Joseph Asphahani liked an update for Murder at the Veterans’ Club

Dear friends and followers,

I don’t like to send these out more than once a week. However, I do have an announcement, which I would rather not keep for the weekend:

The third Peterkin Investigates game is out! In "Labour’s Letters Lost", a packet of letters--highly sensitive information, apparently, and potential for scandal--has been lifted from a private safe during a dinner party. Eric Peterkin is called in by his club’s secretary, Jacob Bradshaw, to deal with the matter as discreetly as possible, and you get to investigate the mystery in Eric’s shoes.

Enjoy!

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    Joseph Asphahani liked an update for Exile, Magus

    Happy Wednesday everyone!  Time for another update.

    We’re only a few orders away from a new chapter release, and I’m hoping to get there soon, both because I really want to release another chapter and because we’ll really need to pick up the pace in order to get to funded status by the end of the campaign in about a month’s time.

    Since I’ve finished talking about the different dwarven ethnic groups in my world, as well as the single elven ethnic group which is appears in Magus(but is certainly not the only one in its world), I decided today I want to talk a bit about my world’s wizards, the magi(magus is the singular form).

    I’ve actually talked a bit about my magic system for a post on John Robin’s Epic Fantasy Writer blog back in June (click here if you wanna read it), so I’ll keep it brief in this update.  At the most fundamental level a magus uses the energy of their own soul to manipulate the natural occurring magical energies of the world to alter the laws of nature.  As such they must have at least a basic understanding of what those laws are to begin with.  This leads to most magi being rather studious and tending to focus on a single field or related group of fields.  They are also able to create greater effects or alter laws that they do not understand by drawing on more of their souls energy, a process referred to in Exile, Magus as wrenching free a pinning of the soul, and which risks the death of the magus doing it.

    I’ll leave my explanation there so as not to take up more of your time.  If you want to read a bit more about it, then go read the blog entry above(and check out some of the other great posts by other authors there as well).  For any fellow D&D  5e players out there I’ll be posting a very early, very rough version of a Magus archetype for the Wizard class at the bottom.  For everyone else, as always thank you for your time and support.  Keep reading and enjoying!


    Magus Archetype
    Primary Focus:  At 2nd level you choose 1 school of magic.  Alternatively you can choose an alternate focus such as an Element type (fire, water, earth, air), spirit-based spells, healing, or similar grouping which the DM approves.  The gold and time you must spend to copy a spell of that focus is halved.

    Sense Magic:  At 2nd level you gain the ability to cast Detect Magic 1/day without expending a spell slot.  You do not need to have the spell memorized or in your spellbook to cast it in this way.
    At 6th level you can cast it 3/day.
    At 10th level you can cast it at will.

    Wrench Pinning:  As a bonus action you can spend HD to gain a spell slot of a level equal to the number of HD spent, up to your highest level spell slot.  This spell slot must be used by the end of your next turn, and is lost if not used.
    At 6th level you can also choose to suffer 1 or 2 points of Constitution damage in order to increase the slot gained by an amount equal to the damage dealt.  A slot gained in this way can give you access to a spell slot higher than your highest level spell slot.
    At 10th level, the slot gained is 1 higher than the amount of HD spent to gain it.  This has a maximum of your highest level spell slot unless you also suffer Constitution damage as described above.
    At 14th level, you can use the spell slot gained from this to cast a spell which is not in your spellbook, but is on your class spell list.  If you use this ability to cast a spell of a level higher than your caster level would normally allow, then you must suffer 1 extra Constitution damage per level of the spell slot above what you can normally cast.

    Analyze Magic:  At 6th level your understanding of the laws of magic and reality have increased to a point that allows you to cast Identify as a ritual spell without use of a material component 1/day.  You do not need to have the spell memorized or in your spellbook to cast it in this way.
    At 10th level you can cast it in this way 3/day.
    At 14th level you can cast it in this way at will.
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      Joseph Asphahani liked an update for Sunshine is Forever

      Hey Campers!

      Right now Sunshine is Forever is sitting at 690/750 preorders. You’re probably thinking, "That’s awesome! He is for sure going to make it!" And you’re probably right, but I won’t make it without your help! If every single one of you convinces one person to buy the book this week, I will be done! There are also some of you out there who are still just following the book, and haven’t preordered yet. What are you waiting for?Preorder! https://www.inkshares.com/books/sunshine-is-forever

      So what happens when I hit 750? First, I’ll send the manuscript to Inkshares’ assigned editor. We will rework whatever needs to be reworked. Once it is ready, a cover designer will redesign the cover. After that, the book with be printed and shipped directly to you. The faster I get to 750, the faster I can start working on getting the book into your hands. Help me reach my goal!

      I came across this awesome explanation of Inkshares as a company: "Recently called ’The future of publishing’ by The Wall Street Journal, Inkshares is a book publisher that uses a crowdfunding model instead of agents and acquisitions editors to decide what to publish. Their community of readers can pre-order a book project on Inkshares.com, and if the project hits its funding limit, Inkshares brings the book to life by providing editorial services, design, production, national distribution, and marketing."

