Cyborg soldier Jacob Sicarius awakens early from stasis to find the crew of his multi-generational colony ship entrenched in civil war. Can he win the war against the mutineers and the malfunctioning AI implant fighting for control over his brain?
Today’s big announcement has almost nothing to do with Tantalus Depths, but it is still a very big announcement.
As many of you already know, Inkshares is teaming up with Nerdist right now to host a science fiction novel contest. The top three books at the end of the contest will win the full publishing treatment, the same deal we earned for Tantalus Depths last year, but without the agonizing process of having to round up 750 preorders first.
I deliberated for weeks about whether I should enter the contest or not. The book I wanted to enter is one of my boldest endeavors and I’m incredibly proud of it, but in many ways I feel like I’m still recovering from my last campaign, and I’m definitely not excited about taking that plunge once more. But ultimately the deciding factor that made me decide to go ahead and go for it was the competition. Right now, with just 20 days to go, the pre-order numbers on the current leaderboard are unusually low for a contest like this. At the time of writing this, I could make it to the top 3 with less than 50 pre-orders. That’s a far cry from 750, and I feel I must capitalize on this opportunity.
So I’ve entered the fray: my second full novel, Proteus, is now available for pre-order. It’s a sci-fi psychological thriller set in the same universe as Tantalus Depths, but featuring completely different characters and events. It’s ambitious to the point of impertinence, as it is a direct adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Richard III that also deals with themes of wartime PTSD, transhumanism, and the duality of man.
I can’t do anything halfway, it seems.
Here is the link, please check it out. There will be a wealth of new information coming every day for the duration of this intense but very short campaign. I wouldn’t have entered this contest yet if I didn’t think we could win it. The support we raised for Tantalus Depths was simply mind-blowing, and if we can recapture just one fifteenth of that miracle again, we’ll have not one but two books entering the production process. This could make the difference between me being an author as a hobby and me being an author as a career.
Before you go, I want to pre-emptively answer some questions I expect will be raised by this announcement:
Q: You jerk, I already ordered a book and I still don’t have it. WHERE’S MA BOOK???
A: It’s coming! I sent the manuscript in about a month ago. It takes months for a book to go through the production process, and that timer doesn’t begin until the manuscript is submitted. Tantalus Depths will probably not be released until the end of the year at the absolute earliest, more likely early next year. BUT anyone who’s ordered it and is particularly eager to get their hands on a copy and doesn’t want to wait until then, I will happily send you the current draft upon request. If you don’t mind reading an in-process manuscript, that is.
Q: What happens if you lose the contest?
A: You get your money back. If I fail to place in the top three, I could continue to campaign the normal way until I raise enough pre-orders (that’s exactly what happened with Tantalus Depths) but there’s no way I’m putting myself through that right now. I’ve set my campaign to only run one week past the end of the contest, at which point it will expire and anyone who ordered a copy will be immediately refunded. Either I win this contest, or nothing. Not until a future date when I’m more ready for it.
Q: How will this campaign affect the production of Tantalus Depths?
A: It won’t. Tantalus Depths is top priority. The only reason I have time to campaign right now is because I’m still waiting to be assigned a production team; at the moment, there’s nothing I can do for Tantalus. During the production process, there is a lot of going back and forth between me and my editor, so there will be patches of time when I will be working on Tantalus and when I won’t be. Any time I have to choose between working on Tantalus and working on Proteus, Tantalus will always take priority.
Any other questions or concerns, feel free to message me about them.
Hello, everyone!
If you qualified for a giveaway during Funding, I’ll be messaging you in the next month for your address so I can get that to you!
In the next two weeks, I’ll be passing the manuscript off to Inkshares for publication. That is exciting as well as terrifying. After I pass it off, it will be around 6 months before the novel is in your hands. I’m 11 chapters into the rewrite of the sequel, The Book of Kings. I’d share it with you but... spoilers. I’m not sure when to start sharing information on the second novel. I’d like for the first one to land in your hands before I start sharing chapters or synopsises for the next one, for obvious spoiler reasons. A lot happens towards the end of The Living God, and I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you.
I also noted a cool little thing at the top of The Living God page. It is the 16th best selling Fantasy book on Inkshares. Do you think we could get it in the Top 5 once it’s in print? Hmm...
I’ll be in touch!
20 days remain to get 1000 Faces into the top 3 of the Nerdist contest
Thank you so much for joining the team to get Crow’s Gambit published. We are currently in fourth place but it would only take a few fence sitters or referrals to get us into the top three. If each of you asked one person to consider pre-ordering or at least Follow the story it would be a tremendous gift (copy link to send here).
Today I’m going to share a little background on what TYPE of story this is.
