It’s our fourth day in the contest and Proteus is in FOURTH PLACE!!! Actually, just kidding, we’re tied for sixth, but for some reason we’re showing up on the leaderboard as being in fourth place when we technically aren’t. Still, though. We are VERY close to breaking the top three. In fact, we’re only SIX pre-orders away from tying with that coveted third place position.

We can do this, guys. This is real.

We can make this happen, and I’m confident we will. If you haven’t pre-ordered yet, now is the time! Competition is neck and neck at the moment, and just a little bit of support could tip us over the edge. 

Today’s story update gives us a look under the hood of our protagonist. This sophisticated targeting AI is designed to help turn a soldier into a literal killing machine in the field by boosting his lethality and survivability in any combat scenario. This may come with a few trade-offs, however...

Jacob Sicarius’s implant served him well on the battlefield, but his days of war should have ended a long time ago. Now on the embattled decks of The Somnambule he must take up arms once again. But can a soldier ever really retire anyway? Can you take the fire of battle out of a warrior’s blood? When that warrior has a machine in his head that automatically evaluates everyone he sees in terms of threat level, it would seem unlikely...especially when that machine develops a bloodlust of its own...

When a battle of wills between man and machine rages within a shared brain, who will triumph? Moreover...who should?

Find out when you order Proteus today.

Which do you want first: the Good News, or the Good-er News?

Fine. Good news is I’ve finally had the epiphany I should’ve reached months ago (which, by the way, is why you’re receiving another update so soon after the last). I’ve decided to SPLIT THE ANIMAL IN MAN IN TWO. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. Fellow authors, publishing industry gurus, inkshares itself, close friends and relatives - all these folks had been asking me for so long “why not just split the novel? Honestly, my dear animals, working on The Animal in Man had become a lot like sculpting pottery: the wheel spins and spins at a constant, but the larger the pot I was trying to make, the more likely it was to start coming apart and ultimately wind up an unrecognizable ruin. I’d rather make something beautiful - keep the pattern intact - and I figured you’d rather read it that way.

So what’s the Good-er News?

I re-submitted the manuscript last week! This means the ball is now in the publisher’s side of the court. I’ve done a little research that should make all parties involved (including you and me) much happier: An author with multiple books develops a better readership. Trilogies sit better on store shelves and are more likely to be stocked & re-stocked by booksellers. Imagine you’re just Joe-Schmoe Bookreader at the B&N down your street, just browsing the Sci-Fi Fantasy section like you always do, and you spot book one, book two, and book three of The Animal in Man all side-by-side. You are more likely to wonder what you’re missing out on when you discover a trilogy for the first time.

Yes, I said “trilogy.” That, in fact, was the straw that broke this camel’s back. The original, monstrously-oversized Animal in Man ended on a the mother of all cliffhangers, and I’d originally intended to leave it as-is (frankly I like unfinished endings, like Watchmen or Inception). But the ideas just kept gestating in the dark, warm, moist recesses of my brain, fed by the questions. What would happen to so-and-so? Did so-and-so make it out alive, and if he did, what would he do next?

Stay tuned to find out. Because of the decision to split the book, it won’t be as long of a wait.

In the meantime, check out some of the AMAZING sci-fi novels burning up the leaderboards on Inkshares’ Nerdist Contest. The second I read the description of Jenny Graham-Jones “1000 Faces” I knew I had to have a copy. That kind of dystopian, bleak-future vision of our world - where everyone wears a mask and all is never as it seems - is my kind of jam. Take a look at the submissions, you’re sure to find something great.

Until next time, my dear animals.

Campers!

I’m working on sending a personalized update to everyone who preordered Sunshine is Forever! It’s gonna take a few days-there are over 700 of you...in the meantime, I’ve launched an Inkshares page for my next book-KARID. If you’d head to this link and click FOLLOW that would be awesome. Oh yeah, and you can read the first chapter! I won’t be funding this book until after Sunshine is Forever is out, but I’ve loved my experience with Inkshares, and unless something changes, my plan is to publish my next book with them as well.

https://www.inkshares.com/books/karid

Thanks for the support!

Kyle T. Cowan