It’s been a long time.

A couple exciting updates from Kill Creek...

For those of you who pre-ordered the book many, many months ago, the paperback copies (finally) went out today!  You should have received an email about this today, and the books should be to you in 2 - 4 business days.  I can’t wait for you to check it out.  I couldn’t be happier with the finished product.  It’s my love letter to my all-time favorite genre and the many horror writers who inspired me.  I wrote the first draft of Kill Creek over a decade ago, and the final version is the result of a VERY busy summer of rewriting...and rewriting...and rewriting.  The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive.  Barnes and Noble even called Kill Creek the horror debut of 2017 which is, you know, PRETTY DAMN COOL.  Here’s a little taste of what they had to say:

There is one little bit of bad news, and I hope you’ll forgive me: I wasn’t able to make it up to Oakland to the Inkshares offices to sign your books before they went out.  Because the books took longer to print than expected, and because I felt you had waited long enough to get the books you ordered, I made the decision to have them send them to you without my signature.  I wouldn’t have been able to make it to Inkshares before Thanksgiving, and I wanted to get the books to you ASAP.  But please know how much I appreciate your support.  Your pre-orders made it possible for us to start the process of publishing this book.  Without you, the manuscript would still be sitting on my hard drive.

Also, for those of you with (kid-free) commutes or road trips planned, Kill Creek is now available on Audible!

They did an amazing job.  It’s a fantastic listen.

I’ve already started talking to Inkshares about my next book.  It’s a much different story--a fast, nasty little mofo--and I can’t wait to dive in.  Just know that I have something appropriately disturbing in the works.

I hope you enjoy reading (or listening) to Kill Creek.  When you have a few minutes, please post a review on Amazon, Goodreads and/or Audible.  Your reviews help bring online attention to the book.  Also feel free to share comments or photos of the book on any and all forms of social media.  We’re doing our best to get the word out, but we can always use extra help!

Thank you again for your support. 

Now...open the door to the house on Kill Creek, but remember: once you cross its threshold, there is no going back...

Scott Thomas

Quick update-

The 94,200 word Mission 51 manuscript delivered to Inkshares is currently waiting its turn in the editing queue. I am told it may be after the first of the year before the Inkshares staff can "dive into it." - I think I can hold my breath that long!   

11/12/17

Hello!

Sorry for the recent radio silence on "Shadow King."  For much of the fall, I was engrossed in the new Launchpad competition and "Shadow King" was (im)patiently waiting in the queue for Inkshares’ editor.

I decided to invest in a development edit for "Shadow King." And I’m so glad I did. I just got my edits back, and I’m thrilled with what this editing team had to say. They had a lot of very good things to say about the manuscript, and also pointed out several areas where I have an opportunity to expand scenes and make the story even more robust than it already is.

I am about 2/3 of the way through these updates and have a goal of having the updated manuscript to Inkshares by the start of December (although Thanksgiving may alter that by a day or two).

I’ll send another update when there’s some more news to share. In the meantime, have an awesome fall! 

Best,
Susan

11/12/17

Hello, everyone. 

Wanted to just give you all a quick update on what’s going on with "Devil You Don’t." After Launchpad wrapped up, I confess I paused my campaign. My brain needed a break, and you all probably needed a break from me. :-)

Right now, we are 84 copies away from "The Devil You Don’t" qualifying for Inkshares’ Quill publishing level.

I’ve asked for (and received) an extension on my funding window until the end of this year. So at midnight on December 31, the funding window will close. At that point, either I’ll be qualified for Quill--or, I won’t be and you’ll all receive a refund for your pre-ordered copies.

I’m going to start digging up more intrepid readers. Of course, I’d love to have everyone’s continued support so if you know anyone who might be interested, please share my page: https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-devil-you-don-t.

If you’ve ordered, consider ordering a second copy--anyone who orders a copy that they’re planning to give as a gift, please let me know once you’ve ordered. If you’d like, i’ll send you a certificate you can give while the book is in production!

