I will begin with the obligatory thank you to all readers, old and new.  Your support is, as always, both overwhelming and motivating.

That said, I'm far better at writing than marketing, so I am going to focus less on the obsessive strain to promote The Defeated and win this contest and instead plunge into the next pages.

To describe this project in further depth to each of my supporters, the basic idea goes something like this:

A string of shorter stories with bookended prologues and epilogues that tell a continuous tale in the "present" while past episodes occur in the pages between in novella form.  An eventual compendium more in line with the conventional length of a fantasy tome culminating in the conclusion of the "present" story would tell the whole of the Something Like A Hero tale (which would certainly not be the only collection of stories to occur in this world I've spent so many years building).  My hope is to deliver tightly plotted, exhilarating fantasy adventures rife with social commentary and a whole mess of fun without dragging them and spending any more words than necessary.

Did you ever find yourself reading or viewing a modern fantasy tale and thoroughly appreciating the grim dark realism, but yearning, aching for a larger than life hero like Zorro or Robin Hood to break in and set things right?  To do it naturally, without it feeling contrived or absurd, despite the confines of a cruel corrupt world?  That's what I'm going for with Something Like A Hero and later projects, and what you can find already in The Defeated.

To prep myself for today's pages I have spent an entire morning watching Inigo Montoya face The Dread Pirate Roberts.  Rob Roy MacGregor conquer Archibald Cunningham.  Errol Flynn snark at Basil Rathbone as their blades clash.  Antonio Banderas and Sir Anthony Hopkins rescue California with charm and intellect and swords.

Dear Readers, your support is encouraging.  If you'd like to see this type of work reach the presses and foster the continuations, please keep spreading the word with friends, family, and co-workers.  As for me, I have adventures to write.
-Joe