      And in case you missed it, here are links to all of the interviews I have done about the book.

      Interview 1: http://apotheosisstudios.com/blog/2016/8/24/sunshine-is-forever-guest-post-by-kyle-t-cowan

      Interview 2: http://www.foxforcefivenews.com/kyle-t-cowan-tackles-depression-with-sunshine-is-forever-talks-preacher-interview/

      Interview 3: https://eyesandearsbooks.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/author-interview-kyle-t-cowan/

      Interview 4: http://www.alastairluft.com/blog/author-interview-kyle-t-cowan

      You’ve helped me get this far, now please help me finish this campaign this week! You are all the best!

      And remember, you can’t have a rainbow without sunshine!

      Kyle T. Cowan

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        Joseph Asphahani liked an update for These are my Friends on Politics

         

        Hey everyone. Friendly helpful PSA time.

        I ordered a physical book but was just told my ebook is ready to download. What happened? 

        Don’t worry. If you backed These Are My Friends on Politics, you’ll either have received or soon will receive an email informing you your ebook download is ready. That’s not a goof — every physical book comes with a complimentary ebook version you can load onto your preferred e-reader of choice. So you’re getting that right now while the physical books are being prepared for shipment. If you ordered a physical book (or three, or ten), that package will be heading your way before long. This is just a pre-order bonus.

        Sounds good. So what’s a .mobi file? 

        If your experience with getting ebooks comes from buying them straight from Amazon’s or Apple’s store, you might be a little thrown by seeing two different formats presented for your consumption. The download page has all the instructions you’ll need, but here’s a bonus quick cheat sheet. 

        ePub version: This is the .mp3 of ebooks, and it works on anything not called a Kindle. So if you’re using iBooks for iOS/Mac, Google Books for Android, or a Sony Reader/Nook/Kobo/basically any e-reader ever made that isn’t a Kindle, this is the format for you. 

        Kindle (.mobi) version: This one is for anyone using a tablet made by Amazon -- be it a Kindle Fire, the regular monochrome Kindles (Paperwhite, whatever weird name that new one is called) or anything else that has the word "Kindle" stamped on it. It also will display nicely on the Kindle desktop app for PC and Mac. The one place it won’t load: the Kindle app for iOS, which uses a different file format that’s laden with DRM and requires purchase through Amazon’s own store to display books properly. Fortunately, if you’re an iOS person, the ePub version plays perfectly with iBooks. 

        So should I read this ebook now or wait for the physical book if I ordered one of those? 

        Honestly? If I’m being candid, I’d wait, because I think the physical book is the best experience. I love ebooks, but I don’t think heavily-illustrated books are best served by that format. I also hope this is the kind of book people open up and enjoy together, which is something the physical book better allows to happen. It’s up to you, of course, but if you’re waiting on a physical book and choose to ignore the email about the ebook as result, you’ll get no argument from me. 

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          Joseph Asphahani liked an update for Murder at the Veterans’ Club

          Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the ground floor plan for the Veterans’ Club.

          Not shown: fireplaces. Yes, there are multiple fireplaces, because this place was built in a time before proper central heating. Possibly it has been renovated since, but there are still fireplaces. And if you’re wondering why a gentlemen’s club has what is clearly a ladies’ restroom: the gentlemen members do bring ladies in to dine from time to time, and may God have mercy on their souls if a lady has no place to powder her nose.

          (I do invite comments and criticism on this plan. I confess that I have not actually made an in-depth study of the club building layouts around St James Place.)

          Meanwhile! How are we doing? The third Peterkin Investigates game is still in production. I hope to have it out before Friday ... some of you may be aware that IFcomp 2016 begins on 01 October, and everyone who plays these things will be playing and judging the competition games. So I’d like to get my game out before that flood begins. I may have to make a rare mid-week update just to announce the game.

          Watch this space, folks!

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            Joseph Asphahani liked an update for Weaponized

            Hello everyone!

            We’re locked and loaded at #1.

            Short update for this week. Things have been crazy with Weaponized. The positive reaction you’ve all shared with me has been overwhelming. It’s been truly gratifying.

            This week, we had the book appear on Bloody-Disgusting. I’ve also been streaming with my brother on Twitch to gather orders. Should be streaming again tomorrow, you can find us here. I’m sure we’ll be playing retro games. 

            In the meantime, I have a few more offers for press for Weaponized. I write for The Huffington Post during the weekdays (find my stuff here). I only mention it because next week I’ll be writing about Banned Books Week. The freedom to read is incredibly important so if y’all have a banned book you love don’t hesitate to reach out, I’d be happy to write about it.

            Finally, I still need everyone’s help in spreading the good word of Weaponized. If any of you have a friend who’d be interested in the book, please refer them to this page. We’re a month and a week away from the end of the CryptTV contest and I’ll need all the support I can muster to stay in the top 3. Also, we’re 87 orders away from Quill!! So let’s push for that!

            -Zac

            “That which is imagined can never be lost.”  - Clive Barker

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