A book of art and essays on guns and gun violence in America. An illustrated conversation through the lens of art, art as means for new dialogue and, possibly, change.
Morning!
Just a quick note - a little 'inside information' if you will. We're turning a corner this week where I have to start convincing strangers and people I can't directly threaten, cajole, or sob upon to pre-order the book. Scary I know!
I've been wracking my brain - and I've decided the best way to convince them to take a chance on my new book is to just GIVE them my first two books. SO - next week, May 4th-8th, my first two books are going to be absolutely free on Amazon. This is for the ebook - Kindle version -- sorry I don't have it available in other formats! 
You guys definitely help yourself as well, even those of you that have the paperbacks. I'm hoping this will be the perfect way for you to convince your friends and nerds on the street. Take a chance on Asteroid Made of Dragons - HERE'S TWO FREE BOOKS.
As always - thank you all so much for your support. Please tell me if I have egg on my face - and if you have any ideas or avenues or high-placed Illuminati friends, now is the time to bring them to the attention of the campaign!
Derek
Very cool update for you all today! First some news:
The book is now in the final stages of copy-edit approval, which means we almost have a final manuscript ready for publication. We're also finalizing the covers for hardback and paperback editions, and we just got an amazing review blurb from the estimable Hugh Howey, author of WOOL, which will be going on our front cover. We expect the ebook version to be available very soon and that will be going out to all of you in advance of you receiving the print edition.
NOW. The cool stuff. When I was working on Star Wars one of the great privileges was the opportunity to work with the incredibly talented team at Industrial Light & Magic. Recently I asked one of their concept artists, Karl Lindberg, if he'd be interested in doing a few illustrations to help us visualize the world of Abomination. He's doing several illustrations for us, and I'm pleased to exclusively share the first piece of Karl's art with you here and now! Check out this piece, it's an image of our hero Wulfric, along with our OTHER hero (you haven't met her yet) and a third character that I'll call simply, "The Beast."
Inspired by Karl's amazing work, we've decided to make and give away exclusive art prints of his illustrations along with copies of the book to anyone who creates their own Abomination "fan art" as well as pre-ordering a physical copy of the book via Inkshares. Though the book isn't out yet, there's plenty of cool stuff in the first three chapters available on the site to inspire you. All of our Grand Patrons will be receiving the art prints with their copies of the book automatically!
Submit your Abomination art to me via Twitter @garywhitta with the hashtag #abominationart. I'll RT the best ones we receive! This will be fun!
CHAPTER 4
The mob of Shepherd’s Crook, 1680 edition, stormed the home of the demon, sorcerer, and suspected vampyr Yulric Bile. As mobs went, it was pretty good. No elder went untorched. No young man went unpitchforked. Women wept and gnashed their teeth. John Farthing brought his new gun. John Cross had smithed some chains. Benjamin Moss broke down the door to his 100th citadel of sin, with some assistance from his son, John. Cider was drunk, hymns were sung, and a fine time was . . .
Chapter 1
The air was dry and thin, with a strong sterile smell of chlorine and ammonia. A man unaware of his fate, tossed and turned on a small cot. The toxic air began to burn his throat, nose, and eyes. His lungs began to seize as a dry cough ripped through his body as he tried to breathe the thin air.
*Gasp*
The harsh thin air rushed back into his lungs burning the as it made its entire way down causing him to cough more, and forcing the hellish cycle to start again. . . .
Chapter 1 : Memories
New Earth: 2292
The acid rain fell hard on the rocky soil of the new landscape of the now known home for humans. Three people stood underneath a tent that led from a rocky outcropping to the long grey desert of the dunes on the planet. Edward Rihames, a man of power and opportunity stood at the back with another man cloaked in a long black trench coat. A black hood hung over the stranger’s head covering his features. He stayed quiet as the rain co. . .
We did it! 100% funded!
Thank you so much for your support! Unscalable is now 100% funded, which means that it is guaranteed to go to print and be distributed to bookstores.
Pricing has also switched over to a more conventional model, with e-books being available for $9.99 and paperbacks available for $15.99.
I honestly can't thank you all enough. I always assumed that if I ever became an author, it would be a long ways down the road, but now I'm only a few short months away from my own physical books. I'll be sure to keep you all updated about the publishing process as it progresses.
But wait, there's more! The GitHub interview!
I've literally just finished editing the GitHub interview, and as promised, you are the first ones to hear about it.
"The Future of Version Control": Tom Preston-Werner talks about the early days of GitHub.
Let me know what you think!
Cheers,
Charlie
Here it is - THE WORLD MAP!
It's a big chunky file, so you may need to open it in a new window to get a better look. Also some of the place names are 'out of date' and have changed in the books. [for a lot of reasons] You'll see many places that you recognize however - and some brand new places that haven't been mentioned before. Previous adventures all took place in Carroway - we're going to be doing a lot more 'globe-trotting' this time around!
This map was created by friend and artist W. Steven Carroll - he hasn't updated his Tumblr in quite some time, but if any of you need illustration or design work, I will absolutely set you up with his contact information.
Still sitting pretty in 2nd place - welcome to all the new backers today. Please keep sharing the campaign site - on Friday all the backers get exclusive access to the first Rime and Jonas chapter of Asteroid Made of Dragons.
Thank you all!
CHAPTER ONE
Tacky mud pulled at Sergeant Jonas Vega’s boots as he trudged through the trench. He wove his way past the beams that reinforced the carved walls and the ladders that stretched to the lips of the ravine, often pulling his gas mask carrier closer to his hip to slide through the narrower passages. The soldiers perched atop the ladders didn’t offer a glance in his direction, instead keeping their eyes glued to binoculars that looked out across the fields above Vega’s . . .
Chapter 1
Happy Birthday
The axe slid through the screaming troll's arm, and Thomas ducked to avoid its flailing left fist. Thomas leapt into the air, sliced neatly into the trolls throat, then landed with his back turned to the massive, dying beast.
He woke up. Was that a dream or the game? He jumped up and rubbed his right shoulder a little. Sliding on a pair of faded red boxer . . .