(before you start reading, there is a surprise at the end)

Friends, it has been a while 

You may have heard that my absence in the hallways of Inkshares is due to my adventures around the world gathering material for my memoir: Eat, Drink and Pass Out. You may have also heard that I got a job at NASA and I’ll be the first rainbow flag waving queen to put foot on Mars. All lies, friends. All fabrications from one of my multiple personalities.

The truth is I’ve been ridiculously busy juggling a new job, a cranky brain that insists on not working properly and writing Bad Medicine, a novel that I think you will love.

A couple of things have happened since the last time we talked:

1.      I finished the manuscript, but then I read it again and decided it needed a lot of work. Characters needed to be stronger, motivations had to be clearer, and villains needed more evil running through their veins.

2.      I changed the name of the novel. I thought the tagline “Slay it Queen!” didn’t convey clearly what the novel is about, so I changed it to Bad Medicine: Zombie Slaying Queen! Sometimes straight to the point is best.

3.      I started practicing meditation and mindfulness (I won’t be offended if you roll your eyes now) and had an epiphany (roll them again) the goal of this journey is not publishing a novel, the goal is creating art. Taking the ideas bubbling in my chest, shaping them and then surrendering them to you.

Yes, I want to see my book on bookstores but more than anything I want to feel confident that every drop of creativity inside of me labeled Bad Medicine, is out of my system and ready for the world to love, hate, ignored or adored.

In the large puzzle of the publishing process, I have only one job, and I am planning to do it well. I have to write a great novel.

I guess I am asking you for patience and trust. Your novel is coming. I don’t know when, but Inkshares and I will work hard to make sure you feel great about the investment you made six months ago.

In the meantime, since you have some waiting to do, I created a playlist called “Essential Drag” below are songs and videos where I find inspiration for Bad Medicine. Even if you are not writing a novel about a zombie slaying drag queen, these are just fun songs to listen to. 

Playlist here!

Until the next time...

Which do you want first: the Good News, or the Good-er News?

Fine. Good news is I’ve finally had the epiphany I should’ve reached months ago (which, by the way, is why you’re receiving another update so soon after the last). I’ve decided to SPLIT THE ANIMAL IN MAN IN TWO. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. Fellow authors, publishing industry gurus, inkshares itself, close friends and relatives - all these folks had been asking me for so long “why not just split the novel? Honestly, my dear animals, working on The Animal in Man had become a lot like sculpting pottery: the wheel spins and spins at a constant, but the larger the pot I was trying to make, the more likely it was to start coming apart and ultimately wind up an unrecognizable ruin. I’d rather make something beautiful - keep the pattern intact - and I figured you’d rather read it that way.

So what’s the Good-er News?

I re-submitted the manuscript last week! This means the ball is now in the publisher’s side of the court. I’ve done a little research that should make all parties involved (including you and me) much happier: An author with multiple books develops a better readership. Trilogies sit better on store shelves and are more likely to be stocked & re-stocked by booksellers. Imagine you’re just Joe-Schmoe Bookreader at the B&N down your street, just browsing the Sci-Fi Fantasy section like you always do, and you spot book one, book two, and book three of The Animal in Man all side-by-side. You are more likely to wonder what you’re missing out on when you discover a trilogy for the first time.

Yes, I said “trilogy.” That, in fact, was the straw that broke this camel’s back. The original, monstrously-oversized Animal in Man ended on a the mother of all cliffhangers, and I’d originally intended to leave it as-is (frankly I like unfinished endings, like Watchmen or Inception). But the ideas just kept gestating in the dark, warm, moist recesses of my brain, fed by the questions. What would happen to so-and-so? Did so-and-so make it out alive, and if he did, what would he do next?

Stay tuned to find out. Because of the decision to split the book, it won’t be as long of a wait.

In the meantime, check out some of the AMAZING sci-fi novels burning up the leaderboards on Inkshares’ Nerdist 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. Take a look at the submissions, you’re sure to find something great.

Until next time, my dear animals.

How exciting! I have just added a video book trailer to the Mission 51 home page. When you have a moment, please check it out!  :D

The concept of “barnstorming” in the story has been getting a lot of feedback. So for this, and the next, update I’m going to give a little more background on this hobby/profession. 

