Isolation

A boy is taken to the isolation ward after his psyche splits. Will he be able to fix himself or will he ultimately drown in his own mind?

Michael Valdez followed Ivy

Finding the Princess

Two sisters get pushed apart until their bond as family is almost broken. The younger sister becomes a rebel and the older becomes Queen. The thing that brings them together? Death. Follow the younger sister and her friends as they search for her sister.

Michael Valdez liked an update for Beyond The Code

Hey there wonderful people

I just wanted to spread my geedines in the fact that I made it past 50 pre-orders! WOOOOOOT! I know it's not that much but you take your jollies where you can. I'm 1/5 of the way there and climbing. But we need to keep up the pace. If you like this fast paced, action packed, round house kick to your imagination give me a chance to entertain you and preorder please. And if you like it, you really really like it recommend it. Tell your family. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell everyone. We can do this!!

...maybe I should lay off the coffee and candy before I do this updates. Thanks for your time.

Kelsey Rae Barthel

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Michael Valdez commented on U-Turn at Next Synapse

I'm not sure how this would work with Inkshares, but maybe you can find your own professional publisher to work with before you send it over to them? That way you get a full edit and the book is polished completely before they even see it. Again, not sure how that would work for Inkshare's deadlines. I'm paying for my own publishing (and later on, a book cover), but I'm doing so before I put my book back into pre-order. I'd suggest asking about that, for sure.

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Michael Valdez liked an update for Deus Hex Machina

It's been an amazing ride, hasn't it?

Two hours left to go, so if you see this and want to support DHM in its impossible battle to the top three in the contest, this is the last chance.

Plans going forward: I will still hold my raffles, but will probably go back to every 10 orders since that's simpler and the ultimate goal is to get to 750. I would love to be in the difficult position of having to order 80 books to sign and send. I'm thinking I might do the first group soon, as a sort of thank you to all who supported the book through the contest. No reason to wait until June to get a reward, right?

I'll be in touch with Cara regarding the raffle of the DHM graphic novel page, since we hit 104 orders yesterday, and that means that one of those ten people frfom 94 to 104 will win the page. It's her contest though, so definitely keep an eye out on the She is the End page, and while you're there, order yourself a copy if you haven't already.

Now that the contest is over, I can clear my personal RAM and fill it with writing duties instead of promotion duties. I was rereading through the graphic novel script yesterday and realized there are some awesome characters coming, and I really need to get there so I can share all that with you. The next scene I've been planning takes place aboard the Hyperloop, then there's the first time you meet Dax and the crew, and plus we have to figure out who that strange guy tailing Isidore is. So much cool stuff coming. I can't wait to share it.

But first I have to spend two hours refreshing the DHM page hoping for a miracle. *Gets F5 finger ready*

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Michael Valdez liked an update for The Animal in Man

I won.

When you read that, how do you hear it? If it’s something in your mind like a soft, shocked whisper, the kind of sound you hear when someone speaks in the stillness of a slow snowfall, then you’re pretty close to how I’m hearing myself say it. I won. I won… I won? ...I WON!?!

Whether it’s the Sword and Laser’s Tom and Veronica, journalist Alicia Smock, or other authors mentioning my name in their own reader updates or raffle videos, the experience of being exposed and showered with praise for my story has really validated all this hard work I’ve done.

And, …. wow… this campaign has been some hard work.

Somewhere in an article or something I said to somebody that I was back on what I call “The Skyrim Sleeping Schedule.” (I’m sure some former students of mine will recall EXACTLY how loopy I got soon after 11/11/11.) Basically 4 to 5 hours of fitful sleep every night for the past month has really racked my body. Even as I type this, my mind’s eye glances over its shoulder and sees my body tapping its watch, shaking its head. I hear it say “Joe, it’s time, man.” And I’m like, “Hey, wait! I got a raffle video to do! Six new winners, six more $20 giftcard giveaways, six titles gone from my priceless video game collection!” But in this vision, my body wraps its arm warmly around me and escorts me from the premises of health, and it says, “Maybe this weekend, pal.” So I’m about to give in and just get sick…

I am utterly exhausted. ...and I’m kind of numb. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m typing this all right now secretly from my work cubicle, clicking back to the work window whene….. …. …. …. ver someone walks by. But right at this moment, I can’t celebrate. I’m happy. I’m BEYOND EUPHORIA, in fact, but I can’t jump for joy just yet.

I haven’t yet mastered the art of embedding gifs or whatever the cool kids are doing these days - so this little graphic here will have to do to express my current state of existence:

(!!!!)

(What? I’m a man of letters, I tell ya!)

“Thank you all so much.” I know that track’s been on repeat for quite some time, but there’s no other phrase that can contain all of my feelings and gratitude toward your support. Thank you.

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Michael Valdez liked an update for The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life

As promised, I recorded my raffle video late last night, when I was at 63 readers. I have since gained two more readers, so the two of you will be included in the next raffle when I hit 70.

Check it out to see if you've won:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cq3DmueyA4

I will contact the winner directly later to hammer out details. Congrats to that person!

Meanwhile, the Sword & Laser Contest wraps up in about two and a half hours. I mentioned a little bit about it in the raffle video, but I will send out a definitive post-contest update later when everything has officially ended.

As always, thanks for your support, and enjoy your Friday!

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Michael Valdez liked an update for The Remains Of Civilization

Hey good folks,

Thanks for your support! With your help, The Remains had officially reached 100 followers and 74 preorders with more than 90 days left. That left a warm fuzzy feeling inside my heart, but that isn't love...because, as a writer of comedy, I am secretly dead inside. You can only churn so many sacrifices to the old gods before your writer's block kicked you in the posterior.

But because I feeds on the positive support that had been given to me, I had created a special book trailer to commemorate this moment and cement the fact that this book DOESN'T suck and had not been the targeted by the cats yet (though they are lurking in the background).

Here's the video in case you cannot see the book trailer for any reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgIR9SvXVUk

like · liked by Piper and 7 others