Happy Monday, y’all!

First off, A Beast Requires is clinging to 10th Place in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest, with 85 backers. Yea, it’s getting to that part of the campaign where every backer matters, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to back A Beast Requires yet, now is definitely the time. At 107 pre-orders, we’re almost halfway to the Quill goal, which is nice.

So, dragons.

I count myself lucky that so many of you following me are writers. We all know The Struggle. It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve written, or what sort of genre you write, all of our work starts with that first glimmer of an idea. We all cultivate that glimmer, scribbling in notebooks or banging away at a keyboard. We draft, and draft again, searching for beta readers, grammar checkers, and if we’re lucky, an editor. 

While we are all at different places in our writing, we all remember that first book we poured our souls in. Mine was an absolute train wreck of a fantasy adventure, involving a book, a dog, and an angry teenage wizard. I loved it so much, but twenty years later I can look back and say with absolute certainty, it was a complete pile of words. We get better with every story. Hells, we get better with every draft, and we all know the joy that comes from finishing that final edit. But it’s not our final edit, and we all know the frustration and sadness that looms off in the distant horizon.

I like writers. Actually, I like content creators, but I’m particularly biased towards writers. And cooks, but that’s an entirely different story. It’s why I’m so thankful so many writers follow me on Inkshares, and how I absolutely lose my shit when another writer backs A Beast Requires. We all know how rough it is, especially how rough an Inkshares campaign is, so it comes as a welcoming comfort every time one of likes the thing I struggled for. I will always try to back as many writers as I’m financially able to. Support means everything to a writer, especially when  you’re just starting out. There will always be The Struggle, and there will always be dragons, but none of us are ever truly going through all this alone. 

STRETCH GOOOOAALLL!!!

 

Sunshine is Forever is now an InkShares "Staff Pick!" Click on the link and check out the nifty new badge!

https://www.inkshares.com/books/sunshine-is-forever

This news was just too cool not to share! Sunshine is Forever is now 199 preorders away from a full publishing deal. 

Here are some Fun Facts for you:

Fun Fact: You can buy up to 10 copies of  Sunshine is Forever, bringing it that much closer to 750 preorders!

Fun Fact: If you become a "Super Backer," you get access to drafts of the novel before anyone else, and you also get your name at the back of the book!

Fun Fact: I’ve sent close to 5,000 messages about Sunshine is Forever! I know! Crazy!

Fun Fact: Asking a friend to preorder is super easy.

Fun Fact: I’m at the end of my network, so I am relying on you to get me to 750 preorders!

Most Fun Fact: I will post a FINAL Teaser Chapter this Thursday.

You are all the best! And Sunshine is Forever is so incredibly close to 750 preorders! Let’s wrap this fundraising party up so that I can focus on getting this book into your hands!

Kyle T. Cowan

Hey, everybody. It’s a beautiful day in my part of the world. I’m enjoying my peripheral view of the deciduous trees, awash in sunlight, while I incorporate into my manuscript feedback from one of my beta readers.

Here is an excerpt from the chapter on which I’m working. It wasn’t part of the feedback, but I can’t help but tinker every time I read through the book and I’m pleased with the results:

"Ada tried to cover her nose and mouth against the hot stench of rotting refuse and the lingering smell of Ray’s sewer bath, but she couldn’t. She kept her visor up because having it down trapped the noisome stink. There was no escape. Breathing through her mouth was no alternative to using her nose; the detritus was as palpable as it was rank. She retched and retched again, but managed to swallow down the hot bile that burned the back of her throat."

Pleasant, eh?

I’ve got two people who said they’re still reading and will have remarks for me, soon, and I still owe Cara Weston a copy as she volunteered to take a look at Disintegration. I’m hoping to at least add the inestimable Rich Cernese’s feedback before I send it. What’s halfway between beta and alpha? I like the term "gamma reader" but that’s (paradoxically) going backwards.

I recently finished beta-reading the first half of Cara’s She is the End. I look forward to getting the other half; it’s one of the books about which I’m most excited. You should check it out.