All things literary have been a whirlwind. I’ve recently gotten notified that The Punch Escrow has been selected as one of Kirkus Reviews’ 100 Best Books of the 2017. That is great news! But on the same day I learned that Goodreads didn’t see The Punch Escrow fit to be listed among their selections for the Goodreads Choice Science Fiction awards. What adds insult to a bit of injury is that some of the books that they did nominate aren’t even published yet!

However, there is still some hope. YOU can alter reality! If you read and liked my book and have a Goodreads account, it takes about 4.8 seconds (I timed it) to write-in The Punch Escrow in the Best Science Fiction category. It would mean the world to me. The write-in field is at the bottom of the link above. It looks like this:

All you need to do is type in The Punch Escrow (it will auto-fill) and that’s it—you’ve altered reality! 

Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and this book. I’ll be writing a more comprehensive update on what’s going on with the film adaptation next year, there’s just a lot going on and I’m legally not allowed to discuss any of it. But it’s all *good* stuff!

-Tal 

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

 

******* FREE STUFF AT THE BOTTOM! *******

Wow, that Launchpad Contest was a wild ride. Looks like this Horror Contest might get scary too!

Like when Mike’s Vampire and the Dragon blew past me into first place. Felt good at the top for a couple days. It’s okay being his wingman. I ain’t ashamed to admit there’s a little man crush going on. Who knows, maybe we could team up for a writing project. That might be interesting. 

What do you think?

If you’re so inclined to pre-order Murder Happens, now is a good time to step up. I’ll be forever grateful to all who have supported this project...and helping me work out my mommy issues.The excerpts of Murder Happens have been getting good reviews. If you haven’t had a chance to read them—the reviews and/or the excerpts—go check them out. Really appreciate getting feedback, too.

Spent the last week working on one particular chapter. It’s deep into the book, so unlikely I’ll post it, but I can share a bit of my process. 

My day job takes up a lot of time and the huckstering for pre-orders takes up the rest. That’s my process! Oh, and checking the leaderboard constantly, that’s the biggest time suck. 

BRB…okay, still in 2nd.

Murder Happens is a complete manuscript. I finished it a few years back. Using it more as an outline and rewriting all the chapters. I squeeze in an hour or so in the evening, a day off here and there. And the weekends as much as possible around my chores…like checking the leaderboard. 

Okay…still in 2nd. 

I use Scrivener. It’s great. Also capture notes and ideas with my phone when they hit. That’s usually in the middle of the night. Without the day job, I would probably get up at 4 a.m., put in 5,000 words or so, then call it quits and binge on Netflix. Okay, probably 500 words. 

Revising never ends. I spend a lot of time on one sentence or a paragraph until it rings true. I read aloud to myself or anyone else who’ll listen. Highly recommend it. Your ear hears what your brain ignores. Sure, I make stuff up all the time, but I’m reading this update out loud right now.

As a writer, I haven’t settled on a genre yet. I’m a genre bender. But what about gender bending? I wrote a short story called Glams vs Red Plaids. I wrote it with the intention of weaving it into the larger plot line of a novel. 

The story is FREE Thursday through Sunday so grab the Kindle version and download it. It’s what I have to give now to show my appreciation for your support. 

Joan calls it dystopian biopunk. It has gender issues with a battle of the sexes, all three of them.

Fun, right?

Go check it out, doesn’t cost a thing because I’m crushing on all of you.

If you don’t like my story, then check out The Dog of Jesus that pops up when I go to the page. It’s got 176 reviews. Glams vs Red Plaids has none, so there’s that...

One more thing,  a great big shout out to Mike Ostrowski because he’s an awesome dude. His book Lost in the Fog is a crime thriller the way it should be done.

Here’s a link to Glams vs Red Plaids, go download a FREE story:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075H5BWTF

Here’s a link to Murder Happens, go pre-order:
https://www.inkshares.com/books/murder-happens

Here’s a link to Lost in the Fog, go buy a copy:
https://www.inkshares.com/books/lost-in-the-fog

Here’s a link to The Vampire and the Dragon, go pre-order if you already pre-ordered Murder Happens.
A man crush only goes so far :o)
https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-vampire-and-the-dragon

Now get outta here!

