12 Days left until Pub day! In 3 days I will be jetting off to CA to sign the backer copies of The Seclusion, which are being printed now. I have also received word that E-book copies will be distributed as early as tomorrow. If you ordered a paperback, and you receive an E-Book file download link, don’t fear! The E-Book is just an extra perk.

Though I will send a larger email to my full mailing list on September 4th, I wanted to send a note through Inkshares to all of you - the original backers of a manuscript that was once titled The Walls are Closing In.

It has been a long 16 months since the campaign ended in May of 2017. The story has since been renamed and had countless hours of work poured into it by me and the amazing team at Inkshares. We have reached the end of the road.

I don’t know if I can adequately express how much I appreciate all of you, and the leap of faith you took for me when you backed this book. In 12 days The Seclusion will appear on bookstore shelves across the country and I will forever be a published author. I just want all of you to know that I realize I couldn’t have done this without you.

Thank you.

-Jacqui

Fifty-six pre-orders! FIFTY-SIX! That’s all we need now for Proteus to receive its full publication deal.

Fifty-six is nothing. We can absolutely get fifty-six. I’m incredibly confident in this.

Not so confident that I’m going to get complacent, mind you. It’s not time to celebrate yet, not by a longshot. But we could absolutely get that many orders in the next day. It’s not even an unrealistic goal, at this point.

Let’s go for one more big push. I would love nothing more than to have my very next update be the big “we did it!” update. We are so, so incredibly close.

So let’s have at it!

If you haven’t yet pre-ordered your copy of Proteus, now is absolutely the time to do it. You could be one of the last 56 people it takes to see this book become a published reality. If you have already ordered a copy, please consider picking up a second, or even better, grab a friend or family member and get them to order one. It only takes 56 more, which is a paltry number compared to the 694 orders we’ve already brought in.

Either way, I’m intensely grateful for all the support that’s already come in for this book. Your generosity and dedication to the success of my work is the greatest honor I could ever hope for. I literally couldn’t have gotten this far without all your help. As far as I’m concerned, this isn’t even “my” book. I’m just writing it. It belongs to “us.” You’re all as integral to the process as I am.

Anyway. Enough rambling from me for a bit. I’ve decided to treat you to another lore update, ‘cause why the heck not?

If I hadn’t made it abundantly clear already, Proteus is a war story. But how does warfare actually work when the “battlefield” is a city-sized starship? To partially answer that question, let’s take a look at one of the main weapons being used to fight this war: the Rivali V-780 submachine gun.

Bay Area Authors! Meet Dean Fearce and The Black Hats Writers Group at Mountain View Public Library, Sat. Aug. 25th, 2-4 pm. We’ll be signing and selling the Fresh Cuts Anthologies.

Great news, friends!

Proteus has had the honor of being supported by its third syndicate! Today, the Great SciFi for the 21st Century and Beyond Syndicate selected Proteus for their August pick. They previously supported Tantalus Depths as well, and it remains as big an honor now as it was then. They’ve supported many excellent books over the past few years, and it’s humbling to have two of my books on the list.

Thanks to them, and a large outpouring of support from many, many amazing people, Proteus has also achieved a second milestone today: we’ve passed 650 pre-orders! We now have less than a hundred orders remaining before reaching that coveted full publication goal. I have been waiting so eagerly to see those numbers go down to double digits for the past year. I can hardly believe we’ve made it this far.

But we haven’t made it all the way, yet. 100 pre-orders is still a lot, and we now have only 12 days to get them. Stay vigilant! Keep spreading the word! The finish line is in sight. We could hit our goal by the end of the week if we really push for it, and I, for one, am pushing as hard as I can.

Hello to one and all!

I wanted to briefly send out a call for reviews on the book’s Amazon page. If you have enjoyed the book, then I would be grateful for the support. Having such wonderful support from family, friends, and quite a few new friends makes all the difference in the world for me because of how much time went into the work. As for news, there’s not much to tell at the moment, I’m still working out the details of some promotional events for the book, but the Navy schedule makes that a little difficult. Regardless, I am still in the process of writing more stories and hopefully will have an update in that realm soon.

Thanks!

Stephen Carignan

Time to check in with an update, like it or not.

We’re down to the last 19 days in Proteus’s funding period, and we’re just shy of the 600 pre-order mark at 592. In the past ten days, we’ve brought in 34 pre-orders. Which is impressive, and I could not be thankful for every single one of them. You guys rock.

I have to be honest, though. At this rate, it won’t be enough.

We need to get 158 new pre-orders in the next 19 days, or Proteus won’t happen. Averaging that out, that’s a bit over eight pre-orders a day. That’s more than I can handle on my own. I’ve gone to everyone I know and explored as many other avenues as I’ve been able to find, but the well is running dry. This is where I start getting truly desperate for help.

If any of you are on the fence about ordering, or have friends or family who said they’d be interested but haven’t yet come through, now is absolutely the time. If any of you can manage to support Proteus directly with a second pre-order of your own, I’d be forever grateful.

We CAN do this. I know we can. We’ve done it before. But the key word there is “we.” Proteus will be written thanks to me, but it will only exist as a published novel thanks to you. It’s going to take an army to get this thing done. So it’s time to rally the troops.