I love the written word and believe that fiction holds a certain truth. And I’m just pompous enough ...
At long last, an update on the progress of things! Tantalus Depths is officially 100% funded, and I am so, so thankful for that. I couldn’t have possibly managed any of this without your extensive help. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for making this happen. So what’s next? 
Watch the vlog for details, but here’s the summarized version: I’m working on my final round of edits before I send Inkshares my finished manuscript. There’ll be a wait before they can pair me up with an editor and put me into the production process, and the entire process could take quite a while. But we’re on our way, and the greatest obstacles are well behind us now. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and congratulations to Kelly Miloro for winning my "name-a-planet promotion" thing. You’ve earned it :)
This is an email I’ve dreamed of sending, but was fearful would never happen. Thanks to the amazing support you have provided, Human Resources is going to be published by Inkshares!
The competition is not over yet, and the campaign rolls on, but in the last week HR reached a critical milestone — we passed 250 pre-orders. This means the novel has qualified for "Quill" publishing by Inkshares, regardless of the competition outcome.
I am thrilled, and can’t thank you all enough. I can’t stop and relax yet though, as I need to continue campaigning until the end of the competition — 16 December (PST).
Why keep pushing when you are going to get published?
Quill is a "light" publishing model — it is print on demand (not mass-production), doesn’t include marketing to bookstores, and misses out on some of the more valuable editing. If the book is published under Quill, I’ll hire an editor to make sure you get a quality finished product, but if we win the competition that is included — and obviously the marketing and mass-production would be amazing.
But wait, there’s more! Human Resources has also been selected by two Syndicates; the "Quill Brotherhood" syndicate and the "Great sci-fi for the 21st Century" syndicate. For those not familiar with Inkshares syndicates, they operate as a block. Readers can sign up to a syndicate (most have a clear theme) and agree to purchase the syndicate pick each month. I’m honoured to receive the support of both these groups.
And now for some bad news...
The judges’ of the Launch Pad Manuscript Competition announced their Top 10 finalists this morning, and Human Resources did not make the list. This is disappointing, but I have much to celebrate:
Over the course of the competition so far I have interacted with a number of the authors I have been competing against. Not only do they have some great books, but they have all been friendly and supportive. My sincere congratulations to the Top 10.
Where’s my "special" update?
Last week I promised something special this update. I was full of enthusiasm at the time, expecting to get everything done in time. However, I’m still refining the content of my second bonus feature. Rather than send it out bursting with typos, I’ll hold onto it and share it over the next week.
As always, if you haven’t ordered yet — there’s still time!
Robert
You will not believe this...
I have never typed “The Animal in Man” into any search engine. Not during the Sword & Laser sequel campaign. Not during the ten months finishing the draft. Not during the last two months of ‘rest’ I’ve enjoyed. Not once.
Until today. I’m pleased to say that your favorite philosophical fantasy-science-fiction novel featuring animals that walk, talk, and brutalize one another came up as the third result from the top. And who was above me? This:
I cannot believe this... I had forgotten all about this song. Listening to it this afternoon, on repeat, has been surreal. My older brother used to crank the volume of this very song when we drove to high school in the morning. And now… Now I remember. Give “The Animal in Man” a listen. Let the Dead Prez tell you, in 3 minutes 19 seconds, the same type of story that mine attempts to tell you in [roughly] 500 pages. (Original credit, of course, to George Orwell as well.)
...Just don’t let the song discourage you from a pre-order, if you haven’t made one already. Don’t assume these talented rappers or George Orwell himself get to have the last word about what does or doesn’t separate man from his bestial nature. Consider a third perspective. Thanks very much, my dear animal.
Earlier this year, despite some solid success, I let the Inkshares funding campaign for Mission 51 end without asking for an extension for two reasons: I wanted to focus on the writing and not on the campaigning, and I wanted to submit Mission 51 to Hollywood’s Launch Pad Competition 2016. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed it didn’t make it to the finalist group, but today I received some very strong encouragement!
I received the formal Feedback Notes from Launch Pad, essentially an opinion about my submitted sample from an industry judge. Let me give you a few excerpts from the report:
"This is a knockout premise, and those are very rare."
"The fact that Mat’s story... is an immigrant story, takes this premise from being a great high concept to being a great high concept with real emotional subtext, and one that has resonance with our modern world today."
"The pages here consistently communicate the story clearly, with great momentum, and a very palpable sense of empathy for ALL the characters... This is a great read, and a very capable execution of a highly evocative premise. This project has tremendous potential."
"The quality of the writing here, not just on the conceptual level, but also in terms of the story in these pages and the writing of that story, is uniformly strong. The dialogue’s good too, voice specific and smart in its use of subtext."
"This project feels like it has strong potential for either a TV or feature adaptation, and stands on its own as a great read as a manuscript."
Well isn’t that just awesome!!! I am greatly encouraged that I am on the right track!
Looking forward to the next suitable Inkshares contest so I can jump in and try again. I really want you to read the story!
Peace, and Happy Thanksgiving!
👽
Greetings Hexers and Machina Riders:
Do we have some things to talk about! So much has happened in the last week my head is spinning. Let’s get right to it:
Extra Life Stream this Evening
I’ll be streaming Heroes of the Storm tonight for the Extra Life charity over on my Twitch channel, starting at 6 PM CST and running until midnight. Come cheer me on as I main Sylvanas and try to figure out if I can still snipe towers behind enemy gates. It should be fun times.
