6 Days to Launch - Updates Various

Dear Readers,

Friends, it is Easter in the Western Church, and I hope everyone is having an excellent day. The weather up here is lovely, and it definitely looks like Spring out there.

It is also one week since we opened up for pre-orders! Some of you have already stepped up with your support, and I am grateful for it. I do confess to moments--no, hours--of crippling self-doubt. And some of you may already be aware of this, but I’m promising to donate $1 for each pre-order beyond the first 250 to a local women’s shelter. I have plans to add other charities at the 450 and 600 levels, but it may be a little early to think of that right now.

Now, let’s talk about some of the other books out there.

First off: Sync City, by Peter Ryan. This story has a really excellent narrative voice: Ryan’s hero is earthy, a little salty, and self-assured enough to make his toughness believable. That voice is going to grab you and take you for a ride, believe me.

A couple of hidden gems: Vendetta in Valletta, by MT-B, and Samba: Princess of Thieves, by Kevin Smith. Please take a look at them. They’ve somehow managed to slip under everybody’s radar, and I’d like to correct that.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The Amaranth Chronicles, by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman. I do not understand why this hasn’t already hit the 750 mark: to my mind, it’s got sci-fi geek bestseller written all over it.

Of course, there’ The Traveller’s Cup, by A.C. Baldwin. Enough has been said about the space dragons (maybe too much has been said) but, as Alex Barnes notes in his review, the interesting thing about the story is the fact we have an aristocratic hero being forced to work in isolation with the underclass ... never mind the worldbuilding; I suspect we may have some very interesting social commentary on the side.

And I’d still like to see A God in the Shed, by JF Dubeau, reach its 750 pre-order full funding. Seriously, I think this will be better than Dubeau’s first book.

That’s the news for now. I’m still looking at books here, so this catalogue is far from complete. Until next week, dear friends.

TODAY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiUbEcwQ7xU

Join me and three other epic ladies of Inkshares on a LIVE Google Hangout as we discuss our science fiction stories, answer age old questions about women’s roles as creators in the genre, and probably make at least a dozen Firefly references.

Featuring:

Me!, author of She Is the End
@acwestonwrites

Elayna Mae Darcy, author of They Are the Last
@elaynamae

RH Webster, author of Lucky
@RH_Webster

Amanda Orneck, author of Deus Hex Machina and others
@amandaorneck

Submit your questions as a post on the facebook event page here, or message any of us on twitter! Follow the action using #WomenSlayingScifi! You can always watch later, if you can’t make the live event.

I hope you’ll check it out!

:) :) :)

Well, I’m not dead, and neither is A Beast Requires. 

We all fall short sometimes. It sucks. It can be devastating. In the months since the campaign ended, life gave me constant reminders that time keeps moving on. I lost a war with a dying washing machine, celebrated the one year anniversary with one of my gaming groups, and failed once again at reading all seven volumes of In Search of Lost Time. 

I’ve also kept editing. It’s been a slow process, often times with complete rewrites of scenes. The brain lives in autocorrect mode, skipping over homonyms and dangling commas. I wish I could do it all via computer, but I need my dead trees and red pen. But after months of working at it, I have the first ten chapters done. 

You all were behind me in the campaign. You all bolstered my confidence, forming a wall of support that encouraged me to push forward even when my emotions were telling me otherwise. It meant the world to me. So I have this things. It’s up on Google Drive. If you want to read it, let me know. 

Be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes.

All at once - the time has come:

I’m ready for it. I’M PREPARED FOR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY.

Amazon has unlocked the ability to leave reviews for Asteroid Made of Dragons.

You all have the paperback and ebook - I need  you to go leave an honest review. Today, tomorrow - whenever you get done reading. It’s the most important thing you’ve done for me. As crass as it is to say - MORE important than backing the book in the first place.

Reviews on Goodreads are also great!

Even just clicking some stars is a huge help. Text reviews are monumental.

So please - as you finish reading, take a moment to leave a review. I want to know, I need to know - and if the book is going to stand a chance after the first couple of weeks, the world needs to know what you thought of it.

Other Articles of Note

• Spell/Sword and The Riddle Box FREE on Kindle 4/5-4/9.
  
• I still have download codes for the Audible audiobook of Spell/Sword - basically ask me for one if you want it? I will devise some sort of hoop for you to jump through.
• LAUNCH PARTY 4/5 Avid Bookshop - Athens, GA - 630p EST. (You all must be there. I’m going to drink too much and make people listen to me. It’s ALL I ever want.)
• Some upstart by the name of...*checks notes*...Thomas Ferret is taking the leap into getting his novel Pilot X published through Inkshares. I disapprove of this sort of rabble clogging up the halls here, but he’s a radio DJ and you know that medium is dying. Somewhere in the midwest, the Board and Grazer? It’s about farming and cows.  His alleged book is about time travel and I HATE THAT. https://www.inkshares.com/books/pilot-x

You’re going to be hearing a lot from me over the next few weeks. How are you? When are you all going to start calling in the tremendous backlog of favors I owe you?