Happy Holidays, readers! Before everyone jets away and shuts down for the next couple days, I’d love to share the beautiful book trailer we’ve just completed for The Phantom Forest. Here’s the link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxpOzZEoi7U 

It’s also available to view on the book’s Inkshares homepage. It’s so exciting to get a cinematic glimpse into the potential of this book for the first time. 

I hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful, relaxing holiday! The campaign has just 25 days left to go, so please do continue to spread the word. :) 

Have a Happy Merry!

Liz

Hello, friend!

As you know, Devil’s Call was chosen for Inkshares’ 2016 The List, which is a contest to see which of the site’s top-rated but as-yet unpublished manuscripts will get the full publication treatment.

Devil’s Call has been parked at 9th place since the contest began, which is nothing to sneeze at. In order to win the contest, we need to sell the most unique preorders between now and December 31st.

I personally will be content if we sell another 116 preorders, which will put us at a nice round 250. So my humble request to you:

If you already preordered your copy, I appreciate you. There’s a Recommend button on Devil’s Call’s page that will generate a code for you to share with your friends on Facebook or Twitter, if you haven’t already.

If you’re on the fence about preordering, I’ve uploaded the revised first chapter. This is the chapter that will be going to my editor and coming back with line notes, but it already looks immensely better than it did six months ago. Your preorder will help ensure this novel looks and sounds the best it can when it hits shelves next year.

And, since I have a reputation to uphold, here is an appropriate gif to wrap things up.

Happy Tuesday!

Hey Everyone! 

It’s been a minute since I last sent an update. So a few things.

I’ve sent the completed manuscript to Inkshares. Tentative release date is early October next year. I’ve also begun working on the final cover design with Inkshares and among other things how we’re going to market this bad boy. 

Finally, I wanted to show you all a preview of my new comic book series, The Dregs. It’s hitting on January 25th. The preview just ran on Paste Magazine. It’s a little different than Weaponized, as it’s a surreal homeless noir about gentrification. If that sounds intriguing click through on the link. Maybe even buy a copy in the new year. Join me on this weird writing journey, won’t you?

Talk to y’all soon.

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

Followers of Kill Creek!

Wanted to give you a quick update...

I’m now 45 days into my 90 day pre-order period, and thanks to some generous orders today, I’ve reached 50% of my Quill goal!  Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered.  Your support means a lot.  I still have 45 days to reach 250 pre-orders and ensure that Kill Creek gets published, but with the holidays coming up, that time is going to go quickly.  So if you know anyone who might enjoy a get-under-your-skin, sh*t-hits-the-fan, character-driven, hatchet-to-the-mouth, Kansas-set ghost story, please encourage them to pre-order a copy before my time is up!

Also if you’d like a little more info about the genesis of Kill Creek and/or a photo of me looking like The Edge from U2, check out this article: http://www.kansan.com/arts_and_culture/alumnus-aims-to-publish-horror-novel-through-crowdfunding/article_5f341010-b85b-11e6-8ee6-f78ca44d4f2f.html

Thanks again and Happy Holidays!

Scott

Dear friends and followers:

Christmas is coming. So is my birthday. If you’re following the Julian calendar, those are on the same day. I think it’s pretty clear what I’d like for Christmas....

Well, the List contest continues apace. Thanks to you, I’m still in second. There’s no place for complacency, though, as I am not convinced that the numbers are entirely accurate: I believe that some of the books behind me have uncounted readers, which puts them a lot closer to knocking me out of position than I’m comfortable with. And things could easily change over the next month.

I’m grateful to all of you for having gotten me this far.

Meanwhile, I have not been neglecting the book itself in favour of selling it. I’ve updated the first two chapters on the site; I’ve worked out the actual calendar-date timeline for the events of the novel, and I am happy to say that the story officially begins on 31 October 1924. I’d very much like to be able to hand this in first thing in the new year, but that’s all dependent on what happens with the List.

Speaking of timelines and the upcoming New Year, it’s been a while since I made any recommendations. So here are a couple that I believe you’d enjoy, and whose authors would also appreciate the Christmas gift of your vote of confidence.

1) "Manifesto", by Daniel Poort. This one’s a psychological thriller about a small-town cop on the trail of a serial killer. Poort promises an escalating body count; and of course nothing says edge-of-your-seat like murder and betrayal.

2) "Shady Place", by David Byrne. A more light-hearted take, I think. A police detective and a mobster retire to the same seniors’ community, and find they have to work together to prevent a murder. If they play "good cop/bad cop", I wonder which would be which....

Until next time: have fun, and keep reading. And tell all your friends!

Today I have the most amazing news to share. Yesterday, The Launch Pad announced their final winners of the 2016 Manuscript Competition — I am thrilled by the revelation Human Resources has been picked by Scott Free as one of their winners. 

To discover that a production company with such an impeccable reputation liked my novel — that they believe it has what it takes to become a successful movie — is beyond my ability to describe. Here is the official description of what that this prize is:

Ridley Scott’s company Scott Free was one of the first major companies to take e-books into the spotlight when they found The Martian and developed it into what would become a Best Picture nominee starring Matt Damon. They were also the first company to buy a Launch Pad project, when they picked up Daniel Turkewitz’s Tranquility Base. Now they’re looking to do the same for you. Our exclusive partnership with Scott Free means not only are they represented on our judging panel, they have also committed to option at least 1 project with an eye towards discovering their next break out hit.

More than 24 hours later and I still can’t fully process what has happened. There are no details to report beyond the official announcement. The novel has not — yet — been optioned, but it seems that is likely. My dreams are coming true, and you have all played a key role in enabling that to happen.

Thank you.

Bonus Feature: Advanced Field Intelligence System. 

I’ve created the second of my planned bonus features for you. This time, I’ve unearthed the wiki page for AFIS, the system used by the Special Operations Group in the novel to give them an advantage of the field. If you’ve read all the excerpts on the site, you will have encountered this under the acronym COED — the product has undergone a re-branding.

If you would like to learn a little more about AFIS, follow this link.

Crowdfunding Competition Rolls On 

The crowdfunding competition has not finished! The announcement yesterday was for the formally judged portion of The Launch Pad for 2016. The crowdfunding competition — the part you have direct control over — continues until 16 December. If you haven’t pre-ordered a copy, now is an excellent time!

You can pre-order here.

We have reached 450 orders! This means we have only 300 more to go before guaranteeing the Full Publication deal.

We’re also holding steady at second place on The List.

Things are looking good, but nothing is written in stone yet. The competition on The List is close, but a just a few more orders could be all we need to ensure our position; and if we make it to the end of the year still in the top three, we won’t have to worry about getting a whole 300 more orders. So, tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell your enemies, tell your total strangers ... the sooner this becomes a done deal, the sooner we can start the process of getting this book into your hands.

Good things are coming.