Good day fellow readers / backers.

First of all I want to thank you so much for ordering Arcadia.

Arcadia is Peter Pan meeting The King in Yellow.

We have the first story up on inkshares titled : Simone.

Friday : I will release the 2nd story titled : Jane.

***************************Raffle Time*******************************

Starting on the 48th order and until we reach 100.

If you order, you will be eligible to enter the draw of 8 *signed* copies of A God in the Shed.

by the very talented Jf Dubeau.

once again thank you, next update on Friday :)

Today is that reviled day of the year in which I must officially acknowledge that I am one more year older than dirt.  Boo!  Hiss!  If you feel inclined to give a birthday gift, then consider giving a gift to myself and yourself by placing a preorder.  Okay, sales pitch over, now to get on to the interesting stuff.

Today I’ll be talking about the 2nd rarest of the Dwarven subspecies.  The Zaltruscans and wanderers from other kingdoms refer to them as the Sartval, making this their most common name, but they have other names elsewhere - Elbegast in Hanaen, Yimeeri in the Frozen North.  No one knows if the elves of Lanadalaria have their own name for them since the elves of the eastern nation don’t really talk with outsiders.

The Sartval are a savage race, their only interaction with outsiders taking the form of raids.  They usually take as many prisoners as possible to use as slaves and eventually food.  Just what caused their degradation into such a violent people with a preference for the meat of intelligent humanoids is a topic of much debate among scholars, debate which has failed to find any common conclusion.

Some theorize that they are exiles and/or descendants of exiles from Thierdenvolgenlunder who turned savage out of desperation over their banishment, though some argue that they were likely already such savages which is why they were exiled.  Thierdenvolgenlunders would be quick to inform you that there have not been near enough exiles since their founding to account for the whole of the Sartval race, if Thierdenvolgenlunders even knew of their savage cousins’ existence that is.  Others believe that the Sartval only became this way after the 2nd fall of the Melexi and Thirosian empires, their culture falling in parallel to those of goblins, orcs, giants, and various lesser known savage humanoids.  Still others believe that they worship and/or have pledged their services to demons, dragons, debauched elemental lords, or whatever otherworldly bogeyman the speaker prefers and it is their pursuit of this worship/service that they commit vile acts.

The only things that are known are that Sartval are some of both the strongest and toughest of opponents in battle, and that they don’t speak to outsiders unless it is to bark commands.

That’s all I’ve got for the update section today, though I will be posting up my feeble attempt to make the Sartval a playable D&D 5th edition race.  For those of you who don’t play D&D, I’ll close as always by saying thank you for your time and support.  Keep reading and enjoying!

• Ability Score Increase:  +2 Strength, +2 Constitution
  
• Age:  Typically reach adulthood at around 60-70 years and live up to 450-500 years(though most die in battle before this).
• Alignment:  Can be any alignment, but most commonly are NE.
• Size:  Medium, stand between 4’ - 4’8", though on vary rare occasions there may be an individual who reaches as tall as 5’.
• Speed:  25’.
• Dwarven Toughness:  +1 maximum HP per level.
• Armor Training:  Proficient with Light and Medium armor.
• Combat Training:  +1 damage with 2 handed or Versatile weapons.
• Weapn Training:  Proficient with Greataxes, Greatswords, Mauls, and Pikes.
• Tool Training:  Proficient with any 1 of the following - Leather worker’s tools, Potter’s tools, or Smith’s tools.
• Relentless Endurance:  When reduced to 0 HP but not killed outright, drop to 1 HP instead.  Can only use this feature once between long rests.
• Proficient in Intimidate and Survival skills.
• Languages:  Draconic and 1 of the following - Abyssal, Dwarvish, Giant, or Infernal.

Happy #NationalReadABookDay !!!

It has been a few weeks since I last sent out an update, on the day of Welcome to Deadland’s publication, and I wanted to send out a quick message to thank you all once again and say I hope you’ve all been enjoying the novel!

I also wanted to share a bit of a raffle I’ve put together. Some of you already know this about me, but I love and collect postcards. Whenever friends and family travel I only request a postcard as a souvenir, and the cover design elements for Welcome to Deadland were inspired by postcards as well. During the past few weeks I had the opportunity to travel through Europe, and while I was in Munich, London, and Paris I picked up postcards and used them for a handwritten short story set in the universe of Welcome to Deadland. I will be raffling off the postcards/short story, as well as a series of WtD inspired postcards I’m having made, and here’s how you can enter:

1. Order a copy of Welcome to Deadland through Inkshares.

2. Recommend Welcome to Deadland to a friend, and when they purchase a copy, you will both be entered.

3. Rate/Review Welcome to Deadland on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Each site you post a rating or review will count as one entry, by doing so on all three sites you will receive three entries. If you rate AND review the book, you will earn an extra entry.

4. Tweet me or post to Welcome to Deadland’s Facebook page fun pictures of your copy of the book or fan art from the story!

At the end of the month I will choose one winner who will receive the handwritten story and the Welcome to Deadland postcards, but I will also choose several additional winners for the WtD inspired postcards! There are multiple ways to win, and multiple ways to earn entries!

The best way to help a book, and author, achieve success is through leaving reviews and recommending the book to friends. Each review and rating matters. 

Thank you!

-Zac 

Hey guys! Sorry for the long gap of time since my last update on the actual book. Chris and I, along with the help of our Dev Editor, have been elbow deep in the manuscript to finish edits. The manuscript is nearly 75% finished with its Developmental Edit and then its shipped off to Inkshares for them to work their magic!

In the mean time check out our Instragram page for more of the Art you guys love so much!

Hey there, readers!

My TimeHop app on my phone just informed me that today marks two anniversaries...

1) Today is one year to the day since I joined Inkshares and started my book campaign.
2) 26 years since the classic Disney cartoon TaleSpin premiered in 1990.

Anyone around my age probably has the theme song stuck in their head now. You’re welcome. (If not, here you go)

They really just don’t make them like they used to. Seriously though, bush pilots and air pirates in 1930s-40s style serial adventures? This is the kind of stuff that fuels me. Granted, Dax takes place in the far future, but the spirit is the same.

Speaking of which, I hope you all are enjoying the early ebook! I am both excited and terrified to hear your reviews. :) In the meantime, I’m continuing to occupy myself with a few things on my to-do list.

1) A proper book trailer
2) Scraping together all my notes and carving out an outline for Dax 2. Ooooh I want to talk about it so bad but I don’t want to spoil anything!

I’ve also updated the synopsis on the book project page to better reflect what I think might be the back cover copy. Again, I’ll keep you all posted on the publishing date.

Until next time!