A new entry has been added to Mr. Butler’s diary at thediaryofmrbutler.wordpress.com! For those of you who are new followers, I am posting in the link provided a prequel of sorts to The Madness of Mr. Butler. These are entries from Mr. Butler’s diary that he kept prior to the events chronicled in the novel. I am particularly fond of this entry. So, enjoy! Tell your friends! These entries will always be free supplemental material for anyone to read!

I have also updated the "about" section on the homepage for Mr. Butler to give everyone a little better idea of what the book is, well, about. You can check that out here.

Everything else is going quite well. This competition is fierce! This makes me quite happy, as a good, close competition will keep everyone on their best game. I am honored to be in the top 5...but it’s the top three that matters in the end, so if any of you are on the fence about pre-ordering, please let me know if you have any questions, or if I can do anything for you. Heck, it’s Valentine’s Day...if you’ve already ordered a copy or if you order a copy by the end of today, I promise to write you a short love poem. Just let me know if you’d like one by emailing me at madmrbutler@gmail.com. 

The rest of the novel’s construction is a fun and difficult task. I have holed myself up in the corner of my basement near my daughter’s toys, keeping a large roll of chart paper in front of me to keep the novel’s events in check while keeping many notebooks and scribbles to help my brain organized. The guitar and ukulele are being abused, and all of the post-it notes to the right are all of my wonderful backers. I have a board dedicated to all of you so I can keep track of things and admire those who have had such faith in the book thus far. (I hope the picture shows up; this is my first time trying to post one.)

Thank you again for all of the support, and much love to everyone this Valentine’s Day.

Love always, 

-Michael.

More information about The Madness of Mr. Butler...

Thaddeus Butler is a dreamer, a scientist, and an observer. He entered the world of Aridus the same way as everyone else: on a huge raft filled with food and no memory of anything from his past. Like everyone else on Aridus, he is taught to obey the laws of the land, for they keep God pleased and just. The three most important laws are: 1) attend God’s daily service, 2) do not go into the Great Water, and 3) do not question the written word of God.

The problem is that Mr. Butler cannot help questioning the written word of God as it exists on Aridus; not with his preternatural ability for solving mysteries about the nighttime sky. He sees distance, movement, fire, love, action, and art in the stars. Everyone else sees God (the sun) and the goddesses (the moon and stars). Lucky for Mr. Butler, he is the oldest man on Aridus, and everyone lets him be in his secluded hut to carry out his crazy experiments, assuming they will simply find him dead one day.

The Madness of Mr. Butler is the story of Thaddeus Butler’s calm, quiet existence being upended suddenly and violently.

He is visited by an old friend seeking shelter because she is on the run from the King...

He sees a star split in two with half landing on Aridus, and feels compelled to seek the fallen body...

He finds a strange helmet with a voice claiming to be God’s inside, and manages to get it stuck on his head...

He is pursued night and day by his self-appointed apostles as well as the king’s personal assassins...

In a matter of two weeks, he has his life threatened multiple times, is thrown in jail, is mistaken for a prophet, and is offered sexual favors in exchange for his healing powers...

The only thing that is stable and predictable for Mr. Butler at the start of this novel is his descent into insanity.

But perhaps, in the end, everything happened just as it was meant to be...

The Madness of Mr. Butler is a comedic drama/space opera in a rather unconventional sense. It is written in multiple short chapters with action switching back and forth between several character perspectives. The pace is quick and every chapter will leave you wanting to read "just one more" until the entire novel is suddenly finished.

And once you are finished reading The Madness of Mr. Butler, you will realize it is a book about beauty, loneliness, discovery, love, friendship, God, the pursuit of happiness, laughter, and how much an old man can take before he goes completely and utterly mad...

Pre-order your copy today! I guarantee there is no other space opera like The Madness of Mr. Butler!

Thank you to everyone who has already ordered! If anyone else is on the fence still, please let me know if you have any questions. And if any and all of you can spread the word about my novel, I would greatly appreciate it! Just copy and paste this message into an email, send it to a friend or fifty, and I will be eternally grateful. 

Thank you for your time, and I hope everyone has a remarkable day!

To order The Madness of Mr. Butler: www.inkshares.com/books/the-madness-of-mr-butler

To read Mr. Butler’s diary for free: thediaryofmrbutler.wordpress.com

Love to all,

-Michael.

I just wanted to quickly check in and let you all know that I have put up a new video of me explaining my book and what this contest means to me. So, enjoy that!

Also, there is a new entry in Mr. Butler’s diary at thediaryofmrbutler.wordpress.com for your enjoyment!

Thank you all for the fantastic amount of support!

Love, 

Michael

P.S.-To fully enjoy the experience of the video, grab a mirror...