"Oh I do believe in you, yes I do...Live without your heartbeat. Love without your sunlight. I, I can't live within you."

Grieving for the man who stole my world. Much love to all readers who are feeling the same! Here's a pic of my fiance and I from this past Halloween, as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (as close as we could make it as we were traveling abroad...so we stole some influences from Halloween Jack). An update on Talkers will follow soon. R.I.P Starman. 

Hello again, dear readers. 

In the spirit of camaraderie, I had a call tonight with author Matthew Isaac Sobin, whose book "The Last Machine in the Solar System" is currently in the #2 spot of the Sword and Laser contest. I've been a fan of Matt's book ever since it entered the race, gladly putting down my money for a copy (now three copies, actually) on the second day of the contest. Although he is my competitor, I wish his book all the best. It's worth your attention as well, so help him get it funded!  I'm glad we got together on the phone line. Mostly, we just talked shop about writing, and blew off some steam about the tireless campaign to earn your support. We commiserated about my failed attempts at plastering the city with my AiM posters, and I heard about the fun he had delivering Last Machine holiday cards - both of which netted us about 0-1 readers, maybe... We had a really good time. I can see this as an ongoing thing...

...Ongoing straight to tomorrow (and beyond!) when Matt and I and fellow S&L leader Craig Munro (author of "Bones of the Past") are guests on the Sword and Laser podcast! That's right! My crazy voice will be broadcast for all to hear, so tune in when the episode airs. I'll be sure to post another reader update when it's live.

Look, as far as I see it, there are so many amazing authors and amazing stories here on Inkshares - and especially so for the books gathered in this S&L contest. I mean I even told Matt just before we hung up that I'm a huge fan of Amanda Orneck's "Deus Hex Machina." I think that book is so unique... Ah, I could talk your ear off all evening about my admiration for that work and for so many others, but I'd rather inform you that I... 

...just posted three more chapters of "The Animal in Man". Chapter Two. Chapter Three. And Chapter Six. ....hold on... Six? Yeah. That's right. Chapters 4 and 5 are done, but being the perfectionist I am, they don't make me so happy in their current state. I was picking at them with a fine tooth comb, and I saw just way too many spots that needed changing to be consistent with the world as it's evolved throughout this project. I believe you will enjoy 2, 3, and 6 since you'll see meet some new friends, discover the fate of everyone's favorite hyena (sorry, Rick), and perhaps even catch a glimpsssse of the villain's agent (or the villain himself, or both?).

I'd like to leave you with a disclaimer as this update draws to a close: Please please please excuse any inconsistencies or bad grammatical errors you find. "The Animal in Man" is a work in progress. The scale of this project is massive, perhaps you might say Aigaion-sized. It's a lot of work, but I am excited to see it through - to get the first draft finished and then leap back in with the bloody red pen (my students know what I'm talking about!). So please, don't be so critical of the small things that don't add up. Just enjoy. 

One Door Closes

For the past month, The Astronaut Instruction Manual spent nearly every day as #1 New Release Children's Book (Science >;;;;;;;;;;; Astronomy & Space) on amazon. It looked like this:

Today marked Day 90 as a New Release Children's Book on Amazon. Meaning The AIM is no longer a "new release". We immediately disappeared from the list. (And trust me, I loved The AIM being #1 on that list. Like, loved loved loved it.) However, as the saying goes, one door closes...

...and another opens. This week I am heading to Florida Educators Technology Conference in Orlando. While I am there I will be teaching at two schools, including Orlando Sciences Elementary School, where I am teaching 4th and 5th graders subsequent to a book buying parent who took the initiative to send an open invitation.

Amazingly, we are paying for the trip by offering Astronaut Instruction Manual books to students for pre-sell. (Which I then sign and personalize–after astronaut teaching and working with the classrooms.) It's like our very own Inkshares book fair!

This entire turn of events is literally a dream come true. Astronaut teaching and getting The Astronaut Instruction Manuals into the hands of young student readers? Yes!

So let's move this forward. If you think your student would like for Mike Mongo, astronaut teacher to visit their school sometime in the near future, let's do it. I'm 100% game!

Letting today's students know that tomorrow's jobs are in space gives them a critical competitive advantage to live, work and place in space. Let me know if such a student may be someone you know at a school you support.

(And if you don't have a student in school but know of a school that would be receptive to reaching students with a space STEM message, drop me a line too.)

I can be reached at mike at mikemongo dot com. Email me! Have books, will travel!

