So Geek N Sundry is running a contest related to Hard Science, and there is one week left in this contest. While everyone knows I’m a rabid occult fan, I grew up wanted to be a Dinosaur Scientist! (That’s the technical term I used btw). There is a book in the contest called "We Clocked The T-Rex." by Ronald D Valle. It’s about using CRISPR gene editing to engage in the first DE-Extinction event to save the world from climate change. It involves a T-Rex. 

If you want to add to the stress levels of every author in the contest. Go here and check out his book: https://www.inkshares.com/books/we-clocked-the-t-rex?referral_code=ea707ed3

He’s currently in 4th place, and the top 3 win. I like seeing these contests have some momentum behind them and competition is a good thing. 

Speaking of saving the world... but using Magic.

The Seventh Age was inspired from many sources, and truth is pretty damn strange. If you don’t know about Jack Parsons from the Jet Propulsion Lab, he was a known practitioner of Thelma and a fan of the Ordo Templi Orientus by Aleister Crowley. While Jack Parsons would become an integral figure to the future of space exploration, there are many accounts of occult parties and rituals conducted at his home to bring supernatural entities into this world. 

In real life. 

My setting of the Seventh Age uses true stories and occult organizations like this. In my updates, I’m going to start revealing the awesome and occult organizations that exist in the real world that inspired me. In honor of the Hard Science contest... Jack Parsons is a dedicated scientist with both feet firmly in the occult. Neat!

In other fun news. 

This is Jameson Stone (Author of Runes of the Apprentice), Alexander Barnes (Co-Author of The Amaranth Chronicles, Myself representing "The Metal", and Joseph Asphahani (Author of The Animal in Man). We met up last night at The Bottom Lounge in Chicago when people were in town. We did what authors do: We drank. It was fun. More people should meet up. 

Now, I’m off to join Team Iron Man and actually go see this Civil War movie :). I know this update is more of a blog post, but I haven’t done one like this before and if you kinda like it, let me know!

PM Me, Email Me: CrankyBolt@gmail.com, Twitter: @CrankyBolt, Facebook: /CrankyBolt. Any game server out there: CrankyBolt. 

Notice the theme?

Hi everyone,

This is a quick email to let you know some exciting news: the LA Review of Books is planning to run a piece on Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside later this month. I have no idea if the review will be positive, but until this point, it’s been very hard getting established media contacts to give me the time of day—let alone consider reviewing the book—so this is a HUGE breakthrough!

Back in December, Alec Ash, a correspondent for the LARB who started a writers’ colony in Beijing, mentioned UMDC while talking about expat writing in China on the Sinica Podcast. Unfortunately, he hadn’t read the book yet, but I was able to get his address and send him a copy while in Bali. Of course, that copy got lost in transit, but four days after he emailed me to let me know that it hadn’t arrived, the Bookworm (a large expat bookstore in Beijing) told me that they would be willing to stock it! One of my former students from Ningyuan agreed to stop by later that month to confirm that they had it:

Like I said, I have no idea if the review will be positive, but I’m hopeful, given this scathing, no-holds-barred takedown of Shanghai Cocktales that Mr. Ash wrote last year. He begins the review by saying:

"Somewhere outside the Fourth Ring Road, a nondescript borderline-alcoholic English teacher might be polishing off the manuscript of the China equivalent to The Sun Also Rises. Escape, reinvention, exoticism, disillusionment—it’s all there for the novelist or memoirist, plus baijiu, smog and as many happy endings as you can afford. There’s definitely a way to do it right, make it funny, and say something meaningful about how us foreigners (with nowhere else in particular to go) engage with China, or don’t."

That sure sounds like me, and that sure sounds like my book! Keep your eyes peeled. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but my fingers are officially crossed. Thank you again for all of your support. As I hope this update demonstrates, minor victories (mentioning the novel to the right person, getting it into the right store, leaving a review *cough, cough* that resonates with someone else) have the potential to lead to major developments.

Quincy

Hello people of inkshares!

A big heartfelt thank you. I’m so pleased with the way things are going with Cape’s Side, and it’s all because of you. I cannot stop smiling, and that’s awesome!

As of this writing we are 4 orders shy of 150 which would bring us 100 away from Quill! 

The weekend is FINALLY here! We should celebrate, I think a pre-order party is a good idea! Let’s all recommend Cape’s Side Bay to a friend, family, loved one, or perfect stranger.

Some of you are reading this update thinking “I don’t know about pre-ordering…” And I get it. I’ve been there. Been there several times. Let me tell you there are at least a dozen books I wished I backed when I had a chance here on Inkshares, but I didn’t for one reason or another. Don’t miss out on pre-ordering Cape’s Side because you aren’t sure, it’s a risk, but I’m willing to bet in the grand scheme of things it’s a small risk, and one you’ll be happy you took once said and done.

OK, that’s all. Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.

- James

I’m gonna go watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch just because.

Also pre-order Scribbles: A Collection of Words by Tabi Card. 8 days remaining 97 orders to go!

62 days left for To Live and Die in Avalon by Jason Chestnut. This book is awesome and you need to check it out.

Christopher Huang’s Murder at the Veterans Club is 14 away from Quill as of writing this. It’s fantastic.

So many good ones!!!

Things are still in development for this project (ha, the pun!) but I now have a goal of starting funding for this in January.  It’s a tentative date, as I have several things I want to happen first:

• A completed second revision of Project Human
• 500+ followers for this book
• 50+ recommendations and/or reviews
  
• First draft of Project Human’s sequel well under way/already written & in revision
  

So if you haven’t recommended Project Human yet, NOW is the time! You will included in an exclusive email update list, and will see chapter updates and information before anyone else. Also, I shall be eventually pulling beta readers from this email list, so there’s that, too.

And now a broad summary of Project Human in images & GIFs:

Psst . . .  I’m always updating my Pinterest board & Spotify playlist for Project Human,which will give more pictorial & musical peeks into what this story is all about.