Hello all!

There are only 9 DAYS left in the contest and things are already shaking up. Although I’m still in 2nd place, Peter Ryan’s excellent Destiny Imperfect is creeping up the ladder (only 5 behind me!). I wish there was room for all three of us, but there are only 2 spots up for grabs. I am asking each and every one of you to pre-order a copy if you haven’t done so already or to help spread the word. If you know somebody that likes video games and dragons, chances are they’ll enjoy AYSYWTQ? 

As a remind, those who pre-order will receive a FREE short story titled "Mother of All," in addition to a FREE digital painting. I worked very hard on AYSYWTQ? and I want nothing more than to see this story published one day. 

Let’s make sure Maggie defeats Amasarok once and for all ;) Thank you.

Best,

アリサちゃん

First Draft is Complete!

Thursday night at about 10:30 I wrote the final words of the Deus Hex Machina first draft. I had been pressing to get it done by the end of June, and through some help from motivational guru and all around fabulous person Elayna May Darcy (seriously go order  They Are the Last, it’s funding now and it’s awesome), I was able to get all twelve chapters finished on time.

So what happens now? Well, first off I’m going to celebrate with some gaming. Then probably Tuesday I will start working on my short story for Too Many Controllers. After that is complete it’s time to start planning for the Shadow of the Owl sequel, Shadow of the Panther. I know many of your have been waiting to find out what happens to Mylena in [spoilers], and I promise you I haven’t forgotten her.

That’s not to say things aren’t progressing on DHM. My cover designer is already working on comps and I have a developmental editor lined up and waiting. But first, I want to get the first draft in its raw, unfiltered state into the hands of a few select readers to get initial impressions. If you are someone who likes to help make a good book better, I am trying to build a beta reader group. Please email me amanda [at] goldleafbooks [dot] com and let me know that you’re interested. Warning: must love cyberpunk and have an eye for spotting egregious errors in the plot.

Once I have the round done, I’ll head into the second draft and fix anything that stood out to me and my readers (I have a mental list of weak areas I want to shore up). After the second draft is complete it will be off to dev edit land, and hopefully, plot perfection. 

Thanks for following along on this journey. The book is done! Let’s celebrate!  

Dear friends:

Every once in a while, I get an e-mail from Inkshares with the subject line “You’re Selling Books.” Opening those e-mails is like opening a long awaited present. Those e-mails mean that a bookstore has decided to take a chance on my novel, and it will be carrying one or several copies of The Catcher’s Trap.

The first thing I do when I get those e-mails is googling the bookstore,  finding out where is located and then sending them a thank you tweet for taking a chance with a new author.

So far six independent bookstores will be carrying my book: A. C. Vroman, in Pasadena, Ca. Common Good Books, in St. Paul MN. Tattered Cover in Denver CO. Prairie Lights Book, in IOWA City IA, Mysterious Galaxy Books, in San Diego CA and Flyleaf Book, in Chapel Hill NC.

There are over sixteen hundred independent bookstores in the U.S. It would be a dream come true if all of them carry my book, but, in the meantime, I’m thankful for those 6.

Hopefully, a bookstore in my home state of Connecticut will take a chance on me.

I also dream about taking a road trip and visiting every single one of the bookstores carrying my book. So far my map looks like this:

My trip would cover 4 thousand miles and it will take 61 hours of driving. If I’m lucky, and readers love my book as much as I do, many other stops will be added. Maybe I’ll have to take a year off to cover them all. An author can dream, right?

 Have a wonderful weekend!

Hi everyone! I have things to tell you about!



First, Kris Calvin’s One Murder More is currently 99cents for Kindle. This was the first Inkshares book I read and I enjoyed it! I love murder mysteries, and I bet some of you do, too.

Amazon allows ebooks to be gifted via the wonders of the internet... so the first FIVE of my readers who like this update will receive the ebook of One Murder More as a gift! (Just readers who have purchased my book, not followers; this is a thank-you gift! And if you don’t have a Kindle, apparently Amazon has a free app so you can read it on your computer. I’ve never tried it, though.)

We all want to relax and chow down on a political thriller while we lounge on the beach (or something), right?!



Also, there’s a new syndicate in town, and it’s a book club!

For those who don’t know, syndicates are a sort of book-of-the-month thing where you pledge $10 (ebook) or $20 (print) to purchase a book agreed upon by the syndicate each month. If the price is different from the pledge, you are refunded the difference.

Elan Samuel’s Inkshares Book Club Syndicate will select and read a currently available Inkshares book every other month and discuss it together! Syndicates have mainly aimed to support currently funding books to help them get published, so one that selects available books is a new angle to take. Since it has to be monthly at this point, the syndicate will support funding books on the off months.

Consider checking it out!

FINALLY, a She Is the End update:

I have untangled the disaster that was Episode VIII, and Alex is currently doing developmental edits on Episode VII. I solved a problem in the final climax that was leaving the ending too weak, and in general we’re tightening things up, cutting like mad, and I AM SO. EXCITED. TO SEND THIS BOOK TO BETA READERS SOON.

And when I do, I will be taking a little break from writing. It will be... Art Time. I’m going to be sketching out the illustrations for my
book!!!

Until next time, my space-faring friends...

Hi, my faithful and wonderful Readers,

I am happy to announce that my lengthy silence is (hopefully) over! The past few weeks have been a tumult of real life, depression, anxiety, and installing new book cases in my house! The new book cases are wonderful...the other stuff wasn’t so wonderful. Here’s a picture of the new book cases to cheer us all up. ...