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!

WE. DID. IT.

First things first, congratulations to Paul, Kate, and Susan. This was hard, so, way to persevere. This was not for the faint of heart and you guys did GREAT!

Now, to my people: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

 I’m sure you are tired of hearing it, but everyone is getting a THANK YOU. This would not have been possible without you. So when I say, "we did it" I truly mean this was a "we" thing. And I am so excited to get to share this experience with you!

More to come, for sure.

Your very grateful friend,

Meghan Godwin

You enter your front door to find a computer on the floor. It is old. Ancient. A filthy, clunky CRT sits on top of a bulky gray box with black grease smeared across it and floppy disk drives on its front. There are no input devices.

Also, notably, there are dozens, maybe as many as a hundred black wires flowing out the back of the box and into every outlet, phone jack, and light bulb socket in your residence. Some cords are jammed brutally into the wall, seemingly connected to nothing.

The monitor flickers to life. Green text fills it.

"It’s November 1st. A day without any magic.

Well, unless it’s your birthday, I guess. Happy birthday, Somebody.

The Wolf in the Woods finished in fourth place in the Inkshares Horror Contest. That was just one place away from winning outright and being published. For all my words tapped on all my pages, I can’t find the ones to say how thankful I am that you all got me there. Right now, fourth is a good place to be-- the judges of the competition will deliberate through the course of this week over whether any additional books should be selected, and being The Next Book Down is a great place to be for that.

In the meantime, I have a couple of new things I’d like you to see.

• Dan the Snowman, a webcomic I write that my brother Monty draws. Monty did the cover art for The Wolf in the Woods, and he’s top-notch. Dan isn’t horror, but I think you’ll find the same vein of weirdness going down its middle.
  
  
• Raised on Radio, the novel I’m working on for NaNoWriMo (and the one I worked on last year-- that’s not cheating, right?). It’s a Spielbergian ’80s sci-fi story with a summer romance thrown in. It’s LGBT+ friendly and features a pretty good female protagonist, if I do say so myself. It’s a little rough right now, as all NaNoWriMo drafts are, but maybe there’s enough there for you to get a taste of the story and vibe and warm up to some of the characters. I’m not trying to fund this right now, but if you liked The Wolf in the Woods, it’d be great if you mosied over and hit that "follow" button.

See you around. Stay weird.
--Ben"

The computer blinks off. Everything is quiet. You feel a little sad, even though you thought you’d be relieved that all these annoying shenanigans would be over. Then, you feel annoyed when you realize that the computer is not going to vanish like the mailbox, the dog, and all the other intrusive weirdness in your life over the past month.

All things literary have been a whirlwind. I’ve recently gotten notified that The Punch Escrow has been selected as one of Kirkus Reviews’ 100 Best Books of the 2017. That is great news! But on the same day I learned that Goodreads didn’t see The Punch Escrow fit to be listed among their selections for the Goodreads Choice Science Fiction awards. What adds insult to a bit of injury is that some of the books that they did nominate aren’t even published yet!

However, there is still some hope. YOU can alter reality! If you read and liked my book and have a Goodreads account, it takes about 4.8 seconds (I timed it) to write-in The Punch Escrow in the Best Science Fiction category. It would mean the world to me. The write-in field is at the bottom of the link above. It looks like this:

All you need to do is type in The Punch Escrow (it will auto-fill) and that’s it—you’ve altered reality! 

Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and this book. I’ll be writing a more comprehensive update on what’s going on with the film adaptation next year, there’s just a lot going on and I’m legally not allowed to discuss any of it. But it’s all *good* stuff!

