Congratulations we have hit 220 Pre-Orders on Crow’s Gambit! I really (enormously) appreciate the support you have all provided.  But...when everything is said and done I still need 30 more Pre-Orders and there are only two days left in the campaign. 

I need some of you to purchase an additional copy of the book...soon...tonight if possible. Several of you have already purchased multiple copies of the book and I think you. Some of you haven’t purchased any yet. However, I’m betting there are at least 30 of you who will be willing to help me out. 

To help wet your appetite I’m including the following snippet from later in the book.

“Who are you?” she finally asked. 

“You can call me Mr. Smith.” She gave him a patronizing look. “You could also call me a dirty son of a bitch. I could really care less.” His smiling expression never shifted. “You could say I’m with the opposition.” 

“You mean the people who tried to have me killed? Two, three times now?” 

“It was actually four.” He turned and smiled broadly. “You might not have noticed one. Dale and Gloria are actually quite good.” He returned to watching the crowd. 

“And is that why you’re here now? Attempt five?” 

“No. My specialty isn’t in that area. It’s in negotiation. The previous attempts on your life were made by overzealous members of our group that I must apologize for. I believe the best course of action would have simply been to talk to you and explain what was at stake, instead of driving you into the arms of Darrow.” 

Happy weekend Supporters of Crow’s Gambit.

The good news is you should have just received a short narrative titled Prologue Version #2. Taking advice from some of the writers over at the Listeners of the Dead Robot Society I’m reworking my original info dump of a Prologue. This draft also gives a little bit of the background for one of the later characters in the story, Tish.

I have an announcement:

That’s right. The titles of all three parts of The Animal in Man saga have at last been decided. I painstakingly pondered all the meanings of all the words that reflect the style, atmosphere, and experience I’ve created with the story. And then, suddenly, I had it. What is a [hu]man? What are we, really? We are a mind, a body, and - perhaps - a soul.

What if we created a world where we could play at our most violent fantasies? What if we shaped the creatures there in our image? Would they not also be those three things? I asked myself these questions a lot while I was writing The Animal in Man, and when I dug up the old journal entries I’d made about it, I knew I’d found the titles I needed.

You can follow the Draft page for The Animal in Man II: Ferocious Heart RIGHT HERE! The second book is already 100% complete, minus the professional-grade editing and services Inkshares provides upon my successful future campaign. That’s where you, my dear animals, can play a part. Please please please click the link and follow the project now so you’ll be ready for the day it starts taking preorders. And of course, as always, thank you so much for your continued support.

Dear all,

This is the final pre-publication update about " Everything is Normal: The Life and Times of a Soviet Kid"

·      The book is now being printed in the US and various ebook versions are being finalised.

·      Ebooks will be sent to pre-orderers ahead of the official publication date – on March 16th.

·      Printed copies will be mailed to pre-orderers on March 16th too and should reach you within a week or so, depending of the speed of mail in different countries.

·      IMPORTANT: If you have moved address since you ordered books in April-May 2017, please log into Inkshares and update your shipping address.  https://www.inkshares.com/

·      On a separate note, I’m happy that the book is getting positive reviews from the advanced readers and some interest from the media. Got a great blurb two days ago. Will show-off a bit now:

"Everything is normal" is a wonderful, funny and evocative account of growing up in the Soviet Union. It brings vividly to life the stodgy food, the dead hand of the state, and the lure of the west, all told through family life in late communist Leningrad. Some of the gags are hilarious. Who knew that that The Empire Strikes Back was released to USSR audiences as The Empire Returns the Blow? Sergey Grechishkin is a major new talent and a writer of humour and verve." Luke Harding, author of  #1 New York Times best-seller "Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win"  

The long journey is finally over. Thank you again for all of your support!

Regards,

Sergey

THANK YOU, Inkshares Staff Syndicate!
The Inkshares Staff Syndicate selected Rock of Ages to support and now there’s a fancy badge on the book page and we’re up to 503 orders! I was so excited last night that I was running and jumping around the house! Thank you, thank you!!

53 days left and 247 orders to go. That’s 4.6 orders a day. We’re going to do this! Now is the time to join the list of Super Readers or supporters! 

Meet Sarovek. Knight. Monitor. A hunter. A killer. A noble daughter of a powerful house of Corvidia, the kingdom of sky-dwellers. If you’ve read chapter one of “The Animal in Man” then you know Sarovek leads the attack against the hyena the story’s hero Maxan had been shadowing through the streets and alleyways of Crosswall. 

“A Corvidian knight in plates of polished armor plunged from the skies. Her legs and lower talons led her way, the tips of her hawk wings trailing high behind her, a long spear gripped tight, angled at the clustered hyenas. She fell like a meteor, inches from where the fox crouched on the walkway, then flapped her wings outward at the last possible instant to break her fall. The blast of air sent immense clouds of dirt rolling away. The knight’s spear sank through a hyena’s back and deep into the ground, an explosion of blood changed the dirt to mud.”

Sarovek is quite the badass. I believe she perfectly embodies the type of book I wanted to write. Her character, her choices, her choices all provide the type of experience I wanted to craft for my readers. I grew up reading action-packed stories of warriors gritting their teeth and swinging swords and narrowly escaping grave dangers with their lives. Sarovek may not be a barbarian, but she’s just as ferocious a fighter as Conan. She may not be a drow ranger, but she’s just as stoic as Drizzt.

If you haven’t heard of “The Animal in Man”... If you haven’t had the chance to really dive in and see what makes it so special, then go check it out. Spend a little time in my world.

I have some very, very exciting news to share with everyone coming up in the next update. Stay tuned, My Dear Animals! And as always, thank you for your support and patience!

(Immense thanks to artist Ellinsworth for his amazing sketch of Sarovek! Visit his portfolio for more awesome artwork!)

Hi, readers! We did it!! 260 copies as of today. I’m so excited. We’ve raised $32 for Babywearing International of Akron Youngstown, and this book is going to happen!

I’m taking a break from campaigning - once I know more details, I’ll continue to update. I’m putting together a marketing plan, and I need to revise the book when it comes back from its manuscript review. I will also be posting companion short stories on the Lost Memories Inkshares page. I have some blog posts set up for my website. Finally, I’m drafting a new novel, which is not part of the MindTech world, but I hope you’ll love it too. 

I don’t want to overwhelm your inboxes, so please follow me on social media for all the good stuff :-)

FB: https://www.facebook.com/caridubielauthor/

Twitter: @caridubiel

Instagram: @cb1281

Website: www.caridubiel.com

And, if you didn’t already know, I’m the cohost of a book review podcast, and Beth and I have just begun recording again. The ABC Book Reviews is on Soundcloud, and our RSS goes out to Stitcher and iTunes as well. We just posted an interview with fellow Inkshares author Becca Spence Dobias, author of Rock of Ages. Check it out!!