Fans of "The Children of the Forest" will no doubt be excited to see activity on the page once again. Yes, there is still life in this project, despite my extended break from Inkshares. I apologize for the long drought of inactivity, but other projects have taken my attention away from updating readers and followers like I would have otherwise liked to continue doing.
That being said, the wait was almost certainly worth it. In your inbox, readers will find 5 new chapters available for their consumption. A lot of serious development has been occurring behind the scenes on the book. I’d like to suggest that current backers along with all of my many followers who’ve yet to pre-order a copy, head over to the book’s page and check out all of my changes and updates. There are new rewards for current and future backers, which includes collectible art and pins, booklets, and more!
Finally, the bell is tolling for the funding campaign. While the book is still some ways away from Quill, I do believe that with one serious rally, the book could very well reach its funding goal. I’ve managed to accrue a considerable amount of credits as well, so I’m more than happy to trade pre-orders with anyone currently working on getting their own work funded.
So go over to the book’s page, check out the new synopsis, chapters, and purchase-rewards, and then grab yourself a copy of this book! I’ve also taken the liberty of adding one of the reward pieces that come with pre-ordering the book, hope everyone enjoys ~

- Artwork of Queen Regnant Silas Des’tra.
P.S.
A welcome to all the new authors currently embroiled in their battle for the newest contest, Inkshare’s "Space Opera" venture! I’ve loved a lot of what I’ve glimpsed so far, and I can’t wait to back a few of the projects!

Merry Thursday!
My spirits are soaring today, and it’s thanks to you. We jumped into 7th place overnight. I can’t thank you guys enough. Each vote counts. With all of you backing this book, it’s going to be unstoppable. If you still haven’t placed an order, why not help me bump it up to 6th today?
I’m doing an AMA on Twitter tomorrow using the hashtag #TheTravellersCup. It will be from 8:30-10:30am EST. This is an opportunity for you to ask questions about the book and about me as a writer, which I’ll do my best to answer in 140 characters or less. Everyone who asks a question will be put in a draw to name a space dragon!
In other news I’ve been working on a few sketches to depict some scenes and characters from the book. I get that you might want to leave that up to your imagination, but if you’re interested you can find a sketch of Westalyn Chi Soha here: http://bit.ly/21bj2Cf
Thanks again for your continued support. I’m looking forward to taking your questions tomorrow!
From the distant realms of chaos,
-AC
My Pinterest board for Project Human is open for public viewing...
Hello readers!
Most welcome news in the email inbox!! As you can see, Women Like Us’ status has changed from funding to in production, with the publish date pending. When I know more about that exact date, I will let you all know again, but thanks to all supporters most heartily for helping to make this book happen. It truly means a lot to me. Now for a little much needed rest before getting into the production process, but can’t wait to hold this book in my hands, and I hope you all can’t as well!
A little early concept art of what the ending of chapter 19 might look like:
So we’ve released 19 chapters as of today. So far you’ve met our entire principal cast and so far they’ve been leading very different lives seemingly very far apart from each other. We’ve done this so that you, as the story experiencer, really get a sense of how large our universe is and just how each character lives before we throw them together and all hell breaks loose.
One of the things we wanted to target with this rewrite was the development of the characters earlier on in this story. Two unanimous points of feedback we received with the original version of The amaranth was that the characters need just a tiny bit more fleshing out so that we could feel how different and disparate their lives were and how amazing and heart pounding our 3rd act was. We’re not touching the second half of this story nearly as much as we have the first part.
A few of you have been so kind as to shoot us your feedback and we are so grateful!
Chapter Two is live! I’m so happy to introduce you to Dax and his crew. I can’t wait to here what you think.
Hello everyone! This competition is incredibly close, and I am honored to be a part of it. I am incredibly thankful for all of your support...I am humbled to be in the top ten, let alone the top 3! There’s still just under a month to go, so anything could happen...I still need any support you’re willing to give, either by spreading the word or by pre-ordering your own copy if you haven’t yet!
Hello, Traveller’s Cup Supporters!
I’ve got a lot of exciting updates to share with you.
First, we’re still in the top 10! Barely hanging in, but we’re there. I want to be completely transparent with you. If you haven’t checked out the actual contest standings, we have 37 pre-orders. That’s it. This contest is spread-out and close. To give you a comparison, the current second-place holder is sitting at 72. This is an extremely tight race, and every single pre-order counts. If you’ve held back thinking it won’t make a difference, I assure you it will.
Second piece of news: the latest chapter preview. If you didn’t notice it in your inbox yesterday, we continued to follow Damaus after his name was called for the Cup. I decided to keep going sequentially for this one because there’s a lot of detail and worldbuilding that I think is important to the later story. If you did or didn’t like the piece, please let me know on Twitter at @ac_baldwin. You guys are my backers, which means we’re partners in this. Your feedback is important to me.
Third piece of news: This Friday, February 19, from 8:30am to 10:30am EST (UTC-5), I’ll be taking questions about my book and writing on Twitter using the hashtag #TheTravellersCup. Everyone who asks a question will be entered into a draw to name a space dragon!
I’ve got a lot of ideas bubbling up in my head to get more people engaged in this book, like sketching out characters and places, and maybe another contest or two, but I want to hear from you guys. What great ideas do you have to get the word out? Or if you’re someone who hasn’t ordered, what can I do to convince you The Traveller’s Cup is worth your pre-order?
Your tireless space-writer,
-AC