Friends

*Crawls out of editing cave, hissing at the light*

I LIVVVVEEEEE!!!!!

Yes, I’m still technically alive. Haven’t fallen in a deep, dark hole or anything like that. I’ve just been a slave to the editing process and, of course, my day job. 

But I’ve decided to peek my head up from the abyss to send you all an update. 

First and foremost, Beyond the Code news. Editing has been going slower then I’d like but very well. Results from my wonderful beta readers have given me some ideas for rewrites of the story. These changes will give some of the characters actions more of a dramatic punch that I really think you’ll all enjoy. 

In other news, I will be taking my first try at pushing my book at a convention. I will be at the Edmonton Expo on Saturday. I will be handing out bookmarks to anyone who will take them to try and get the word of Beyond the Code out. I hope to see any of you there. 

I also want to take this opportunity to talk about Evan Graham’s book Tantalus Depths. It’s a really well thought out world that deserves full funding and it is very close. Please, if you have not already, take the time to check it out and consider backing this great project. 

https://www.inkshares.com/books/tantalus-depths

Thank you all for continuing to support this my dream and I hope I can give you a fully realised product sooner, rather then later. 

Kelsey Rae Barthel

Greetings!

First, it’s so exciting seeing all the images people have been sending of their copies of the book or them holding the book.  I’m saving all of these, of course.  Be sure to get a picture of some interesting place you choose to read it for a bit.  It’s been fun sharing those.

Second, you are able to review Rise on Amazon.com, BN.com, and Goodreads (and mark it as reading on that last one if you still are).  The BN page is a bit dodgy with the reviews.  Some people have reported it won’t accept the review while a few have managed it.  I appreciate your attempting to do so.  It really does help.

In other news, I’ve resumed editing Fall around my re-write of After Man.  It’s fun revisiting this new adventure in the same world as Rise after taking several month off from it.  I can’t say Fall will have as many edit run-throughs as Rise did but it is still getting a meticulous comb over.  If you’re as eager to read this second book as I am in editing it, why not go ahead over to Inkshares and preorder your copy today.

Finally, yours truly recently was a guest on the Write Brain podcast, hosted by Inkshares veterans Paul Inman and Jean-Francois Dubeau.  We had a blast discussing cake, Dragoncon, authors we like to read and don’t like to read, and, yes, even Rise.  Be sure to look for it in whatever podcast app you use, episode 30 or go to http://www.jfdubeau.com/writebrain/ to listen.  Additionally, in two weeks time on Oct 7, 2016 I have the privilege of appearing on a podcast on a network I’ve been a fan of since 2009, Frogpants Studios.  I’ll be appearing on the Current Geek podcast hosted by Scott Johnson (of The Instance podcast fame for you WoW players) and Tom Merritt (a name that will be familiar to most of you as he’s the guy on the front cover of Rise giving that amazing blurb).  I’m really excited and a bit nervous to be appearing on any show on this network but I’m sure it will be fun.  If you haven’t discovered the library of shows Frogpants Studios and friends of the network are making, I highly recommend going to frogpants.com and checking them out.

Happy reading and listening!

We posted ENHANCED’s first three chapters a few days ago, and Chapter 1 was completely new. Today, we added to the new Chapter 1 in the interest of world building. We would love to hear what you think -- positive or constructively critical, we value your thoughtful, honest opinions. Thanks very much!

Good day, detectives. 

Today marks 100 days until the end of the campaign! We’re currently at 55 preorders. In order to reach the 250 preorder quill goal, we need about 2 new preorders a day. Is this possible? Absolutely. I just need your help.

We have 117 followers, 48 subscribers, 14 recommendations, and 4 reviews. If all of the followers who haven’t subscribed yet were to back the book at merely the Deputy ($10 level), we’d be so much closer to that goal.

