BEHOLD! TECHNOLOGY!

If you are like me, that is to say, a denizen of the FUTURE, than you are capable of teleportation, have a robot butler, and read books via brain implants. For those of you hipsters who still use handheld computers for nostalgia purposes (there is nothing quite like the smell of fresh downloads), well, I have some exciting news...

 
RELEASE THE E-BOOK!

That’s right. If you ordered the e-book version of An Unattractive Vampire (or both e-book and print option) than it is on its way to you in a series of 1s and 0s via outer space satellites (uphill both ways). 

Hooray! I hope you enjoy this silly monster book I thought up almost a decade ago.

Now comes the important part: once you’ve read the entire thing (which for those of you without brain implants may take at least a day of binge reading), it would be great if you could rate and review it on Amazon and Goodreads, but especially Amazon. The more love I can get for the book on Amazon, the more Amazon’s algorithms will push my book, the more people will see my book, the more people will buy my book, the more successful the book will be, the more likely it will be that I’ll be allowed to write more books. Or...to simplify that rambling run-on, Amazon reviews = Good. 

Thanks everyone for buying a book and I hope you have fun reading it.

Jim

I know I said the next update would be once we will reach 250 pre order. BUT I wanted to share 2 things with you.

First, I have been interviewed on  mythsmistsmusings blog you can read the interview here.

 We are at 12 pre order to reach Quill !!! and only 8 days left in the campaign.

Please share with your friends, pre order if you haven’t done so :)

thank you :)

This contest thing is hard. I must say that. Much respect to everyone involved, because I have been in contact with several people who have been involved with previous contests, and they all agree that pushing your book through a contest is extremely stressful.

And it’s true. I have had to transform myself from a guy who writes stories into a guy who also sells his stories. It’s waaay outside of my comfort zone, and I find myself apologizing every time I ask someone to buy a copy of my book. 

Typical conversation:

Me: "I’m sorry to bother you, (friend). Would you mind maybe, possibly buying my book? I’m sorry for asking."

Friend: "Oh sure! When can I have it?" 

Me: "Umm...I don’t know, really. The only way I can find out is if enough people buy it. Then I win a contest, and then I’ll get the book published, and then I might know when you get a copy...I’m sorry." 

Friend: "So...you want me to buy something that I may or may not get?"

Me: "I’m sorry. Yes, you may get a copy, or you may get your money refunded. It depends. I’m sorry." 

Friend: "Okay...is your book any good?" 

Me: "I think so...but I’m sorry for asking you to buy it before it’s ready." 

Friend: "I’ll think about it, okay?"

Me: "Okay...but I’ll have to keep bugging you about it every day because it’s in a contest...I’m sorry."

Friend: "Stop saying ’I’m sorry!’"

Me: "Okay...sorry about that." 

I hope I still have friends when this whole thing is over, no matter how it turns out.

Just my feelings for today as we’ve hit the halfway point in this thing. Good luck to everyone involved! 

And thank you to everyone for your support! As always, please feel free to contact me if you want to network, want to do a pre-order exchange, want to pitch your novel, or just want to vent about this contest. I’m here: madmrbutler@gmail.com

Have a great day, everybody! I’m off to the ER on a Monday, so wish me luck!

Love, love, love,

-Michael.

CONTINUING COVERAGE OF EVENTS

Hey folks,

So, it happened. I received the final e-mail from Girl Friday, the production company that has been handling all things editorial and the final version has been sent to the printers! It’s done! We did it! (Well not quite yet. I’ll get to that.) Thank you to everyone at Girl Friday for being great and pushing me to make my book the best it could possibly be. 

So from here on out, it’s all about pushing the book for me! To that end, there are some pretty big deal happenings that you should be aware of starting with...

A LAUNCH PARTY! Yep. It’s been confirmed. An Unattractive Vampire will be coming out in style here in Chicago with an official launch party at Bucket O’ Blood Books and Records. So in the midst of your St. Patty’s Day stupor come out (please come out) and buy a book or get your book signed and say hi and then go back to green beer and vomiting on sidewalks, a Chicago tradition. For more information about Bucket O’ Blood you can visit their website or Facebook page.

Also...THE SWORD AND LASER! In very much another "crossing off a life goal" moment, I will be appearing on The Sword and Laser podcast on March 15 (PUBLISHING DAY). So you’ll be able to listen to me stumble through a haze of glee and make a fool of myself very soon. Also, if you have any questions for me (looking at you other authors) head over here and ask them. I have wisdom dammit! Let me share it!

Finally, the Nerdist space opera contest is still going strong with a just under a month to go. If you happen to like starships battles and alien wars, you might want to head over there and check it out. Here are a few suggestions:

The Madness of Mr. Butler by Michael Haase: The tale of an eccentric old man on a far away planet desperately trying to prove that his world is a sphere circling a star. Also, God talks to him through an astronauts helmet.

Aurora by Taylor Hopkins: A bounty hunter faces off against a criminal mastermind in a planet-hopping adventure. The sample chapter reads like a combination of Alien and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Lucky by RH Webster about a woman hitching a ride back to earth from the dusty end of space. I’ll be honest, there aren’t a lot of details about the plot for this one, but the writing is REALLY good.

Anyway, until next time everyone.

Much later than intended with this Sunday’s reviews/recommendations (I will neither confirm or deny that this was due to a series of unplanned naps as I sat in my way too comfy chair at this desk or as I prefer to call them “nap ambushes”), which I suppose would technically be Monday reviews/recommendations at this point. I’m sticking with the same format as last week with this one (1 book from my old short list, 1 underdog space opera not currently in the top 10, and 1 space opera currently in the top 10), so I’ll just jump right into it. As always, links are embedded in the bold text.

“Infinity Mind”  by   Patrick Jamison: Oppressive government? Mars colony? Telepathic assassin? Yes to all three, and the first 2 chapters presented here make me happy to have answered so. The first chapter serves as an excellent pressure cooker, serving to quickly introduce and humanize Mason through his extreme pain, both physical and emotional, during an ordeal which also serves as the hook to draw us into the main plot on hand. Chapter 2 pulls back from Mason to give us a real look at the larger world, or in this instance colony. What we are shown is a significant glimpse into a fully developed world, populated by real people and with a well laid out political structure. I am confident in the promise this glimpse makes, and am eager to continue reading about the El Dorado colony as well as the ordeals and intrigue which both it and Mason are most certainly barreling towards.

“The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life”  by  Michael Sebby: Filled with excellent characterization, Mr. Sebby also does a wonderful job of juxtaposing the familiar waking world with the sometimes surreal, sometimes sinister, and often prophetic dreams of the main character, Jacob. Throughout the first 4 chapters presented here we are left to ponder the reality of the dreams as well as the waking world they so often intersect. Are they truly prophetic? Just what are the people/creatures encountered in some of the more unusual dreams? I look forward to reading more and finding out just what is real, unreal, and more importantly where this is all taking Jacob.

“The Lonely Space Lounge”  by  Gregory Wlasiuk and Venkat Malladi: Told in a series of transmissions from different crew members on the same ship, the narrative proceeds in a non-standard format which I immediately fell in love with. Assigned to the Healthy Beverage Division in the Cosmic Empire, the crew certainly has their individual quirks as they work alongside each other aboard what is best described as a brewery ship. The portions presented here show a wealth of wit, unique voices to each character, and just enough detail to give one the sense that something is not quite right. Delving deeper into that mystery alongside this cast of well-written, unique characters promises to be very much a joy.