I debated with myself whether I should do an author spotlight this week or not, since I made that my focus last week, and I don’t want to overwhelm you with information about projects that you’re not directly following. However, I do have one particular project I really want to support.

I’ve already made this book the subject of a previous author spotlight, but it’s worthy of a second one. 

You may ask yourself "Evan, why are you, an unmarried, childless man, so invested in a memoir about a woman raising her toddler?" Well, you’d be right to assume that it isn’t my genre of choice. Other than being a gamer as well, I have little to tie myself to the subject matter of Mothering: The Game. However, interestingly, there are quite a few parallels between that book and Tantalus Depths.

Tantalus Depths saw its origins in Geek and Sundry’s Hard Science Fiction competition. It placed in the top ten, but failed to win, and ever since then I’ve been working overtime to see it hit the full funding goal the hard way. One by one I’ve seen every other entrant in that contest either give up or fall short, their campaigns dropping left and right until the only ones left standing are the winners of that contest, and me.

Mothering: The Game saw its origins in Nerdist’s Video Games competition. Regina also managed to claw her way into the top ten, but not quite to the top. Since then, she’s been working hard to try and scrape together the support she needs to make it to the Quill goal the hard way. One by one, the other entrants in her contest gave up or failed, until the only ones left standing are the winners, Alisa King’s "Are You Sure You Want To Quit" (which managed to make it to Quill and deserves your support as well), and Mothering: The Game. Only a few scattered stragglers remain, none of them with more than a couple dozen pre-orders.

I’ve seen a determination and tenacity in Regina’s campaign. She wants to finish it, she wants to hit that goal, and she’s been willing to work hard for it. She’s successfully earned the Break The Bechdel syndicate’s pick, a syndicate that focuses on books with strong female protagonists. Well...the protagonist of Mothering: The Game is Regina. The real Regina. She’s a strong female protagonist in the flesh, and she’s earned all the success she’s seen and much, much more she’s yet to see.

Her writing is personal and meaningful. The relationship between her and her daughter radiates off the page and warms the heart. I’ve backed this book, and I’ve been kicking her butt to keep trying for that goal ever since I first found Mothering: The Game. True, it’s not my genre. That doesn’t stop me from loving this book, though. And even if it did, it could not stop me from seeing the reality that Mothering: The Game is a book that must exist. There is nothing like it on Inkshares, and there are few books like it in existence. Please, please consider playing a part in bringing this book to its goal.

Mothering: The Game has only 14 days remaining in its campaign, and has already been extended once. It needs 47 more orders to reach Quill publication. If I had the cash and Inkshares allowed it, I’d buy all 47 myself.

Hello everybody!!

Time to talk about the last of the Dwarven ethnic groups in the world of Exile, Magus.  This particular group is for the most part not really a group at all.  They could easily be seen as the most cosmopolitan of all the Dwarf types, having foregone the clustering into small communities of their own race in favor of direct coexistence with the other civilized races(mainly humans and elves).  This has lead to a great diversity among them, to the point where they do not have any true ethnic identity, being typically referred to merely as Dwarves or Common Dwarves.  Part of this diversity lies in the fact that so many of them had non-dwarf’s among their list of ancestors.  Such an inclusion of human or (far more rarely) elf to their lineage is limited to 3 or more generations back since anything more recent would place them among the half-dwarves.

Such a lack of notable traits often leads to them being underestimated or taken for granted(especially by those who choose to refer to them as "Common" Dwarves), but they are remarkable as well.  Unlike the other Dwarven groups, their approach to life has led to them being more capable of living with any race as well as adapted to a variety of tasks as opposed to filling only a few small niches.  You can of course find examples of them focusing on typically Dwarven tasks such as smithing and warfare, but just as often you’ll find them filling other roles such as merchants, sailors, farmers, bakers, and so on.  For an example of an exceptional Common Dwarf there is Karamos Daern in book 2 - Exile, Hunted.  Admittedly he does fill a more traditional role as a master armorer and priest for the primary Dwarven God, Hatrien Quin, but he is exceptional nonetheless.  You can have a brief encounter with him by reading this chapter in Exile, Hunted (which does have some spoilers for the current book, Exile, Magus, so be warned).

I’ll leave the description at that.  Thanks to everyone who has ordered Exile, Magus already, and I hope that those of  you who are following but haven’t ordered already will consider doing so.  Even if you can’t order be sure to refer the book to others, if the book funds you can still win one of the available awards for being a top 10 referrer even if you haven’t ordered a copy for yourself.

That’s all I’ve got for this week (other than the Common Dwarf racial option for D&D 5th edition which I’ll be posting below for my fellow players/DM’s), so I’ll once again thank you all for your support and wish you enjoyable reading and whatever else you may desire.

• Ability Score Increase:  +1 Constitution; and +1 in 2 Ability Scores other than Dexterity or Constitution.
  
• Age:  Typically reach adulthood at around 60-70 years and live up to 450-500 years(though most die in battle before this).
• Alignment:  Any.
• Size:  Medium, stand between 3’8" - 4’8".
• Speed:  30’.  Living amongst the taller races has taught them the importance of keeping up.
• Dwarven Toughness:  +1 to Maximum HP at every level.
• Skill Training:  You gain proficiency in any 2 skills of your choice.
• Tool Training:  You gain proficiency in any 1 artisan’s tool of your choice.
• Versatility:  You can choose to either gain Dwarven Armor Training(proficiency in both Light and Medium Armors) or gain 1 bonus Language and 1 bonus Proficiency in either a skill or artisan’s tool.
• Weapn Training:  Proficient with any 4 of the following - Greataxe, Greatsword, Heavy Crossbow, Light Crossbow, Longbow, Longsword, Maul, Pike, Rapier, Shortsword, Shortbow, Warhammer, War Pick.
• Languages:  Common, and 1 of the following - Dwarven, Elven, Giant, or Gnomish.

Tantalus Depths has come a long way since this campaign first began. It’s also fallen pretty far here and there, but it’s also come a long way since then.

The support I’ve seen from all of you has been beyond critical to the success this campaign has seen, but we still have a long way to go. As of today, we need 185 more pre-orders to hit full publication, and we have only about a month to get there.

I’ve reached out to just about as many people as I can at this point. I’m dependent on you to help bring in new readers; people you know who would like Tantalus Depths who I haven’t had the pleasure of asking about it myself.

To that end, I’m launching a special promotion from now until the end of my campaign: at the end of my campaign, whoever has referred the most people to buy copies of Tantalus Depths will have a minor planet named after them in the book.

It won’t be seen, since the entire story takes place on Tantalus 13, and will likely be only a passing reference. However, your planet will become a fixture in Tantalus Depths’ universe; a member world of the Colonial Hegemony, alongside other exotic and mysterious exoplanets such as Showalter, Samrat, Hayden, and Atropos. Your planet will be a part of the canon of this universe, and who knows? We may one day see more of it in future sequels or spinoffs.

To qualify for this honor, you simply have to be responsible for bringing the largest number of new readers to Tantalus Depths. Your own first order counts as one. If you get a friend to order a copy, that counts as two. A new friend counts as three. It’s that simple.

If at the end of the campaign there is a tie, the winner will be selected at random from among the top referrers. To prevent abuse of Inkshares’ referral systems, please confirm any new referrals with me via private message.

Have fun, and get to referring! (especially if you have a cool planet-sounding name.)

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.