Hi all,

A quick "just before the weekend" update:

My good friend Omer Sagiv, who’s an amazingly talented industrial/concept designer and artist (do yourself a favour and check out his stuff at http://www.omersagiv.com) has decided that the old book cover simply had to go. Even though I urged him not to (it is after-all temporary) he went ahead and designed a more "in the spirit of the novel" book cover. I personally think it turned out great - would love to hear your take on that.

By the way, this is not meant to take anything away from Dious’ gorgeous photo that will keep serving as the theme of the novel.

We are currently at 412 orders, which is an amazing number as such, but still about 10% below the optimal figure at this stage. I’ll take the opportunity and thank Auntie Ilana, who joined our forces and started actively finding me readers.
Do you have what it takes to refer readers too? top referrers will get a prize (which admittedly I don’t know what it will be yet - but it will have something to do with the novel).

In case you forgot, the next 38 orders will grant you a place in the raffle of a character named after you!!
Furthermore, if you haven’t already checked James Rasile’s excellent novel Cape’s Side Bay and Brian Fitzpatrick’s ingenious Mechcraft, then you are missing out! Both (not)incidentally are top guys that are actively helping me find readers.

I’ll part with the best weekend wishes, and the usual "this is a great day to order a Spymaster and be part of the patron list inside the book" greeting.

All the best,

Joni D.

Great news! I have just uploaded Chapter Three of Cupid by Proxy. I hope you enjoy how the book is developing. I will only be uploading one more chapter to Inkshares in a week or so, but anyone who has pre-ordered may well receive a few more chapters over email.

Thank you for your continued support!

Matthew

Good Day Air Pirates!  

We are currently just shy of 100 orders.  Let’s get over the hump before the Holiday weekend!  Place your preorder now to be entered in the "Air Pirate Surprise Raffle" when we reach 250 orders.  

Thank you for your support!  EH

Well, I’m back from my vacation to Banff, Alberta. I have to say it is an extremely beautiful place! If you are suffering from crippling writer’s block I suggest going there because as soon as you see the Rocky Mountains appear out of the mist, you will be filled with inspiration!! 

Although I did not have time to write or edit, I brought back a ton of inspiration. So it’s back to work (even though I hardly consider writing work, because I enjoy it so much). I will be working on the beginning of book four as of now, and going back and forth from part to part organizing chapters. I am editing the books as a whole, going through each just to have a basis. If things change later on I have a chance to revise and change previous parts of the story. So far I am on the beta stage of book one and two, working on three and four (about 50% done Children of the Dire). 

Anyways, I have rambled long enough about my adventures and inspiration. While I was gone we reached 40 readers! That is an achievement in my books. So thank you to you all for the continued support!! It means the world to me to see people interested in my work. As a special bonus I will upload another chapter with a new character (just so you all are aware the last two chapters have not been chronological, just introductions to give you all a taste of some of the characters featured in the story). 

Thank you again!! 

P.S. I am still on the hunt for beta readers for the first book, please email if interested. 

Yesterday I was informed that The Punch Escrow will be the official inaugural selection for the Geek & Sundry collection on Inkshares! At this point I am still shocked that all of this is happening: That my book is getting published through Inkshares, on the Geek & Sundry imprint. I love you guys, I’ll never be able to give enough thanks for your help in making this happen.

As for the book itself, I’m still in the midst of the first rewrite, currently in the midst of the eighth chapter, The Sky Cries Martyr. In case you want a window into what that looks like, here you go:

As you can imagine, it’s a long and grueling, but living process. For example, even this screenshot is not up to date, as last night I got rid of the "eye cam" reference because it was redundant and slowed down the flow.

Don’t let my pursuit of perfection worry you though, I think I’m well on pace to deliver the rewrite to Inkshares by my August 1 deadline. Once I do that I’ll be able to share a more concrete publication timeline. I’m really looking forward to working with Inkshares and Geek & Sundry on making this book the best it can be. You guys are awesome.

-Tal

In case you were thinking the likes and shares don’t help, take a look at this graph. 34 people have pre-ordered copies of Tantalus Depths after being referred by you. 34 out of 183 orders. That’s huge. Please don’t stop sharing the posts, or talking to friends about this book: it’s literally only possible to reach our goals with your help.