After a seemingly random accident, Bette Donovan, piques the interest of the imposing Dept. of Propagation. Here she threads her way through the desperate measures a society will adopt in the name of self-preservation.
Greetings Followers,
The Dark Mountain has broken into double-digits in the Horror Novel contest! Thanks to all who have placed pre-orders and to all those who said they would but haven’t yet but I’m sure will get to it real soon because you are awesome!
To celebrate, I’m doing a raffle!
$40 Amazon Gift Card @ 25 Readers
Everyone who has already ordered is eligible. All readers’ names will be placed into a randomizer online and one person will win the gift card. But the drawing won’t begin until The Dark Mountain reaches 25 readers. That’s only 15 more!
Promo Trailer
I’ve uploaded a cool, corny trailer to my project page. I figured I licensed the stock footage and music a while back so why not get some use out of it. Check it out!
A Brand-New Chapter 1
I’ve struggled for a while how to make my opening more mature and in line with the rest of the book. I finally figured out a compromise between Chapters 1 and 2, and combined them into a new opening. I deleted the awesome action-figure franchise I created, which was going to spin-off as a Saturday Morning cartoon, but oh, well. Must stay true to the story.
Beta-Reads
I’ve completed only 1 so far.
Battle Flag: The Road to Hell: Great world-building, and lots of imagination at work. Give it a try…
The offer still stands for other Inkshares writers: Post your first 3 chapters, give approval, and I’ll read/review them, and send you feedback via email, but only after you pre-order The Dark Mountain.
Nauselbaum,
M.R.R.
Greetings Supporters of Crow’s Gambit!
I’m past due to give an update and I’m getting some questions on the book, so today we’re doing a quick reset to get everyone on the same page.
Did the book get published? Not yet. To get an automatic publishing deal we needed to finish in the top three of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest. We finished in a strong 5th place. And that was great, I am seriously proud of that accomplishment.
Then what happens now? I’ve taken the option of trying to sell enough Pre-Orders to get a publishing deal anyway. While the contest was all about unique people ordering the goal is now about shear number of orders. If we can get to 250 the book gets a basic publishing deal.
If you want people to Pre-Order why haven’t we heard from you? Well there’s this other thing called being a university professor. We just finished the first week of classes. The last two weeks of trying to resolve student and faculty issues has been chaos (I know some of you receiving this will understand). I’m also training to do a 100k (that’s 62 miles)…so there’s that little bit of insanity to deal with too.
What has been happening with the book then? There are these things on Inkshares called Syndicates. Syndicates are groups of people that pool their money and support books focused on a common theme. During the summer Crow’s Gambit was selected as a pick by both the “Break the Bechdel with Strong Female Characters Syndicate” and the “Staff Syndicate”. This support really does mean a lot to me.
So what do we need to do? As of today Crow’s Gambit has 178 Pre-Orders. We need 72 more to hit the Quill publishing goal. Tell your friends. Ask me for some book business cards to hand out. Post a Review of the book on Inkshares. Share the information with your friends on Facebook. Pledge to buy another copy if I finish the 100k?
Anything else I should know? Yes. Don’t forget that part of the Crow’s Gambit proceeds will go to support the Le Sueur Public Library. For every order $1 will be donated.
So there you go. Other questions, comments, or discussion on the book is always welcome. Stay tuned.
PT
I have a tendency to disappear sometimes. Actually, to escape. And at times escape so thoroughly that it’s like I can feel the whole Earth turning beneath me, forgetting it’s left me behind. ...but then I snap out of it, and I realize it’s really just my fault. I’ve been quiet a little too long. This reader update is long, long overdue.
As of this writing, The Animal in Man has sold 495 copies. As of months and months ago, that number was practically the same. I realized today I would very much like to see 500, and I’m asking all of those who have followed the novel recently to make a pre-order and help me achieve that goal. Of course, I’ve also been working on my sales pitch:
The Animal in Man is like Lord of the Flies, but instead of asking whether young men beguiled by the beast inside can ever be human again, the story asks if there’s something human already in every beast. Instead of stumbling, terrified, through a jungle of fear, they are born in a world of constant violence, perhaps designed that way by its creator. Are we so very different, I wonder.
The original description I typed years ago when I first launched the inkshares page are still true, perhaps more than ever before: The Animal in Man “is our story. The story of mankind." But if words alone aren’t enough to earn your pre-order, then consider these images.
When you read The Animal in Man, what you’ll see first is this:
But it’s really all about this:
It’s about why anyone would ever think violence could be the answer. It’s about my belief that all of us at some point in our life have heard that whisper inside our hearts that says this it might just be.
Is it?
