Well my friends, we did not win a Dragon Award. I was however at the ceremony and must say, it’s a privilege to have been nominated in the first year. There was a level of class (though some tremendous mispronunciation of my name) in these proceedings.

The Dragon Awards, if the they follow this course, may just be the classy award for fan favourite media that we’ve been hoping for. Not that other awards aren’t great, but Dragon Con has always been ’the people’s con’ and having been there myself, I can see why. So it makes sense that their award would follow that ideology.

In other news, I have to apologize. I had grandiose plans to have the campaign for Arch-Android, the sequel to The Life Engineered, ready for this coming weekend. I can’t say that this will be possible. Other obligations have piled up and I have to postpone. Worry not, the campaign is coming and the book will be in the spirit of the first one.

Thanks again for your continued support. Next year... we’ll get that award next year.

JF

Hi everyone! Here’s another quick update:

1. First of all, please join me in congratulating Jaye Milius, author of the crazy cool "Terminus," on achieving Quill status! To me, this is what Inkshares is all about, outstanding new authors able to showcase their work, crowdfunding readers like us confirming its value with our pre-orders, resulting in a publication deal by a real publishing company. Really, how awesome is that! - A huge congrats, Jaye, on a completely well-deserved achievement!

2. On a more egotistical note, I noticed Inkshares has me listed as the "#98 Most Influential Reader!" Ha! Who knows how that works! I guess I’ll just keep being who I am and doing what I do, and we’ll see how high that will go! :-)

3. Chris Pyke and I are in the last stages of finalizing another cool illustration. We went back to one of Mission 51’s earlier chapters, "The Press Conference," and picked out not one but two essential moments in that short scene. We’ll present them in a two-pane, comic-book style illustration. I’m pretty excited about that!

4. Mission 51 will continue in draft mode while it is entered in the Launch Pad Manuscript Competition. The competition is now closed, and we are waiting on judging, etc. I have no idea how many people have entered, but I’m sure the competition is fierce. At the very least, I will get comprehensive feedback from a panel of judges who are all important players in the entertainment industry. That’s sure to be valuable. But please, cross fingers and toes for me that Mission 51 is well-received and at least makes the first cut in late September.

5. Last but certainly not least, I extend a very warm welcome to all the new Mission 51 followers. I am truly grateful that you are part of our fantastic family of mutually supportive authors and readers!

Peace and love, y’all!  :-)

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since my last update and I have lots of news!

First, the developmental edits are done. This was a massive job I’ve been tackling for the last 5 weeks that even involved me taking two weeks off work and doing nothing else for the entire time. I’m happy to say the time was well spent and the book has improved in leaps and bounds. My amazing developmental editor gave me lots of work that mostly involved adding in more of pretty much everything and making sure the story and wording were clear. Usually editors recommend cutting chapters, characters or even entire story arcs at this stage, so being asked to do the opposite was a very positive sign!

I’ve uploaded the most recent versions of the sample chapters onto my Inkshares page for anyone who’s curious about the changes. We still have copy editing to get through and then proofreading so these samples will get polished up a little more yet before going to print.

Second, the publication date has been pushed back to May 30th, 2017. There were a number of production and marketing reasons for the change. But the positive side of it is I got a couple extra weeks to work on developmental editing and a slightly more relaxed schedule for the following stages.

And finally, I should have a couple early versions of my book cover back from the cover designer around September 15th which I will be sure to send out to gauge everyone’s opinion!

Thank you all for your continued patience and support! The Bones of the Past is well on its way and it’s going to be awesome!

 Cheers!

Today is that reviled day of the year in which I must officially acknowledge that I am one more year older than dirt.  Boo!  Hiss!  If you feel inclined to give a birthday gift, then consider giving a gift to myself and yourself by placing a preorder.  Okay, sales pitch over, now to get on to the interesting stuff.

Today I’ll be talking about the 2nd rarest of the Dwarven subspecies.  The Zaltruscans and wanderers from other kingdoms refer to them as the Sartval, making this their most common name, but they have other names elsewhere - Elbegast in Hanaen, Yimeeri in the Frozen North.  No one knows if the elves of Lanadalaria have their own name for them since the elves of the eastern nation don’t really talk with outsiders.

The Sartval are a savage race, their only interaction with outsiders taking the form of raids.  They usually take as many prisoners as possible to use as slaves and eventually food.  Just what caused their degradation into such a violent people with a preference for the meat of intelligent humanoids is a topic of much debate among scholars, debate which has failed to find any common conclusion.

