Ooh! I should make an update! That should happen!

A lot of you already know this, but in my excitement, I neglected to make an official update about it, so here I am, finally doing that.

WE MADE IT!

Proteus is now completely funded! We reached our goal of 750 pre-orders, and the whole project has shifted into production mode. I’ve already been congratulated by Inkshares staff, and they’ve sent me some of the paperwork I’ll need to do in order to launch the book into the production process. It’s really happening!

So what happens next, in terms of Proteus? Well, as any of you who have ordered Tantalus Depths are already painfully aware, the production process takes a very long time. Also, since Tantalus Depths was my first project and people have been waiting the longest for it, it is still going to take most of my attention from now until it launches, so Proteus is something I will have to be working on in the background as I prioritize Tantalus Depths.

My plan is to get Proteus into the editing process shortly before Tantalus Depths is released. The whole intent behind launching my Proteus campaign when I did was to ensure that my second published novel came out no more than a year or two after my first, and my goal is to try and release new books on a yearly or bi-yearly schedule, consistently. Inkshares has finally given me a tentative release date of winter 2019 for Tantalus Depths. It’s much later than I thought it would be, but the delay is necessary to accommodate some new ideas that Inkshares’ CEO has in mind for it. It should be a particularly strong release next year, and Inkshares is showing a lot of confidence in it, so the delay will be worth it.

In the meantime, I’m not going to be idle. I have a surprise project I’m working on that should come out later this fall, to tide everyone over as we wait for Tantalus Depths. I also plan on building myself a proper website, which I’ll be loading with all manner of content related to the universe I’ve created, the art of writing, and the community we’ve formed. Now that the burden of campaigning is over, hopefully for good, I finally feel free to devote more of my time and energy into the parts of this process I actually enjoy: the writing, the creativity, and sharing my work to the world.

For now, I’m taking a week off, ‘cause by golly, I’ve earned it. But after that, work starts anew. We’re going to do great things together.

Ooh! I should make an update! That should happen!

A lot of you already know this, but in my excitement, I neglected to make an official update about it, so here I am, finally doing that.

WE MADE IT!

Proteus is now completely funded! We reached our goal of 750 pre-orders, and the whole project has shifted into production mode. I’ve already been congratulated by Inkshares staff, and they’ve sent me some of the paperwork I’ll need to do in order to launch the book into the production process. It’s really happening!

So what happens next, in terms of Proteus? Well, as any of you who have ordered Tantalus Depths are already painfully aware, the production process takes a very long time. Also, since Tantalus Depths was my first project and people have been waiting the longest for it, it is still going to take most of my attention from now until it launches, so Proteus is something I will have to be working on in the background as I prioritize Tantalus Depths.

My plan is to get Proteus into the editing process shortly before Tantalus Depths is released. The whole intent behind launching my Proteus campaign when I did was to ensure that my second published novel came out no more than a year or two after my first, and my goal is to try and release new books on a yearly or bi-yearly schedule, consistently. Inkshares has finally given me a tentative release date of winter 2019 for Tantalus Depths. It’s much later than I thought it would be, but the delay is necessary to accommodate some new ideas that Inkshares’ CEO has in mind for it. It should be a particularly strong release next year, and Inkshares is showing a lot of confidence in it, so the delay will be worth it.

In the meantime, I’m not going to be idle. I have a surprise project I’m working on that should come out later this fall, to tide everyone over as we wait for Tantalus Depths. I also plan on building myself a proper website, which I’ll be loading with all manner of content related to the universe I’ve created, the art of writing, and the community we’ve formed. Now that the burden of campaigning is over, hopefully for good, I finally feel free to devote more of my time and energy into the parts of this process I actually enjoy: the writing, the creativity, and sharing my work to the world.

For now, I’m taking a week off, ‘cause by golly, I’ve earned it. But after that, work starts anew. We’re going to do great things together.

12 Days left until Pub day! In 3 days I will be jetting off to CA to sign the backer copies of The Seclusion, which are being printed now. I have also received word that E-book copies will be distributed as early as tomorrow. If you ordered a paperback, and you receive an E-Book file download link, don’t fear! The E-Book is just an extra perk.

