Chris and I would REALLY appreciate your help in spreading the word via Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media you use!

Here's a direct link you can copy and paste!

https://www.inkshares.com/projects/the-amaranth-chronicles

Hello everyone!

 As always, I have to start by thanking all of you for your support! After a brief scare over the weekend (I think I aged a decade over those few hours), we are back in 3rd place in the Sword and Laser contest!

I am extremely grateful to all of you, and so I have decided to emulate some of my fellow Inkshares authors and thank you with a gift card draw on January 15th. Specifically, I’ll be drawing 2 names from all of those who have pre-ordered my book to win a 50$ gift card each… More, if we finish in the top 3 at 3pm eastern time on January 15th- I’ll double it and draw another 2 names.

This contest is still anyone’s game, and we have 11 more days to hold on to one of the top 3 spots. Every single reader is hugely important and could easily make the difference. So I have to ask again, if you are following the project but haven’t hit that pre-order button, please do so. If you have, please ask your significant other, friends and parents to sign up!

 I also wanted to share a screenshot of where my more recent supporters are located. I am amazed looking at this map! It’s hard to believe that my work is being read by people all over the world (and Spain and Hong Kong aren’t even showing anymore).

I am extremely thankful for all of your help and support. I can’t say it enough.

You guys are awesome!!

As a special thank you to those who know me in person but never saw me with hair... This is for you! From all the way back to when Highlander came out!

Sunday recommendation time again.  I'm going to continue to be a bit lazy since I'm now down to books that have more than a month left in funding on my short list, and I'll only be recommending 2 today as well as sharing some more reviews for my own book(we're up to 262 followers and 68 orders in case you were wondering).  Hopefully you'll be purchasing 3 different books as a result of this.

 "Exile, Magus" by me:  Andrew Wood, author of Storm of Fury says, "What stands out the most about Exile, Magus is its unique approach to a story.  Thomas Arnold has brought something new and dazzling to the world of Fantasy, and Exile, Magus will make a fine addition to any book shelf."

Rob Gokee, author of Tacocity: Los Angeles Through the Eyes of a Tacophile, says, "With his preview of Chapter 5, Thomas paints a grim & visceral view of the aftermath of a battle. There are casualties on both sides, and you find yourself feeling for characters you've just met in a world of elves and shapeshifters. Thomas' writing draws you in, and threatens to keep you there."

These were also two of my favorite reviews, right after John Robin's, because they seem to grasp two things I was going for with this book.   The first was a departure from typical fantasy, namely due to "the hero's journey" of Exile, Magus being an internal one which is only illuminated by the (action-packed) going ons around Pentaz and Buscidia as opposed to the more standard fantasy model of "the hero's journey" being created by grand forces outside of the character with the internal being a reaction to them.  The other point is that I did try to make it a point to always show the suffering on both sides of battles, which is the sole reason I tend to get pretty descriptive with my battles and the deaths that accompany them. On to the wonderful work of others now.

"The Animal in Man" by Joseph Aspahani: I'm not normally a fan of the anthropomorphic, but I can't not enjoy the opening chapter. Through excellent writing Joseph pulls you into a rolling scene of tracking a target as well as the moment when things get more complicated than the tracker wants them to. Throughout it all you feel as if you are right there with Maxan, the fox-man doing the tracking, on the streets and rooftops, spying on a hyena bandit, a wolf cultist, and a couple of mystery entrants. I want more of this book so I can continue to unravel the mystery that Maxan and I only got to see the very beginning of.

"Omega Children" by Mike Bologna: 'Tracking the development and maturation of synthetic life, Omega Children gives a unique take on the birth of A.I.' That short description from the book's page definitely hooked me. Seeing the evolution up to full A.I. to me is even more fascinating than seeing the aftermath. Both the prologue and the sample chapter are the book's page are excellently written, and each provide a decided different tone. With the prologue we are taken into what I presume to be a much later point in the story when you have a seemingly sinister moment as the main character comes to the realization that the machine is in fact alive. With the sample chapter you get what is mostly the main character's largely internal ponderings on just what qualifies something as alive, a practice in philosophy which manages to be both humorous at times and thought provoking throughout. It also sheds light on the realization from the prologue. If you're like me and a fan of science fiction that makes you think, or more accurately to philosophize, then this certainly seems like the book for you.

