The Punch Escrow is hitting bookstores on July 25 — less than 2 months from today. I wanted to give you guys an update on where things stand based on the increasing number of inbound questions:

- Book Tour: We have one. I hope one of our stops is in your town. You can check out the list of places and dates here: https://www.facebook.com/thepunchescrow/posts/1951228528444487:0 (if you haven’t already, please give The Punch Escrow a "Like" on FB when you’re there)

- Cover Design: It’s done and I will share the full cover as soon as we approve the proofs from the printer. It’s lovely and iconic. I couldn’t be happier! This book will be a lot of fun to hold. We’ve been very picky about materials and inks.

- Pre-sales: Some of you may have gotten an email stating that you’ve "backed a winner!" - yes, I’m super thrilled we’re moving a lot of pre-order units. I’m very happy the book is picking up steam. I don’t know what else to say about that other than: THANK YOU! and maybe also WOOHOO!

- The movie: I can’t really say anything about the movie other than tell you that Lionsgate didn’t only option the book, they optioned The Punch Escrow’s entire world or, as I like to call it, "The Future." What this means is that if things go well, there will be many other stories to come through various mediums, not just film. I continue to have very productive meetings with the creative team at Lionsgate, and I believe "The Future" is in very good hands.

- Blurbs: Here are all the amazing blurbs we’ve gotten for the book so far. The reviews are also starting to come in to the book’s Goodreads page from advance readers and reviewers:

“I read a lot of books but haven’t enjoyed one as much as The Punch Escrow in a long time. I picked it up for a cross-country flight and didn’t put it down until we landed in New York. Tal Klein creates a plausibly real future that sucks you in. He powers his story with action, twists, and a dash of humor. Young actors will be lining up to play the lead character, and any director worth his salt would kill (or at least teleport) for a chance to adapt The Punch Escrow.”  —Andy Lewis, Book Editor, The Hollywood Reporter

“A compelling, approachable human narrative wrapped around a classic hard sci-fi nugget, The Punch Escrow dives into deep philosophical territory—the ethical limits of technology, and what it means to be human. Cinematically paced yet filled with smart asides, Klein pulls off the slick trick of giving readers plenty to think about in a suspenseful, entertaining package.” —Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica

“An alt-futuristic hard-science thriller with twists and turns you’ll never see coming. I couldn’t put it down.” —Felicia Day, author of You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

“Klein transports us to a beautifully rendered near-future world. This is refreshingly original and immersive hard sci-fi. You’ll turn the last page and yearn for Joel Byram’s next chapter.”  —Ben Brock Johnson, host of Codebreaker podcast and Marketplace Tech

“A headlong ride through a future where ‘huge international corporate conspiracy’ is a box you check on a form and teleportation takes you anywhere—it just blows you to bits first.” —Quentin Hardy, Head of Editorial, Google Cloud (formerly Deputy Tech Editor for The New York Times)

"The Punch Escrow has a cool high concept and an action-packed story that will leave your head spinning." —Daniel H. Wilson, The New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse and Clockwork Dynasty

“If I lived in the world of The Punch Escrow, I’d teleport around the world shoving copies of Tal M. Klein’s thrilling, hilarious, and whip-smart debut into everyone’s hands. Save me the trip—buy this novel now.” —Duane Swierczynski, author of Revolver and the bestselling Level 26 series

“A fast-paced near-future sci-fi adventure peppered with exotic technology and cultural references ranging from Karma Chameleon to the Ship of Theseus, The Punch Escrow will have you rooting for its plucky, sarcastic hero as he bounces between religious fanatics, secret agents, corporate hacks, and megalomaniacs in a quest to get his life back. If you’ve ever wanted to get Scotty drunk and ask him some tough questions about how those transporters work exactly, The Punch Escrow is the book for you.” —Robert Kroese, author of The Big Sheep and its sequel, The Last Iota

“This book angered me to my core, because it’s based on an idea that should have occurred to me. The fact that Tal executed it so well, and made such a page-turner out of it, just adds insult to injury.” —Scott Meyer, author of the Magic 2.0 series

“Some writers take us to the future so we can question the effects that technology can have on humanity on a global and personal scale, along with the impact upon the social fabric. Others do it to take us on a wild ride made all the more fantastic by pushing the boundaries of what we can expect from the world of tomorrow. Tal M. Klein masterfully balances both and sets it all to the beat of an 80s soundtrack. An excellent piece of contemporary science fiction.” —J-F. Dubeau, author of A God in the Shed and The Life Engineered

Hello, readers.

