JF Dubeau followed When Squirrels Start Talking

Squirrels start talking. A woman thinks she is losing her mind until she discovers humanity is a grand experiment.

JF Dubeau commented on The Life Engineered

Hello friends!

I'm still reeling from the events of last week. It was one thing to get the book published through the Sword & Laser Contest, but to be inducted into the Sword & Laser Collection is still hard to wrap my mind around.

So far, ever since I've written The Life Engineered it's gotten praise from friends, family and acquaintances. Sure, I had a few strangers tell me they liked it too, but while I appreciate the accolades, it's an unfortunate fact that validation from more critical sources simply feels more legitimate. Having you guys support my book and pushing it to such heights was inebriating enough, but having it picked up from there is mind numbing.

The good news is that Inkshares has been keeping me busy since then. Very busy. It's like I won a second job. One of the fears about Inkshares is that it might turn out to be little more then a crowdfunded vanity press. I'm happy to report that my fears have been alleviated! Inkshares has apparently no intention of letting me just print my book and distribute it through them! They seem intent on making sure The Life Engineered is as professional a piece of literature as it can be and is packaged and marketed as such. Not to go into boring details; my 'boss' at Inkshares has been asking me a lot of questions and making me fill out a lot of paperwork. Bottom line is that if you were excited about the book, I'm happy to report that it's probably going to be better then expected in the end. I feel like I'm in good hands.

I don't know how often I'll have things to report here in the coming weeks, but just so you don't feel like I took your pre-orders and ran for the hills, I've published an opinion piece on Artificial Intelligence on my blog. There's a bit of swearing, so brace yourself. A little. There's like two swear words, so calm down.

Again, thank you for your support. I'm super excited about where this is going and the work we're doing with Inkshares. More as things evolve!

JF

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JF Dubeau followed Sword and Laser

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JF Dubeau commented on The Life Engineered

Hello sentients,

I didn't expect to have to make this announcement, but here we are. When I got onto the Inkshares platform to crowdfund The Life Engineered it was because of the Sword & Laser Collection contest. However, despite having a very attractive grand prize of a full publication run with Inkshares, coaching from Gary Whitta and an interview with Sword & Laser, not to mention being part of the Sword & Laser collection of course, I had no aspirations to reach such heights. Even the concept of finishing in the top five and getting published seemed like a challenging goal but at least that was attainable.

So I entered and I campaigned and through the patience and support of, well, you fine intelligences, we managed to get The Life Engineered into the top five and I was ecstatic.

Then this happened today.

Go head and click on that link. Watch the video and come back. I'll wait.

So there we are. The Life Engineered will be one of two books, along with the awesomely titled 'Asteroid Made of Dragons', to premier in the Sword & Laser Collection. Dear readers, give yourselves a high-five, shake your own hand and slap yourself on the back because you did it. My congratulations to you for succeeding in this and my thanks for what you have given me.

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go have some chocolate to celebrate.

JF

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JF Dubeau commented on The Life Engineered

I'm going to keep this short: we did it.

You did it.

The Life Engineered, my little book about sentient robots in the future and their impending civil war came in fourth place in the Sword & Laser Collection contest. That is amazing.

I'm ashamed to admit that I make a very poor writer as I can't find the words to explain the amount of overwhelming gratitude I feel for you guys. Friends, family and even complete strangers came together and because I said : "I have this crazy dream of winning this contest." they turned that fancy into a reality.

The Life Engineered is getting a legitimate publishing run. I even have a publishing schedule. It is fancy.

Right now, on my smart phone device thing, there is a list, backed up to the Cloud, with all of your names, email address and contribution level (Standard Construct or Advanced A.I.). This list will stay with me until the day the machines take over or that they put me away. This list is your permission slip to come over to me at a con, a book signing, whatever and shake my hand. No matter what, from this point on, you are my friend and I will always find a moment to recognize what you have done for me.

Also, signed prints of robots. Because I promised.

I'm going to finish my model and raffle it off. Expect update photos on that progress.

As my vision blurs with tears of gratitude, I'll leave you with the only thing I can come up with no matter how inadequate it feels: Thank you.

JF

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In 2083, a mentally ill man and his longtime companion travel across a distressed country, seeking prosperity and a cure.

JF Dubeau commented on The Life Engineered

What can I say?

In the past few weeks I've written so many variations on 'thank you' that I'm running out of ideas. Yet, it's today that it seems to be the most important time to express my gratitude. Today or tomorrow. I'm not sure. Either way, today's important. Today is the last day of the Sword & Laser Collection contest on Inkshares. To most of you all I can say is thank you again, as inadequate and insufficient as it may feel. You've all contributed to some degree or other, either by pre-ordering books or by helping me spread the word. It doesn't matter what you did; I owe you.

To those last few of you who are following the progress of this book, I want to also thank you. For your interest and curiosity but also for taking the time to read my newsletters. I also want to thank you for pre-ordering The Life Engineered as I'm sure you will within the next few hours, before the contest ends.

I leave you with a reminder that I'm working on a model of Koalemos, a favourite character from The Life Engineered. There will be 8 copies of this model. I'm putting a lot of effort into making these and I want one of you guys to have a copy. I'll be raffling off one of the models when they are done and if you think I'm kidding, look below for a shot of the work in progress. It's going along pretty well.

JF

(Here is again a drawing of the finished robot)

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