Hello Everyone!

Wow, the holidays sure did fly by this year didn't they? One minute I was eating five meals a day to train my stomach for the onslaught of Thanksgiving (It takes dedication), the next  I am trying to find space in my house for the sweaters my grandma gave me for Christmas.

I wanted to share some exciting news with my "Not Afraid of the Fall" family! We have reached the 250 preorder mark and are 1/3 of the way to 750!! I cannot thank you enough for your support. By preordering this book, you are helping me reach a dream of mine and I cannot wait for you to read about the many successes and mishaps of our journey. From moped crashes in multiple continents, to Buddhist rituals performed on us from 90 year old Shamans, you are in for quite a journey.

I am getting a bit ahead of myself here...we still have a long  way to go to reach 750 preorders. I still need your help spreading the word and sharing the book with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, mailmen and pets (Animals use wifi by now right? I saw both a dog surfing and an elephant painting on Facebook yesterday. If they aren't preordering books yet I would be amazed...)

Just think, if everyone reading this shared the book with just TWO people, we would reach our goal of 750! (I know I know... but this type of math helps me sleep at night).

LASTLY, (I am sure only 32% of you have made is this far) remember to let people know that when creating an account on Inkshares, they receive a $5 credit towards any book. This makes the price of an E-book only $5!! 

You guys really are amazing people for supporting an aspiring writer. Not to mention, what better way to start off a new year than to build your 401-Karma account. 

Cheers my friends,

Kyle James

Greetings Readers, Followers, Human Beings, and Advertising Algorithms,

I promised you this day would come. You didn't believe me. I didn't believe me. But it's here at last...

That's right! I finally figured out how to work the internet. No more free AOL homepages and half-hearted Tumblrs for me. www.jimmcdoniel.com is a thing. A thing that both exists and works. Go there now and behold the wonder and glory of me copy and pasting pictures onto Squarespace. Marvel at my ability to link you back here to Inkshares. Thrill as you view my Twitter account while not on Twitter. Ooooo. Aaaaah.

In other news, the Sword and Laser contest two is wrapping up this week. On Friday at noon (West Coast time, two o'clock here) three more authors will receive the full publishing treatment and one will join G. Derek Adams, J.F. Dubeau, and myself in the Sword and Laser collection. There are plenty of good books in the mix with plenty of time to make the jump so please, consider visiting the contest page and checking a few out like:

For dystopic cyberpunk, click Deus Hex Machina.
For epic demonic fantasy, click Bones of the Past.
For sci-fi action/adventure, click The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising.

 99 copies of DHM on the wall, 99 copies of DHM! Share the book, pass it around, 100 copies of DHM on the wall!

Sorry, I'm a little loopy right now having only gotten an hour of sleep last night (Yay insomnia).  

Despite my best efforts, I am starting to see the end of the contest and really understanding the likelihood of me ending up not anywhere near the top three. I was hoping for 2nd, eager for 4th, but at this point even the numbers between 7th and 5th are pretty insurmountable.  And I think I am coming to peace with that. 

I am going to make a few more pleas with friends for orders, and this one is to those who are following DHM but haven't backed it yet.  There are 125 followers for DHM but 86 backers.  If each of you 39 people backed the book today, we would be back in the race, at least the race for 4th place. My son is sitting at my shoulder reading this, saying "I want to be in the race." Yeah, me too, kid. Me too.

So if you have been waiting to order DHM, now is the time. Please preorder the book today!

Incentive wise, we are four people away from our next raffle, 1 order away from 100 books ordered today, and six orders away from sixth place. 

Psst. Isn't that pic of Cri-Lux awesome? I bet you'd love to know who she is! How about another incentive. If we get to 125 backers, then I'll release chapter 2, and you'll meet not only Cri-Lux but also Daxas Piers, our street wise mech racer. Now I have to go race with my toddler. He says "we have to get all the way to the finish line." Wise words.

So, this update is a day late...but there's a pretty great reason for that.

We did it. We got there. Ghosts of War's funding campaign is finished and it is now a part of the Quill Collection at Inkshares.

I couldn't have gotten Ghosts to this point without the help of those who backed it during it's run, and for that I'll be forever grateful. I really can't thank you all enough.

In closing, I think this sums up my feelings about today...

Hi, Everyone!

First of all, my best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2016!

For those of you who pre-ordered Travels with Harley, your e-books are in your email inboxes! Print copies should also be arriving in your mailboxes before the February 9th publication date.

For those of you who haven't, there's still time to pre-order - but not much! Right now, Inkshares is still giving you the best deal - free shipping and a free e-book along with your print copy. Won't last much longer.

After you've had a look, do this old soldier a favor and give it a plug on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Inkshares - wherever you can.

Thanks!

Angela Melamud has been working hard on exposure and we're happy to report that, for those of you living in the New York area, I'll be appearing on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC Radio at 11:20 on publication day.

Stay tuned for more!

All the best,

Chris

In 1996, Miriam's House opened its doors and welcomed Washington, DC's homeless women with AIDS. 

Wouldn't it be great if we made sure Nowhere Else I Want to Be is published during Miriam's House's twentieth anniversary year?

We can do that with only 95 more pre-orders.

Please help me put this memoir into production by the end of January. 

Will you please consider ordering one more book THIS WEEKEND? Or, if you've already ordered ten (the limit) getting a friend or colleague or family member to order?

If you order, you'll receive this mug as a gift. And the satisfaction of helping the voices of women who are to often ignored to be heard.

Going to need to be speedy about this because I woke up with some killer pain in my right shoulder, which means computer work is rough right now.  But we got our 80th reader this morning, which means I get to giveaway another copy of Shadow of the Owl!