Happy National Book Lovers Day! Today also marks the official launch date for Welcome to Deadland! Next week will be the year anniversary of entering the Nerdist Collection Contest, and today this book no longer belongs to just me, but to all of you and to all of the future readers who pick up a copy. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to take Welcome to Deadland to the source of its inspiration, where the initial seeds of imagination were planted in my mind. 

I had the privilege of launching Welcome to Deadland at a Barnes & Noble in Orlando. The turnout was beyond what I could have expected. I didn’t get a picture of the entire crowd, but this was about fifteen minutes before we started and the seats were filling up fast. I read the prologue and answered a series of questions. One of my close friends filmed the entire event and will be editing together a video of the event as well. I was overwhelmed with support, friends and family drove down and flew in from all over the country. Each time I was surprised by the appearance of one person, someone else unexpected would show up and surprise me all over again. 

Another awesome moment of the day was a stop by the tattoo parlor where my mom received the first Welcome to Deadland tattoo, and had it done in my handwriting! 

Also: Welcome to Deadland Ferris wheel tattoos!

My dad and stepmom drove over from Tampa, and I had my siblings by my side. 

I can’t say thank you enough to everyone who showed up, to those of you that backed and preordered my book, the readers who ordered the book beyond the funding campaign, and to Inkshares and Nerdist for giving me the opportunity to put Welcome to Deadland out in the world. From the bottom of my heart, I give you all my sincerest gratitude. 

And remember, the infected aren’t the only thing you have to watch out for in theme parks. Dinosaurs are right around the corner, too!!

Good morning, everybody!  I have some good news and some bad news.  Well, I mostly have good news.  

First, the bad news.  Someone canceled their order, so I am back down to 269.  Alas, these things do happen and I am greatly saddened when they occur.  I wish that person well and hope they have tons of success and enjoyment with books better suited to their natures.

Now for the good news:  there are four days left until I am officially Quill, The prizes should be getting back from Kinkos first thing in the morning (bit of a hickup there but it’s all sorted now), I received Burning Man tickets (yay!  It’s my first time and I hope it Rocks!),  and I’m super excited that so many of y’all are so awesome!

I’ve got another two races all set and ready to go, if y’like.  Again, these are races in the greater world while this story mostly focusses on just Bugbears, elves, humans and a single gnome, halfling, and goblin.  I hope y’all have an amazing day and that many good things come your way!

Halflings

Halflings is a term that refers to three distinct races, though most outside of halfling culture do not differentiate.  These three races, culturally, have nearly nothing in common and can only produce mules when they hybridize.  The most common in the region’s cities are the Itigrailha, which, again, are called halflings by most folk.

These halflings are usually between three and four feet tall, are incredibly athletic, have catlike pupils and are generally claustrophobic.  They form large family groups that usually control large portions of the skyline in cities and absolutely do not get on with each other.  They are not particularly strong, but they are incredibly talented at climbing, jumping and general acrobatics.

To be cast out of a family is considered a fate almost worse than death, and those who have been banished will often form new family units.  While their families are small, however, they are not able to control even a single rooftop.  The parents of both sides are protective of their young, but not at the expense of their own lives.  When a neighboring family takes over a stretch, they brutally murder all young and elderly too slow to escape, though two strong families will usually avoid fighting and borders are generally well respected.  

In general, both Hard and Soft races presume all halflings to be message runners, and few halflings will tell them otherwise, instead pawning off unwanted deliveries on relations or passing them along to members of rival families.

Humans

Humans are a numerous species with ties to both Civilized and Hard races.  While there are relatively few pure humans, the genetic strain usually burns off all but a few aesthetic tells of impurities.  They are able to adapt to almost any set of cultural norms but are often relegated to the lowest tiers of Civilized society and are usually seen as an amusing but ultimately weak addition to most Hard races.

While humans can and have manifested any number of wild or aberrant arcane talents, most never develop power beyond what can be used as a parlor trick.  Their main and universal arcana is that of fertility; any human can breed with almost any other race.  Those few who are not compatible can be made to be compatible through unholy means.  Any hybrid produced of these pairings is fertile and any offspring, forever more, will be able to breed with both parent species.

Humans tend to choose an ideal and work to attain this at all costs.  This can make them, in places, incredibly powerful.  It can also allow them to survive where all odds claim they should not.  Because of this latter trait, the mythical entity Good Luck is often portrayed as a human female.  