Though I will send a larger email to my full mailing list on September 4th, I wanted to send a note through Inkshares to all of you - the original backers of a manuscript that was once titled The Walls are Closing In.

It has been a long 16 months since the campaign ended in May of 2017. The story has since been renamed and had countless hours of work poured into it by me and the amazing team at Inkshares. We have reached the end of the road.

I don’t know if I can adequately express how much I appreciate all of you, and the leap of faith you took for me when you backed this book. In 12 days The Seclusion will appear on bookstore shelves across the country and I will forever be a published author. I just want all of you to know that I realize I couldn’t have done this without you.

Thank you.

-Jacqui

Fifty-six pre-orders! FIFTY-SIX! That’s all we need now for Proteus to receive its full publication deal.

Fifty-six is nothing. We can absolutely get fifty-six. I’m incredibly confident in this.

Not so confident that I’m going to get complacent, mind you. It’s not time to celebrate yet, not by a longshot. But we could absolutely get that many orders in the next day. It’s not even an unrealistic goal, at this point.

Let’s go for one more big push. I would love nothing more than to have my very next update be the big “we did it!” update. We are so, so incredibly close.

So let’s have at it!

If you haven’t yet pre-ordered your copy of Proteus, now is absolutely the time to do it. You could be one of the last 56 people it takes to see this book become a published reality. If you have already ordered a copy, please consider picking up a second, or even better, grab a friend or family member and get them to order one. It only takes 56 more, which is a paltry number compared to the 694 orders we’ve already brought in.

Either way, I’m intensely grateful for all the support that’s already come in for this book. Your generosity and dedication to the success of my work is the greatest honor I could ever hope for. I literally couldn’t have gotten this far without all your help. As far as I’m concerned, this isn’t even “my” book. I’m just writing it. It belongs to “us.” You’re all as integral to the process as I am.

Anyway. Enough rambling from me for a bit. I’ve decided to treat you to another lore update, ‘cause why the heck not?

If I hadn’t made it abundantly clear already, Proteus is a war story. But how does warfare actually work when the “battlefield” is a city-sized starship? To partially answer that question, let’s take a look at one of the main weapons being used to fight this war: the Rivali V-780 submachine gun.

It’s almost disgusting how close we are to being done with this campaign, you guys.

Seven days. That’s it. Not even seven full days, more like six and a half. That’s how long it is until the deadline for the full funding goal. We only need 65 more orders to get there. That’s ten a day, if we don’t mind cutting it reeeeeally close. This is getting intense. It’s like the end of a sports movie, where the end buzzer goes off just as the ball sinks into the hoop, or like an action movie, where they defuse the bomb with two seconds left on the countdown clock. We’re cutting this very, very close. But I’m supremely confident we can do it.

I would just as soon not cut it quite that close. There’s nothing stopping us from getting the remaining 65 pre-orders tonight, or tomorrow. I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: when we funded Tantalus Depths, we got more than 80 pre-orders that last day. We can do it again.

Whether we hit our goal tonight or at the last possible second, we WILL hit that goal. I’ve campaigned for more than a year on this project. I’ve had a passion for this story for almost a decade, and I won’t fall short of the opportunity to have it told now, not when I’m so close. I’ve sacrificed a lot in this past year to get to this point. We are finishing this.

I don’t like going too many updates in a row begging for help without actually giving something back, so here’s another little lore update. Jacob Sicarius is no stranger to sacrifice: his intense dedication to the mission has cost him dearly, but it was a price he too was more than willing to pay. Let’s have a look at the technology that not only put Jacob back into the fight, but made him an even more formidable soldier.

For more information on how the Expansionary Coalition views the subject of cybernetic enhancement, you can check out this previous update here:

Also, I feel I deserve some mad props for not making a single “cost him an arm and a leg” joke.

Updates, Faoii! We’ve taken our first hill!

Another warrior has picked up an Eternal Blade, and we’ve surpassed 50 pre-orders! Let me hear your warcry!