The book. It is out. It is out officially and should, as of this writing, be in the hands of almost everyone who’s ordered it.

The launch party was small but fun. I’m thrilled by who managed to be there and sad about those who wanted to attend but were unable. It was a learning experience and I’m glad I got to try this out in a safe environment surrounded by familiar and supportive faces. Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m not exactly comfortable with some of the required self-promotion activities surrounding the publication of a novel. Amongst others, there’s reading from your own book which is helluva intimidating to me. However, it’s part and parcel of what I want to do and if it’s something readers want, I’ll do it.

First public reading: Done. The ice is broken. It wasn’t so bad. I think I’ll be fine doing it in the future.

For those who might have missed it; I was on Sword & Laser on the day of release of The Life Engineered and it was awesome. I really enjoy chatting with Tom and Veronica. I got to answer some questions from readers and I swear Veronica’s eyes lit up when I mentioned that sex between Capeks wasn’t impossible. Let me know if I hallucinated.

Speaking of Tom Merritt. I was a guest on his other podcast, Current Geek, hosted by Scott Johnson. Current Geek is the kind of podcast that sounds fun to be a guest on and it’s been on my bucket list of appearances for a while. Good news: Even more of a blast than anticipated. Give it a listen. Hell, go subscribe; it’s a hell of a good podcast.

That’s it for now. I want to thank everyone who was at the party, including fellow Inkshares writers A.C. Baldwin, André Brun and Christopher Huang. Check out their books. Now! I also want to highlight the efforts of Cara Weston who put together a Google Hangout so a few others could attend virtually. Check out her book too.

So what’s next?

• Hopefully more media
  
• Finishing the manuscript for the sequel to The Life Engineered
• Maybe another short story in that universe to bridge the two books
• Pushing really hard to get A God in the Shed to 750 pre-orders. Expect me to enlist your help very soon.

As always; thank you my fellow sentients. It’s a fascinating ride and I think there’s some really awesome stuff on the horizon for The Life Engineered. Never forget that you’re the ones who made it happen.

Cheers

JF

Friends the Write Out Loud Syndicate is live!!

If you know what a Syndicate is, I encourage you to join and help me support the LGBTQIA writing community.

If you are not sure what this is, I can tell you that a syndicate is a way in which every month you can help an author gets published, by pooling your resources with other like-minded readers and pre-ordering their book. There are two tears: $10 for an e-copy or $20 for a signed copy. Not bad eh?

So you donate $10 or $20 every month. We all as a group decide what author to support and when the author hits funding that book will eventually make it to you.

Inkshares is a fantastic way to support the LGBTQIA community and allies. We need more books with characters breaking barriers and stereotypes and this is the way to do it! (at least one way.

So please join me!

Ricardo

Hey friends!

I have something special to share with you...

We made a fan video for Blood Dawn by John Robin!!

I’m really excited about this book, and I really want to see it get to full funding: 750 pre-orders. This was not John’s idea at all - this was completely fan-driven. I asked around and a bunch of authors, plus one of John’s beta readers who has read the whole book, volunteered to make their own videos talking about why they’re excited for Blood Dawn. Then Alex and I cut it into a sweet little promo video!

Watch it here!

This is what happens when people are seriously excited about a book. :)

Aaand... if you decide to pre-order this book, and you want to pledge loyalty to House Vastaron or the dragon Azzavaston for the game of Blood Dawn Risk, be sure to let me and/or John know!! You can send me an email or reply to John’s thank-you email after you order. 

Thanks!

I’m so EXCITED!

Check out the fan video for Blood Dawn that just went live this morning:

Cara ("A.C.") Weston, author of She Is the End, offered to put together a fan video trailer for Blood Dawn, and HERE IT IS!

