In the not so distant future an enhanced combat veteran becomes disillusioned with the corrupted world that welcomes him home and decides to take drastic measures to shape the U.S. into the country he believes it should be.
Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music!
Dear supporters,
The first draft of Fae Child is nearly finished. I have been a bit blocked/busy, but I’m eking out what I can, when I can. However, Abbie’s story arc is completed! I am writing her father Dan’s chapters to catch him up with her. It’s a bit of a switch mentally, but once I get going I think it will wrap up quickly.
Quill books ahead of me in the queue are starting to get editors assigned! They are still looking at a production schedule of 6 or so months before they are published, but there is finally some movement. This is great news for those authors, and for Fae Child as well.
Now, I have a favor to ask: Inkshares has started a new Science Fiction contest, sponsored by Nerdist. I have a story already written that just needs editing, and I have decided to enter the contest! Am I crazy? Probably. Please click the picture below and follow Mutants: Uprising. Once it goes live, I would be so appreciative if you preordered. In the meantime, if you could read the sample chapters/excerpts, and recommend or review it on the site.
It’s hard to be the ’good guy’ when you lead the local cell of the League, a terrorist organization. Gang warfare turns out to be the least of your worries when shadowy organizations start targeting your friends.
Mutants: Uprising is written in SECOND PERSON, and I hope you enjoy it! Just following the project is all I ask. Thank you!
Have a great Tuesday!
Jane-Holly
Hello friends,
I apologize for the radio silence, but I’m back now with exciting news!
Despite the fact that I fell off the radar for a few weeks due to an unplanned hospitalization, the bus is pretty much driving itself at this point: Devil’s Call has gone off to the typesetter and has a lovely cover from the amazing David Drummond that includes several positive blurbs. Jerry Smith from Fangoria, James Demonaco (creator of The Purge series), and J-F. DuBeau (author of A God in the Shed) contributed lovely words about the novel. ARCs have gone out, and reviews are starting to trickle in on Goodreads.
Check out this cover!
One of the immediate impediments to my online presence is the lack of Internet at the transitional housing where I’m staying while I wait to hear back about a more permanent supportive apartment. (At risk of getting all TMI over everybody, part of the reason I was hospitalized had to do with a nosedive of a depressive episode that involved a relapse after 10 months of sobriety, so here we are.) While I am able and intend to go online using WiFi hot spots, the majority of my time is now devoted to recovery.
But! Devil’s Call still has a publication date of July 17, and I am very stoked to see where my little novel goes this summer. Will make more of an effort to keep y’all up to date from now on.
xoxo,
J.
No particular news for Tantalus Depths itself right now. I’ve not heard anything from Inkshares about the next step in the production process, but it’s still early and I hadn’t expected to yet.
I am currently working on the promised prologue chapter, but I’m toying with the idea of making two smaller ones instead of one larger one, as I have two interesting ideas that can’t be easily combined. We’ll see how that goes.
My main purpose for this update is not for me, or even for Tantalus Depths. I wanted to take an opportunity to show my heartfelt appreciation for a good friend.
I met Tahani Nelson through Inkshares during our mutual pre-order campaigning period. Her book, The Last Faoii, caught my attention quickly. Kaiya, her resolute protagonist, has a knack for overcoming impossible hardships without giving up even in the bleakest of circumstances, and is exactly the sort of character I strove to depict with Mary Ketch. I kind of see the two characters as cross-genre sisters.
As I’ve gotten to know Tahani better as a person, I’ve learned the true extent that the character imitates the author. She’s overcome no small number of impossible obstacles, and though they continue coming her way, she resolutely pushes through them without giving an inch of ground. She’s a real-life Kaiya, and so, in many ways, a real life Mary.
I felt a person like Tahani deserves to be immortalized in writing. The universe of Tantalus Depths is an unforgiving, dark place. Human civilization is a constantly imperiled thing; a child swimming obliviously among sharks. Yet, one of the core tenants of Tantalus Depths and any associated stories, is the notion that, in spite of these dangers, humanity endures. We may always be at the brink of destruction, but through determination and sheer force of will, we survive against the odds.
Tahani represents this to me, in life. To properly show what that means to me, I’ve named a planet for her, which I will include some capacity into the Tantalus Depths universe. If I can sneak it into Tantalus Depths somewhere during the revision phases to come, I will. If I can’t find anywhere to slip it in where it feels natural, it will be referenced at some point in the upcoming sequel. Either way, the presence of this planet in the Colonial Hegemony is now and forever canon.
Shields up, Faoii.
Greetings hexers,