The Sylph satellites destroy most things that take to the air. However, they don’t appear to have a problem with objects in purely projectile motion and (typically) do not shoot down birds. How they determine what to target is therefore a mystery but it appears to be based on a combination of size, speed, and altitude. 

Barnstormers pilot drone aircraft that seek to escape Sylph notice. The drones are relatively small, they go fast but not too fast, and they fly very very low. Some barnstormers fly for fun and others for profit. Companies and individuals pay good money to have small packages delivered quickly and often off the books. 

Barnstorming is highly illegal for three key reasons. 

1. Pilots who fly that fast and THAT low tend to be a menace to the public. 
2. When the drones get destroyed by a Sylph weapon (and they do) there is always a danger of collateral damage to the public.
3. And most importantly, the last time humans tried to push back against the Sylph the results were disastrous. Many worry that someday the barnstormers will push it too far and really tick off the Sylph. 

If you’ve enjoyed this update or the sample chapters online please let your friends know. Reviews and Recommendations are just as treasured as Pre-Orders. 

As always, more to come… 

PT 

Today is Publication Day for the Bones of the Past!

It has been a very, very long road to get to this point: I started writing what would eventually become the Books of Dust and Bone in January 2010. I made my way to Inkshares in late 2015 and launched my funding campaign on December 18. With support from you, my readers, I managed to place in the top 3 of the Sword and Laser contest (The Sequel) and on January 15, 2016 won a publication deal. Today, the book is available in hundreds of brick and mortar stores across North America, not to mention a number of online retailers worldwide.

I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you, and I sincerely hope you enjoy the final product!

Once you have had a chance to read The Bones of the Past, I would really appreciate a review! Reviews are the single most important factor in the continued success of a book. Just a short note (a sentence or 2 is all it takes!) to tell other people what you thought really can make all the difference. Those who would like to help even more – please copy and paste your review to all of the sites listed below!

Amazon

Goodreads

Indigo

Barnes and Noble

 Thank you all yet again!!!

Updates, Faoii! Listen up!

As we get closer to publication day, I’ve noticed more excitement in the ranks. People are beginning to spread the word again, and more soldiers are coming to pick up their blades. As such, I’ve decided we need a minute to go back to the beginning. 

For those of you who don’t already know this story, let me tell you how The Last Faoii came to be. I woke up from a dead sleep one night in 2012, wandered out to my living room, and typed out about 25 pages on my laptop. I didn’t know then how common this midnight writing would become as I worked to tell Faoii-Kaiya’s tale. But, even from the beginning, I knew this story wanted to be told. 

Today, those original 25 pages have been cleaned up and tweaked, but they, for the most part, remain true to the original story that sparked Faoii five years ago. Now separated into three chapters, I’ve uploaded the beginning of Kaiya’s journey to Inkshares, (alongside the excerpts that are already there).

Since The Last Faoii manuscript is currently with its new editor, I cannot guarantee that these chapters will not change in the future, but you deserve to see them as they were when The Last Faoii was just a spark of inspiration in the middle of the night. I hope you enjoy. 

Shields up
Faoii-Tahani

Read The Last Faoii Chapter One

I am humbled and flabbergasted by the show of support I continue to receive for Mission 51! Thank you all so very much! After the first two weeks of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest, we are still in 1st place! More followers are following. Pre-orderers are pre-ordering. I am very grateful! :-)

I was especially floored when I took a look at the list of "Notable Readers" in the sidebar of the Discussion section of the Mission 51 project page. This is a list of successful Inkshares authors I greatly admire and I am honored to have their support! These are The Cool Kids of Inkshares! I encourage you to click on their names and support their work.

There are four more weeks to go in the contest. I am actively reaching out to everyone I know to ask them to join The Cool Kids Club, and that includes Mission 51 followers who are still on the sidelines. So if you haven’t yet placed your pre-order, perhaps Ned Stark can convince you...

"One must first purchase a Mission 51 pre-order!"

LOL. Again, thank you all very much for your kind support! I am blessed and grateful!

Peace and love!

(and join the club!)

Ferd 👽