That’s it for now -- thank you as always for your continued support. I’ll send an update as we get into the start of December to let you know how everything is unfolding.

Best,
Susan

One third of the way through NaNoWriMo and I’ve come to a revelation about myself: I don’t like editing.

It’s a whole different world from writing, and trying to pick apart a story you’ve written already and piece it back together in a way that works better is a phenomenally headache-inducing process. It’s necessary, and the results of the process will speak for themselves in the end, but gosh is it exhausting.

I wish I could say I’ve made a lot of progress on Tantalus Depths already, but it’s been very slow going. Most of the editing I’ve done so far has been in the form of outlining rewrites on problem scenes and trying to boil the entire story down to specific thematic elements so I can increase the consistency in theme and tone throughout. It’s slow but crucial work, and hopefully it’ll make the remainder of the process move much more smoothly.

To keep myself creatively inspired while working through the frustrating and tiresome work of editing, I’ve been doing a decent amount of work writing Proteus as well. Since the beginning of NaNoWriMo, I’ve managed to work through about a bit over a dozen pages in Proteus, and about two full chapters. I’m definitely not up to the recommended word count for NaNoWriMo, but since I’m dividing my attention between writing and editing, I feel like it’s a fair bit of progress.

My plan is to try and get the first half of Tantalus Depths edited by the 20th of the month, finishing it by the end of November. Somewhere in there I’d like to knock out another half-dozen chapters of Proteus if possible, but that remains a secondary priority.

Hopefully my next update will be an encouraging one. Back to work I go!

Well...here we are: already speeding through November with what once seemed like a distant publishing release date for Skavenger’s Hunt now here. 

First of all, to those of you who ordered paperback copies of my first-ever novel, thank you! The shipment emails should have landed in your inbox by now, with the actual “hold in your hands and turn the pages” edition of the book on its way. To say I’m excited (along with honored, and humbled, and a laundry list of other descriptions) would be an understatement.

Early Thursday morning of this week, I flew down from Portland to Inkshares in Oakland, where the production team had stacked almost a thousand copies of the Hunt on a table, awaiting my signature. It was a task I was thrilled to tackle, even if my pen-grasping fingers got a little wobbly a few hours in. 

To our Grand Patrons of the book (those who received personalized inscriptions) please don’t hesitate to let me know if I got anything wrong. There’s certainly a chance, given the number of books signed, though I hope that’s not the case. 

And one more thing. Every time I finished signing a book, I’d pause for a second to let the ink dry...but I think I was also pausing for another reason. It was to remember how lucky I was that someone, perhaps a close friend, perhaps someone I didn’t even know, had decided to buy my book. 

Thanks for that. 

 I truly hope you enjoy the story that’s tucked in-between Will Staehle’s amazing cover. If you do, I’d be so appreciative of a short, quick review on key sites such as Amazon and GoodReads. And if you’re planning on giving the book as a gift to a middle-grade or YA reader, please extend them a special word from me. 

Enjoy!

It’s not often write-in votes amount to anything when it comes to awards and elections. The most popular victor of such an outcome is Boaty McBoatface, but maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. I was going to send a follow-on email thanking you all for your write-in efforts, except YOU TOTALLY DID IT! The Punch Escrow is now a semifinalist for the best science fiction book of the year in the Goodreads Choice awards. Thanks to each of you for donating 4.8 seconds of your time and writing in the name of my book. As you can see, we made it into the semi-finals. That means The Punch Escrow is already recognized as one of the 20 top sci-fi books of the year! 

Now, I have but one last favor to ask of you. As you can see, we’re in the semifinals, which means I need your vote again. BUT—I only need 1 second this time. You see that vote button under The Punch Escrow? Just click it, and you’ve done your part. It’s so easy to make such a big difference!

Thank you so much—this whole journey has surpassed my wildest dreams. I have no idea what happens next!