Greetings! 

This marks the one week point of having Fortunes of the Space Sloth on Inkshares. It’s been very exciting so far and it’s great to see new people following the story’s progress. There are many great books being pitched on the site and I appreciate you taking a moment to look at mine. Now, on to the not so serious… 

Our production team is working diligently on a new release of the “Wormholes and Jump Point Physics” episode from the Wiki-Teacher series. Originally produced by the Taoist University of Luna with commentator Professor Martin Hornblower, the episode has been expanded with close captioned comments provided by Sebastian Rogers, Captain of the Space Sloth. Expect to see this released soon. 

We will also be providing for your use the TSA (that’s Terran Space Authority) guide to “Recognizing and Treating Space Madness”. You’ll definitely want to have this handy if you are planning a long space voyage in the future (or any long road trip with small children and pets). 

Today is the first day of my fourth decade on the planet Earth and I thought it only fair to honor the person who made me possible...my mom!

She is also who I am dedicating my book to as she’s the first and greatest female superhero I ever knew.

I’ve also added character synopses to the project page, because I hear those are more effective than a story synopsis. I want everyone to get excited about these characters and the story they are going to tell, because really they are the ones driving the story. I’m just the guy getting it all down as it happens. 

Also! I will have some nifty business cards and postcards made that I’ll be posting all over the place and a cool little giveaway for everyone that pre-orders my book during the funding period. So, please stay tuned for that! Here’s a preview of the back of the business cards (the front will have the awesome cover art designed by my good close friend Coral Cashes):

PLEASE help this first time author get his first book published, spread the word and also support the other amazing authors on Inkshares! Let’s make some dreams come true!

-Jason

Guardians, initiates, readers, followers, buyers, friends, and all inbetween - Phajil zek! (You’ll learn more about that in later chapters, whether published, or coerced into releasing some more goodies) The contest is going wonderfully and we are having a blast! 

But we want to take a second and thank some people who have been incredible, brilliant, absolute SAINTS who have been supportive and kind and will probably end up deserving some characters named after them or something. We had zero idea we would be making so many awesome new friends on this journey.

One of those people is Alexander Barnes, the co-writer of The Amaranth Chronicles, and not only has he lavished praise and kind words on our project, but he’s supported us as a Super Reader (or Guardian, as we’d like to call him) and we’d like to return the favor - please, if you have supported us, consider supporting his series as well. https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-amaranth-chronicles

Another is Byron Gillan, writer of The Children of the Forest, and he’s been kind enough to give us some help and tell his readers about us, and our hope to win the Space Opera contest. His book is SO close to publishing and we (especially Autumn who is a fantasy nerd) really, really, need to hold this book in our hands one day. So go check him out. https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-children-of-the-forest

Give these friends of ours some love, and do remember that if you want to read the entirety of this book, we still need you to help us get the word out. Help us achieve our dreams! Go annoy your friends, turn into the rabid squirrels we know you all to be, and do not rest until The Veiled Hope is in your hands!

~Abby and Autumn

Hey everyone!

So firstly, I was ecstatic to see that we managed to sell 18 copies of the book yesterday! That’s pretty crazy, given how dormant the page has been for the better part of a month. Looking forward, there are still 10 days left for the book’s current funding period. If we can keep sales clipping along at the current pace we’re guaranteed to hit the goal for Quill.

I need everyone who has followed along with the novel to market the book to their friends, family, and anyone else who loves fantasy or just good books in general. Word of mouth is instrumental in successfully hitting each new milestone, and I can only do that with your help!

There are a ton of great rewards currently available for anyone who pre-orders a copy of the book, so now is the time. If you’ve been on the fence, I implore you to check out the new page and the updates samples and then jump!

Finally, I’d like to take the time to recommend a few authors who’ve reached out to me to help with my own campaign, or whose work I’ve followed for some time without comment. 

Abigail Burton and Autumn Gass are the authors of "The Guardians," which is currently seeking to win the Space Opera Contest through 

Inkshares. https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-guardian-the-veiled-hope?recommended=true

Billy O’Keefe is the author of "These are my Friends on Politics," and while he’s already reached his funding goal, I’d still suggest grabbing an early copy if you’ve yet to!

https://www.inkshares.com/books/these-are-my-friends-on-politics-0985?recommended=true

Matthew Isaac Sobin is one of the winners of the Sword & Laser contest, and a great guy who reached out to me multiple times over the course of the campaign with kind words and more. He’s got a great project (it won for a reason) and I’d really suggest checking it out if you’ve somehow missed it. 

https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-last-machine-in-the-solar-system?recommended=true

Joseph Asphahani is another winner (the overall winner, I believe)of the Sword & Laser contest. His book "The Animal in Man" is reminiscent of the beloved "Redwall" series.

https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-animal-in-man-7699

So that it’s for now. Remember thought that while things are looking up for "The Children of the Forest," there’s no guarantee without your support that the book will hit its goal. In fact it’s almost certain it wont.  So go pre-order a copy today and help ensure that the adventures of Fionna and Rew become a reality!

