Greetings, adventurers!
It’s been awhile. How are you doing? During this strange time, it’s my hope that this letter finds you in good health.
Before I get too far into it, I’d like to introduce you to the newest addition to our household and the reason I’ve been silent for so long. Meet Baby Olivia, AKA "Snorlax"--secondborn of the Escapist household children. She arrived in early March and has been growing like an out-of-control little weed ever since. We’re all doing great--her delivery was quick and easy--and we’re all in love! It’s definitely coupled with our global pandemic to make things chaotic, though. You can read more about that in my most recent blog post.
I have another small update for you. When last we checked in, I had been given the date of early April for Mushroom and Anchovy’s production kickoff. However, as we all have seen, a lot can change in the span of a few months, and now we’re deep into global pandemic territory. I reached out to the lovely folks at Inkshares and confirmed with them that production had been suspended for the time being--a decision I fully support. They are now hoping we can kick off production in July. I’m hoping to release another chapter soon--something I wasn’t originally planning to do, but seems pertinent in times like these.
I’ve told you before that I’ve been streaming this past year and a half. I did take a break for a time following my daughter’s birth, but I’m slowly getting back to it. Right now, I’m streaming Monday nights at 9:30 PM AT (8:30 PM ET) with low-key chatting and kitchen-cleaning streams. I’ll be coming back to a partial cooking stream schedule in about a month or so.
I hope to be moving this newsletter to my website in the near-ish future. I’d love it if you’d sign up there! I plan on having monthly letters--nothing spammy, I promise--featuring a clip-of-the-month, updates, previews, stream events, and more. You can sign up on my website by navigating to the bottom of the page. I will still be updating with book-related information and news here, but everything else will move. If you’d like to keep up with non-Mushroom and Anchovy work, please do sign up on my website! A starting point for the newsletter will be gauged by level of interest.
Before I go, I want to take a moment to express my appreciation to everyone for your continued support while I take a step back. I have been really enjoying this time with my family and it’s been nice not to worry too much about having to produce. Being productive is in my nature, however, so do plan to see things from me outside of blog posts in the next two months or so. I plan on trickling various content back in bit by bit, with an end goal of having all of my main ventures back by September.
I hope to have more updates for you in the months to come. I’m not sure when the next update will be for Mushroom and Anchovy, but until then, may staying home be fraught with calm and as little peril as possible, for the time being.
Yours in adventure,
K. M. Cooper
Hi everyone!
I hope this message finds you safe and healthy in these odd times. I know that things are very out of sorts on my end, but my family and I are doing well, and making the best of a bad situation.
A lot has happened in the past year with the book. In February of 2019 I set about overhauling the original manuscript to make the overall plot and timeline more exciting from the get go. I finished that version in February of this year and sent it on back to Inkshares for review. I must say, I’m very happy with the changes. The book as a whole feels more complete and polished.
Now, that doesn’t mean it is done. Far from it.
The manuscript is in line to get reviewed by Inkshares and I’m expecting a lot of notes. Every time I go back through the book I find more ways to tighten things up. The story, in my opinion, is fun and exciting, but there is always room for improvement. This is, after all, my first novel and I’m learning how to better my writing every day.
But, with that being said, I just wanted everyone to know that we are still working hard to get this book into your hands, and into bookstores!
I also wanted to pass along a few notes for anyone who is interested. First, I updated Tainted’s page on Inkshares to include a new "back cover" description of the book. Second, I took down the old prologue, as it no longer appears that way in the new manuscript. With its removal, I included the updated introduction to the book. Not quite prologue, more of an introduction to the narrator/world. Take a moment to pop over and give it a once over, I would love to hear what you think!
Thank you for your patience and sticking with me through all of this. I really appreciate it. And I can’t wait for you to dive into Tainted!
PJ
Hi, readers! I hope you’re all doing well and staying safe out there! I’ve been doing a lot of writing, and I’ve got some news that - while it can’t fix the world - might offer a good distraction!
First, look what’s out tomorrow!
It’s my first-ever SF romance (as opposed to fantasy/paranormal) short story! And it’s m/f, with bisexual main characters!
It’s the story I’ve described to people as…basically a Regency-debutante-meets-dashing-captain romance BUT IN SPACE.
And also the captain is a woman. And the person coming of age is the Emperor. And also jelly candies are important.
(In my head, by the way, there’s a subtitle, which is: “How Starship Captain Catherine Everington Became Empress of the Galaxy,” which about sums it up!)
It’s around 7k, and it’s on sale at JMS Books LLC for only $1.59, or at Amazon for $1.99!
And it’s currently at #221 in the overall LGBT Science Fiction category on Amazon! Which is pretty cool for my first-ever proper sci-fi story! (Think we can get it to go any higher…?)
Buy at Amazon here! Or at JMS Books here!
Second, the pre-order link is also up for my next super-short m/m romance - release date May 30!
This one’s part of the JMS Books Hot Flash collection, all under 5k words and always priced at 99 cents or less - right now it’s on pre-order sale at JMS for only 79 cents! 99 cents at Amazon. :-)
"Penny" contains:
~a comfortable sort of domestic high fantasy setting
~a clockwork-magic kitten
~love confessions!
~one very cheerful newly-appointed local magician
~one big bashful artifact hunter who keeps bringing said magician all the cursed items to defuse, trying to make the kingdom safer
~a LOT of mutual pining
~one confession-spell magic coin…
Pre-order at Amazon here! Or at JMS Books here!
That’s all for now - sending you all the love!
Concerning the book: We’ve updated Chapter 1, reposted with changes from the latest edit. We submitted a full re-edit in February, in hopes of getting the book published by April. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as the coronavirus crisis affected a whole stream of the publisher’s projects. But we’re still pushing and we appreciate your patience and your faith in us. Doyle and Lou