Hey there! Wrapping up my lunch break today by updating this draft a bit. I’ve incorporated some feedback, made some other changes, added things I hate and removed things I loved. Then said "screw it" and added back some things.
Then I got irritated at the whole affair and decided to leave it alone for a while.
Then I read it again, did some edits, and now I’m uploading it for you guys to check out! I *neeeeeeed* feedback! Please let me know your thoughts. And I truly appreciate the brave - if you don’t like something, tell me and tell me why. Thank you so much for your support and interest!
IN BETA just received a glowing review from another staple of Portland, OR... the Unipiper!

We’ve hit another milestone today! Can you guess what it is?

That’s right! Tantalus Depths has just passed 300 pre-orders! As promised, I’m going to be making my original short story, The Perspective Machine, available for free to everyone for a short time. From June 18 to June 22nd, anyone will be able to download it for free off Amazon, already formatted nicely for your e-reader. Click the pretty cover image below to go check it out!

I hope you enjoy it! If you do, please give it a nice little rating over there on Amazon, and feel free to tell your family and friends to pick up a copy for themselves. And definitely don’t stop sharing Tantalus Depths! We’re getting close to the halfway mark, but there are only two months left in Tantalus Depths’s campaign, so we need all the support we can get!
Lots of great news!
The Seventh Aspect is now an Inkshares staff pick! It’s also received a recommendation from none other than our fearless leader, and Inkshares CEO Jeremy Thomas! (I certainly didn’t see that one coming). To say I am humbled and grateful is an understatement.
I’d just finished another big round of edits on the posted chapters right before he sent his recommendation. So keeping your drafts updated and improved pays, folks. You never know who is lurking.
In honor of this fun occasion:
1. I have a long professional history in showbiz, so I’m a sucker for dream casts. I’ve decided to share my dream cast for the main characters in chapters 1 and 2. Here’s the kicker: I’m not posting their character names. So that means you’ll have to read to figure out who’s who.

2. There’s a reference to an infamous 70’s horror film in chapter 1. Our main extraterrestrial character has a thing for human sci-fi and horror media. So bonus points if you catch it and know what it is. It’s funny, I promise. Similar funky references will be sprinkled throughout the story.
Two more chapters are on the way. You’ll get to meet more of our alien researchers, and maybe even travel to another dimension. Mmmm....dimensions....
As always, if you like what you read, please leave a comment or review. Thanks so much again for your interest. It means a lot.
Stay tuned…
The first of (hopefully) many blog posts about Squids In just went live over on www.nellwalton.com so be sure to head over and have a read. It might give you a little insight into the person behind the octopus!
Matthew