Asteroid Made of Dragons came out a year ago today.

Thank you.

Derek

Editing update!

I was thrilled to begin the editing portion of production, but I had no idea it would be this amazing. (I mean, I guess I did a little, because Inkshares posted their production process here.) I’m in the "story architecture" portion of the developmental edit. What this means is that my editor (the incredible Matt Harry, author of "Sorcery for Beginners," which you can check out here) started challenging me right off the bat. He threw great questions at me regarding what I want to say with my book and how I can make each character more meaningful in the story. 

Long story short, I’m restructuring the story. 

This is a GREAT thing, believe me. It does not offset the current release date aim of February/March of 2018, as long as I put in the work. And so far, I certainly have. In the two weeks since production has started, I redesigned the story into a four-page structure, and my editor, my beta readers, and I all see this becoming a story that is vastly improved and will be a fun read. 

Personally, I’m over the moon. 

At first, I’ll admit, being challenged on my own story and being presented with difficult questions was frustrating. Then I realized that pulling together a new and improved version is better for everything all around. This is a process I would not have gotten at a traditional publisher. Any other publisher would have simply helped me clean up the story I submitted. Working with Matt Harry makes me feel like I’m in a writer’s room and I’m the lead writer. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks working on the new and improved Mr. Butler, and I am sure that you all will enjoy the final product all the more. 

What’s next? I’m expanding my story structure into individual chapters with summaries describing what will occur in each chapter. Then Matt will go over everything with me and help me tighten the story up. 

After that, it’s rewriting time! I am excited to write this story. It’s going to flow quickly. 

With the detailed treatment my little book is getting already, I truly feel like a contest winner. And I won thanks to all of your support. Thank you. 

I will let you know when the chapter summaries are finished and I’m moving on to getting this adventure down onto pages. Until then, just know that I love you all. 

And if you haven’t preordered, you can here. Thank you for your support everyone.

-Michael.

Hi all my buddies! (Can I call you my buddies? I totally feel like we’re buddies at this point) 

So, Space Tripping has officially launched! And honestly, it’s been awesome. I’ve been greatly humbled by the support I received at our first two book signings... Look at this picture!

That’s Space Tripping! On an end-cap at a Barnes and Noble! How cool is that? 

If you’re getting this email, then you helped make this happen. Words cannot do justice to how grateful I am. Thank you. 

And, hey, if you’re in the Chicago area, we have one more book signing scheduled. It is this Friday, March 31st. We’ll be at:

City Lit Books, 2523 N Kedzie Blvd, Chicago, IL 60647 - 6:30-8:00pm

If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll come say "Hi!" (And do it just like that... literally shout "Hi!" at me)

Byeeeeeeeeeee...

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

We’re coming down to the wire. I spoke with the team at Inkshares yesterday and they are aiming to have galley proofs for Sorcery for Beginners in four weeks time. "Galleys", for those who don’t know, are the final print-outs of the book’s pages before it’s sent to the printer. So we are getting close to the final version. Even as I write this, I’m reading through the manuscript and making a few last tweaks.

But for now, I want to show you what the actual Codex Arcanum looks like. This is the bookstore where Owen first meets Euphemia Whitmore and gets his copy of Sorcery for Beginners. The store has entrances at 10 different spots all over the globe, which is why it’s made up of all these different architectural styles. It serves a few other functions as well, but to learn what those are you’ll have to read the book. 

Hope everyone is well, and I’ll send out more illustrations and updates soon!

mh

n

Yesterday Inkshares finished the final layout of The Punch Escrow and sent it off for galley printing (that’s book biz talk for advance reader copies). The book’s gotten some AMAZING blurbs from some AMAZING people. I wanted to share my favorites with you:

"An alt-futuristic hard-science thriller with twists and turns you’ll never see coming. I couldn’t put it down." - Felicia Day, author of the bestselling You’re Never Weird On The Internet (Almost), Geek & Sundry founder, and soon to be Kinga Forrester in Mystery Science Theatre 3000!

"This book angered me to my core, because it’s based on an idea that should have occurred to me. The fact that Tal executed it so well, and made such a page-turner out of it, just adds insult to injury." - Scott Meyer, author of the Magic 2.0 series

"The Punch Escrow will have you rooting for its plucky, sarcastic hero as he bounces between religious fanatics, secret agents, corporate hacks and megalomaniacs in a quest to get his life back." - Robert Kroese, author of the Mercury Falls series, Starship Grifters series

More news soon!

-Tal

Pub Day Update!

Well, it didn’t take long for today to get crazy. Those of you who had issues downloading the ebook, please try again. It should be all set.