Greeting Jackolytes,

They say the Devil makes work for idle hands, and I’ve got enough of the Devil in me not to stay idle for too long. Currently Jack and his ride are in the Inkshares shop receiving tender ministrations from the folks in the production team. To keep busy, I’ve decided to jump into the most recent Inkshares contest.

The result is Destiny Imperfect. I know you’ve already dug deep for Sync City, but it’d be truly awesome if you could spare the time and money to back the new project. If Destiny Imperfect is in the top three at the end of the contest in six weeks’ time, then I get full production backing at Inkshares – something WELL worth having.

Dig deep, spread the love and Jack will have a stablemate to keep him company! Get on board and pre-order at: Destiny Imperfect. It’d mean the world to me … and probably beer for you …

Cheers,

Peter

I am feeling dizzy with gratitude! This was truly a special night. Mission 51 reached a funding milestone in a truly heartwarming way. I simply asked on Facebook, and friends responded. We now sit a 100 pre-orders! I am overjoyed!

Thank you Marie Nall for helping us get there, and Sally Johnson Reed for your friendship and support! You are the greatest! :-)

And a very special thank you to Michael Haase and wife Margie, who took time off from new baby duties, to dial the pre-orders up to 100! Thank you!! :-)

Michael, as you all must know, is the author of The Madness of Mr. Butler, winner of the Nerdist Space Opera Contest (in production), and of An Adventure With Dada which is currently in funding. Please give them both a look and send some love his way! :-)

In my Sunday update I alluded to something in the works involving me that I was really excited about, but I didn’t give specifics.  Well, now that the new Nerdist contest has begun and the unveil has happened I feel the time is right to tell you about it.

I have a feeling more than a few of you have already seen this particular entry into the contest - Too Many Controllers: An Anthology.  Well, that was my news.  In case you haven’t checked it out yet, I am one of the 15 authors contributing a short story to the collection.  I’ve mentioned before that science fiction was one of my first loves, and a major reason I’m so excited about this collection is that I’m finally going to get a chance to show that love to you all.

That’s all I’m really going to say about the project here, since when you clicked that follow button you were doing so for Exile, Magus.  If you’re interested in keeping up to date with what the 15 of us are doing(myself, Andre Brun, Elayna Mae Darcy, J.F. Dubeau, Brian Guthrie, Paul Inman, Richard Heinz, Ricardo Henriquez, Christopher Huang, Tal M. Klein, Billy O’Keefe, Amanda Orneck, Elan Samuel, Matthew Isaac Sobin, and Jamison Stone), then go follow Too Many Controllers so you can stay up to date as we release more details of the stories contained within.

In case you’re worried that this may delay progress on a campaign relaunch for Exile, Magus, don’t be.  Magus is fully written and just really waiting on a proper developmental edit and publisher.  Currently I’m waiting on my work schedule to slow down enough to have time to properly promote it before I start another campaign.  I’ll have more on that topic when that time is closer, though.

For now I’ll just thank you all for your time, and hope you enjoy yourselves and your reading!

All, thank you for your support so far. 

The universe (or something–maybe subconscious resistance) seems to be conspiring against me posting the chapters I already have of the novel every day, as I planned to. A great-aunt of mine, whom I loved dearly, passed away at the end of May, and I’ve been struggling with the loss of an entire generation in my family. I have a deep and abiding respect for my elders, and I feel utterly lost without their grounding force in my life.

I attended Great-Aunt Margaret Ruth’s funeral yesterday, and the loss I feel is incredible. She was one of the most faithful, kind, and classy women I’ve ever been blessed to know. She and her generation, including my grandparents, have been such an important feature in my life, and I don’t know what to do with myself now that they’re all gone.

The other reason that I’ve been unable to post until today is that I’ve been a very busy pet parent. My puppy, Doc Holliday, was attacked Friday night after escaping from our yard, and he had to have emergency surgery that night. I’ve been busy caring for him since then, as he has 30+ stitches in his right front leg. Being a mom is hard sometimes, even when your babies are all fur-babies.

Anyway, I’m back, and I have several updates for you.

1. My interview on The Hangin’ With Show will take place this Thursday (June 2). I will let you know when it is posted.

2. I may be interviewed by Local 15 News in my hometown of Bay Minette, Alabama about my Inkshares campaign. This is not a sure thing yet, but fingers crossed!

3. I’m making several editorial changes to Frost, and I believe they’re going to make it a much stronger story. You won’t see these changes until I’ve uploaded everything, including the final chapters of the story, which I’m writing right now. I will be finished with my initial draft of Frost by the time this Inkshares campaign ends. The changes include changes in location to all real places I’ve personally visited. Cypres Cove, Florida, will become Bay Minette, Alabama. Rosehaven Downs, England, will become Chicopee, Massachusetts. I believe this will lend more realism to the Earthly locations in the novel, and provide even greater contrast to Daraglathia. There are other changes I can’t share yet because they would mean sharing some spoilers, and I’d rather you discover them organically, as you read.

That’s all for now, but I’ll share more soon!

Trekonomics on NPR’s Marketplace tomorrow

Dear all,

This morning I taped an interview at Marketplace studios in Downtown LA. The segment will air tomorrow. Since all of you are distributed across time zones, I recommend listening online (if you are so inclined). 

The segment will air tomorrow. It will be posted here:

http://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech

Enjoy!

Live long, and prosper.

Manu