Hi everyone,

I’m here to give you a brief update on the status of Red Circle. Before diving in I’d like to first thank everyone who has followed this book, left comments and reviews, and spent any time reading my work. I’ve only been on Inkshares for a couple of weeks but I’ve received a tremendous amount of feedback and support in that short amount of time.

Some of you have kindly been asking me for more of this book, and for those of you who are eager for additional chapters I have good news. I have 10 chapters completed, which is nearing the halfway point in the novel. I’ve outlined the remaining sections and I’m in the process of writing more. I’m also taking time this week to review and revise what I’ve already written to ensure it is in the best shape possible before sharing it with the Inkshares community.

To that end, I’ve just added revised versions of the first two chapters, and you can expect additional chapters in the next week or two.

Thank you again for your time and support and I look forward to hearing more about what you think of Red Circle!

Sincerely,

Matt Farley

It’s a little late for Happy New Year, but nonetheless, I wanted to provide an update on my progress with “Gumshoe Rules.”  My goal was to finish the fourth draft in January. I am happy to report that I met that goal and submitted the manuscript to my publisher Inkshares last week. There are a few other books in the editing hopper ahead of me, so I expect it may be late February before I get feedback. 

The fourth draft is much improved over earlier versions with more developed character arcs, stronger atmosphere and faster pacing. I received especially valuable input from my editor and a couple of beta readers. Most of these changes occur in the second half of the book when things get, ah, a bit weird. I have also made minor changes in the first twelve chapters that have been posted online at Inkshares.com under the READ tab. These changes help establish the 1950s noir mood and hint at some of the strange things that happen later on. 

I knocked and was greeted by a shapely silhouette in a black dress lit from the hallway behind her. “Well if you’re not the fuzz, I don’t know who is.” She said the word fuzz with a few extra Z’s on it and the effect was like Lana Turner blowing a kiss at you. She tipped me for a moment, but I was all business.

She was a student at Miskatonic University, that never-quite Ivy league school to which the rich forwarded their less ambitious offspring in the hopes of educating, drying out or marrying them away. But there was always something a bit off about the school and Arkham in general. Amidst the bucolic colleges of literature and late-rising frat houses shaded by the city’s famous Dutch elms, there was a sanitarium for the criminally insane. Every college had it’s share of misfits and pranks, but Miskatonic always seemed to rise to the top when it came to unexplained scandals, secrets and suicides. 

In the meantime, it’s been cold and snowy in Michigan. Now that I’ve put the novel aside for a few days, I thought I might see if I can create a short story about Jack Waters, set between his return from the war in 1945 and 1950 when Gumshoe Rules takes place. I have some ideas that tie to a still unsolved case set in Adelaide, 1948. We shall see what that leads to.  

Thank you everyone who supported this creative project. It’s because of your support that Gumshoe Rules is being published. I’ll keep you posted on any updates from my publisher in the coming months. 

Thank for all your support on this project.
—Z.Z. Traver
PS. I don’t know why I committed to Dry January while editing my book. Nonetheless, I put an early end to that on January 30 when I submitted my manuscript. Cheers!  

Greetings wonderful followers, 

Guess what! As of Jan 30/19, it has been a full year since my first novel, Beyond the Code, was published and sent out into the world. And what a year it has been. Just for fun, let take a look at my author journey so far. 

I got Beyond the Code on the shelves of Indigo Books and did several book signing events at Indigo and Chapters all over the city of Edmonton. Actually had a kid want to take a picture with me because I was an author. Really cool. 

I was a guest panellist at panels on character development and Urban Fantasy writing at the When Words Collide writers convention in Calgary. 

Beyond the Code has been given great reviews from Roll Out Reviews, Literary Titan, The San Francisco Book Review, Readers Favourite, Opal Publishing, and Delusion of Literacy. These are people who know what they’re talking about. Also, from the reviews of my readers, Beyond the Code is running at a 4.23/5 rating on Goodreads and a 4.8/5 rating on Amazon.com. 

I was a guest on several podcasts talking about my writing and other geeky stuff. I’ve been on Spilling Ink, Just Joshing, Functional Nerds (this was my favourite one), Stories by Nerds, Alive after Reading, and Go Indie Now. You can check out these episodes through the kelseybarthel,ca website or the Beyond the Code Facebook page. 

And, last but not least, Beyond the Code was a featured book with the Scifi and Fantasy Network. 

Like i said, it’s been one hell of a year. So far it’s been a pretty good showing for my first novel and I am very happy with it. As for the future of Beyond the Code and me as an author, that’s still very much in the planning stage. Right now, I’m working on Beyond the Code’s sequel Beyond the Masquerade (working title) and like always, i will always endeavour to keep my readers informed. 

Thank you all for staying with me on this journey and I hope I can continue to deliver, 

Kelsey Rae Barthel