Many of you have seen the great Blood Dawn fan video (if you haven’t, click here to watch it now – it’s amazing!). In this video, several Inkshares authors talk about what they love about Blood Dawn.

However, the fan video is short. In order to build excitement, Cara Weston and her husband, Alex, brilliantly picked pieces of longer videos made by each of these authors. I wanted to take a quick moment today to share links to where you can find the other videos in their full form:

Craig Munro, author of The Bones of the Past and a winner of the second Sword & Laser Contest, talks about how excited he is about the new epic fantasy world of Blood Dawn. I’m indebted to Craig for initiating the push to get Blood Dawn fully funded at 750 copies and for his ongoing support.

Matthew Sobin, author of The Last Machine in the Solar System and another winner of the second Sword & Laser Contest, recommends in his video that you buy two copies of the new epic fantasy, Blood Dawn. Here’s a couple reasons why:

#1 - You’re going to wear out the first copy from over reading it again and again and will later on have to put it in a plastic bag on your shelf.

#2 - After finishing with number one you’ll be happy twenty years down the road that you bought that second copy when it’s a collector’s item.

Michael Sebby, author of The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life, focuses on me as a leader in the Inkshares community and what he loves about Blood Dawn – the idea of a world where art is taken away from us is thought provoking to imagine; how I immerse myself into my characters and their stories, putting so much heart and care to make the world so rich with wonder. He also talks about my maps and calls them “Tolkein quality”, which is absolutely flattering!

Joseph Asphahani, author of The Animal in Man, also shares why he’s excited about Blood Dawn in his video. One thing I found particularly moving about Joe’s video is his comment on how I can breathe life into a world and move the story forward all in a single sentence.

Tyler Sparrow, a beta reader for Blood Dawn, mentions the mysterious and rich settings in Blood Dawn, calling it a character driven story with similar plotting to "Game of Thrones". Tyler has been so helpful in his feedback on Blood Dawn -- so be sure to watch his video to get the take of a die hard epic fantasy fan on what Blood Dawn is like to read.

Finally, Paul Inman, author of Ageless, talks about why he fell in love with the Blood Dawn. Paul’s book is coming out in a matter of days (you can help him get more exposure by voting on it here), and I’ve been grateful to Paul for his support and enthusiasm for Blood Dawn right from the day he surprised me with an email where he’d recorded the opening Rena chapter.

I hope you enjoy these videos, and please, if you haven’t already, order a copy of Blood Dawn now to help us toward the 750 pre-order funding goal.

Don’t forget: you can pledge your pre-order to one of our dragons or houses for the game. Please email me: johnrobinrt@gmail.com if you’d like to do that with your order (otherwise, all unpledged pre-orders will go in a special pool for the game’s surprise twist.)

TODAY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiUbEcwQ7xU

Join me and three other epic ladies of Inkshares on a LIVE Google Hangout as we discuss our science fiction stories, answer age old questions about women’s roles as creators in the genre, and probably make at least a dozen Firefly references.

Featuring:

Me!, author of She Is the End
@acwestonwrites

Elayna Mae Darcy, author of They Are the Last
@elaynamae

RH Webster, author of Lucky
@RH_Webster

Amanda Orneck, author of Deus Hex Machina and others
@amandaorneck

Submit your questions as a post on the facebook event page here, or message any of us on twitter! Follow the action using #WomenSlayingScifi! You can always watch later, if you can’t make the live event.

I hope you’ll check it out!

:) :) :)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Well, here we are: 72 hours left to FEYSIDE’s crowdfunding run. Because of the many of you who have shown such generous support for the project, its inclusion in Inkshares’ Quill publishing line is a foregone conclusion - thank you, truly.

Nevertheless, there is something to be said for finishing strong. If any of you followers have been eyeing this book as a possible purchase, now would be an ideal time to place a preorder. If you have friends or relatives you think might enjoy the story, this is , for now, your last opportunity to steer them to it or make a gift of it for them. And if you’re suddenly seized by the impulse to contribute to the cause of indie fiction and world peace (through flights of fancy, admittedly indirectly) then I likewise welcome your last-minute contribution!