Next step, here we come. Keep up the good work and have a terrific 2016,

Mike Mongo
astronaut teacher

Hey there wonderful people, 

I thought I would take the time to share some very kind and encouraging words from Joseph Asphahani the author of The Animal in Man. In his last update he spoke of three projects on Inkshares that he thought were worth your patronage. The projects were Exile, Magus by Thomas J.Arnold, Transilience by Kevin Bragg, and (to my utmost excitement) Beyond the Code by yours truly. Here's what he wrote. 

"Yesterday morning I was late to work because I literally could not stop reading Kelsey Rae Barthel’s “Beyond the Code”. Hot damn this story is full of action! At least the first chapter is, and I trust there's more. The whole thing is just one continuous fight between two badasses. I’ve told Ms. Barthel that the setting, the setup, the sword-swings all remind me of some of the darkest, most sinister places I’ve visited in my long career as a video gamer. The pace is just as riveting and intense as what I'd gladly call a GOTY (uh, that's Game of the Year). I know you’ll enjoy it. CLICK HERE to see for yourself how right I am about that."

Woot woot!! Thank you so much Joseph. Those words mean a great deal in keeping me going through this campaign. 

It's been a good campaign so far but we need to step it up. If your impressed by this glowing review or you've caught the BTC fever please pre-order so we can hit Quill and make this a reality. Whether you got some extra credits or you just love this book so far please pre-order while the campaign is still going. I'm even willing to do pre-order swaps with the other authors on Inkshares.

For those of you who have already supported my dream thank you soo much and I am working tirelessly to give you a fantastic read.

Thanks for your time 

Kelsey Rae Barthel 

Hello everyone,

I started completely rewriting this story today and I've handwritten four chapters so far so look for them to be updated here either Wednesday or Friday. 

I started the story a little earlier to give back story on why the three characters have decided to start the revolution and the events that really lead up to the war instead of trying to give all of the back story as the war is happening. 

I also now have chapters from all of their points of view instead of just Katherine. It should make the story a bit more interesting and I might throw in a few extra points of view from characters that are seen a lot in the story.

I am working on getting some art for all of my stories. I draw some of my own stuff and then I have a few friends that are working on Ivy and Isolation. I will update with some of my art hopefully during the weekend. 

I won't be able to update a whole lot since school just started but I will probably post chapters on Wednesdays and Fridays and then an update about the progress of the story at some point during the weekend. Please read the chapters that I already have uploaded because those probably won't change much except for maybe the point of view. Let me know what you think of the story and if you like it please recommend or pre-order. Thank you!

Greetings Readers, Followers, Human Beings, and Advertising Algorithms,

I promised you this day would come. You didn't believe me. I didn't believe me. But it's here at last...

That's right! I finally figured out how to work the internet. No more free AOL homepages and half-hearted Tumblrs for me. www.jimmcdoniel.com is a thing. A thing that both exists and works. Go there now and behold the wonder and glory of me copy and pasting pictures onto Squarespace. Marvel at my ability to link you back here to Inkshares. Thrill as you view my Twitter account while not on Twitter. Ooooo. Aaaaah.

In other news, the Sword and Laser contest two is wrapping up this week. On Friday at noon (West Coast time, two o'clock here) three more authors will receive the full publishing treatment and one will join G. Derek Adams, J.F. Dubeau, and myself in the Sword and Laser collection. There are plenty of good books in the mix with plenty of time to make the jump so please, consider visiting the contest page and checking a few out like:

For dystopic cyberpunk, click Deus Hex Machina.
For epic demonic fantasy, click Bones of the Past.
For sci-fi action/adventure, click The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising.

We have books! Now it's time for a "pawtograph"...

Yes, if you've been anywhere on Facebook these last few days, I don't think you could have missed Rikki's beautiful mug on the cover of Encounters with Rikki and all the great comments from readers.

  Is our universe real?
 
"This the classic Cartesian question. It essentially asks, how do we know that what we see around us is the real deal, and not some grand illusion perpetuated by an unseen force (who René Descartes referred to as the hypothesized ‘evil demon')? More recently, the question has been reframed as the "brain in a vat" problem, or the Simulation Argument. And it could very well be that we're the products of an elaborate simulation. A deeper question to ask, therefore, is whether the civilization running the simulation is also in a simulation — a kind of supercomputer regression (or simulationception). Moreover, we may not be who we think we are. Assuming that the people running the simulation are also taking part in it, our true identities may be temporarily suppressed, to heighten the realness of the experience. This philosophical conundrum also forces us to re-evaluate what we mean by "real." Modal realists argue that if the universe around us seems rational (as opposed to it being dreamy, incoherent, or lawless), then we have no choice but to declare it as being real and genuine. Or maybe, as Cipher said after eating a piece of "simulated" steak in The Matrix, "Ignorance is bliss."
-http://io9.gizmodo.com/