How exciting! After the first day of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest, Mission 51 is in First Place!

As most of you may recall, I started this project on Inkshares last year, in Feb 2016 to be exact. I had discovered Inkshares at that time and impulsively jumped into a contest that was already half-way through. I had a story in my head and started writing it down. I was thrilled at the early response and amassed a good number of pre-orders, but I was also overwhelmed by the time commitment. Writing the book, campaigning for a contest, and my medical work were really three full-time jobs. I eventually came to the conclusion that to do a good job, I needed the time to complete and refine the novel with as little mental pressure as possible. I took Mission 51 out of funding in August 2016 and Inkshares refunded everyone for their generous pre-orders.

I’m very glad I did that. Mission 51 is now a mature project. It has gotten great feedback from laypersons and professionals who have read samples. Personally, I think it’s a fun read. It is intricate, old-school science fiction which honors a solid foundation of sci-fi lore. It is also a historical fiction and period piece within the time frame of 1954-1969. More importantly, Mission 51 dances around issues of immigration, intolerance, and personal/societal ethics. Those might be heavy issues, but I believe I have kept it light and fun. Aliens help do that! LOL

So, if you supported the project when it was in funding last year, I ask that you please support it again now. Mission 51 is actually way better than it was last year! Your pre-order is essential for it to stay on top of the Nerdist contest leaderboard. The time for Mission 51 has come! The time for your pre-order is now!

Thank you very much!

Ferd  👽

Hello friends,

I apologize for the radio silence, but I’m back now with exciting news!

Despite the fact that I fell off the radar for a few weeks due to an unplanned hospitalization, the bus is pretty much driving itself at this point: Devil’s Call has gone off to the typesetter and has a lovely cover from the amazing David Drummond that includes several positive blurbs. Jerry Smith from Fangoria, James Demonaco (creator of The Purge series), and J-F. DuBeau (author of A God in the Shed) contributed lovely words about the novel. ARCs have gone out, and reviews are starting to trickle in on Goodreads.

Check out this cover!

One of the immediate impediments to my online presence is the lack of Internet at the transitional housing where I’m staying while I wait to hear back about a more permanent supportive apartment. (At risk of getting all TMI over everybody, part of the reason I was hospitalized had to do with a nosedive of a depressive episode that involved a relapse after 10 months of sobriety, so here we are.) While I am able and intend to go online using WiFi hot spots, the majority of my time is now devoted to recovery.

But! Devil’s Call still has a publication date of July 17, and I am very stoked to see where my little novel goes this summer. Will make more of an effort to keep y’all up to date from now on.

xoxo,
J.

Dear all,

This is a quick update. It has been 3 months since we started to collect pre-orders for "Everything is Normal" and over a month since we reached the magic number of 750 pre-orders. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PRE-ORDERS AND SUPPORT!!!

The last few weeks were taken by filling different creative and marketing forms with the publisher. I expect that the publisher will assign a developmental editor in May and the production process will start. The next steps will be line and copy editing, cover and style design, marketing and getting pre-orders from book distributors and stores.

It all sounds exciting, but it seems to be taking more time than I originally expected, given that the book is finished. At present the publisher estimates shipment of books to you and to bookstores in early 2018.

With thanks and kind regards,

Sergey