Some theorize that they are exiles and/or descendants of exiles from Thierdenvolgenlunder who turned savage out of desperation over their banishment, though some argue that they were likely already such savages which is why they were exiled.  Thierdenvolgenlunders would be quick to inform you that there have not been near enough exiles since their founding to account for the whole of the Sartval race, if Thierdenvolgenlunders even knew of their savage cousins’ existence that is.  Others believe that the Sartval only became this way after the 2nd fall of the Melexi and Thirosian empires, their culture falling in parallel to those of goblins, orcs, giants, and various lesser known savage humanoids.  Still others believe that they worship and/or have pledged their services to demons, dragons, debauched elemental lords, or whatever otherworldly bogeyman the speaker prefers and it is their pursuit of this worship/service that they commit vile acts.

The only things that are known are that Sartval are some of both the strongest and toughest of opponents in battle, and that they don’t speak to outsiders unless it is to bark commands.

That’s all I’ve got for the update section today, though I will be posting up my feeble attempt to make the Sartval a playable D&D 5th edition race.  For those of you who don’t play D&D, I’ll close as always by saying thank you for your time and support.  Keep reading and enjoying!

• Ability Score Increase:  +2 Strength, +2 Constitution
  
• Age:  Typically reach adulthood at around 60-70 years and live up to 450-500 years(though most die in battle before this).
• Alignment:  Can be any alignment, but most commonly are NE.
• Size:  Medium, stand between 4’ - 4’8", though on vary rare occasions there may be an individual who reaches as tall as 5’.
• Speed:  25’.
• Dwarven Toughness:  +1 maximum HP per level.
• Armor Training:  Proficient with Light and Medium armor.
• Combat Training:  +1 damage with 2 handed or Versatile weapons.
• Weapn Training:  Proficient with Greataxes, Greatswords, Mauls, and Pikes.
• Tool Training:  Proficient with any 1 of the following - Leather worker’s tools, Potter’s tools, or Smith’s tools.
• Relentless Endurance:  When reduced to 0 HP but not killed outright, drop to 1 HP instead.  Can only use this feature once between long rests.
• Proficient in Intimidate and Survival skills.
• Languages:  Draconic and 1 of the following - Abyssal, Dwarvish, Giant, or Infernal.

Thank you for following me on Inkshares. If you pre-ordered The Fairshare Model, thank you even more!

I have an update on my efforts to get the book published by Inkshares.

First, I still need your help. If you placed a pre-order before June 20, 2016, your money was returned because I did not reach the minimum order threshold by the deadline. I’m giving it another go and hope that you’ll take a moment to place a pre-order again.

Second, I reduced my pre-order target from 750 to 250 copies. With 750 pre-orders, Inkshares will fund a full editing effort. They offer a light edit option if 250 orders are received, so that is my new goal because I know people who can help me edit.

Third, I shifted my marketing effort from one-on-one personal appeals to rely more on articles and videos to generate interest. My hope, so to speak, is that a widely cast net will yield more fish than the single hook approach that occurs with an email campaign.

Here are articles that I’ve posted over the past few months:

·        Applying a Formula For Happiness To Free Trade http://bit.ly/2bYYF96

·        Applying John Rawls’ Theory Of Justice To IPO Valuation http://bit.ly/2bKtv6A

·        Class Action Investor Lawsuit Raises Facebook IPO Valuation Issues http://bit.ly/1oZlazl

·        Valuation Uncertainty Illustrated…with Balloons! http://bit.ly/2ckIrdT

·        Shouldn’t Public Venture Capital Investors Get Price Protection Too? http://bit.ly/2bVkqq8

I have a video on YouTube that shows how to calculate a company’s pre-money valuation.

·        Video: https://youtu.be/cc2stjvgEbE

·        Slide deck: http://www.slideshare.net/kmsjogren/premoney-valuation-how-to-calculate-it

In sum, I am using articles and videos to reach a lower pre-order target. If you ordered after June 20, 2016, thank you again. If you ordered before that date, your order was cancelled and your money returned. If this is you, please take a moment , before you forge, to demonstrate your support for my effort by placing a replacement order.

You can do that here https://www.inkshares.com/projects/the-fairshare-model

 Karl

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Karl M. Sjogren

Creator, Fairshare Model for a Crowdfunded IPO using a Performance-Based Capital Structure

Address ••• 4063 Norton Ave., Oakland, CA USA 94602

Cell ••• 510.682.8093

Email ••• karl@fairsharemodel.com

Website ••• www.fairsharemodel.com

Twitter •••@FairshareModel

LinkedIn ••• http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlsjogren

Dearest Readers,

You guys may have noticed it’s been a little quiet here. There’s a reason, and it’s a long one, so I’ll sum it up before I get to the good stuff.

First, all cards on the table: running a crowdfunding campaign is exhausting. Emotionally, it’s draining. You have a day where you crush it and you feel on top of the world. Then there are days, weeks, where nothing happens, and you wonder who you thought you were to even attempt something so ridiculous. We came out of the gate firing, and then I faded away. I feel like I owe you all an explanation as to why.