Donate to my Extra Life fund
If you watch (and even if you can’t) help me get to $100 by donating here. I have already raised $40 for kids in need, so I’m 1/3 of the way there. Woncha help out?
The List 2016 contest
This week Inkshares announced which books were selected for their end-of--the-year contest, and Deus Hex Machina is on The List! It’s a crazy big honor to be among such amazing books and their authors which leads me to my next item on the agenda:
A ton more Deus Hex Machina stuff is coming
A new contest means a new campaign, so I’ve been working in the last few days to shape what a second campaign for DHM would look like. Astute readers among you will already notice I’ve updated the book’s Inshares page, refereshed my cover concept, and put up a couple new character bios. In addition I have uploaded the revised first chapter from the 2nd draft -- I think you’ll be happy with the changes.
My edit is plugging right along, and won’t stop just because another contest has popped into my life. You don’t stop feeding your kids just because extended family dropped by unannounced. You pull up extra chairs and make more desserts.
And I plan on more desserts friends. I will try to keep the updates meaningful throughout this contest, but I do have a good amount of fun stuff planned, and I want to share it all with you.
My goal for this campaign will be to get to 400 readers. It’s a huge crazy unimaginable number, but I think we can do it. If you’re following the book but haven’t purchased, I’ll be reaching out to you personally in the coming weeks to ask for your order. If you have purchased the book, I’ll be reaching out to you personally to ask for your referral.
In exchange for your support of the book I have planned more goodies: live-edits, fan art contests, a contest for the ARG -- yes Qathren YOBIBYTE got the jump on you Sombra. You got nothin’ on a hexer from the future.
It’s gonna be a fun, weird ride, and I hope you’ll join me. I’ll see you tonight.
May the code replicate eternal.
(Long update ahead, bear with me)
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO PUBLISHING...
As Mission 51 waits patiently for a suitable Inkshares contest, I thought I would send this little reminder to you all about tomorrow’s supermoon.
As you may or may not know, the moon plays prominently in Mission 51, so I take every opportunity to observe it and bathe in its glory!
On Nov 14, 2016, the full moon will be as close to the planet Earth as it has been in decades, or will be for decades hence. It will appear significantly larger than usual. Expect great photos from all over the world.
Here is a bit of moon info from NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/novembers-spectacular-supermoon
Don’t miss it! Enjoy!
Peace and love!
Dear Sweethearts,
I hope that you are doing well and that you are having a lovely Tuesday! I wanted to reach out to you to give you a few updates and also to ask you for one small favor. So I want to share the coolest update first - we have sold over 3,000 copies of this book!! Can you believe it?! I know that I couldn’t! I sat staring at my computer blinking long and hard to make sure I was seeing the numbers correctly! You all made this possible, so thank you so much!
Recently “How to Get Run Over by a Truck" was reviewed by Her Agenda. The reviewer was kind enough to say: ”The memoir is beautiful—it’s shocking, heartbreaking, funny, dark, and brutally honest. It’s a must read for everyone.” Which was so incredible to hear! I also recently wrote an article for Amendo Magazine entitled “What Not to Say to Someone Who Has Been Through a Trauma", I was delighted that they asked me to write this piece, and I am so hopeful that it will be helpful for others when finding the right words can be really challenging.
In publishing news two awesome things have happened: the audiobook of “How to Get Run Over by a Truck” has just been published by Audible! I was so excited when I found out that they were going to let me be the voice actor for the audiobook, but I couldn’t have imagined what a meaningful experience it was going to be. Reading the entire memoir aloud made me relive the experience in a way that I didn’t when I just read in the book. While I was reading I was humbled by all of the love and support that had brought me to this beautiful and unlikely place. Here I was sitting in a recording studio, reading a book that I wrote, that only came into being because of all of your love and support! We had to stop the recording like 10 times because of my spontaneous weeping (I am the consummate professional!) You can listen to a snippet of it here, and if you are so inclined, you can buy it and hear me talk to you for over 8 hours ☺ The other awesome thing that has happened is that the short story that I wrote “The Gift of Hope” has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels and Miracles Edition, which is such an honor!
I also have a small favor to ask you all – so many of you have been kind enough to reach out and let me know your thoughts about the book, what you liked, what made you laugh, what made you cry – and it has been one of the best experiences of my life to know that something I wrote made you feel something! I was wondering if I could ask you to take that feedback one step further, and write a short review on Amazon. I currently have about 34 reviews, which is awesome! But I recently learned that if I was able to get over 100 reviews of “How to Get Run Over by a Truck”, it would increase the visibility of the book on the site dramatically, and bring more potential readers to the book! Which would be so amazing. It doesn’t have to be a super long review, just a few sentences would be so helpful! And a huge thank you to those of you who have already written reviews – you are wonderful!
Also, if you are in the New York City area and are free on Monday night, I am going to be doing a book event for "How to Get Run Over by a Truck" on Monday November 21 at the Cobra Club in Brooklyn! All of the information you’ll need is here. I would love to see you there for hugs, a reading, some storytelling and also Q & A where I would be happy to answer any questions you might have! I hope to see you there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and for being incredible people. I am so grateful for you!
Heart,
Katie