I’ve added a short excerpt to the project page for 1000 Faces, which will give you your first glimpse of the life of Kara Finch and the world of the near-future. Take a read, let me know what you think - you can even leave a review. 

In his The Story So Far round-up of the contest’s first week, Joey Angotti had this to say about 1000 Faces: 

 "1000 Faces is a horrifying and very realistic plot that really begs to ask the question: “Where are we going as a society?” Basically, the internet and all the information shared and carried online could potentially be exploited by hackers and terrorists - we’ve seen it happen before. Now take those situations and amplify by 1000(just seemed right to use this number) and there you go. Now you have a world wide(puns for days) epidemic that not only cause people to fear and back away from the internet, but also opens people’s eyes to the fact that “big brother is always watching.” It’s pretty scary and reminds me of when people were afraid that Microsoft was spying on them with the Xbox Kinect or when people put tape over the camera in their laptop to make sure no one is spying on them through that."  

Thanks, Joey ;) Yes, 1000 Faces is currently in 5th place - but the fight at the top of the contest leader board is getting more competitive every day.  

I’ll be adding more excerpts over the coming week.

~ Jenny

12 days into the contest, and we are still in the top three! It’s pretty important that we keep our momentum and stay up here on the top of the pile. More authors are entering the contest every day - in the Fantasy contest last year we had a late entry who blasted to the top of the leaderboard in a few hours, and then went on to win the whole thing with over 750 preorders. SO. If you’re thinking you want to preorder, please do it today.

And now, to the fun stuff. Here is a glimpse at one of the characters in Mutants: Uprising, and since it’s written in second person, today this is all about YOU.

You are Jane Meyers, known in League circles as Zombie. You discovered your mutant gene like many people do - the hard way. When your adrenaline surges your strength increases and your body becomes numb. You can take an obscene amount of damage and keep walking, as long as you can keep your adrenaline high. As soon as your heart rate drops, however, you fall into a coma which looks a lot like death, and you stay in that state while your body heals. You ran away from home as a teenager, and were mentored by a mutant named Deimos, who brought you with him when he became a leader in a Midwest cell of the League. After serving as his enforcer for years, Deimos recommended you to take charge of the fumbling Los Angeles cell. You’ve been there a few months, and have gathered a fairly solid group around you. Maybe being a leader isn’t so hard after all?

That’s it for now, I can’t wait to tell you about the other mutants who are in your group, but that will be another day!

Thank you for the support!
Jane-Holly
[PREORDER HERE]

Hello everybody,

So we’re finally here, one month to the pub date for The Battle Within. It’s been a long trip to get here and I thank everyone for their continued support. Some details as we head into the final stretch:

The books have been printed and advance copies have been mailed to a number of media outlets. Over the next few weeks, the books will be mailed to backers and those who’ve pre-ordered, although you may get an e-book as early as next week.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to marry up with the books so I could sign them without affecting the launch date. In place of signed books, Inkshares designed and developed themed bookmarks, all of which have been personally signed and which will come with the books. As nice as the bookmarks are (and Inkshares did a great job), I recognize they’re not the same thing as a signed book, so please know I’ll make myself available for signatures as much as I can. There will clearly be some logistics to sort out, but please just get in touch with me directly and I’ll see what I can figure out. On that note:

24 June 17:  Book Launch Party, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm at Perfect Books (www.perfectbooks.ca), located at 258A Elgin Street, Ottawa. This would be a great opportunity to get a book signed and also take in downtown Ottawa as it readies for the 150th birthday celebrations the week after.

27 Jun 17: The publication date.

The last thing I’d offer is that I hope you enjoy the book. All of you made this possible and after nearly a year of production following the crowdfunding campaign, I hope you’ll find that it was worth the wait.

Thank you again and all the best,

Alastair Luft 

Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,