I have some complicated news regarding my Inkshares project, which I’ve decided to cancel.

I’m going to ask all who planned to pre-order to hold off for now.

Everyone who did place an order: Inkshares FAQ says you will receive a full refund either sometime in next couple weeks (I sent an email to Inkshares, I don’t know how fast these things are) or after the campaign-window runs its course on November 14.

A NY based publisher I submitted the manuscript to over a year ago reached out to me last week and offered a contract. Three days after I started asking people for pre-orders. Go figure, right? Of course that was going to happen. Of course it was.

Me and a law-student buddy reviewed it -- everything looks good and fair, we’ve added our stipulations, I’ve reached out to a number of their listed authors to vet experiences, and everyone had good things to say -- and I plan to sign.

When faced with the choice between continuing the Inkshares campaign -- which had a very small chance of success anyway -- and taking a for-sure deal RIGHT NOW, I thought it’d be silly to pass up this opportunity. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being a little curious to know if we could’ve pulled it off. . . that woulda been pretty badass.

So, it’s no longer a toss up.

After one dropped agent, one dropped contract with another publisher and roughly a hundred rejections and near-offers, this godforsaken novel WILL be published.

Although we didn’t achieve our objective in the manner that we intended, the objective WAS achieved.

People who followed and ordered through Inkshares: I have your email address, and I will let you know when this thing hits the shelves. I sincerely hope you’re still interested in reading the rest. Much love to you -- ALL THE LOVE TO YOU!

I would also like to take this opportunity to give a couple signal-boosts to other Inkshares projects that I think are phenomenal and deserve a bit more attention: 

Spacebreaker: A New Threat, by John Novak only has eight followers, AND HE NEEDS MORE -- his project is basically lampooning Star Wars in the same manner as Space Balls. It’s really funny stuff, and you should definitely check it out.  https://www.inkshares.com/books/spacebreaker-a-new-threat

Ereshk, by Frederick Street is sitting at 36 followers and could definitely use the bump. It’s this really, really creepy cosmic-horror-noir genre blend with a lot of promise. Do check it out. https://www.inkshares.com/books/ereshk

Strays, by William Keaton is being pitched as 28 Days meets Cujo, and, friends, this is hands-down the coolest draft I stumbled across on here. Very, very well written and it had me hooked on page-one. Strays has 19 followers, and that is simply a shame. This is the kind of thing that ya’ll should be reading. 

Grayson, by Michael Sobers is sitting at 28 followers and it deserves some regard -- a hard-sci-fi yarn about space-miners stuck in interplanetary trade-drama. Think equal parts Dune, The Martian and James Clavell’s The Asian Saga. https://www.inkshares.com/books/grayson

The Burden of Choice, by Mason Force. It’s well-written sci-fi about a society run by powerful sociobioneering AI. Sitting at only 8 followers, and it definitely deserves more. 

There are so many more projects worth mentioning, but these in particular looked especially in need of a boost. 

Also: PrOOF -- Preservation Of Occult Figures, by Micheal James Welch, which was successfully funded and is taking orders -- sounds rad, like something Charlie Stross might have on his bookshelf. 

Again, many thanks to all who followed my project and pre-ordered. You’re all amazing, and if you ever need anything from me, never hesitate to shoot me an email and ask. Find me on facebook and send me a friend-request! 

And please let me know if there are questions about project: BREATHLESS. 

Best regards, and remember

LIVE SLOW

LIVE WELL

KEEP CREATING

KEEP READING

--Shane

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.

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

Hi book backers-

Just heard from my Inkshares editor. He poked holes in my pages. My chapters are interesting, but too newsie for a novel. I need to write with less news and more ’I’. Big ask for a journalist conditioned to omit ’I’, but we’ll get there. Getting to published page can take two years. We are only three months in. The book process is going to take all the patience we can muster. I’ll start putting pages back together again. I’m open to any insert-more-I-here suggestions you have. 

Your wordsmith,
Kris Millgate

Great news, friends!

Proteus has had the honor of being supported by its third syndicate! Today, the Great SciFi for the 21st Century and Beyond Syndicate selected Proteus for their August pick. They previously supported Tantalus Depths as well, and it remains as big an honor now as it was then. They’ve supported many excellent books over the past few years, and it’s humbling to have two of my books on the list.

Thanks to them, and a large outpouring of support from many, many amazing people, Proteus has also achieved a second milestone today: we’ve passed 650 pre-orders! We now have less than a hundred orders remaining before reaching that coveted full publication goal. I have been waiting so eagerly to see those numbers go down to double digits for the past year. I can hardly believe we’ve made it this far.

But we haven’t made it all the way, yet. 100 pre-orders is still a lot, and we now have only 12 days to get them. Stay vigilant! Keep spreading the word! The finish line is in sight. We could hit our goal by the end of the week if we really push for it, and I, for one, am pushing as hard as I can.

I was recently interviewed by Stephen H. Provost -- we discussed Neverland, Little Red Riding Hood, The Old Gods and Inkshares Project: Breathless

Check it out

http://www.stephenhprovost.com/the-open-book/lindemoen-breathless

I am alive! Anything you heard to the contrary is false. No, JF Dubeau did not kill me off in his upcoming sequel. I just have had a really tough couple of years and I didn’t keep up with much of what I probably should have.

In the spirit of keeping things short and sweet, pertinent updates:

I will be at Dragoncon. If you can make it by, reach out to me so I can say hi. If you have your copy and it isn’t already signed, I’ll sign it!

Fall is 50% done being edited by me. If you haven’t, you should probably get your copy pre-ordered today!

I’ve got other ideas that have been percolating, but that’s the important stuff for now.

I have SO MANY updates this week, Faoii! Listen up!

First off. Let’s see how we’ve done this month. Status report incoming:

But I know a lot of you out there are fighting. And I want to welcome our newest soldiers to the field. Faoii Betrayer has, like its predecessor, been graced with the amazing and esteemed honor of being chosen by the Break the Bechdel with Strong Female Characters Syndicate. I cannot tell you what this means to me or how honored I am to be placed in their ranks again.  Look at the new medal in our barracks, my warriors! Let me hear your warcry!

Also--Did you see the new cover for Faoii Betrayer, once again put together by the incredibly talented Evan Graham? 

That’s it for now, Faoii. You have your orders. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and FOR THE LOVE OF ILLINDRIA ORDER YOUR COPY OF FAOII BETRAYER. It’s going to take all of us to make this book real. Some people might say it’s impossible... but they don’t have an army on their side. Do not fail me.

Shields up.

It’s August and it’s still as hot as ever here in Southern California. Our AC was out for a couple days but thankfully it’s up and running again. I hope you are all staying cool and enjoying your summers. 

Some exciting news! After three letters back and forth, I got the green light from my editor to move forward with the rewrite so that’s what I’m doing! I’ve been trying to write a chapter a day, but I’m starting to realize that isn’t sustainable, so I’m scaling back to 1000 words a day. One of the editor’s other suggestions was to immerse myself in comparable books. I’ve been listening to audiobooks nonstop and I really can see an improvement in my writing! I’m so excited to share it with you all.

As far as other projects, I’m about 26,000 words into a new novel, which is on the back burner now that I’m working on Rock of Ages again, the Writing Bloc short story anthology is still set for a fall release, and I have a couple guest spots lined up-- an Instagram takeover, a guest post on crowdfunding, and a workshop on NaNoWriMo! I’ll be sure to share once everything is official.

If you’d like more frequent (weekly-ish) updates on Rock of Ages, events, other writing projects, and blog posts, sign up for my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dBsQdP

Otherwise, I’ll catch up in September! Thank you all for your ongoing support!