Hello, readers.

I’ve added a short excerpt to the project page for 1000 Faces, which will give you your first glimpse of the life of Kara Finch and the world of the near-future. Take a read, let me know what you think - you can even leave a review. 

In his The Story So Far round-up of the contest’s first week, Joey Angotti had this to say about 1000 Faces: 

 "1000 Faces is a horrifying and very realistic plot that really begs to ask the question: “Where are we going as a society?” Basically, the internet and all the information shared and carried online could potentially be exploited by hackers and terrorists - we’ve seen it happen before. Now take those situations and amplify by 1000(just seemed right to use this number) and there you go. Now you have a world wide(puns for days) epidemic that not only cause people to fear and back away from the internet, but also opens people’s eyes to the fact that “big brother is always watching.” It’s pretty scary and reminds me of when people were afraid that Microsoft was spying on them with the Xbox Kinect or when people put tape over the camera in their laptop to make sure no one is spying on them through that."  

Thanks, Joey ;) Yes, 1000 Faces is currently in 5th place - but the fight at the top of the contest leader board is getting more competitive every day.  

I’ll be adding more excerpts over the coming week.

~ Jenny

G’day everyone,

Hello friends!

I hope you’re all gearing up for a lovely holiday weekend (here in the States), or a lovely regular weekend (everywhere else). You are getting this update because you believed in me, and my writing, enough to preorder Fae Child - and I have another book to ask you to believe in.

I entered the current SciFi contest on Inkshares (Mutants: Uprising) and am sitting tied for 3rd place (that’s guaranteed full publication). One preorder - your preorder - will make my position more secure. I am only a few readers away from 2nd, honestly. But I can’t do this alone, and I need your help. 

If you can preorder right now, all the better. If you can’t help out until next week, that’s good too. I need preorders then, too.

Unlike Fae Child, Mutants: Uprising is written for adult readers, which is to say there is strong language in it. It already exists as a first draft, and as of now it’s in the running to WIN THIS CONTEST!!!

 
Thank you so much for your time,
Jane-Holly

Good tidings and greetings to all of my followers!  

I have been in some measure of communication with the InkShares team and have a little bit to report, though not all that much, and I have received one too many questions about Borehole Bazaar in the context of BDSM and so have written a detailed response to these inquiries on my blog.

First, I offer the news:  While there are still a few souls ahead of me in the general cue, there have been efforts made to find the right editor for me.  While my information spans no more than this, it is a reasonable concern by InkShares to find a match that is uniquely suited to offer insight and critique into the subject of abuse.  I applaud this effort, though, as always, waiting with bated breath is not precisely my forte.  Still, it’s PROGRESS!!!  :D

To keep this brief, the distinction between BDSM and abuse, while quite clear to those within the two communities, is not always understood by those looking in from without.  To compound this issue, there are many authors who seem to either confuse the two or blend them.  In real life, very few issues are clearly one thing and perfectly absent its foil, but Borehole Bazaar is not a romance by any definition.  This issue may become more confused later into the series, but there is nothing either romantic or romanticized about abuse, with the possible exception of the near-perfect mask Fiorie wears in the Prolog and the sense of history established between the very old bugbear and his "pet" elf.  

I’ve posted a blog post on this issue at http://boreholebazaar.blogspot.com

Good luck with all your endeavors, everyone!  Remember, dreams are worth chasing!

Hello everybody,

So we’re finally here, one month to the pub date for The Battle Within. It’s been a long trip to get here and I thank everyone for their continued support. Some details as we head into the final stretch:

The books have been printed and advance copies have been mailed to a number of media outlets. Over the next few weeks, the books will be mailed to backers and those who’ve pre-ordered, although you may get an e-book as early as next week.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to marry up with the books so I could sign them without affecting the launch date. In place of signed books, Inkshares designed and developed themed bookmarks, all of which have been personally signed and which will come with the books. As nice as the bookmarks are (and Inkshares did a great job), I recognize they’re not the same thing as a signed book, so please know I’ll make myself available for signatures as much as I can. There will clearly be some logistics to sort out, but please just get in touch with me directly and I’ll see what I can figure out. On that note:

24 June 17:  Book Launch Party, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm at Perfect Books (www.perfectbooks.ca), located at 258A Elgin Street, Ottawa. This would be a great opportunity to get a book signed and also take in downtown Ottawa as it readies for the 150th birthday celebrations the week after.