Listen to several Inkshares authors talk about what’s GREAT about Blood Dawn and why they can’t wait to read it. In addition to Cara, these authors are:

• Joseph Asphahani (The Animal in Man)
• C. Brennecke (Seven Shards: The Colors of Wine)
• Matthew Isaac Sobin (The Last Machine in the Solar System)
• Craig Munroe (The Bones of the Past)
• Michael Sebby (The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life)
• Paul Inman (Ageless) 

Thank you so much for doing this! Thanks also to one of my beta readers, Tyler Sparrow, who recently read the first draft in its entirety, and added his praise in this video. And THANK YOU to Alex Weston (The "A" in "A.C. Weston") for his expertise putting this video together. This is an EPIC piece to add to the finish of this funding campaign.  

I got shivers watching this. What a way to end the week! (Translation: Cara, you are the BEST!)

:=)

Books, books everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

The books are finally arriving. Again, I’d like to thank everyone who bought a copy for their support. What you are holding/will hold in your hands would not exist without your help. I hope you enjoy it.

Still, even with the release of physical books to backers, there’s still plenty to do. The actual release date is March 15th (no Caesars were stabbed during the making of this novel.) And naturally, we need as many people as possible to be aware of An Unattractive Vampire by then. So, if you like the book, tell a friend or two or seventy. Rate and review it on Goodreads. Amazon won’t let you review it until the actual publishing date, but prepare a review for them too. Seriously, reviews on Amazon are apparently super important for sales of a book as they determine how visible your book is on their website. 

(Oh and if you don’t like the book, tell someone you don’t like very much to read the book. Ruin their day. I’m not picky.)

On March 15th (release day), I will be interviewed on the podcast that started it all, The Sword and Laser. Kind of a dream come true for me. I’ll try to keep it together. Anyway, I only mention it because they are currently taking questions on Goodreads, so if you’re one of the 20,000 or so members of the Sword and Laser and you’d like to ask me a question regardings writing, monsters, audio drama, places to dispose of bodies, etc, head over there and ask it. Otherwise, people will just spend thirty minutes of me squeeing.

Also for anyone who is in or around Chicago remember that March 18th, we will be having a launch party at Bucket O’ Blood Books and Records (appropriate, no?) at 7 PM. Come say hi on your way to green beer. 

Anyway, before I let you go, I thought I should remind everyone that the Nerdist Space Opera contest is still going on. There are plenty of good books still in the running to be published including:

The Madness of Mr. Butler by Michael Haase: a tale of a crazy old man desperately trying to prove to everyone that their world is round.

Lucky by RH Webster: the story of a space trucker who finds herself caught in middle of an interstellar conspiracy.

The Life Interstellar by Zach Jordan: a novel the most dangerous and terrifying creature of all time: the galaxies last human.  

Space Tripping by Patrick Edwards: a Hitchhiker’s Guide like story of outer space hijinks as human and alien delivery men try to avoid being killed by marauders and space criminals on the way to their next drink.

Happy Friday!  Couple of small updates.  While work on cover design continues, and while we await word on the edit, some loose ends regarding contests are also being wrapped.  This week a couple of really sweet bone-in Ribeyes were sent to the winner of the McCall’s Meat And Fish Gift Certificate, and I have been in contact with a tattoo artist about the Honor-Derric-Of-The-Beagle-Freedom-Project tattoo. This should be fun (and maybe a little painful!)  Meanwhile royalties have started to trickle in, and the first 10% donation to the Beagle Freedom Project has been made. So if you haven’t ordered and you want to help a good cause and read a good book, hit that pre-order button!  Also, don’t forget if you’re on Facebook to head over the book’s Facebook page. There I’ll be posting updates on the production process and whatever interesting things I think you might like. Here’s the link in case you missed it.

https://www.facebook.com/womenlikeusnovel/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Oh, and the extremely talented Steven Murashige took my author photo, which appears below. As you can see we decided on something more casual and fun rather than ultra-serious. I love the picture, and I can’t thank him enough. Check out Steven’s site for more on his work here:

www.stevenmurashige.com

I think that’s it for now.  Thanks all and have a great Friday.

Three days left and 176 orders to hit the light funding goal.