What a delicious Friday, Space Crew. 

I’ve got pre-orders slowly rolling in, and the sun is shining. I’ve made a new rule that I can’t be stressed on Friday, so it’s a pretty good day for a newsletter. 

What’s Been Happening
Still en route to 300. 12 orders to go for that theme song! In case you don’t like scrolling to the bottoms of things, I’m going to put the pre-order link right here. And right here. Look, this text is a link too. 

Time is running out fast. I have a few tricks left up my sleeve, but no magic button to press. So please keep promoting this book to people’s faces. 

What’s Coming
First, I’m very excited to be attending Can-Con in a couple weeks. It’s a mega literary conference where I hope to learn a lot about what’s happening in the world of fantasy and sci-fi, and get better at this promo stuff. Networking opportunities are going to be good too. If you’re attending please hit me up on Twitter and we can grab a beer. 

The Dragon Awards, for which voting is open to the public, are closing soon. I’m not nominated since my book has yet to be published, and because I’m not that cool, but a few Inkshares writers are, and some of my NaNoWriMo e-friends too. I’ll avoid plugging names here, but if you want to know which books and authors I think are excellent, hit me up.

Weird and Dumb Things I Do Without Reasons
I put up a new idea on Inkshares this week (???!!). It’s barely a thing yet, but if you’re into the horror genre, and like the vibes of 90s mystery slashers with supernatural undertones, this might be your thing. 
 

It’s called Rattle Creek Road, and it’s about a community off an old wooded road that starts dropping like flies. As is customary in such communities, rumours spread quicker than fear, leading to all kinds of mass-hysteria. 

Check out the intro on the book page if you’re into it. I would highly recommend reading it with a deep southern accent. 

Your doodle of the day is me being cool as a cucumber. 

Your Calm and Collected Space Cucumber,
-AC

Good news! 

A Beast Requires has over 100 pre-order!

Yes, I’m exicted too, but we aren’t quite at the 250 pre-orders we need for the Quill goal. With the month coming to a close, I’d like to once again thank everyone who has backed me so far. It’s going to get harder from here, but I know we can do it. So, keep telling your friends, family, and fellow humans about the book, and let’s push those pre-order numbers higher.

This week’s video is all about the origins and inspirations for A Beast Requires. Well, some of them at least. Brevity is not my strong suit, but I’m pretty damn pleased I didn’t prattle on too much. There’s a few things I’m working on for next week, so keep an eye out for those emails. Thanks again for all your support. You all really are that awesome.

- Jay

Hey, everybody. The beta read period is going very nicely; I’m getting great feedback and incorporating the changes.

As Tony Valdez, the author of Dax Harrison (check it out!), mentioned, Inkshares is going through a bit of a restructuring. There is a big backlog of books to be published. As a result, even if I rushed to deliver the final draft of Disintegration, we would still have a significant wait ahead of us. So I’ll be taking my time to make sure that final draft is phenomenal, all the while keeping tabs with the folks at Inkshares to know when is the right moment to submit my work.

I’ll keep you updated on the production schedule, as soon as it exists. For now, though, rest assured that the work continues. If you’d like to read the current draft, drop me a line and I’ll send it to you. If you like it, know that it will only improve and, please, spread the word. I want to get my book to a wider audience. Let’s sell some more copies!

You know how in Parks and Rec when they’re in city council meetings, and Jeremy Jamm says something like,

"Let the record show, there was a standing ovation," and there wasn’t?

Well... let the record show, I sent out my manuscript to my beta readers on the 1-year anniversary of my joining Inkshares!

Haha jk no I didn’t, I sent the first half of it out LAST NIGHT!



I’m so excited, you guys. SO. EXCITED. And nervous. But mostly excited. I really think there are at least a few people out there who will end up truly loving my story and characters, and my brilliant and generous beta readers will increase my book’s chance of reaching those people.

The first half of my book is 82K words long, so it’s plenty for them to chew on. (My book is long, okay? It is full of wonder and emotion and excitement, so I’m hoping it is the good kind of long - the kind where you don’t want it to end, even after 150K words.)

Here are the episode titles for the entire book, for your intrigue:

Episode I: Wake
Episode II: Ally
Episode III: Foe
Episode IV: Earth
Episode V: Consequences
Episode VI: Tower
Episode VII: Prophecy
Episode VIII: Rest
Episode IX: Rescue
Episode X: Whole
Episode XI: Dock
Episode XII: Wake

***

Alex and I will be finishing up the second half of She Is the End in the next few weeks and sending them out to betas, as well. Then... while we wait... I will be doing the illustrations for the book! I think I’ll do one illustration per episode, maybe two here and there, and it’s going to be a lot of work. I’ll keep you updated on my progress and probably give away a few more of the originals as a prize.

Stay tuned!