Happy Monday, y’all!

First off, A Beast Requires is clinging to 10th Place in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest, with 85 backers. Yea, it’s getting to that part of the campaign where every backer matters, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to back A Beast Requires yet, now is definitely the time. At 107 pre-orders, we’re almost halfway to the Quill goal, which is nice.

So, dragons.

I count myself lucky that so many of you following me are writers. We all know The Struggle. It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve written, or what sort of genre you write, all of our work starts with that first glimmer of an idea. We all cultivate that glimmer, scribbling in notebooks or banging away at a keyboard. We draft, and draft again, searching for beta readers, grammar checkers, and if we’re lucky, an editor. 

While we are all at different places in our writing, we all remember that first book we poured our souls in. Mine was an absolute train wreck of a fantasy adventure, involving a book, a dog, and an angry teenage wizard. I loved it so much, but twenty years later I can look back and say with absolute certainty, it was a complete pile of words. We get better with every story. Hells, we get better with every draft, and we all know the joy that comes from finishing that final edit. But it’s not our final edit, and we all know the frustration and sadness that looms off in the distant horizon.

I like writers. Actually, I like content creators, but I’m particularly biased towards writers. And cooks, but that’s an entirely different story. It’s why I’m so thankful so many writers follow me on Inkshares, and how I absolutely lose my shit when another writer backs A Beast Requires. We all know how rough it is, especially how rough an Inkshares campaign is, so it comes as a welcoming comfort every time one of likes the thing I struggled for. I will always try to back as many writers as I’m financially able to. Support means everything to a writer, especially when  you’re just starting out. There will always be The Struggle, and there will always be dragons, but none of us are ever truly going through all this alone. 

Good morning, Sailors!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I spent mine out and about, getting the word out about Storm Song! I journeyed up north to Muncie, IN to visit Ball State University, where I studied Creative Writing- and where the world of Elysia all began. It was a really fun trip! That same day, I also hit up some local game shops in Indianapolis to advertise my entry to their customers. I’m pleased to announce that on October 2nd, Game Paradise in Fountain Square is allowing me to run a one shot D&D session within the world of Storm Song! You can find out more about the event here

Speaking of D&D… I’m so excited to announce that today marks the launch of our official Storm Song...

Yes, that’s right! Since this whole book started with a D&D campaign, it felt only right to spread the nerd love. On October 1st, I’ll be giving away 3 sets of dice, each one themed around a character from Storm Song:

Thoster - teal and grey

Vashile - red and black

Linn - purple and gold

Each dice set will come with the pictured treasure chest to keep them safe, as well as a dice bag made by my extremely talented friend, Heather. These are still in the works, so they aren’t pictured yet, but trust me, guys... They’re going to blow your mind.

So how does this work, exactly? There are two ways to enter

1. Any new pre order from Sept 12th - Sept 30th will earn you one entry
2. Any referral you give where the referred party pre orders in the giveaway time period will earn them an entry as well as one for yourself

Referral entries are UNLIMITED so grab everyone you know and convince them to pre order so you can stack the odds in your favor like a true pirate would.

**In order for me to know that the referred pre order came from you, please email me at asgriner6587+dicegiveaway@gmail.com with your name and the name of your friend who has also ordered. Once I have confirmed the order, I will count your referral entry.**

So get out there and convince your friends and family to buy my book, so I can send you some awesome goodies!

As always, I do want to thank each and every one of you guys for everything you’ve done to help me with this project. It means more than I can say, though I’ll keep trying.

- Allison

For today’s update, I’m featuring a story by an author that’s a bit more established than the others I’ve been promoting this week. Rick Heinz has already successfully funded a book through Inkshares: The Seventh Age: Dawn, and is a contributing member to the Too Many Controllers anthology collection. While my main purpose in sharing these updates is to draw attention to books that need an extra boost to reach an audience, I had to make an exception for this one.

The Seventh Age: Dystopia is the follow up to The Seventh Age: Dawn. It’s a high-powered urban fantasy story centered on the sudden jarring return of ancient magic to the modern world. 

In Dawn, the world was re-introduced to magic. Supernatural creatures and forces poured back into the world, thanks to meddling shadow organizations and secret societies. Now, one year later, Dystopia brings us a world where magic is not merely present, but industrialized. 

Greedy corporations, determined to turn a profit on a world-shattering phenomenon, have built a whole new industry on the research, development, and distribution of magically-infused products. Everything from experimental ability enhancing magical pharmaceuticals to Pegasus meat has flooded the market in a new and strange industrial boom.

But is there more to this new magic-centered economy than meets the eye? Just how much power do these secret societies hold? What greater ramifications will this new world show in time? I’m as excited to find out as anyone else. Please give Seventh Age: Dystopia a look!