My dear Machiners, 

Where do I begin? I will start by saying that I have now had over 48 hours to decompress. I took some extra time before writing my post-Sword & Laser update. I just didn’t quite feel that I was coherent enough to write the update I wanted in the immediate aftermath. At this point, the fact that I can call myself a “soon to be published author” has not fully sunk in. That this story, which I poured myself into, will be in print and on a bookstore shelf is still hard to believe. When I do see it on that shelf, it will be serious reality check time. 

For now I must say Thank YOU. Thank you with all my heart. I cannot thank everybody enough. I want to stress and stress some more that this was an unbelievable team effort. I wrote the story but bringing it to a wider audience through crowdfunding on Inkshares was undeniably a group effort. And a tremendous one at that. Many, many people went above and beyond the call to bring new readers to our cause. 

To illustrate this unbelievable outreach, we can break the campaign into two chunks. There were the first 4.5 weeks of the campaign: We brought in 170 readers and this was phenomenal. We were in a strong 2nd place position and hoped it would be enough to stay in the top 3. Then there was the final 1.5 weeks of the contest - and we brought in 180 readers! In my wildest dreams I would never have expected to more than double what we did in over a month in just 10 days. Thank you for the incredible support to finish this race. I feel honored and humbled. I want all of you to feel that you had a hand in making this happen. Because it’s true. The eBook or paperback you receive is yours as much as it is mine, and far beyond the money you contributed. 

I must give a hearty salute to my co-winners Joseph Asphahani author of The Animal in Man and Craig Munro the author of The Bones of the Past. It was an absolute pleasure to compete against them. An experience that was full of camaraderie and goodwill. Their books are awesome and I look forward to receiving my copy of both. It is well worth your time to go check them out, and also the other excellent work by talented authors in the top 10 in the Sword & Laser contest. The contest was filled with wonderful creative work - those outside the top 10 also deserve your consideration. Here is the rest of the top 10:

Adam Greven and Matt Deller’s The Knight Proper 

Byron Gillian’s The Children of the Forest 

Amanda Ornekc’s Deus Hex Machina 

Andre Brun’s Lies and Deception 

Michael Sebby’s The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life 

Alexander Barnes’s The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising 

Edmond J. Wedge’s Ocean Black: The Noble Exiles

The journey is just beginning for The Last Machine in the Solar System. There will be future updates as we continue down the road toward publication. This is all new and exciting for me and I am sure I will learn something each day. I look forward to sharing that with you, my benefactors. Without you I would not be here, and neither would this story. 

Until next time, 

 -Matthew 

Dear backers and friends of Trekonomics,

I just posted the final, revised and expanded introduction to the book (minus a few still-ongoing copy-edits!). Cover will be revealed and shared will all of you this week. We are on schedule!

You may read the new introduction to Trekonomics here: 

https://www.inkshares.com/projects/trekonomics/book_segments/introduction-3720

In addition, if you are so inclined, I invite you to read my latest column celebrating the 15 years anniversary of Wikipedia: http://fusion.net/story/256371/wikipedia-15-years-old/. 

As always, 

Live Long, and Prosper.

M.

We won!!!!

 I can’t seem to make myself fully believe it, still so I have to keep saying it! :)

I am incredibly grateful to each and every one of you for all the help and support getting word out about my book. The last month has been one of the most exhausting experiences I can remember – Sleep? No time for that, I have to message people in other time zones! Writing? After work, there’s only time for promoting the book!

I would like to take a moment to thank my family who went above and beyond in getting me through this contest, in particular - my sisters Kirsty and Laura, my brother Keith and my brother-in-law Cyril who each worked at least as hard as I did promoting the book; my parents Scott and Elaine who reached out to more people than I can count; and of course my lovely wife Margo who not only worked tirelessly alongside me, but also somehow managed to keep me sane.

I was also greatly helped in my efforts by a number of great friends including Sebastien Genest, Mathieu Pralus, Sara Hernandez, Isabelle Pottier, Eddy Lesert and so many others that I just can’t list everyone. Again, I am grateful beyond words.

And I can’t leave out the amazing authors who helped me out and made (and continue to make) the Inkshares experience as amazing as it is – John Robin the author of Blood Dawn and backbone of the whole author community, Julian Green the co-author of Suffrage – the First World Key, Cara Weston the author of She is the End, Billy O’Keefe author of These Are My Friends on Politics, Michal Sebby author of The Inhabitants: An Unremembered Life, and Janna Grace author of the Talkers are Talking, not to mention my co-winners Joseph Asphahani author of The Animal in Man, and Matthew Sobin the author of the Last Machine in the Solar System. All of their books are amazing and well worth checking out if you’re looking for something else to read!

 And now, I’d like to make my small gesture of thanks to my supporters: here is the video link of the 4X50$ gift card draws, and the draw for a themed cake by Lolai’s Yummies. Congratulations to the winners!

 I’m looking forward to a little break - picking up Fallout 4, maybe even making it in to see the new Star Wars movie, and most importantly getting back to my writing! I’ve started to miss my characters and wonder what they’ve gotten up to in my absence! There are also still some edits and rewrites I need to finish before the manuscript is ready to be turned over to Inkshares so that the process of getting it published can get under way :)

 Thank you all!!!!

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.

Happy New Year, book lovers!

May your 2016 be full of travel goals and casual wine drinking.

xxo

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

Dear Readers,

You amazing, fantastic, beautiful humans!!! WE DID IT!!!!! WE DID IT IN 3 DAYS!!!!!! Do you know how wonderful you are? You made my dream come true today, and I am grateful beyond measure!

Today is a day of great hope. There have been far too many times in my life, and in yours I'm sure, where others have told you that my dream was impossible.  That I weren't smart enough, strong enough or good enough for my dream to come to fruition.  It happened to me while I was healing after this accident, it happened while I was pitching this book - and both times I considered giving up.  But luckily, somewhere inside of me there was this well of hope that wouldn't let me give up - and here I am living, walking and going to publish a book! 

Please take a good hard look at what happened over the last three days, and know in your heart that no matter what anyone else says - there is always hope. 

Also, if you have a minute, can you give yourself the BIGGEST hug. The hug is from me, and make it a good one, because I REALLY mean it.

Love,

Katie 

#Katie1Truck0

Thank you. No matter what happens in the hours that follow, this campaign has transformed my life.

The Animal in Man has just under 400 pre-orders, but well over 400 followers. If you’ve seen my raffle videos, you know my troubles with simple math, but my logic is pretty solid on this one: there are still so many who follow, who read this right now, who still haven’t committed to a pre-order.

It is to you I address this update.

On day one of every new school year, one of the first ideas the young men and women in my high school English class would hear me say as we read aloud the syllabus was “words are magic.” They are. They can build something out of nothing. Writing is Magic. Words are its power, and sentences its spells.

Right now I wish I knew exactly what to type in this little box. I’m pressuring myself to find the perfect utterance, to strike the right style, to speak with the precise tone. I want to build in you that need to read “The Animal in Man” out of nothing but words. That’s the truth. These are the words of my heart laid bare. I don’t know what else to give you besides these two promises: I will finish The Animal in Man, and The Animal in Man will be an incredible book.

I, Joe Asphahani, don’t know what else to say. But my story does. I believe in its power to captivate you, all you have to do is believe it too. Please pre-order “The Animal in Man.”

By the end of the school year, the power of my writing, the force of my personality, the warmth in my heart and the smile on my face all made believers out of the skeptics. Give my book a chance.