FEYSIDE... it all awaits you at the click of a mouse, at the following link:
https://www.inkshares.com/projects/feyside?referral_code=50f74721

P.S. to my fellow Inkshares authors... I am happy as ever to exchange preorders, my work for yours. Contact me via the usual means or just go ahead and order - I will happily and immediately reciprocate!

THANK YOU so much for supporting Pilot X. We are halfway to the first milestone, the "Quill" goal that gets it published! I can’t believe it’s only been a week.

To celebrate the halfway mark, I’ve added a second sample chapter. This is the opening chapter of the book. It’s called Prologue 1 because the first few chapters set you up to tell X’s story, although they take place at the end of his adventures. It’s all part of the time travel fun!

Anyway hope you enjoy it and let me know if you’re curious about other parts of the book!  The first thing in the manuscript right now is a section on the three major races of the universe ripped from the Encyclopedia Alendia. Man the librarian was mad at me about that.

Thanks again!

Tom

Hey all:

As part of the campaign to get Women Like Us to its publish goal, some of you might be aware there was a contest that involved one our dogs, Derric of the Beagle Freedom Project. Derric spent the first five years of his life caged up in a lab, and during this time, before Beagle Freedom Project secured his release, he was known by the numbers and letters tattooed in his ear -- BCT-8. Some others who have fostered and adopted these dogs have gotten tattoos of their own that somehow incorporate the beagle’s tattoo as a way of honoring the dog, and I’ve always loved that idea. I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: I consider Derric to be so very brave and courageous. Seriously, how many of us could survive being caged up pretty much our entire lives and still emerge to become the happy, sweet little man we have today. Anyway, Victoria Weaver, also a BFP adopter, won the contest, which allowed her to chime in on the tattoo design and placement on my person. So here it is, folks!  

All hail The Beagle Freedom Tat! Thank you Derrek (!) at Broken Art Tattoos in Silver Lake. This, by the way, takes car of the last of the Women Like Us contest loose ends! News about publication date should be coming soon, so stay tuned!

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 and Friends:

A quick update, and a preview of the Prologue.

We are well on our way to the November 15 publishing date.

I have just turned in my review of the developmental edit. It was hard to relinquish my book this time. I’ve worked on it for six years, it was my thesis for my Master of Fine Arts degree, and has been my companion. It helped me get over the sorrow of leaving Miriam’s House. And now I’m sending it out into the world.

I know, I sound like a mother sending her first-born off to college. We writers are weird that way.

In honor of my memoir leaving the nest, I’m giving you a preview of the Prologue for "Nowhere Else I Want to Be."

Best wishes.

PROLOGUE for NOWHERE ELSE I WANT TO BE

It seemed inevitable, falling from a slated sky as though no other weather were possible while I grieved leaving Miriam’s House. I watched the snow come down for hours, rocking in my glider chair, and it covered tree branches and roofs visible from the second-story sun room in the house we’d rented. Under the influence of that blanketed world, grief finally began loosening its grip on me. I let the memories in.

         Of all the things I could have remembered about Miriam’s House—Claudia’s dream or Gina dancing in the dining room or Faye nearly being arrested or Alyssa dying—I don’t know why I thought first of Kimberly and the mess she embroiled me in a few days before Christmas 1996. But as I relaxed, it was Kimberly I saw. Kimberly watching horror movies. Kimberly insisting she was most certainly not smoking in her room. Kimberly scratching madly at a lottery ticket. Kimberly, drunk, calling my name from outside the house and sounding like a lost soul.

         The life I’d participated in and witnessed at Miriam’s House had changed me in profound ways. I’d lived and worked there from 1996 to 2009, fourteen years of life at its richest, teaching me lessons I had yet to assimilate. And so, with memory as catalyst, I got up from my comfortable chair and left the sun room for the office and the computer I’d been avoiding for weeks. What impelled me, I think now, was the desire for catharsis, to process my grief and those transformative years by telling myself my stories. It was the desire not to forget, and more important still, not to let the women be forgotten. I began to make good on a silent wish of some years, and that was to let the world see what I had seen: the astounding, courageous humanity of women beset by the worst of societal and physical ills. But in that moment, these thoughts were yet to be formulated. I simply sat down at the keyboard and took dictation from my heart.

         This is what I remember most vividly about Kimberly…

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