27 Jun 17: The publication date.

The last thing I’d offer is that I hope you enjoy the book. All of you made this possible and after nearly a year of production following the crowdfunding campaign, I hope you’ll find that it was worth the wait.

Thank you again and all the best,

Alastair Luft 

thank you! Thank you!! Thank You!!!

After one full week of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest, Mission 51 is sitting in First Place! That is fantastic!

I am sincerely grateful for the outpouring of support for me and Mission 51 this past week. The whole thing is a bit scary. It’s scary just putting the story out there. It’s scary asking for pre-orders. It’s even scary being in 1st place. And believe me, I’m not the scary sort. This is just way different than anything I do in my usual life.

I do feel very good about the book. It has a fun feel, with serious undertones. The historical fiction side includes plenty of real people, places, and things. My hope is that readers want to check  Wikipedia and other sources frequently while reading the book, to get a better and better feel for Mat’s world in 1954-1969. It has a lot of fun detail.

I’m proud of the "Staff Pick" and the "The Great Sci-Fi for the 21st Century and Beyond Syndicate" badges. It’s also humbling and cool to read the great recommendations Mission 51 has garnered. I’m grateful for it all!

There are still five weeks remaining in the contest, and there are now almost 70 projects participating. Twenty of them are now on the leaderboard. So I am grateful for where Mission 51 is right now, but I am still asking for your support. Many thanks to those who have already placed their pre-order. For those of you who have not, I humbly ask that you please take a moment to consider, and then another moment to go ahead and pre-order Mission 51. I would be forever grateful! :-)

Thanks again, and Peace!

Ferd  👽

Hello all!

We are one week into the Nerdist Science Fiction contest, and Mutants: Uprising (billed as X-Men meets Call of Cthulhu) is holding steady in 2nd place. This is awesome, but other entrants are right on our heels, looking to dethrone us! Order counts are low all around right now, and YOUR preorder could make a huge difference in this contest. There are just a few more weeks in the contest.

So, what is "second person"? Usually books are written in first person (I went to the store and dropped my groceries in the parking lot) or third person (She went to the store and dropped her groceries in the parking lot). Second person puts YOU right into the action (You went to the store and dropped your groceries in the parking lot). Mutants: Uprising is written in second person present tense, immersing you in the world and giving the narrative an immediacy that you’re not going to find in another book.

I wrote up a new synopsis for the story:

Mutants: Uprising is a second person POV novel about humans with super-human abilities trying to overcome the shadowy organizations that want to control them. The story centers on Jane "Zombie" Meyers, a relatively new leader of an underground cell of the League of Mutants, a terrorist organization, who is trying to make a name for herself while rising above her enforcer roots. Along the way she uncovers a plot against the pregnant founder of a second-chance shelter for homeless mutant teens, and has to work hard to save her from harm, figure out what the ulterior motives of her enemies are, all while earning the other woman’s trust. Oh, and there are horrors from other dimensions trying to break into ours, and state governments who want to register all mutated humans "for the greater good." All in a day’s work.

Mission 51 background stuff

Torkiyan missions to Cerulea (the planet Earth) are always organized by two factions within their government: one that is interested in spreading the beliefs and culture of the Torkiyan people, and another more interested in the commercial and financial aspects of the endeavor. The ideology of these competing yet complementary views are clearly spelled out to the crews of the missions in their Mission Directives:

1. To spread Torkiyan Knowledge, Wisdom, and Truth