I know what you’re thinking: Another update so soon? Well, this one has been a long time coming. Even the animals are talking about it...

That’s right! The team at Inkshares has informed me that production has really started ramping up for The Animal in Man I: Violent Heart, and the book will be hitting bookstore shelves on September 25th of this year! Granted I’ll need to keep my s**t together well enough to meet all the deadlines on my end, but I owe YOU - my supporters, my greatest strength through all this, the thing that’s kept me going - and I’ll get it done.

Friend me on facebook, look me up on Twitter, stay tuned to your email for more upcoming updates on book signing events in and around Chicago as that wonderful date draws near! And if you haven’t already, check out my new and improved promotional video for “The Animal in Man.”

THE MANUSCRIPT IS IN!!!

After two months of rewriting and revising, with the help of my friends Peter Ryan and Cari Dubiel, and. of course, my wife, I’ve turned in a fine tuned 76,900-word manuscript after the first round of developmental editing. That’s nearly 10,000 darlings killed. It was probably closer to 15,000 of the original words that suffered their terrible fate, but I changed a couple of scenes and added about 5,000 words back in. It was all for the better, and I’m proud of what this book has become. 

I know I promised mid-January for turning in this manuscript, but I’m going to play the sympathy card, because I was hospitalized in January for acute abdominal pain and had my gallbladder removed and subsequently stolen. They wouldn’t bronze it and let me keep it, the jerks, they just took it God only knows where. But, I’m glad it’s out. The good news is that I got my author bio picture in the process: 

That’ll sell a lot of books on its own. Might even make it the cover of the book. Not sure my publisher would go for that, though. 

Speaking about the cover, design will start happening in a few months, but I already know one thing will be remarkably different when it’s done: the title. 

Yup, I am almost sure I’m changing the title. The book is in two parts now, and I’ve named part one "The Madness of Mr. Butler," while part two is "The Courage of Mr. Butler." As much as I love the title as it has been, it doesn’t really sound like a science fiction book, which it mostly is. I’m changing the title of the book to "The Man Who Stole the World," which, for those of you who are in need of improving your musical tastes, is a play on the title of a David Bowie song. (And David Bowie might have a cameo in the story, but I’m not at liberty to say at this point).

wink

So, what’s next? 

Right now, we wait. Matt Harry, my editor, already got back to me that he’s currently working on a few manuscripts and plans on starting on mine in a few weeks. So, it’s probably going to be a while before I can report on further progress. But, this means that this year will begin the next levels of edits on a manuscript that is actively in production. I feel great about it all. I’ve had a wonderful experience with Inkshares. 

Thank you all for your support. Your investment in me is something I think about and appreciate daily. I’m working my tail off to get you the best version of the book. Thank you for the opportunity. This is all because of you. I hug you.

In the meantime, if you wanna interact outside of email, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, and fairly soon I’m getting my blog back up after some reconstruction. 

Hang in there, it’s all coming together!

Love always, 

-Michael

Hey, kids.

She Is the End is almost done.

My book! MY ACTUAL BOOK!!!

Thank you all so much for your support. I’m sorry the journey took so long... I think it’ll be worth it.

Hey. Hi there. 

I have news. A couple of bits actually. I shall save the best for last though.

New book title

Ghosts of War is now.....Ghosts of War: Retribution. The change was made by me to help the title stand out a little more, and it gels better with what the story is actually about (and with the titles of the series going forward). I’m quite pleased with the change. 

With that change though, means something else...

A new cover

Production Status

Very good news on this front. This last Monday, Ghosts of War: Retribution winged it’s way across the interwebs into the hands of it’s copy editor. That means it is getting a thorough going over as it moves ever closer to release later in the year. Typically the time frame is 6 months from kickoff to publication, so it should land somewhere around the middle of the year. 

I should be hearing back from Inkshares soon with some more solid dates related to the production schedule and release, and I’ll keep you guys updated where I can.

Praise for the book

I’ve been getting the first lots of feedback on Ghosts of War: Retribution in the last few weeks, here’s a few blurbs that’ll be showing up in various promo materials going forward.

"Imagine that bastard you hate. Got it? Now imagine yourself gut punching them then throwing them down the stairs, and stealing their last donut. Robinson’s debut novel takes arch-rivalvary up a notch while giving that oh-so-satisfying desire to chew bubblegum and kick ass." - Rick Heinz, Author of The Seventh Age: Dawn 

 "Sci-Fi action-adventure at its very, very best. Paul Robinson gives us complex characters facing complex conflict in a futuristic world that, although dystopian, always carries the ring of truth. There’s revenge, retribution, heroism and, sprinkled throughout, satisfying bits of wry humor. A winning combination, and a debut author worth watching." - Jason Pomerance, Author of Women Like Us 

 “Ghosts of War: Retribution is an adrenaline-fueled adventure perfect for fans of fast-paced action sci-fi.” - Robert Batten, Author of Blood Capital 

 "Paul Robinson thrills his readers in the style of James Rollins and John Grisham, and then brings them to another world in the style of Robert Heinlein. You should pick up Ghosts of War: Retribution, though be warned: it’s hard to put down. ★★★★★" - Jonathan Maas, Author of Flare

 What now?