My own book's funding period ends 1/22 so don't wait around to go ahead and preorder your copy of it. "The Animal in Man" funding period ends around 2/18 and "Omega Children" ends around 3/6 though this assumes my math is correct on both of those so be sure to check them out yourself to make sure.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts, order some books, and keep enjoying this new year.

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a fantastic New Years. I had the good fortune of spending the holidays up in Toronto, Canada, at the Royal York! 

I just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that I've added several new chapters to the Inkshares page for The Children of the Forest. A 7th chapter will be available later tonight, and the 8th will be released on Monday morning.

I'm very happy with the current draft of the novel, and progress has been moving at quite a lovely pace. I also did a short interview on Off-Beat Cinema this past week, and hope to have the clip up on my page shortly!

Looking forward, we are currently maintaining a competitive placement in the S&L contest, and just a couple pre-orders could easily turn the tide against me, or in my favor. If anyone has yet to pre-order a copy of my book, I'm begging you to jump on the bandwagon now and get yourself a copy (or 10) as there are only two weeks left before the end of the 2nd S&L contest!

That's pretty much it for now, I'll post another short update once I've added the new chapters (7+8) to the page! Thanks everyone for all your support, here's to another fabulous year ~

Hey folks,

 I should've put out this update a long long time ago. Now that I had officially missed Christmas, New Year and even my birthday put out this update, I feel like I'm just making excuses to not put any updates at this point. Nw year resolution #1: do reader updates more frequently.

We officially have 66 preorders now! That's the equivalent of 314 cups of Starbucks coffee! Thanks to all the people that had came here and bought my book, I cannot express my gratitude enough. Only 6 months ago, I had been a nobody hack writer that no one knows. 

I now have quickly become a name in community and met (digitally) many great writers such as John Robin, J.F. Dubeau, Paul Inman, Cara Weston (the lady who made Review-a-thon possible), Thomas Arnold, and many more. They're the pillars of the community and had been here to help others to make their dreams come true. 

If any of the people I had mentioned above happened to be reading this, happy new year and keep on keeping on. It's because of this community that I gained confidence in my writing, started a YouTube channel and had one of the best years in my life. 

The New Year had came and went, but when I reflected on the things I had done last year, I saw the ripples that I had metaphorically made. I wouldn't brag, but I saw beyond my book. I had become a contributor to John Robin's blog, and had done a lot of things beyond just typing words. I never regretted a single moment of last year, and I hope that things get better from here on out. Let's see how far my ambitions can take me.

Sincerely,

Yicheng Liu

Hello everyone!

It's been awhile since my last update, but I just wanted to throw a few items of interest out there.

First, I added a new book trailer earlier this week to the Inkshares page. I'm pretty happy with it, so please check it out if you haven't already.

I gained a few more orders this past week from some generous people, which I greatly appreciate, as always. You guys make this crazy ride worthwhile for me and energize me every time I see enthusiasm for my writing.

After hemming and hawing over the idea, I decided to jump on the raffle bandwagon. I'm not going to start drawing names until I get some of my wares in the mail that I plan to raffle, though. When those arrive, I will raffle items at every 10 readers. Each reader will have their name in the drawing. Anyone who ordered the eBook (Inhabitant level) will get one entry. Anyone who ordered the eBook & hard copy (Dreamer level) will get two entries. Anyone who ordered multiple copies (Narcoleptic level) will get as many entries as the number of books they ordered. No one can win more than one prize, though, so multiple entries just increases your chances of winning (which is still a victory!). So, by that estimation, I owe you 4 raffle drawings at this moment.

Here's the weirdest item I wanted to discuss. I had a vivid dream last night that actually inspired a new character (actually even a group) and plot line for the novel. I am currently brainstorming on how to integrate them, and I have a few ideas of how to do so. I'm really excited about this! It's one of those stranger-than-fiction scenarios that was hard to ignore: An idea via a dream for a dream-based novel. Hmm. It goes to show that my brain never takes a rest from writing.

I hope your miscellaneous holidays were wonderful, and you're enjoying your first two days of 2016.

Good night, and happy dreaming!