Upload was recently backed by the Thriller Night Syndicate, for which I’m incredibly grateful. Their confidence and support in my book is invaluable. I would love to see Upload backed by other syndicates as well, so if you’re part of one or know of a syndicate who might be interested, I’d love to see you share the book with them.

Next Wednesday at 7PM PST, I’ll be hosting a Q&A over on the Upload Facebook page. Feel free to go over there and like the page, as I’ll be providing updates for that over there. Feel free to ask any questions about the setting, my writing process, my outlining techniques or anything else you can think of about the book in that Q&A.

If you’ve got a book here on Inkshares, and you’d like me to take a look, shoot me a message. I’d be happy to exchange reviews with you.

Finally, I’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year. Unlike most NaNoWriMo’s, however, I won’t be conjuring a book out of whole cloth in a month. Instead, I’ll be completing Upload in that time (at least, the first draft). I’ll keep you appraised of any updates on that as we draw closer to November.

Thank you for all your support. Let’s keep this thing moving!

I’ve never been so thankful for a Wednesday.

First of all, A Beast Requires is closing in on a 100 backers! So far 93 people have pre-ordered 115 copies of the book, pushing it towards that first hurdle of 250 pre-orders. Yea, it’s pretty damn awesome. What isn’t awesome is that this entire month has gotten away from me. There was a carefully orchestrated schedule of events and a timeline set in place, that went out the window to find a shallow grave in the backyard. Granted my entire backyard is a shallow grave, see as it’s the place where good grass comes to die. 

See, I have this job, right? It’s at night, doesn’t pay great, and ever so slightly eats away at your soul. It’s difficult to describe, mostly because of the sort of work they do. Say you’re out at the zoo, and you’re walking through the primate house, unless your zoo doesn’t have a primate house, which would make me sad. But let’s say hypothetical zoo has a hypothetical primate house, full of hypothetical primates. Now there is a spot in this hypothetical primate house, where hypothetical primates fling hypothetical poo. There’s no avoiding the spot, no matter how much you try, and before everyone leaves, they are always pelted with hypothetical poo. My job is to block the exit and ask you which hypothetical poo smells the hypothetical best.

On Monday I gave them my two week notice. On Monday I was offered a much better job. It will take me a few days to adjust to a new work schedule, but it will be much more conducive to updates. With 70 days left in the campaign, there’s a lot to get done, and expect the videos to start returning next week. Thank you all for supporting A Beast Requires. Without knowing it, you’ve all helped keep me sane and helped me to survive the hypothetical house of poo.

- Jay

Wednesday update time!

Our progress continues to be slow, but with a little over a month to go I’m still hoping we can reach goal. Thanks to everyone who has already ordered as well as those of you who have recommended Magus to others.

Today I’ll move the journey forward a bit to Pentaz & Buscidia’s time on the peninsula known as The Blade where Pentaz spends a few months receiving a bit of formal education in his magicking at a small academy run by the head of a Wilder Elf community. You can read about that starting here in Chapter 31.

The Wilder Elves (pronounced will-der as in wilderness) are seen as savages by most of the more "civilised" elves in the far eastern elven nation of Lanadalaria, and even their less judgemental cousins in Hanaen sometimes regard them as a bit backwards. They live as nomads in the untamed wilds, living entirely off the land and flowing with the seasons. When they do build settlements it is only temporary structures, huts of vine, wicker, and fallen tree limbs which have seen no blade.

While they tend to avoid contact with those who do not live as they do, they are not hostile to outsiders and will often aid those they see in need, albeit secretly when possible. Like all elves they have innate magical talent, though all but their shamans and priestesses use this talent only for blending in and tracking game.

That’s all I’ve got for today’s update. As always thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this bit of insight. For my fellow D&D players my prototype Wilder Elf racial option follows(as with the Dwarven options I presented this presumes you only gain what is listed below, not the standard PHB qualities as well).

