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.
A quick February update!
1)Edits continue to move along, we’re on track to move onto copy edits by April 1st, and I should have some fun developments to share in March (possibly including the finished cover reveal).
2)To amp up my media presence and mailing list numbers before the launch this fall, I’ve teamed up with several other authors to offer a fantastic giveaway!
If you’re a fan of Stephen King or know someone who is, you won’t want to miss this. We’re giving a ton of Dark Tower swag to one lucky winner!
Prizes:
Participating authors:
Russell Nohelty, Devyn Jayse, Shane W. Smith, Russell Newquist, Caleb Thusat, Kyrun Silva, Eli Constant, Katrina Kunstmann, Shane Thomas, Frankie Blooding, Jacqui Castle, Christopher Lee, J.L. Gipson, Susan May, Jason Franks, Joshua Robertson, JD Oliva, Andre Gonzalez, Big Tim Stiles, Dani Dixon, Scott Austin, James Mascia, Craig Taillefer, RJ Blain, and Deborah Munro!
THE MANUSCRIPT IS IN!!!
After two months of rewriting and revising, with the help of my friends Peter Ryan and Cari Dubiel, and. of course, my wife, I’ve turned in a fine tuned 76,900-word manuscript after the first round of developmental editing. That’s nearly 10,000 darlings killed. It was probably closer to 15,000 of the original words that suffered their terrible fate, but I changed a couple of scenes and added about 5,000 words back in. It was all for the better, and I’m proud of what this book has become.
I know I promised mid-January for turning in this manuscript, but I’m going to play the sympathy card, because I was hospitalized in January for acute abdominal pain and had my gallbladder removed and subsequently stolen. They wouldn’t bronze it and let me keep it, the jerks, they just took it God only knows where. But, I’m glad it’s out. The good news is that I got my author bio picture in the process:
That’ll sell a lot of books on its own. Might even make it the cover of the book. Not sure my publisher would go for that, though.
Speaking about the cover, design will start happening in a few months, but I already know one thing will be remarkably different when it’s done: the title.
Yup, I am almost sure I’m changing the title. The book is in two parts now, and I’ve named part one "The Madness of Mr. Butler," while part two is "The Courage of Mr. Butler." As much as I love the title as it has been, it doesn’t really sound like a science fiction book, which it mostly is. I’m changing the title of the book to "The Man Who Stole the World," which, for those of you who are in need of improving your musical tastes, is a play on the title of a David Bowie song. (And David Bowie might have a cameo in the story, but I’m not at liberty to say at this point).
wink
So, what’s next?
Right now, we wait. Matt Harry, my editor, already got back to me that he’s currently working on a few manuscripts and plans on starting on mine in a few weeks. So, it’s probably going to be a while before I can report on further progress. But, this means that this year will begin the next levels of edits on a manuscript that is actively in production. I feel great about it all. I’ve had a wonderful experience with Inkshares.
Thank you all for your support. Your investment in me is something I think about and appreciate daily. I’m working my tail off to get you the best version of the book. Thank you for the opportunity. This is all because of you. I hug you.
In the meantime, if you wanna interact outside of email, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, and fairly soon I’m getting my blog back up after some reconstruction.
Hang in there, it’s all coming together!
Love always,
-Michael
