It’s the beginning of the end...
 

Tantalus Depths is now only 100 pre-orders away from the full publishing goal. We need 50 pre-orders a week, or about seven a day, to get there.
If there is anything left you can do to help get us there, now is the time to show your hand. If there’s anyone left you haven’t talked to about it, talk to them. If you haven’t ordered a copy yet, order one. If you have ordered one, consider ordering another copy for a friend.
Anything you can do will absolutely mean the world to me.
But mark my words, Tantalus Depths will get there. If I have to pull my bloody carcass across that finish line on my own, I’ll do it. We’ve come way too far to settle for anything less than total victory.

Hello everyone,

I guess I should talk about this shouldn’t I? 

There’s a minuscule little article on The Tracking Board that talks about me and my upcoming book; A God in the Shed. Go read it. It’s fun. I’ll wait. 

You’re back? Awesome. So what do you think? Yeah, I was a bit overwhelmed. Still sort of am. I’m not exactly wired to take compliments or bask in the glory of good news on that scale. I’d love to pretend that it’s because I’m humble and level-headed but in truth I’m just terrified of disappointment and incapable of processing success. My own issues aside, I think it’s important to know a few things about this announcement. 

What this isn’t: 

• The rights to A God in the Shed haven’t been sold. 
• You’re not going to see A God in the Shed on TV any time soon. 
• I’m not rich and famous. 

What this is: 

• An important step in the right direction. 
• A sign that the rights might one day sell, which still wouldn’t mean a series would get produced, let alone distributed, but again; step in the right direction. 
• Nic Pizzolatto is now my new best friend and can come to all my birthday parties. 

The great Mike Mongo (Astronaut Instruction Manual) once told me; "However long you think this process is going to take, double that." and the awesome Adam Gomolin also shared this nugget of wisdom; "It’s a no until it’s a yes." 

So I’m going to try and take it easy. Keep the day job and continue chipping away at my other projects (check out Arch-Android, the sequel to The Life Engineered, along with Too Many Controllers). 

Thanks again for the support everyone. Go read that article again and while you do that, keep telling yourself; ’I’m part of this.’ 

Because you are. 

JF    

If you’re still getting my mail, you’ll have noticed I sent you Chapter Two, today, and Chapter One a few days ago. As the hand-off to my beta readers looms, I’d like to emerge from the writing cocoon in which I’ve been for seemingly ever.

J-F. Dubeau imparted advice to me about how to succeed at this racket and I need to follow it. If you look at how he’s doing, you have to agree he’s onto something. He’s the author of The Life Engineered and A God in the Shed, the latter of which may become a television series or movie! How he finds the time to do his podcast, his writing, and any and everything else in his life is astounding to me, and really admirable. He’s a tough act to follow, but also proof of how winning a contest and being backed by a syndicate can really catapult a title, on Inkshares. Getting exposure and the endorsement of other authors, or the CEO, or Nerdist / Sword and Laser / Geek and Sundry ... that’ll definitely build momentum.

In tangential news, just for the heck of it, I decided to look for an article anyone may have written about emphatic punctuation. I couldn’t find anything. (I guess I may need to do it myself).

Sue Ranscht, one of the authors of the amazing YA book Enhanced, was an early champion of my book, Disintegration and, in her reading of my manuscript, she brought up my use of double question marks and other joint punctuation (consider this article about unconventional punctuation, not all of which I love, but some of which could be useful).

I like using "??" when someone is especially confused. I don’t think a single question mark drives it home as clearly. As well, I think "?!" really conveys the "Are you @#$%ing kidding me?!" behind certain questions, while "!?" indicates panicked incredulity "What the @#$% is that!?" ... I think an interrobang is a bad idea because the mark itself doesn’t *visually* indicate (yes, the name does) which comes first and (as the name says), if it is "?!," what about "!?"?! ( :P ) I haven’t employed any "?!?!" but I’m not against it ... but, man, just imagine how piqued that person would have to be.

How do you feel about singular punctuation marks? I think they’re woefully inadequate at expressing a wide range of emotion. I think reading comic books is how I came to appreciate more emphatic punctuation. Those "surprise lines" that shot from a character’s head were handy, too, but that tactic doesn’t quite work in prose. :D

THIS IS IT EVERYONE!

Just a quick update to let you all know that I am still working quite hard on Mr. Butler. I enrolled in Camp NaNoWriMo for July and set a goal of writing 70,000 words for the book in 31 days...and I did it in 30:

All 70,024 (and counting!) words were written for Butler. Every day I’m working to make this the best damn book I can make it. 

Just thought you, my wonderful investors, my support system, and most importantly, my friends, should know that I am giving this project every single spare moment I have. I’m still aiming for a September manuscript submission. I will keep you updated!

Thanks for hanging in there!

Love to all.

-Michael.