As production finally ramps up on Ghosts of War: Retribution, I’ll be working hard with Inkshares to get it into your hands and I’ll also be continuing to work on the sequels which are now called Ghosts of War: Reprisal and Ghosts of War: Reckoning. 

As always, stay tuned for updates.

I got some numbers for you. 

Do you know what this means?!?! I FINISHED EDITING MY NOVEL!!! It was quite a slog for me. I’m not one of those writers that can easily overlook the minutiae in order to focus on the bigger picture. My editor gave me some great notes calling for some big sweeping changes and clarifications, but even still, if I saw something on the page that bothered me (and gosh was there a LOT that bothered me), I had to change it. Staring at pages like these was how I spent what little free time I had for the past four months:

Look at all those revisions!!! Just to be clear, this is not the end of the editing process. It’s back with the Editor / Head of Story at Inkshares, Matt Harry, who’ll look over the changes and make further suggestions. (Hopefully I cleared the higher hurdles the first time around the track and the next lap is easier.) From there, somebody’s gotta clean up my terrible, awful, hideous, redundant word choice… Cover design conversations with the artist… Where is this all going, you ask?! Well, it means it will still be a wait. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a 2018 release, but I can’t say for sure.

In the meantime, I literally don’t know what to do with myself any more. If I’m not working on something, I’m getting ANTSY. While I wait for the Inkshares wheel to turn another notch in Animal in Man’s production track, I’ll be putting more words down for my next novel “The White Shadow”, which you can read the first few chapters of HERE. (I added a chapter to my website since the previous time posting about it, and I’m eleven chapters beyond that point in the writing.) I might even be putting up an Inkshares draft page for the book soon. Who knows.

To all of my supporters, all of you who’ve hung in there this long and longer: Thank you.

It’s been a long time.

I have a tendency to disappear sometimes. Actually, to escape. And at times escape so thoroughly that it’s like I can feel the whole Earth turning beneath me, forgetting it’s left me behind. ...but then I snap out of it, and I realize it’s really just my fault. I’ve been quiet a little too long. This reader update is long, long overdue.

As of this writing, The Animal in Man has sold 495 copies. As of months and months ago, that number was practically the same. I realized today I would very much like to see 500, and I’m asking all of those who have followed the novel recently to make a pre-order and help me achieve that goal. Of course, I’ve also been working on my sales pitch:

The Animal in Man is like Lord of the Flies, but instead of asking whether young men beguiled by the beast inside can ever be human again, the story asks if there’s something human already in every beast. Instead of stumbling, terrified, through a jungle of fear, they are born in a world of constant violence, perhaps designed that way by its creator. Are we so very different, I wonder. 

The original description I typed years ago when I first launched the inkshares page are still true, perhaps more than ever before: The Animal in Man “is our story. The story of mankind." But if words alone aren’t enough to earn your pre-order, then consider these images.

When you read The Animal in Man, what you’ll see first is this:

But it’s really all about this:

It’s about why anyone would ever think violence could be the answer. It’s about my belief that all of us at some point in our life have heard that whisper inside our hearts that says this it might just be. 

Is it?

Baby Freya is now 2 months old! Jeez! The past few months has been a whirlwind of love, excitement, family, and sleep deprivation! 

(Full post can be read on my blog HERE to see future posts sign up to my newsletter HERE)

Despite the newfound groggy-eyed joys of fatherhood, I have still been hard at work not only on RUNE’s sequel (Oath of the Apprentice), but also on an exciting new Indie Video Game project called Shadow of the Moon (which takes place chronologically between The Rune Chronicles books 1 and 2). I’m so excited to tell you about this game I’m shaking... Or is that the coffee which is currently keeping me awake?! The world may never know...

Many of you might remember Shadow of the Moon from the collaborative Inkshares video game anthology I was a part of called Too Many Controllers. Yes, that same book which "won" the Nerdist and Inkshares Video Game Publishing Contest. (And yes, thanks for asking, I am still sore about the book being canned.) Well, some friends and I were talking about how TMC being canceled shouldn’t be the death of such a great story. We were sad, however, because Shadow of the Moon was written with video game mechanics at its core, and therefore, did not really read well (make sense) as a stand alone literary work.

I kept on trying to figure out a way around this because Shadow of the Moon’s female protagonist, Zera, is featured heavily as a main character in The Rune Chronicles Book 2: Oath of the Apprentice. I could not get over how cool Zera’s background and unique motivations were and desperately wanted readers to have a chance, if they were interested, to know more about her and why she was such a bad ass. Sadly, try as I might, I could not find a good fix to the logistical story problems and was stumped for months! 

Well, during the days following Freya’s birth I came to the crazy conclusion that if I could not "write" a solution for the story dilemma, the only "logical" course of action was to actually turn Shadow of the Moon into a full fledged indie video game! GG EZ Fix! 

