Quick exciting update to share!

Today I had the honor of being a guest on the Inkshares blog. I was asked some questions about the relentless community building work I’ve been helping with, and given an opportunity to reflect on the future of the Inkshares vision of a democratic publishing model:

http://blog.inkshares.com/post/139935867965/qa-with-john-robin-a-pillar-of-the-inkshares

Enjoy -- and please share this. The more readers who know about Inkshares, the better.

p.s. remember a few months ago I rallied to help get Jack Bender’s, The Elephant in the Room to its funding goal? Well, I received my three copied yesterday -- and read it in one sitting. What a great book! Stephen King calls it a picture book for adults, and it comes with high praise from J.J. Abrams and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Well, I read it in one sitting. What a book! In some parts I laughed hard, but most places touched my heart. Jack has a dark sort of wisdom that’s contagious and it was nice to spend a good hour with him in those pages. Highly recommended! Here’s a link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Elephant-Room-Jack-Bender/dp/1941758797

Time for a previously unscheduled update, and has nothing to do with my book. This time I’m doing what I can to make sure that someone else’s book hits goal. Many of you are undoubtedly already aware of Byron Gillan’s “The Children of the Forest”, and if you’re not then you should be. This book has been on my own personal “Top 5 books I want to see published through Inkshares” list since the moment I laid eyes on it. Well, its down to the last couple of days to meet its funding and is only 18 orders away from hitting the Quill goal as of me typing this.

If you haven’t already checked this one out, and if you have found my opinion to be worth your time in the past, then you should go to “The Children of the Forest” project page. It is filled with both beautiful artwork and excellent sample chapters which are well worth your time. Look them over, and if you find yourself agreeing with my assessment of the book’s quality, then order it immediately!

In addition to the quality of the story, Byron also has some of the best additional rewards for ordering, or at least ones that most appeal to a geek like me: custom pins(e-book & up); a soft-cover collectible book containing artwork, world notes, essays, and the entire 1st act of “The Children of the Forest” to tide us over while waiting on the full book(paperback orders & up); and a 15 page art booklet(orders of 3 or more paperbacks). Seriously, I have an unhealthy love for art books and pins.

So, to reiterate: check this book out and if you love the content posted even half as much as I do, then don’t delay in ordering it! There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get this book at least 18 orders by this time tomorrow, or for that matter by 12 hours from now. Okay, I’ll stop beating my salesman drum now(but you still have to check it out), and try to get a bit of work done before bed. Thanks all for your time and patience.

Good morning, everyone! It’s been a great day. New and great stuff all around...

Chapter 6 is up for your reading pleasure/critique!

The Diary of Mr. Butler has a new entry! 

I had the pleasure of being interviewed for another blog that includes everyone in the top ten in the Nerdist Space Opera contest! You can read that here.

On top of that, you can still read my personal interview with Elan Samuel of The Warbler literary blog here, as well as read my response in the first inshares blog regarding the contest here.

So...a lot going on!

On top of that, I need a vote, perhaps. I am teetering over on making the decision to add the Diary of Mr. Butler into the actual book. My wife suggested this, and I like it the more I think about it. Any feedback would be great! I’m considering incorporating it as either a Part 1: The Diary of Mr. Butler/Part 2: The Madness of Mr. Butler type of thing, or pushing diary entries in between chapters. I’m unsure at this point. But I really like the concept. It would add some depth to Mr. Butler as well as create something I had never created before: a story that has both first and third-person perspectives. Interesting...

If this happens, I have a few adjustments to make, but it’s all extremely exciting. 

This has been a fantastic month thus far, and I have all of you to thank for it. Your support means the world to me. I hope everyone has a great day.

And don’t forget, you can contact me at madmrbutler@gmail.com if you want to discuss anything, vote on the incorporation of the diary, let me know if there are any projects you think deserve my attention...anything. I’m here. 

Lovelovelovelovelove...

-Michael.

My wife just sent this to me. Now that I’ve finished fanning out, it occurs to me to wish with all my might that people in some far off future time might someday freak out similarly upon the discovery of some bit of MY half-baked ephemera....

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/16/unseen-jrr-tolkien-poems-found-in-school-magazine