• Ability Score Increase:  +1 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom.
• Age:  Typically reach adulthood at around 100-120, aging at around 1/8th human rate until then. Their aging slows down significantly at this point, to around 1/40th human rate, causing them to maintain a youthful prime until around 850-900 years. They can live up to 1,000 years, with their aging speeding up dramatically this last century or so to around 1/2 the typical human rate.
• Alignment:  Chaotic Good.
• Size:  Medium, stand between 4’7" - 6’2"
• Speed:  30’.
• Skill Training:  You gain proficiency Perception and Survival.
• Weapn Training:  Proficient with Pikes, Shortswords, Longbows, and Shortbows.
• Reverie: They must sleep just as humans do, but while sleeping they are able to perfectly recall anything from their past through dreams. These memories fade somewhat upon waking, but if a particular aspect is focused upon when starting a Long Rest then immediately upon finishing the rest you can make an appropriate skill check(typically Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion) with Advantage to recall some bit of information/lore.
• Art of the Chameleon: By concentrating for 1 round you can wrap yourself in magic which causes you to blend in with your surroundings. This provides Advantage on Stealth checks provided that you move no more than 1/2 your Speed. This magic is extremely sensitive to strong emotions and thus cannot be maintained in combat.
• Life Sense: By actively concentrating as a Bonus Action you can sense the presence and vibrancy of life within a 30’ radius of you. The sensation is most commonly described along the lines of temperature as follows: alive and in good health (Warm); healthy plant life, or animal life in poor health (Lukewarm); plants in poor health, or animals in abysmal health/dying (Cold); and plants/creatures that will die or have died within 1 minute (freezing). Non-living creatures such as undead or constructs, as well as corpses, stones/minerals, and incorporeal creatures are merely voids in your perception with no temperature whatsoever.Since this does not rely on your normal sense you can use this ability while Blinded, Deafened, or otherwise unable to use your normal 5 senses. This does require the use of a Bonus Action every round it is used/maintained. This can be used to detect the presence of invisible creatures so long as that creature would normally be able to be sensed through this ability as described above, as well as to compensate for Blindness. At the start of any turn in which you are using your Life Sense in this way, you choose whether to negate your Disadvantage on Attack Rolls against a single creature or the creature’s Advantage on their Attack rolls against you.
• Languages:  Sylvan, Elven and 1 of the following – Common, Primordial, Gnomish, Orcish.

I’m not dead yet.

Dear friends and followers, I have been getting back into the groove of active campaigning. I try to keep accurate records, in case things should happen to go wrong ... it also helps to alert me to friends who have promised an order but who may have forgotten. Do not worry: I shall hunt you down.... Er. I mean, I shall send you a gentle reminder. Yes.

(Seriously though. I really appreciate everything I’ve gotten from you guys so far. Some of you have been hugely encouraging and enormously helpful. In many ways, this will be as much your victory as mine.)

Meanwhile! I’ve finally managed (after many, many takes) to record a video for the project page. Go take a look!

What to expect from me in the near future:

1. A third Peterkin Investigates IF game.
2. A floor plan for the Veterans’ Club.
3. A gentle reminder.

Now, let’s talk about a couple of works around here that I would really like to see getting further on their campaigns.

1) "Upload", Mark Meredith. I’ve spoken about this before, but it bears repeating: this is some quality noir happening here, for all it’s classed "science fiction". The Thriller Night Syndicate seems to agree, since they’ve named it this month’s pick. It tells the story of Detective Qin (look, an Asian hero! Not that I’m biased or anything!) in a world where people habitually clone themselves to guard against unexpected death. Well, here’s Qin in a newly cloned body, and the story opens in gritty, noir fashion on a crime scene where it’s discovered that the vic is ... Qin’s previous body. Seriously, if you love mysteries (and if you’re following "Murder at the Veterans’ Club", then chances are that you do) you’re going to love this one.