I must have been profoundly sleep deprived because changing mediums would add a huge, exponential multiplier to the amount of work required. Like, There are no words which can adequately describe how much more effort making a video game, even an indie, will be. But I have been working on this project for two months now, and trust me folks, Zera’s story is, hot damn, well worth it! Truly. 

Seen above is Zera, the protagonist of Shadow of the Moon, and I have so much more I’m dying to share with you all! We have art, game design mechanics, real to life martial arts, and even code for our custom SDL game engine (which should run a playable demo soon.) Its crazy awesome how much cool shit will be in this game! And the story, oh how the story has grown and evolved! 

All of this is thanks to our amazingly talented team. Despite my sleepless nights, I have been able to gather a super dedicated group over at Apotheosis Studios to help me transform my novella into a Rogue-like Action-Adventure, 2D Top Down, RPG Video Game of epic, pixelated proportions! (Think Hyper Light Drifter meets Darkest Dungeon meets Bastion. Yes, you heard me right--we are not fucking around. This game is the real deal.)

I am leading this fearless indie dev team as Creative Director/Writer and so far we have 2 other writers/designers, 1 programmer, 1 editor/marketer, 2 "interns", a wolf, and a viking baby! What could possibly go wrong?!?! If you want to join our ranks, hit me up at @StoneJamison  (Currently we are looking for a pixel and/or sprite artist, and music composer, btw!)

I’m also super excited to say that I will documenting our game progress on my blog HERE with an Apotheosis Studios Indie Game Dev Blog Series! I have so much more to share (and some really killer art) but will save those additional details about the game for the "official" blog series, so stay tuned! And yes, I will be doing all of this with a new baby. Many believe I have lost my mind, which if true, should make this game and RUNE’s sequel pretty freaking awesome, haha!

All jokes aside, buckle up Masters and Apprentices and get ready for many more blog posts to come. I am so excited to not only share developments and updates on Shadow of the Moon game development, but also how my wife and I raise our Viking Ninja baby girl. 

And in case you are wondering how one raises a little Viking Ninja baby girl in 2017... Well, I’m not really sure, but I figure age and gender appropriate toys (swords, obviously!); good role models (bad ass active duty Army musician mommy and Zera of Shadow of the Moon!); and a loving, strong, and supportive daddy (I’m still growing out my "Ragnar Viking haircut") is a good place to start!

Stay tuned via my news letter HERE and I’ll let you know how it all goes! 

Oh, and P.S. if you have not yet posted a review for Rune of the Apprentice on Amazon Dear god, please do so! We currently have 66 reviews, but need 100+! It really helps! Seriously! Thank you!

Happy Weekend Monkeys,

Big news for this week, Monkey Business has officially sold over 1,000 copies since being published. In my heart that’s always been a huge milestone so I’m really pretty happy. A big thank you is in order to all of you who helped make that happen.

So hey, click here to listen to a sample of the Monkey Business Audiobook!

And if you want to get your own copy of that audiobook, you can have one for free if you pre-order my new novel, Black Cloud.

That is all my friends. I hope you have a great weekend!

Hey, gang. Long time no update. The reasons are two-fold: 

1) There hasn’t been much to say regarding the book.

2) I am bad at social media.

Regarding the first reason, I was recently told by Inkshares that there is a 50-book queue and my book is somewhere amidst. I don’t know precisely where, but I am hoping that it’s closer to the front than the back. What this means is that Disintegration not coming out soon. That bums me out and I hope it bums you out, too.

If you are bummed out, email hello@inkshares.com and tell them you want your MTV! No! You want your Disintegration!

However, if you’re over it by this point, I can’t feign shock.

I’m hoping you’re not.

I’d much rather you clamor and advocate for the book. So much of any book’s success on this site is based upon convincing Inkshares that there is money in a title. The way we do that is by selling copies. So, please, if you can think of any science fiction fan in your life looking for a deeply thoughtful, mature tale that unflinchingly confronts humanity’s foibles, direct them to Disintegration!

Don’t be over it; despite the glacial process, the book continues to elicit effusively positive feedback from a wide variety of readers, many of whom are not even regular sci-fi consumers. It warms my cockles to know that, despite the publish date being amorphous, the book still has such vast appeal.

At this rate, I may well wind up providing everyone a copy of the manuscript before the book goes to press. If you’d like to join the ranks of those reading what they’ve already purchased, pipe up and I’ll furnish you with a PDF, too!

As for the second point, I really wish I’d some social media skills because, had I that hustle, had I joined the right contest, had I done this thing or that thing differently from how things actually went, perhaps I could have joined the ranks of "fully funded" books. It’s a category that includes books that have sold equal or fewer copies than Disintegration, but instead received that golden ticket treatment and were swooped up to the Big Time.

I openly admit my envy. I want to see my book come to life. I want it to be seen and read and enjoyed, and any other wonderful possibilities that might arise from its publication.

Someday, they say. I eagerly await it.