What it is not. This is not a dystopian future story. Yes, bad things have happened and the world has been upended. However, the underlying theme is that humans adapt and persevere. They find new technological solutions when old ones are taken away from them. And yes, they psychologically stop noticing the constant menace around them.
What it is. While I would not tag the story as full blown Hard Science Fiction it is grounded by existing knowledge and theory. Let’s face it, I’m an engineer. It’s really REALLY hard for me to put something in a story without trying to figure out how it would work.
We are almost to the three week mark. Stay with me. More to come…
PT
One last call to action...
First, let me thank you all one more time for everything you’ve done to support Space Tripping over the past year & a half.
Second, for those of you not aware, Dragon Con is one of, if not the largest, Science Fiction & Fantasy conventions in the U.S. And Space Tripping has a shot at getting nominated for "Best Science Fiction" book of 2017. But the only way for that to happen is if enough internet voices cry out in synthesized unity. In plain English? I’m asking you to follow quick & easy steps below. It will take you less than 60 seconds, and would mean so much to me. Thank you so much in advance.
1. Click this link: http://awards.dragoncon.org/
2. Click the "Nominate" tab
3. Enter "Space Tripping" and "Patrick Edwards" under the Best Science Fiction Novel
4. Submit your vote
5. Become my bestest buddy forever.
XOXO,
P
Short update, I promise...
Whoa... what a trip it’s been.
Before I get into that though, let me give you some good news. Better news than whatever I’ll be prattling on about.
So, have you pre-ordered A God in the Shed from Inkshares? You did? You’re awesome. In fact, you might have already received an email notification that your physical copy has shipped (if you ordered a physical copy that is. And you should have, because ooooh boy. Such lovely books. So, so lovely.). But let’s say you’re not into this ’waiting’ thing? What if you want to start digging into this tale of horror in a small down over this very coming weekend?
Well, you can. By the end of the day, the eBook version of A God in the Shed will be available to download from the site. .mobi and .epub will be available, as always. I sincerely hope you enjoy the book and that if you do, you’ll let me know. Review it on Amazon, on Goodreads. Send me a Tweet @jfdubeau. I want to hear from you guys.
You’re my very favourite readers.
Which is why I put myself through Hell in order to sign all your copies of A God in the Shed. As promised, I flew myself to San Francisco on a plane leaving Montreal at 5:30AM, signed a bunch of copies as they were being packaged and shipped by the amazing Elena Stofle (with an assist from the dedicated Avalon Radys). Hung out and had dinner with Adam and then, at 11:30PM on the same day, was on a plane back to Montreal.
When I say I’d go to the ends of the Earth for my readers, I do not kid around.
Now please, enjoy the book. We’ve come this far, it’d be ashamed if you didn’t.
JF
Such a pretty book... (note: Inkshares fed me cheese. They have won my heart once more)
Today I am announcing an incentive!
To encourage your pre-order during the Inkshares Nerdist Contest, a $100 Visa Gift Card will be awarded to one lucky person who pre-orders Mission 51! Here are the simple rules:
Enter today! Pre-order now! :D
Happy Friday, readers!
1000 Faces continues to fight for it’s spot in the top 3 of the Nerdist contest. Check out the leaderboard to get a look at the numbers. I’d tell you which position the book is in right now, but chances are, it will have changed by the time you read this! The important thing is that you can help push 1000 Faces up the board and into the top 3, where it will be guaranteed full, international publication by preordering today.
In other news, I’ve been invited to do another author interview on Natacha Guyot’s blog. While my interview isn’t available to read just yet, you can checkout Natacha’s #SciFiWomen Interviews featuring lots of other women who read, write, and support science fiction.
With that said, I’d like to share some of the reviews and feedback that 1000 Faces has received so far. (Don’t forget, you can leave a review of your own if you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read.)
"Great elevated sci-fi concept! Can’t wait to read this one." - Tal Klein, author of The Punch Escrow (winner of The Geek & Sundry Hard Science contest)
"The second I read the description of Jenny Graham-Jones “1000 Faces” I knew I had to have a copy. That kind of dystopian, bleak-future vision of our world - where everyone wears a mask and all is never as it seems - is my kind of jam." - Joseph Asphahani, author of The Animal In Man (winner of The Sword and Laser: The Sequel contest)
"1,000 Faces does exactly what all good science fiction should do: explore and aspects of society in a new and thought-provoking light. What happens when the internet is no longer anonymous, but the real world is? I can’t wait to find out. " - Evan Graham, author of Tantalus Depths
"If this were a movie, I imagine it stylistically looking like V for Vendetta. You can feel the character’s emotional conflict in the second excerpt. While the first excerpt gives a great look into the societal concept. I’m really excited for this one." - Ryne Drogemuller, author of Through The Ghost