’s book biz talk for advance reader copies). The book’s gotten some AMAZING blurbs from some AMAZING people. I wanted to share my favorites with you:

"An alt-futuristic hard-science thriller with twists and turns you’ll never see coming. I couldn’t put it down." - Felicia Day, author of the bestselling You’re Never Weird On The Internet (Almost), Geek & Sundry founder, and soon to be Kinga Forrester in Mystery Science Theatre 3000!

"This book angered me to my core, because it’s based on an idea that should have occurred to me. The fact that Tal executed it so well, and made such a page-turner out of it, just adds insult to injury." - Scott Meyer, author of the Magic 2.0 series

"The Punch Escrow will have you rooting for its plucky, sarcastic hero as he bounces between religious fanatics, secret agents, corporate hacks and megalomaniacs in a quest to get his life back." - Robert Kroese, author of the Mercury Falls series, Starship Grifters series

More news soon!

-Tal

Well time is ticking down on this, the second attempt at getting published through Inkshares. I greatly appreciate all of you following The Dead Wizard, but I need to find a way to push you over into pre-ordering it. So I am asking - What will it take?

I looked into doing some things to try and offer as incentives for larger orders. Stuff like custom painted figures and t-shirts, but mass ordering goblins figurines seem a bit to cost prohibitive and I’m not sure what you like on a t-shirt. I thought about a print of the cover, but I was hoping to get an Inkshares’ deal and a better cover than one I could draw. There is a site in England that does some really cool goblin figurines (https://www.atlantisminiatures.com/collections/goblins) In the future I may see if they’ll do a custom figurine for me, but it is definitely out of price range for now.

Do you have any suggestions? What would like to see to convince you to back this book? Critiques are always welcome too.

I am also going to see if I can extend the period a little longer. I have family things coming up in May and June and I am not sure if I want to have the campaign worrying me during those. We’ll see how sales go I guess.

Thank you again for following. And please spread the word.

Brian Marsden
literate ogre and goblin friend.