Here is another fantastic rendering of an iconic image from Mission 51. In this scene, Petrus presents the finished ship, Janusia, to his son Mat. Artist Chris Pyke has captured it beautifully, a touching moment between father and son, the continuation of a painful goodbye. - Chris, all I can say is... Wow!!!
Team Pirates!!
Hope your week is going well! Quick update: I’m now incorporating edits from Beta Reader Tom, so things are right on track!
I came across this list while surfing during my kid’s afternoon nap break. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite writers, and I thought this was very interesting and helpful. Inspiring, even.
I hope it gives you all the feels:
8 Rules of Writing from Neil Gaiman
1. Write.
2. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3. Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
4. Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
5. Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
6. Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
7. Laugh at your own jokes.
8. The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
And now for some hard science:
-Erin
I want to thank each of you for following me! When I get to 90 followers, I’ll be putting out Chapter 3! So, if any of you wait with baited breath, please convince your friends and, heck, even your foes, to click on Follow! It costs nothing and makes me a much happier author! (which is kinda crazy, considering how outrageously happy I am with the world!)
Ladies and gentlemen, we have just sold our 250th pre-order of Tantalus Depths. As most of you already know by now, that is a very, very important number.
It means we have a book.
Tantalus Depths now qualifies to go under the Quill imprint.
Under the Quill imprint, Tantalus Depths can now be printed on demand, can be given an ISBN number, and can see limited distribution. Under Quill, it would be available to purchase through Amazon or Inkshares, in ebook or paperback form. It’d see some limited editing and design assistance, and all the backers would get the books they’ve paid for.
We are not stopping here.
Quill is a goal, but it is not the goal. The real goal is 750 pre-orders, and as far as I’m concerned, the journey to Quill was only significant as a landmark. Quill does not offer advertising services. It will not put copies of Tantalus Depths onto shelves, unless I arrange that with the bookstores myself. It doesn’t offer the fine-toothed editorial combing of my manuscript that it needs to be really ready for readers.
So yes, I am extremely happy to have gotten this far. I owe you all immensely for making this much possible, and I could not have asked for a more supportive group through this process.
But we’re not done yet, and I’m not going to stop until I see that 750th pre-order come in. We have 68 days to bring in 500 more pre-orders, and mark my words, we will do it. I’ll not allow myself the luxury of even considering the Quill option right now, because I’m not allowing myself to believe Tantalus Depths will fall short of making that goal.
Press on, my friends. We’re a third of the way there.
Tantalus Depths is only 3 pre-orders away from reaching Quill! Let’s get there tonight!
Story update: The Tantalus System
Tantalus is an O-type star 27 light-years away from Earth, relatively near Vega. It is orbited by 14 planets (3 gaseous, 11 rocky, named "Tantalus 1" through "Tantalus 14") and one large brown dwarf called Ixion, which orbits between Tantalus 8 and 9.
The Tantalus system was identified by Exotech industries as a promising location for new deep-space mining operations, due to its abnormally high number of rocky planets. A claimstaking probe bearing a SCARAB unit was immediately sent to the Tantalus system to evaluate the resource viability of each of the 14 planets, only to discover that all of them seemed all but completely depleted of heavy mineral deposits, making them unfit for any long-term mining investments.
Unable to return to Hegemony space on its remaining fuel reserves, the SCARAB AI selected the most promising planet to claim. It selected Tantalus 13, due to the presence of a few moderately large cobalt deposits.
As the SCARAB unit entered into orbit above Tantalus 13 and searched for the optimal location to land and begin its operations, it discovered an unexpected windfall: at the base of a large asteroid crater near Tantalus 13’s south pole, SCARAB detected a massive deposit of unusually pure platinum. It landed there, and immediately set to work building itself and further exploring the unexpected treasure that awaited its arrival.
Want to learn more about what SCARAB found there? Pre-order a copy of Tantalus Depths today, and you’ll learn more than you bargained for...