-Tal 

Lou A Craig won the MY FAVORITE THING IS MONSTERS giveaway. The random generator delivered 44 and it was Lou’s number. It’s ordered and shipped and although i overpaid for my copy at the tiny bookstore where I live, the Amazon version was about half the cost. That’s all I got to say tonight. Fancy that. Oh, wait, why you’re waiting for your copy of Murder Happens to get published, go check out GLAM and follow it. That’s all the huckstering you’re gonna get out of me tonight.
https://www.inkshares.com/books/glam

The End is Near…
The competition for the top 3 spots in the Inkshares Horror contest is intense. I don’t anticipate this will sway you if you haven’t bought a pre-order for Murder Happens, but I said there would be a giveaway for Emil Ferris’ MY FAVORITE THING IS MONSTERS. It will be Tuesday evening once the contest winds up. If you do decide to support MH, you will be entered onto the list. I really enjoyed the graphic novel, and wanted to share it with you all. $40 value. Just saying.
https://www.inkshares.com/books/murder-happens

******* FREE STUFF AT THE BOTTOM! *******

Wow, that Launchpad Contest was a wild ride. Looks like this Horror Contest might get scary too!

Like when Mike’s Vampire and the Dragon blew past me into first place. Felt good at the top for a couple days. It’s okay being his wingman. I ain’t ashamed to admit there’s a little man crush going on. Who knows, maybe we could team up for a writing project. That might be interesting. 

What do you think?

If you’re so inclined to pre-order Murder Happens, now is a good time to step up. I’ll be forever grateful to all who have supported this project...and helping me work out my mommy issues.The excerpts of Murder Happens have been getting good reviews. If you haven’t had a chance to read them—the reviews and/or the excerpts—go check them out. Really appreciate getting feedback, too.

Spent the last week working on one particular chapter. It’s deep into the book, so unlikely I’ll post it, but I can share a bit of my process. 

My day job takes up a lot of time and the huckstering for pre-orders takes up the rest. That’s my process! Oh, and checking the leaderboard constantly, that’s the biggest time suck. 

BRB…okay, still in 2nd.

Murder Happens is a complete manuscript. I finished it a few years back. Using it more as an outline and rewriting all the chapters. I squeeze in an hour or so in the evening, a day off here and there. And the weekends as much as possible around my chores…like checking the leaderboard. 

Okay…still in 2nd. 

I use Scrivener. It’s great. Also capture notes and ideas with my phone when they hit. That’s usually in the middle of the night. Without the day job, I would probably get up at 4 a.m., put in 5,000 words or so, then call it quits and binge on Netflix. Okay, probably 500 words. 

Revising never ends. I spend a lot of time on one sentence or a paragraph until it rings true. I read aloud to myself or anyone else who’ll listen. Highly recommend it. Your ear hears what your brain ignores. Sure, I make stuff up all the time, but I’m reading this update out loud right now.

As a writer, I haven’t settled on a genre yet. I’m a genre bender. But what about gender bending? I wrote a short story called Glams vs Red Plaids. I wrote it with the intention of weaving it into the larger plot line of a novel. 

The story is FREE Thursday through Sunday so grab the Kindle version and download it. It’s what I have to give now to show my appreciation for your support. 

Joan calls it dystopian biopunk. It has gender issues with a battle of the sexes, all three of them.

Fun, right?

Go check it out, doesn’t cost a thing because I’m crushing on all of you.

If you don’t like my story, then check out The Dog of Jesus that pops up when I go to the page. It’s got 176 reviews. Glams vs Red Plaids has none, so there’s that...

One more thing,  a great big shout out to Mike Ostrowski because he’s an awesome dude. His book Lost in the Fog is a crime thriller the way it should be done.

Here’s a link to Glams vs Red Plaids, go download a FREE story:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075H5BWTF

Here’s a link to Murder Happens, go pre-order:
https://www.inkshares.com/books/murder-happens

Here’s a link to Lost in the Fog, go buy a copy:
https://www.inkshares.com/books/lost-in-the-fog

Here’s a link to The Vampire and the Dragon, go pre-order if you already pre-ordered Murder Happens.
A man crush only goes so far :o)
https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-vampire-and-the-dragon

Now get outta here!