Happy Friday! Just wanted to start off by thanking, Andrew Baird, RH Webster, Christopher Leone, Billy O’keefe, Abigail Burton and Autumn Gass
 for their purchases in the last couple of days. You guys are Amazing!

As usual we’ve released another two chapters this morning. "Chapter 23: If Everyone Knew They Could Change The World." is a personal favorite chapter of mine and one that we get comments about a lot. We find Cade and Tarja meeting and the scene hints at a long standing relationship between the two. This chapter is also very special as it marks the end of the build up of our story. I don’t want to spoil anything but from here on out we cash in on the character’s we’ve established and the story becomes a real roller-coaster. Check it out and let us know what you think!!!

Cheers, fellow readers and authors!

This is how I look now. This is the Madness of Mr. Haase. I am getting up far too early for my own good in order to finish and polish Mr. Butler, update Mr. Butler’s diary, and try to learn how to market and network (both actions bring me waaaay outside of my comfort zone). 

Why am I bugging you with another update? To say thank you. Cheers! (Just clink your coffee or other spirit-enhancing drink against your screen and cheers with me.) I am honored to be a part of such a unique and wonderful event such as this contest. I am getting up in the wee hours of the morning while my wife and daughter are still dreaming their own original tales and tapping away at my keyboard in order to update content for you...more chapters, more diary entries, and more interaction coming your way soon. I hope you enjoy it all. 

Don’t be afraid  to contact me for any reason. I love the potential inkshares provides for connecting with one another. 

And if you’re an author on here looking for another reader, give me a holler at madmrbutler@gmail.com and I’d be happy to arrange a pre-order trade. Or just pitch me your book...or just chat with me. You can also find me on twitter @sleepyheadwilly.

I hope everyone has a great day, or at least a better hair-day than me.

Love to all,

-Michael.

Dear Sentients,

The rollercoaster rides on.

We are a little over a week from the official launch date for The Life Engineered. Already, many of you are receiving your copies and a few of you have already devoured the book. I’m seeing so many photos of my book in your hands and receiving so many positive comments that I’m at a loss for words. Which is a terrible predicament for an author.

As we get every closer to the launch date for The Life Engineered there are a few points I want to address with you, my friends:

1. If you’ve received and read your copy of The Life Engineered and you enjoyed it (I know you did), take a trip down to Amazon and leave a review. If you’re on Goodreads, leave a review there too. Reviews are crucial to rankings and rankings are important to sales and sales are what allow me to publish a sequel.
2. I’m still working on preparing a launch party. If you’re local to Montreal, stay tuned. The moment I have a venue confirmed, I will be making an announcement. I’d love to see as many of you there as possible. I have a mailing list! Because not every one of my readers are on Inkshares, I’ve started an independent mailing list. You can sign up here. If you’d rather just receive these updates however, don’t worry, all information about The Life Engineered and it’s sequels will be posted on Inkshares too.
3. I’m going on a trip! I’m not bragging, I’m just pointing it out because I might be difficult to reach for the next week. I’ll try to receive my emails and respond as best as I can but I’ll be on a boat, so internet access will be difficult.

These are exciting times my friends and none of it would be possible without you.

As always: Thank you so much for your support. I hope you’ll stay with me for the duration of this ride. There’s some cool stuff on the way.

JF

Computer issue update #2—

As it’s very unlikely I’ll get my computer back anytime soon, and even more unlikely its contents will be intact when it does arrive, I’ve begun writing once more on my much older and slower backup computer. I’ll also be taking the sound advice to keep all of my notes and chapters backed up to the cloud to avoid this issue in the future. Rewriting my pages of notes has forced me to think about the story, and I feel as though some of my rewrites are even more detailed and better than the originals. So in a way, some good came from this after all. 

Anyway, I’ll soon be back to my old pace of a couple thousand words every few days. Look for Chapter 3 (hopefully) this weekend, as Ben Starr closes the gap between himself and Cassie even farther. All that stands between them are a mysterious set of directions and a calendar from the 1950’s.

Thank you all so much for your support! Regards,

—Jason C.