Human young usually are raised by a family unit with heavy exposure to their close friends, after which they are encouraged to spend their adolescence among either Civilized races in the hopes of gaining an apprenticeship or mentorship, or to garner respect among Hard races in the hopes of gaining clout and prestige therein.  Depending on the family’s ideals, youth may also be encouraged to devote themselves to study or to the hearth and home, or any other particular pursuit.

As always, I wish good things on all who read this (and even a few of those who do not).

Small update. First editing session now over. This will soon be off to the team at inkshares for the various stages before publication.  Now can I ask a small money free favour?  I’d like all my 250 followers to "follow" me over at the follow up site BRUGES BLOOD --- the next Chandler Travis and Duke Lanoix mystery.  All you have to do is click the link and FOLLOW me.  

Here’s the link  BRUGES BLOOD  thank you all so much for getting LOUISIANA BLOOD  published!  And here’s the cover for the next mystery.

Five days left!  Again, I am fully funded so this is just an extra special thank-you treat!  I intend to accept the Quill offer and get all y’all copies of this magnificent book just as quickly as I may!  Okay, so here are two more races for your reading pleasure:  Kalutai and Minotaurs.

Kalutai

Kalutai are definitively classified as a Hard or Uncivilized race, though their origins are widely disputed.  It seems they are a mutation caused by the fusion of some form of biped, such as an orc, and a primeval canid or felidae ancestor, or possibly they hail from the progenitor of both genus.  They have evolved into several distinct lines.  Collectively, they are called kalutai, and exhibit thick fur, a hunched back, a pronounced snout, teeth with a wide jaw like that of a hyena, and rounded triangular ears set parallel to their eyes and about four inches back.  They stand at about seven feet, though they hunch and so can straighten to be closer to eight.  Their legs and arms are thick at the base and thin at the tip, with wide hands and feet bent such that they can effectively scramble on all fours, though they primarily walk upright.

In general, a band of Kalutai is composed of between six and ten individuals and never intermingle with other races, though they will contract out as a unit for hordes and mobs.  They have thick hides and are largely impervious to fire, which has led to their propensity for using explosives.  Most exhibit no natural arcane talent and the race uses both sugelancas and arcane draining bombs very readily.  Of note, when one in a band goes into heat, the others almost always do so as well within a few weeks.  The entire band will retire to the deep wasteland to dig a temporary den.  They raise the collective young for five years before returning to their abandoned occupations.  The pups are left to find their way in the world and harbor no bond to their sires or dams.  Each female gives birth to a litter of between three and nine pups.

This race has a fascinating biology.  All are born female, and the least dominant in a band will become a male.  They tend to wear clothing approximating that worn by others in their range.  In cities, this means they wear leather breastplates and thick leather shorts, though they have no cultural sense of modesty. They do tend to enjoy the very young of most races, seeing them as no different from their own abandoned pups.

Minotaur

Minotaurs:  While this race usually is found in its greatest numbers on the great plains of other nations, the colossal figures do, occasionally, travel abroad.  They are generally even tempered as long as nothing threatens them.  At an average of twelve feet and well over a thousand pounds, very few things actually seem dangerous.

The omnivorous race is known to live for up to three hundred years, though they do not tend toward civilizations and are decidedly nomadic.  When they live in cities, they usually prefer regions with fewer individuals inhabiting them.  Thus, haunted, derelict or generally abandoned structures, especially those with broken walls and plenty of holes for sunlight are a preferred residence.

There are very few mutts of the race, as most females would not permit something so frail as a human male to impregnate her.  Those few human females who become impregnated usually either miscarry early or die before the second of five trimesters.  With considerable arcane expense and a fleet of healers, it is technically possible for a human female to bring a calf to term; a cesarean is the only way of extracting the young and the procedure renders the woman infertile ever after. 

Dear friends and followers,

Over the past little while, I’ve introduced a few of the characters from the novel. You may have noticed that all of them are male. This is perhaps to be expected, given the setting: there aren’t many female members in a gentlemen’s club, I think. Today, however, I’m pleased to introduce one of the women in the novel: Martha Garrett, wife of Edward Garrett.

Ladies’ clubs did exist, incidentally: just like gentlemen’s clubs, offering the same sort of services, but for women only. The University Women’s Club, founded in 1886 as the University Club for Ladies, is still "women only" today.

In the novel, Martha Garrett mentions having lunch at the Cavendish: that would be what is today the New Cavendish Club, founded in 1920 expressly for the ladies of the Voluntary Aid Detachment, or VAD. VAD nurses were not the same as military nurses: the latter were career women with stringent medical training, while the VADs were volunteers who might have had no prior experience. There was apparently some friction between the two at the beginning of the first World War, lessening as the war dragged on.

