Hello friends!

 Hi guys!  

Not much news around here, but I still wanted to touch base.  I signed all the books for my giveaways thus far, and will be sending those out later in the week (we’ve got some rain coming in, so a trip to the post office with a huge pile of books to mail is not in the cards. I don’t want your prizes getting wet.)

As a further add-on to yesterday’s update, I’d like to outline some general info about both the Pictish-Tribes and the Imartii. As those who read the last update will know, I’m offering a limited-time promotion for *2* lucky individuals - chosen at random from the pool of Alethian/Wolf-Riders backers of my novel. These two winners will be able to create a character based on one culture or the other, and have their character brought into the books!

The Picts ~

The Picts are an elusive and mysterious culture whom dwell in the marshes and swamps far to the South of Dearean. Long ago, the Picts dominated much of the larger world, but a series of terrible catastrophes all-but annihilated their vast kingdoms, reducing them to  little more than a pale-shadow of their former glory. 

Few in number, the Picts rely upon ambushes and ranged-weaponry to defeat their enemies in battle. Due to their unrivaled eye-sight and reflexes, Pictish warriors can rain death down upon their enemies from across great distances before vanishing back into the woods, only to reemerge elsewhere to begin their assault anew. 

Until now, the Picts have remained content in their isolation, defending their borders when necessary, but otherwise abstaining from open interaction with the human kingdoms to the North. However change is on the wind. Deep within the heartlands of the Pictish-Wilds, something is stirring.  More and more of the First-Peoples are congregating together. It is whispered that they are drawn to the voice of an entity known only as; The Prophet. Who this person is, or what they want, is as of now unknown.

The Imartii ~

The Imartii dwell to the mountainous West, and are people built upon the worship of personal-exploit. The Imartii are divided into various city-states, each of which operates independently from one another. Though loosely unified by a Confederacy, the various city-states are not above clashing with one another, as they so often do. 

Imartii culture is defined by the search for personal glory. Heroes and adventures often set forth from the walled-cities to venture out into the greater world, intent on finding glory through conquest. This is achieved through the slaying of great monsters, the discovery of lost treasures, or other feats of valor, strength, or guile. The culmination of these many heroic achievements are the "Games" which play out at the end of every season. Each city-state dispatches its greatest champions to compete against those representing other members of the Confederacy, with glory and riches being rewarded to whichever state achieves the largest percentage of victories. 

Throughout much of Dearean, even occasionally within the hellish lands of Alethia, it is not uncommon to encounter hero-adventurers of the Imartii, intent on searching out their next challenge. 

So there you have it folks. Two (vastly different) cultures to pick from. So go pre-order a copy if you haven’t, and look forward to 2 new chapters coming later this week as we near the end of the campaign!

I forgot one thing the other day. My other project, Motor City Chronicles - Book One: Transgressions has recently gotten a GREAT book trailer. Check it out by CLICKING HERE!

Paul

We are now at 7 DAYS REMAINING and currently 208 sales towards our goal of 250 ~

As the final week looms over my head, I’ve decided to do something a little different. This week I will be uploading 2 new chapters, both of which develop the various nations that surround Yggdrassil. Alethia, the Bad-Lands, and Nin will all receive their fair share of exploration and more. 

Within the lands of Alethia, necromancy and other forms of fel-sorcery have become the norm as the kingdom’s population continues to dwindle while its needs to defend its threatened borders persist. 

But these locations and their respective cultures are not all there is within the lands of Dearean. To the East there are the Imartii - fierce and proud warriors, with each city its own nation - while to the South live the mysterious and nomadic Picts. A strange and little-understood culture, the Picts are elf-like in appearance, and attuned to the magical quantities of the world in a way few other races possess the capabilities to be. 

Artwork rights belong to Blood Rage - will hopefully have official work done soon of these groups. In the meantime this offers a work-concept of what I’m considering for these two cultures.