You all have a habit of making me feel special.

There you go, making me feel special, and then I get all mushy with the feelings, and it’s disgusting for everyone. So this is all your fault. You monsters. ;)

Today, Inkshares posted an image of a pile of DAX HARRISON books, ready to be sent out to all of you fine folks who backed it. The physical books, existing in real life, sitting in their office.

I re-shared the photo, and my little corner of the Internet blew up. The outpouring of love, support and excitement from friends, family, colleagues and so forth was ridiculous. I even had a friend or two saying "What?! How did I miss this?! Where can I get this thing?!" Haha.

By the way, if you didn’t catch my previous official cover reveal on social media, there it is, in all its glory. Another very special thanks to Jessica R. Van Hulle (theladyjessica.com) and Seth Kinkaid (sethkinkaid.com) for their stunning painting and graphic design work. You better believe I’m making posters of this baby for conventions and book signings!

"WHEN DO I GET MY BOOK, TONY?!"

Backer copies will be shipping out this week! I believe Inkshares should be sending out an email asking you to confirm your shipping address, but I encourage you to log in at Inkshares.com and double-check your saved address just in case.

For those of you who ordered e-book copies, you can expect an email with a download link sometime next week. If you accidentally lose the email, don’t panic. You can access your purchased e-books anytime at Inkshares.com under your "Bookshelf". And if anyone still has trouble, you can always reach me at rockhollywood8@gmail.com, or send questions to the Inkshares team at hello@inkshares.com.

You know what’s ironic about all these long updates I write? The book itself is actually a pretty quick read. You’d think I would have written a much more long-winded story. I guess I’m saving it for Dax 2...

That’s all for now. It honestly feels VERY silly making such a big deal over a little comedy book. But the world deserves laughter. It really, really does.

I hope Dax gives you a chuckle or two!

-Tony

Well hello there,

So? How was your summer? Mine was busy. Too busy to run a book funding campaign properly. I started funding Arch-Android  (the sequel to The Life Engineered) around the time of Nerdtacular in late June. It got a good start but soon after I got caught up in going to other conventions like Necronomicon and DragonCon along with promoting A God in the Shed after its June 15 release and writing the sequel to A God in the Shed!

Long story short, I dropped the ball.

But I’m back! 

Inkshares was good enough to grant an extension to the Arch-Android campaign. Let’s get 750 pre-orders as soon as possible and get this over with. The faster this funds, the faster you can read the final product and I am so eager for you to read this one. 

Here’s what you can do to help:

• If you haven’t, read The Life Engineered (it’s only 0.99$ on Inkshares right now)
• Pre-order one (or more) copy(ies) of Arch-Android.
• Encourage your friends and family to also pre-order by lending them your copy of The Life Engineered

What do you get for helping?

• Every pre-order and reference gives you an additional chance to win a KOBO Aura ebook reader with original art by me on the back.
• 3 or more pre-orders gets your name in the acknowledgements in the back of the book
• All physical copies are signed and come with an exclusive bookmark
• Participation in any further promotion I may add as the campaign progresses
• My eternal gratitude

So there you have it. Expect more updates and more previews and information as this campaign progresses. Let me put this bluntly: If everyone who receives this pre-orders a copy, we’re done. The book is funded. How cool is that? The campaign ends on December 7th.

Above: The KOBO Aura ebook reader  

Thanks!

Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit!

It has been a busy last month. Since you haven’t heard much from me you probably realize that unfortunately that work hasn’t involved Crow’s Gambit. What’s been keeping me busy? An accreditation visit at work, an industrial advisory board meeting, my other book (Fortunes of the Space Sloth) finished in the Top 25 of the Launchpad competition, completed my first 100K trail run, and we hit a deer with our car (luckily no one was hurt).