A new entry has been added to Mr. Butler’s diary at thediaryofmrbutler.wordpress.com! For those of you who are new followers, I am posting in the link provided a prequel of sorts to The Madness of Mr. Butler. These are entries from Mr. Butler’s diary that he kept prior to the events chronicled in the novel. I am particularly fond of this entry. So, enjoy! Tell your friends! These entries will always be free supplemental material for anyone to read!
I have also updated the "about" section on the homepage for Mr. Butler to give everyone a little better idea of what the book is, well, about. You can check that out here.
Everything else is going quite well. This competition is fierce! This makes me quite happy, as a good, close competition will keep everyone on their best game. I am honored to be in the top 5...but it’s the top three that matters in the end, so if any of you are on the fence about pre-ordering, please let me know if you have any questions, or if I can do anything for you. Heck, it’s Valentine’s Day...if you’ve already ordered a copy or if you order a copy by the end of today, I promise to write you a short love poem. Just let me know if you’d like one by emailing me at madmrbutler@gmail.com.
The rest of the novel’s construction is a fun and difficult task. I have holed myself up in the corner of my basement near my daughter’s toys, keeping a large roll of chart paper in front of me to keep the novel’s events in check while keeping many notebooks and scribbles to help my brain organized. The guitar and ukulele are being abused, and all of the post-it notes to the right are all of my wonderful backers. I have a board dedicated to all of you so I can keep track of things and admire those who have had such faith in the book thus far. (I hope the picture shows up; this is my first time trying to post one.)
Thank you again for all of the support, and much love to everyone this Valentine’s Day.
Love always,
-Michael.
Epic Update time Rebels!
Announcing Blood Dawn Risk!

Coming soon, to see the Blood Dawn funding campaign to an end, I will be hosting a game!
I wanted to take a moment today to discuss some of the features of the upcoming game, its purpose, and how you can personally get involved.
Blood Dawn Risk will see God-Kings and Dragons competing for control of territory in the world of Blood Dawn. Those who have achieved official God-King or Dragon status as of today — by pre-ordering three or seven copies of Blood Dawn, respectively — will be prime competitors on the map. Did you only order one copy? Or did you miss your chance to be a God-King or a Dragon in time for the game? There’s still a role for you in the game! If anything, you’ll be courted by other God-Kings and Dragons, hoping to get you to ally with their forces.
In the set-up of the game, laid out on the official Blood Dawn map, God-Kings will have Houses assigned to a territory. Houses want to gain control of as much territory as possible, by expanding into neighbouring territory. There are rules in place, though, so Houses can’t just rampage across the land, doing what they want! A house must have a troop strength equal to or higher than that of the territory they wish to claim.
Houses may wish to overtake territory already claimed by another house! If this happens, then the Houses will move to the game’s built-in dice combat system to battle against each other. The winner will claim the strength of the House they’ve overpowered. Houses may also form alliances with each other, if they choose to get along.
But this is the world of Blood Dawn, where nothing is easy.
Hidden covertly in unclaimed territory will be the Dragons. If a House tries to claim territory that a Dragon is inhabiting, the House must battle the Dragon, using the dice combat system. If the House wins, it adds the strength of the Dragon to its troops. But if the House loses, then the Dragon can start roving the land, leaving death and destruction in its wake!
Houses and Dragons can add to their troop strength by pulling their friends in to pre-order a copy of Blood Dawn. Each pre-order equals one boost in strength for a House’s troops or hit points for a Dragon. So, to win, you or your alliance, must bring your fantasy-loving friends into the fold, selling them on Blood Dawn!
And with this game, there are lots of fantastic prizes. While some of the prizes are yet to be determined, the grand prize, awarded to the Dragon or House that emerges triumphant, is one to make any Blood Dawn fan envious! The winner (or winning alliance) will receive a one-hour Skype conversation with me to discuss the formation of a unique nation that will then be worked into the next revision of Blood Dawn! That’s right — the winner of this game gets to help craft the novel!
Through this game, we will achieve a boost in pre-orders of Blood Dawn. If we can hit 750 pre-orders, Blood Dawn will qualify for the full Inkshares publishing imprint, which includes comprehensive editing, full publication, wide distribution, and promotion by Inkshares. So, by helping to win this game, you’re helping Blood Dawn reach many more readers.
The official rules, game web page (complete with dice combat and a chat terminal), and your place in the game, will all be announced soon! Houses and Dragons will have a chance to amass allies shortly before the game is officially launched.
I want to take a moment to thank the amazing people that are helping see this game from vision to reality. Joseph Terzieva, author of The Lost Generation, is writing all of the game code and compiling all of the programming. Cara Weston, author of She Is The End, helped craft the initial idea and really pushed me to see it through to completion. And John Anderson, my artist, has coloured my map and is creating custom emblems for Houses, Dragons, and other game components. If you haven’t already pre-ordered Joseph or Cara’s books, please click on the links above to pre-order their books and show your appreciation for the incredible work they’ve done.
I will be contacting all of the God-Kings and Dragons soon to get them started on preparing for the game — so if you’re one of these people, keep an eye on your inbox for an email from me. And if you’re not one of these individuals, still keep an eye on your inbox for the email announcing the start of the game — you can check out the webpage and follow along, and perhaps pre-order a copy and ally your strength with a Dragon or House!
Thank you so much for your time.
John Robin