If the Cavendish was supposed to be for the VADs, would Martha Garrett, as a former military nurse, have been a member? I don’t know, but I’m sure she wouldn’t have let a trivial detail like that stop her.

28 days! 

Hello Cape’s Side Bayers!

Hope you’re all enjoy this Sunday, and wherever you are the weather is cooperating with whatever plans you may have!

We’re currently down to less than 130 orders to go and it’s time to ramp things up!

I’ve been going back and touching up the manuscript and as I’ve been saying since late January when I first set up the Cape’s Side Bay page here on inkshares: I love it! I cannot wait for you all to read it, the few people who have read it in its entirety have all given me feedback, it’s been positive, just some things to clean up, touch up, and add on! 

I love writing and I hope you love reading what I’ve written.

So please, as always, if you have no tyet pre-ordered Cape’s Side Bay let me know what I need to do to get you there! And if you have and what to pre-order again, I won’t argue! Or if you just want to review, recommend, and/or share, that would also put a smile on my face.

Thank you all and enjoy the remainder of the weekend!

James

Dear Spirited Readers,

7 days left!  All funded, but if you’re looking to jump in, I’d love it if you did!

These are two more of the races in the world.  I will say that this first book focusses on elves (specifically Sophielecent elves and their wards) and bugbears but is peopled by a plethora of rich and fascinating cultures.  Below are two more.  Tomorrow, I’ll have another pair up!

I wish y’all a fantastic time with everything in life!  I’ve been blown away by the support and genuine love expressed and wish, in whatever way I may, to reflect that same affection back into the community.  Know y’all go forth with my blessing, in addition to the myriad others you’ve earned.    

Trolls

Ogres are typically a cave dwelling, largely solitary race, though they have a history of getting on very well with orcs. They are highly social with one another and have rich cultural provisions for visitors to their ranges. Their communities, if such a term can be applied, are composed of dozens of small territories and a central neutral zone wherein they may come to gather and intermingle.

Ogres require precision and order in their lives. Any deviation in the normal ebb and flow of their territories is seen as a mortal offence and they usually hate the clutter humans create. Nonetheless, if a mutt stumbles onto a range, it is often adopted and trained to properly exist within the culture.

Unlike other races, ogres are raised in an intricate manner, spending a little of their youth with each of the mature adults bordering the central neutral area. There is not so much a culture of dominance as a culture of rigid territorial rights. Banishment is normalized; if an ogre reaches adulthood and no territories are presently available and unclaimed, they are sent away. These individuals either gravitate to the city, find acceptance in another cluster of territories or begin their own cluster, if an area has space for this. It is usually from these new clusters and from the city dwelling ogres that mutts occur. Being highly social, they do not enjoy isolation and will take comfort in interacting with small homesteads and with clearly defined neighbors.

Additionally, ogres are inherently gifted with changing the flow of arcane energies, which makes them masters at crafting the arcane bombs favored by the kalutai. A proficient, older ogre can usually negate all arcana in an area surrounding it with nothing more than a burst of concentrations. Conversely, they can cause arcana to surge in a region, creating wild growth and genetic instability in local flora and fauna at will.

Hobgoblins

Hobgoblin society is fiercely matriarchal, with males performing periphery tasks and usually being lighter and slighter of frame than their female counterparts.  They make up for this by generally being a little taller than the women, and the males are usually very easy going with all races, be they Hard or Soft, while the women tend to be hypercritical and slow to trust.  

Hobgoblin women, as with most Hard Races, select their mates.  Unlike most other races, these pairings, usually made for life, are just as likely to be made between differing genders a they are to be between a male and a female.  Genetics are not valued overmuch and a mother often has chldren sired by many different males, though her designated mate will be the father figure -- or secondary mother figure -- to her young.  While both parents raise their young, the entire community sees to the wellfare of all hobgoblin children as a matter of course.  It is often said that there are no hobgoblin orphans, just children with a new set of parents. The culture also values architecture, mathematical concepts and sculpture.

Hobgoblins usually range in height from a little over six feet to a little under seven, have mottled, two toned skin, like light reflecting off a river, and regularly intermingle with other groups of Hard races.  While protective of any area wherein their young roam, they do not maintain rigid territorial barriers and often allow intruders to trespass without incident, provided the interlopers move off without causing undue harm.  If they seem inclined to linger, a few males will be sent out to test them for general levels of friendliness and, if they are fairly docile, will often incorporate their settlements or migratory routes into the community’s territorial range.