Wow, guys! Wow, wow, wow. 

Would you believe we went up 10 pre-orders in a day? I knew you could make it happen. So as promised, by tomorrow you’ll have a brand new sample chapter! 

The level of encouragement I’m seeing from you all is astounding. It reminds me why I started this book in the first place: to reach people like you with a wacky idea for a space opera. 

Now for the important news...

This is officially the last week of the Nerdist Space Opera Contest! Next Tuesday the contest will close, and that means that whichever authors have books in the top three will be set up with a publication deal. 

If we aren’t there it means we’ll have to work a lot harder in the future to make sure this book sees the light of day. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather finish this now so I can make sure the book goes to market in this collection.

Again, this is referral week! I’ll reiterate what that means for the newcomers and folks who don’t read the bottoms of every email:

If you refer three people to pre-order this week you’ll get: 

•  A signed first-edition draft version of the book complete with random scribbles of frustration
  
  
• A collection of sketches of characters and setting, 10 in total, as a bound art-book
  
  
• A pack of 10 Traveller’s Cup bookmarks

• A custom Traveller’s Cup mug so you can enjoy your hot caffeinated beverage of choice with your new book

All of these items will be delivered physically to you after the release date, complete with a spacey thank you note. If you refer by word of mouth, that counts too. Just send me an email or message telling me how you know the person. 

So with that out of the way, I again want to say a space-sized thank you to you. You belong in this crew because of your dedication to our mission: to make more space books and send them to the worlds beyond. 

Your Overworked But Determined Space Captain Whose Blood is Now Caffeine,
-AC

Hey friends!

I have something special to share with you...

We made a fan video for Blood Dawn by John Robin!!

I’m really excited about this book, and I really want to see it get to full funding: 750 pre-orders. This was not John’s idea at all - this was completely fan-driven. I asked around and a bunch of authors, plus one of John’s beta readers who has read the whole book, volunteered to make their own videos talking about why they’re excited for Blood Dawn. Then Alex and I cut it into a sweet little promo video!

Watch it here!

This is what happens when people are seriously excited about a book. :)

Aaand... if you decide to pre-order this book, and you want to pledge loyalty to House Vastaron or the dragon Azzavaston for the game of Blood Dawn Risk, be sure to let me and/or John know!! You can send me an email or reply to John’s thank-you email after you order. 

Thanks!

The book. It is out. It is out officially and should, as of this writing, be in the hands of almost everyone who’s ordered it.

The launch party was small but fun. I’m thrilled by who managed to be there and sad about those who wanted to attend but were unable. It was a learning experience and I’m glad I got to try this out in a safe environment surrounded by familiar and supportive faces. Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m not exactly comfortable with some of the required self-promotion activities surrounding the publication of a novel. Amongst others, there’s reading from your own book which is helluva intimidating to me. However, it’s part and parcel of what I want to do and if it’s something readers want, I’ll do it.

First public reading: Done. The ice is broken. It wasn’t so bad. I think I’ll be fine doing it in the future.

For those who might have missed it; I was on Sword & Laser on the day of release of The Life Engineered and it was awesome. I really enjoy chatting with Tom and Veronica. I got to answer some questions from readers and I swear Veronica’s eyes lit up when I mentioned that sex between Capeks wasn’t impossible. Let me know if I hallucinated.

Speaking of Tom Merritt. I was a guest on his other podcast, Current Geek, hosted by Scott Johnson. Current Geek is the kind of podcast that sounds fun to be a guest on and it’s been on my bucket list of appearances for a while. Good news: Even more of a blast than anticipated. Give it a listen. Hell, go subscribe; it’s a hell of a good podcast.

That’s it for now. I want to thank everyone who was at the party, including fellow Inkshares writers A.C. Baldwin, André Brun and Christopher Huang. Check out their books. Now! I also want to highlight the efforts of Cara Weston who put together a Google Hangout so a few others could attend virtually. Check out her book too.

So what’s next?

• Hopefully more media
  
• Finishing the manuscript for the sequel to The Life Engineered
• Maybe another short story in that universe to bridge the two books
• Pushing really hard to get A God in the Shed to 750 pre-orders. Expect me to enlist your help very soon.

As always; thank you my fellow sentients. It’s a fascinating ride and I think there’s some really awesome stuff on the horizon for The Life Engineered. Never forget that you’re the ones who made it happen.

Cheers

JF

Friends the Write Out Loud Syndicate is live!!

If you know what a Syndicate is, I encourage you to join and help me support the LGBTQIA writing community.

If you are not sure what this is, I can tell you that a syndicate is a way in which every month you can help an author gets published, by pooling your resources with other like-minded readers and pre-ordering their book. There are two tears: $10 for an e-copy or $20 for a signed copy. Not bad eh?

So you donate $10 or $20 every month. We all as a group decide what author to support and when the author hits funding that book will eventually make it to you.

Inkshares is a fantastic way to support the LGBTQIA community and allies. We need more books with characters breaking barriers and stereotypes and this is the way to do it! (at least one way.

So please join me!

Ricardo