Happy Monday, all! Guess what? We’re now at 152 copies, 132 readers.  This means Witherfist is now less than 100 copies away from Quill publication. I hope you’re excited about that as I am!

With new readers joining us, Witherfist has now taken the 8th spot in the Geek & Sundry top 10. There’s a narrow margin between myself and ’The Delicate Art of Soulripping’ - and ’Sorcery for Beginners’ is hot on both of our tails! Ahead, ’The Living God’ has a decent but not unshakeable hold on 7th place. I guess what I’m saying is - the final week of this contest is going to be exciting and every preorder now could mean the difference between shimmying up or sliding down the top 10. 

I had a great weekend at a local convention, giving out postcards and printed samples of Witherfist. I was one of only a few authors at the convention - the big draw of the day was the actor Jerome Flynn, who plays Bronn on Game of Thrones - but there were plenty of people interested in finding out more about the book and Inkshares in general. 

Here’s a picture of me, manning my little stall, wearing my Witherfist t-shirt. (Not pictured: my glamorous assistants or the unspeakable amount of Haribo that was consumed over the course of the two days at the convention.) 

 A couple of dozen people took my sample chapters (which were printed by the AwesomeMerchandise company, check them out if you’re in the UK!). Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend and I’m hoping that many of the people I spoke to will be joining my list of followers and readers on Inkshares very soon. I think I might even have recruited a few would-be authors into joining the community. 

Thanks for reading and, as always, for your support!

~ Jenny

PS. Here’s a bonus work in progress bit of character art, this time of one of the book’s antagonists: Karaben. She is a peer and former ally of Irusai’s who has also made an ink pact with an ancient spirit. Unlike Irusai, whose tattoo is on her hand and arm, Karaben’s tattoo extends from her lower lip down over her throat and connects her to a crow spirit. I won’t tell you exactly what ’power’ she gains from the spirit she’s connected to, but I will say this: Karaben acts as a spy and interrogator of sorts for the Empress and the people she questions are often found as eyeless corpses.

Hello everyone!

Status Report: We are 19 pre-orders from making Quill with 67 days left for funding! 154 Unique Readers and still in 7th place! 

Last week was a bit of a crazy week for me as far as the day job goes. I wasn’t able to make my usual reader updates on Monday and Friday, but too be honest there wasn’t much going on in the campaign.

We are still running the really cool editing promotion. For more information check it out here. We are also still running the cover design promotion.

I have a reading treat for you guys. It’s a little short I wrote called Atone, just a little peek at something that happened five and a half years prior to the events in The Living God, written so not to really have any spoilers. 

Thanks guys and have a great week!! 

Greetings, Faoii!

Tonight I did an interview about The Last Faoii with Vagrant Kings Podcast. I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’m excited to share. Click the link to listen in!

https://soundcloud.com/vagrant-kings/interveiw-with-tahani-nelson-the-last-faoii

Halloween Update! Today’s lore is going to be about Vampires... because... well..

So... onto The Staking of Vampires

Vampires have undergone significant evolution since their initial debuts in legend. The book, Vampire Evolution from Myth to Modern Day, covers their transformation in great detail. From old tales depicting vampires as reanimated corpses, wraiths dressed in tattered burial shrouds, or even Japanese folklore. But commonly today, the stake through the heart is seen as a metaphorical silver bullet to the vampire. From catatonic immobilization to instant destruction—the current legend is flashier than its origin.

The belief was that corpses, were crawling out of their coffins, and feasting on their relatives. So burial practices simply advised nailing the corpse to the bottom of the coffin. It didn’t need to be wood or even through the heart. A steel stake or a rock, driven through the rib cage would suffice—almost like pitching a tent. Which, ultimately, seems a lot smarter than trying to stake a vampire who is currently active and wields powers of the undead. A bit of pre-emptive action and safety measures regarding the undead never hurt anyone. 

Next week I’ll cover Trick-Or-Treating or the Witchfinder General. I’m saving some Seventh Age news for later and closer to launch date. So for now..

Copy edits are done, and we have a cover!

Thank you all for your comments and feedback! I am really grateful to everyone who took the time to voice their opinion. This final version has been tweaked to make it a little lighter, and I think will be really eye-catching both on store shelves and as an online thumbnail!

Next step is trying to secure cover blurbs from prominent authors or reviewers, then final proofreads, spine and back cover design, and final interior layout for both the ebook and hardcopy versions! It’s all coming together!

Thank you all yet again!

Good Morning Dreamers,

Well, I"ve been exceptionally busy and I’m using all my free time to either do homework, study for the Navy school that’s almost finished, or nap. While I’m not doing these things, I’m squeezing in editing of The Sleeping Man. I’m about halfway through now, and after that, I’ll probably have some beat readers, so if anyone wants, let me know. Then it’s a final edit from me, a final edit from Inkshares, and then they will begin the production process. Thank you so much for your support, and make sure you keep spreading the word and having people pre-order The Sleeping Man. Since we’re still in the pre-order phase, half of everything up until the release will be donated to the Children’s Literary Initiative. 

Sweet Dreams,

Stephen

Updates, Faoii! Listen up!