As funding continues for "The Children of the Forest" I’m looking to have *2* backers receive a special reward. In two random drawings, I will select two different customers of my novel to be featured as characters hailing from either the Imartii or Picts. The winners will have the ability to pick their character’s sex, have input on their origin, and even help choose their name and appearance! More still, once official artwork is scheduled, your character will feature prominently and you will receive a free and highly detailed print!

For this reward I will only be selecting from the pool of backers who have achieved either Alethian or Wolf-Rider status - but there’s still time to get your name in the drawing. All you need to do is upgrade your purchase to the 2nd or 3rd level, and that’s it - you’re in!

This is a really awesome and unique prize that will offer two lucky individuals the chance to personalize their experience with the opening novel in the series. Winners will be selected only on the basis that the book reaches its goal of 250 sales, so act quickly, and make sure you recommend and push the book to everyone you can. 

Hi everyone!  

Just wanted to give you a quick update - the Copy Edits are done!  My Copy Editor Michael Trudeau over at GFP did an absolutely bang-up job, not just cleaning up grammar and such but finding some rather embarrassing inconsistencies in the text.  He also highlighted a number of passages that could be confusing to a first-time reader, and I got all those cleaned up.  The final product keeps getting better and better.

So next steps:  The copy edited manuscript is getting "poured" into galley format.  This means that the book is finally going to start looking like a book!  It’s in this galley format that the final proofreading gets done, and there will be a limited print run so we’ll have copies to send as promos to elicit blurbs.  I’m planning on dropping a copy off over at Stephen King’s house...wouldn’t it be cool if he gave us a quote to put on the front cover?

This phase of the process is budgeted to last through March, and then mid-April it gets sent to the printer.

I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but you can follow me on twitter @llabak and you can find It’s All Fun and Games on Facebook here.  

We recently lowered the ebook price to $5.99, so if you know someone who might be interested, by all means spread the word.  New Inkshares members are still receiving a $5 credit, so the ebook is only $.99 (and the trade paperback is $8.99).  The first time someone orders any particular book from Inkshares using your referral code you get $15 in credit with which to support another up-and-coming author.  It’s a win-win!

Thank you again for all your support through this process!

Cheers
Dave

CONTINUING COVERAGE OF EVENTS

Hey folks,

So, it happened. I received the final e-mail from Girl Friday, the production company that has been handling all things editorial and the final version has been sent to the printers! It’s done! We did it! (Well not quite yet. I’ll get to that.) Thank you to everyone at Girl Friday for being great and pushing me to make my book the best it could possibly be. 

So from here on out, it’s all about pushing the book for me! To that end, there are some pretty big deal happenings that you should be aware of starting with...

A LAUNCH PARTY! Yep. It’s been confirmed. An Unattractive Vampire will be coming out in style here in Chicago with an official launch party at Bucket O’ Blood Books and Records. So in the midst of your St. Patty’s Day stupor come out (please come out) and buy a book or get your book signed and say hi and then go back to green beer and vomiting on sidewalks, a Chicago tradition. For more information about Bucket O’ Blood you can visit their website or Facebook page.

Also...THE SWORD AND LASER! In very much another "crossing off a life goal" moment, I will be appearing on The Sword and Laser podcast on March 15 (PUBLISHING DAY). So you’ll be able to listen to me stumble through a haze of glee and make a fool of myself very soon. Also, if you have any questions for me (looking at you other authors) head over here and ask them. I have wisdom dammit! Let me share it!

Finally, the Nerdist space opera contest is still going strong with a just under a month to go. If you happen to like starships battles and alien wars, you might want to head over there and check it out. Here are a few suggestions:

The Madness of Mr. Butler by Michael Haase: The tale of an eccentric old man on a far away planet desperately trying to prove that his world is a sphere circling a star. Also, God talks to him through an astronauts helmet.

Aurora by Taylor Hopkins: A bounty hunter faces off against a criminal mastermind in a planet-hopping adventure. The sample chapter reads like a combination of Alien and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Lucky by RH Webster about a woman hitching a ride back to earth from the dusty end of space. I’ll be honest, there aren’t a lot of details about the plot for this one, but the writing is REALLY good.

Anyway, until next time everyone.