12 days left!

Thank you to Jack Quaranta, Brian James Freeman, Brian Keith Jones, EvaMarie Davis, and Catherine Newman for their recent orders! We’re now at a solid 275! I plan on asking for one more extension post-May 17th (the newest end date), and getting Showtime’s order total to 300 by then, which is my mini-goal, would help make the case for Inkshares to approve one last push!

Remember, eBooks are only $10.00 and you CAN e-mail them as a gift. Two lattes at Starbucks will cost you roughly the same amount as an eBook, but a 400+ page book will give you more hours of entertainment and bang for your buck. It’s math, people. ;) So if you’d consider buying an extra copy for yourself or a friend (or maybe you drink too much on this Cinco de Mayo and order ten), I’d be super appreciative (and a special thank you to those who already have).

I’ve gotten a lot of comments from people who want to read the whole book and I can’t emphasize this enough: it can’t happen without you!

Thanks again to every single one of you who has pre-ordered so far, read, reviewed, shared, and showed enthusiasm for me and my book since January. We’re almost there, you guys. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Ricky

Things are moving – and they’ve gone about as far north as you can go.

Greetings my friends and readers of Ripe For Execution!

I’m sorry it’s been a looooong time since my last update, I know, but I wanted to wait until I had more to say than just "...watch this space!"

Now, though, things are really exciting.

By a quirk of fate, I’ve found myself sat in the tippity-top of the Scottish Highlands. Look out from my godmother’s lodge here, and you can see Cape Wrath – about as far north in the UK as you can go. I’m really here because I drove my father the 1,000-mile journey to see some of his oldest friends (starting with a detour from Cambridgeshire to Hampshire, y’see...) – but, while we reside here for the next few days, where better to bring all my focus into a book about a thrilling competition for dominance than a place called "Wrath"?

But this is by no means the start of the next chapter. As in the Bond movie Skyfall, a fair bit has happened before your protagonist finds himself hiding away in an isolated lodge to enact the final stages of a plan. I’ve taken onboard the thoughts of my editor Adam... the insights of writing coach Lisa Cron... inspiration gleaned from a range of "research reading" including JK Rowling, Gillian Flynn and Christopher Huang... and observations from many of you, dear readers... and I’ve distilled them into a final revision plan for Ripe For Execution that prompted Adam to say, in our phone call last Saturday, "This is getting me really excited!"

Many of you, including Adam, told me that you loved the character of Theo, and wanted to see more of him – which, given he’s the main character in the book, was both heartening and a subtle nudge to me as a writer that I’m doing a great job... but I could do it better. With the help of Adam and Lisa, the story is now much more Theo-focused, and is going to be less And Then There Were None and more Gone Girl – that is, less about whittling away a cast of suspects and more about one man’s struggle to be understood.

That doesn’t mean we’re stripping the suspense and mystery away though. Far from it. Adam has got me pressure-testing the motivations of my villains, wrapping them in a more believable set of clues and red herrings, all the while not losing sight of the original terrorist plot, the theme of control, nor the story question – the clash between compassion and unchangeable evil – all of which I’ve honed with the help of Lisa Cron’s amazing book, Wired For Story.

There’ve been other activities "behind-the-scenes" which are also stoking my creative fire, including the comments from many of you backing up Adam’s words to me that "Your prose is excellent" and "You write some great voices". There’ve also been a few things said to me that are really, really encouraging – but I fear I mustn’t say them here in case I jinx things...

So, as I chat with Adam and plot the novel’s final course over the next few days up here in Cape Wrath, I hope you feel as excited as Adam and me about the (very near) future of Ripe For Execution; so as I now say "watch this space", you really want to!

With that, then... watch this space!

Ciao for niao, folks – and thank you again, ever so greatly, for your support so far.

–Chip

Hey, folks. I hope everyone had a great weekend and stayed dry, depending on where you are in relation to spring floods. A sincere thank you to everyone who has come on board since my last update on Friday.

Further to that update, here we are, with now only a day and a half left on the campaign. If I don’t hear from Inkshares this afternoon, I will be reaching out for tomorrow morning.

To help ease the nail-biting suspense in the meantime, why not go for an epic finish and aim for 500!

I have said before but can’t stress enough -- any and all last-minute support DOES matter to help swing a decision by Inkshares editors in my favour. Surely you have a friend or family member who appreciates the gift of a good (fantasy) read. Why not bump up your pre-order total with another copy for them as a gift?

Remember, there will be thank you gifts for everyone who has ordered two or more copies if this campaign succeeds. And if it doesn’t, you get a refund on all your pre-orders, no strings attached. Either way, I am making that donation to Autism Ontario on behalf of my son and nephews of one dollar for each pre-ordered copy.

Cheers

Leo

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve been slacking on regular updates, I’ll try and stay on top of it for everyone. Blind is still in the pre-production phase at Inkshares, which isn’t a fast process. Generally, traditional publishing takes over a year for a novel to be released, so I hope you all understand why you don’t have the book in your hands just yet. I’m supposed to be updated May 1st from the publisher on the next steps and hopefully have a release date for you all. While it seems I’ve been absent, I promise you I’ve been  busy working on another story to bring to everyone. This summer I will be releasing my novella "damned to hell" and everyone that pre-ordered will be given a free eBook! If you desperately want a physical copy, those will be for sale at a "blind preorder discount". If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can! Thanks everyone!

Hey, everyone. It’s May. I know ... yet more time has passed. This book has been an arduous labor, and the years since I brought it to this platform have been some of the most tumultuous of my life. Still, I’ve been diligent despite what’s been happening. I’ve not been idle. I’ve been devoted to shaping the most worthwhile version of the novel with which (as I mentioned previously) both Inkshares and I (and—most importantly—you) can be satisfied. I can’t thank Inkshares enough, particularly Avalon Radys, for their patience and determination. And, if you’ve not forgotten completely about this work, I thank you, too, for your patience. Job’s (rhymes with "globe") got nothing on you all.

The "final" proof (as anyone who’s ever worked on versions of anything will know, the word "final" when it comes to proofs is a bit of a cruel mockery of the work that still needs to be done) was delivered the day I arrived in the Pacific NW last week. It was tough to look it over and be on vacation, since it consisted of spending time with a friend whom I’d not seen in six years, and his new family. Since the sudden death of my best friend in 2017, I’ve made it a point to take the big trips to see those whom I wish that I could see more often, no matter how far away they are. Living one’s life can sometimes be the biggest obstacle toward "getting things done." But I chipped away at the proof and, this morning, I sent it back to the publisher.

It is my ardent hope that this will be the version that goes to print and the protracted story of this story will finally culminate in a physical book.