2) "The Fairy Stepmother, Inc.", Maggie Hoyt. This is a very different flavour, but delicious all the same. It’s Cinderella told from the stepmother’s point of view ... though I suspect there will be a number of twists thrown in. Evelyn, the stepmother in question, is introduced as an intelligent, independent woman, who has to deal with some rather rigid societal expectations; and it’s all told with some delightfully wry humour. Check it out: I promise you the prose will just race along like a drive through the countryside.

Until next week, friends! In the meantime ... don’t forget!

Hi everyone!  Happy Fall!

Long time, no chat, huh?  It’s been about a month and a half since It’s All Fun and Games went live, and I’ve got all sorts of news to share.

The first thing is that I was fortunate enough to receive some pretty cool media attention to coincide with the release.  I had a nice sit-down with John Holyoke from the Bangor Daily News, and I was featured both in their online paper and on the front page of the Lifestyle section.  IAFAG also was in a segment on the 207, a statewide public interest show that airs nightly in Bangor and Portland.  It was fun hearing people tell me that they’d seen or read about me.  Look out Kardashians, I’m coming for you.

I’ve also been out and about for a couple public appearances.  I had my first public book signing at The Briar Patch in downtown Bangor.  If you live locally, make sure you stop on by – it’s a wonderful store filled with books, games, and other things that the little people in your life will enjoy.  And then at the end of August I was the featured presenter the Orono-Old Town Kiwanis (which, having just recently seen Calendar Girls at Penobscot Theatre Company (Season Tickets Still Available!), makes me chuckle at the role of “featured presenter”), where I talked about NANOWRIMO, Inkshares, and all the nuggets of stuff that go into making the sausage we call a novel.

I had the horrifying experience of being asked by my award winning voice actor, Cassandra Lee Morris, how to pronounce a few words and realizing that I never really thought about how those combinations of letters would actually sound.  Garbaldar is a tricky one to roll off the tongue, and don’t even ask me how to pronounce Gahrauah.  I actually just punted and told her to make something up.  Memo to me – read all future novels aloud before sending them for publishing and make sure the names are actually pronounceable.  If you’d like to read more about Cassandra, you can visit her web page here.  She’s pretty impressive, that’s for sure!

Sales have remained steady, though they have tapered off somewhat.  Word of mouth is a wonderful thing, so if you know anyone who might be interested in It’s All Fun and Games, have them swing by their Friendly Local bookstore or Amazon and pick up a copy.  Or grab it on an e-reader, or in a week or two the ebook!

Also, if you’ve read the book, please swing by Amazon, Goodreads, and (if you have an account) Barnes And Noble and leave a review.  They don’t need to be long – “I really liked it” is plenty!  I’m currently sitting at 51 reviews on Amazon, but there were 578 people who preordered the book.  It’ll take just a few moments of your time, and can make a huge difference.  We haven’t yet broken into B&N’s retail stores (which would be instantly several thousand copies sold), but a couple hundred reviews on Amazon and Goodreads would make a pretty convincing argument. 

In fact, go do it now.  I’ll wait. 

….

See?  That wasn’t so hard, was it?  And now you have a warm fuzzy cause you know you did me a solid.  Speaking of which, I’ve had a number of people tell me that they’ve let the book around their office or circle of friends.  That’s great, and I hope your friends all enjoyed the book too.  Please ask all those folks to leave me a review as well.  3 minutes of clicking and typing is a great price to pay for a novel.

So, I think that’s all the news that’s news.  You may or may not have received an email from Inkshares regarding new contests.  There are three right now.  Of perhaps the most immediate interest to backers of It’s All Fun and Games are the Geek and Sundry Fantasy Contest and the Crypt TV Horror Contest.  If you’ve got any interest in helping another author fund their novel, here are some suggestions of books written by some of the buddies I’ve met throughout my own contest process –

 A Beast Requires

Apex

Arcadia

Bad Medicine

Exile, Magus

Phew!  That was long!  Thank you again for all your support, and I promise not to wait so long between mailings next time!