Exactly 1 week from today my first newsletter will be sent out, so sign up for it here if you haven’t already!  On the 1st of each month I’ll be sending out a new one with an update on the current progress of getting Exile, Magus in shape for another run.  In addition I’ll be including other exclusive content and sneak peeks such as maps, articles describing background information on my world and its peoples, short stories, and artwork once I can afford to start the commissioning of such.

On the artwork front I’ve compiled a list of artists I’m most interested in doing each of the 15 pieces of artwork I want for the book, but I also know there’s always the possibility of talent hiding under my nose that I don’t even know about.  With that in mind, if any of you are yourselves artists, whether that is with drawing, painting, digital, or any other still-visual media I’m leaving out then feel free to contact me if you would be interested in trying to get a bit of side-work making a piece for the book.  Even if I don’t hire you for Exile, Magus once I’ve gotten this book out and start looking at really getting Exile, Hunted ready for publication I’ll need new art for it (18 new pieces actually if memory serves).  For now though my focus is entirely on Exile, Magus’ art though.  Contact me here on Inkshares, via Facebook or Twitter, or fully direct by email (redtom.mythmaker@gmail.com) if you’re interested.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Thanks for your time, and hope to see you on the newsletter roster soon.  Enjoy yourselves and keep reading!

[No Easter Bunnies were harmed in the writing of this update] [...but there might be a hollowed-out bunny-human ribcage or two in the latest scene I wrote for “The Animal in Man.” No joke… Happy Easter.]

Good day, animals. **

Just a quick update to let all The Animal in Man’s followers know that its author is still alive and semi-well (wife just passed her flu to me, I suspect). Some of you have messaged me directly, wondering when the book will be released. Well, I cannot say for certain, and I hesitate to confirm anything, but by my best guesstimate you will have the completed story at your fingertips no sooner than late-2016. (In the meantime, there are PLENTY of other books on inkshares to blow your mind!) I might have mentioned this in a previous update… when I got back into writing it, I revitalized my outline and discovered that this story is much more massive than I realized.

“Why not cut it into a trilogy then, Joe?” Good question! The reason I won’t do so is because it’s ONE complete story, an epic adventure that ramps up quickly and never slows down, start to finish, all within about two week’s time (I think). It is, however, diced up into three parts… Maybe three and a half.

Some of the characters you’ll meet along the way, besides our heroic and cunning fox Maxan, include:

• A white wolf wizard (seen in chapter 1)
• His apprentices, twin squirrels
• An octopus samurai (guess how many swords)
• A one-winged eagle preacher
• A rhino who charges through buildings
• A grey horned owl sorcerer who never blinks
• A thousand-year old [senile?] snapping turtle
• A grizzly bear wasted away by poison

And more… I promise this is not going to be a cutesy tale of anthropomorphic, cuddly snugglemongers. No. It’s a tale about killers. Because in case we’ve forgotten… Animals are killers.

Are we any better?

Peace to you and yours this holiday.

** (My mom was wondering why I’m calling her an animal with every update... Kind of awkward... When I call you animals, please know that I do so with the utmost endearment, and remember that the question of whether or not mankind is any better than animal-kind is one of the central questions driving the story. Animals are also capable of love, I believe, and I do so love each and every one of you.Thank you for your support and attention.

Dear Readers,

Hello Champions!

Hey y’all! 

I have been busy proofreading and editing chapters 1-3. I will have chapter 4 up very soon.