Dear Readers,

TIME IS RUNNING OUT. This is it. The final 24 hours of the Nerdist Space Opera contest is upon us. I am sad to report that LUCKY is still trapped at number 5 and a very solid 75 UNIQUE READERS behind where it needs to be to win the book deal. We’ve had a good run, but I don’t see us making any Hail Mary plays in the next 24 hours to get us across that finish line.

Chin up, though. I have a plan. If nothing else, we are only 25 copies from our Quill goal of 250. This is damn amazing, if you ask me. Your support and your faith in this novel are heartwarming and have kept me smiling over the past month and a half. 

If we do not win tomorrow, the funding deadline for LUCKY will most likely be extended until May 2. We will take maybe a day to regroup, drink some more coffee and maybe eat a donut...then it will be 100 miles a minute back on this marketing stuff. Stay tuned for updates as we go along!

As always, a thousand thank-yous for your support and faith!

- Webster

PS: Please forgive any typos...this message is being relayed from a mobile communications platform.  

Dear Readers,

Hello everyone. Thank you for your support. Today I was on the radio to promote The 9th Planet :) http://lazer1033.com/moose/iowa-author-ricky-dragoni/ The competition ends tomorrow, please pull the trigger & pre-order. Gracias!

Well, here it is. The last day of the Nerdist contest is upon us. 

Currently we need 100 more orders to win. This is the last chance. 

In your support can you reach out to a family member? A friend? A colleague? In a society filled with book enthusiasts we should be able to find people to get excited about this project. 

But it’s going to take a personal effort. We’ve spammed social media to death, but have we been messaging our friends and acquaintances? And for those of you who have, let’s send out reminders that today is the last day. Every order counts.

What happens if we don’t win?
That’s a question I’m trying not to think too hard about. Short answer, it’s not the end of the line. We essentially get an extension via Inkshares to the end of May to gain 750 pre-orders for the same result (editing, publishing, marketing, distribution), just outside the Nerdist collection. At 250 we still get to publish under Inkshares, but without all these lovely services. So we get some breathing room, but the challenge increases. And I don’t know about you, but I’d like to close this campaign successfully tomorrow. 

Your-Nervously-Fidgety-Space-Captain,
-AC

ps: happy pi day

pps: hand sketch today because my tablet was being unhelpful

Thanks everyone for your support. Only a couple days left. Just uploaded 4th chapter. Please enjoy and pre-order! :) Gracias!

We have a spiffing new letterhead. Marvellous, isn’t it?

One more week before the pre-order sales campaign goes live. It’s so exciting I spent the last six hours failing to type this up. I did manage, however, to upload another Peterkin short mystery onto Wattpad: "The Thirteenth Rule", which is set just a little later than the stories I’ve uploaded so far. 1931, to be exact. It’s also less of a whodunnit and more of a whydunnit. Enjoy.

I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about JF Dubeau’s second novel, "A God in the Shed". Honestly, I think this beats his first novel. I’ve described it elsewhere as "a little bit Lovecraft, a little bit Twin Peaks", and I’m not sure I can sum it up better than that. The characters felt real and distinct from the moment I met them, and the world appropriately familiar. If you haven’t picked this up yet, I suggest you do so.

I’d also like to mention "Judith", by Zack Budryk, which just caught my eye today. It sold me within the first four paragraphs, with the easy flow of its prose and the way the personality of the viewpoint character is deftly and effortlessly conveyed. This will be a novel well worth getting, I think.

And that’s the news for this week. When next I post an update, it will be to announce the opening of the pre-order sales campaign. Until then, ladies and gentlemen!