With all the madness that’s been happening over the past few days, I’m beyond thrilled to deliver some unreservedly good news.
Heh...thrilled....
 

Tantalus Depths has been backed by its third syndicate! Today we received the distinct honor of being chosen as the August pick for the Thriller Night Syndicate. It’s awesome to be recognized by the community yet again for Tantalus Depths’ content: this time not for theme, but for tone. Tantalus Depths is all about mystery and foreboding, peril and the struggle for survival against extremely bad odds. It’s a thriller to its core, and I sincerely hope you all find it as nail-biting and knuckle-whitening as I intended it to be!

Hello my fellow Knightmares!

As I start off every update, I thank you for all the support! You are all the reason why this project is 44 pre-orders away from Quill publishing, and I can’t thank you enough.

With that said, we have 51 days to get those last 44 pre-orders.

So, this is that time to jump on this train if you’re still on the fence. This is the time to grab that additional copy for a friend, for your local library, for that special girl or boy in your life. I say, "give them the gift of KNIGHTMARES!" No, really, they’ll thank you.

And remember:

• Each order of a softcover book gets a FREE bookmark (design pending).
• Order 3 or more, and you’ll get a FREE poster version of the new cover art (almost done!)
• Buy a book and get 2 people to buy, and get a FREE t-shirt!

Want to see that t-shirt?

I recently did a guest blog post on the Apotheosis Blog, you can read that here. And while you’re at it, check out the blog owner’s book:

Rune of the Apprentice - by Jamison Stone - Filled with magic and mystery, Rune of the Apprentice is an action-packed novel of adventure, love, and self-discovery.

I ordered a copy, and you should too.

BOOKS TO KEEP YOUR EYE ON:

This week launched a new contest here on Inkshares for fantasy writers, and the site is inundated with new authors. Digging through all the new content has been overwhelming, and there’s so much good stuff that’s getting buried under the chaos. Here are a few that caught my eye.

Big Bad Beautiful by Daniel Garvin - She is a monster enslaved, the Wolf.  He is her reluctant handler, the Red.  Together they are the protectors of their leader, their savior, their tyrant, Grandmother.  This is their pilgrimage.

The Living God by Kaytalin Platt - When Saran’s magic is stolen, she must confront a life without the ability to manipulate time, struggle to see a rebellion finished, and keep Keleir  from falling ever closer to becoming The Living God.

The Delicate Art of Soulripping by Sara Polk - When you die your soul doesn’t just leave your body. There’s a process: ripping, reaping, replacing.

The Hunter Saga by H.A. Paaso - A seer in ancient Greece has a dream of monsters wiping out humans. With the help of divinities and mythical beasts, will our heroes save the future of humanity? History, magic, legend, comedy and tragedy, all will be included in this epic adventure.

Crowdfunding is hard, and the ONLY time it’s fun is when things start falling into place and you see all your hard work paying off. So if you have a few extra Alexander Hamilton’s hanging around, throw one or two at one or two, or all four of these projects. These are people’s dreams you’re supporting. Support independent artists because these are the true gems of the world. These are the people with jobs, families, priorities and still manage to put 20-40 hours a week into their dream.

Not sure if the video is going to work down at the bottom, so if the embed link doesn’t work, click here! 

I decided to do a video update before heading on vacation. I’ve never done a video blog before, but I thought it would be a good way for me to get over the fears I have about talking about my book in public (sort of public). Hopefully, the embed link works. If it doesn’t, just scroll past the mess of code for a rehash (unless you clicked the link above!)

;;

You guys have been wonderful this week. I cannot tell you how thankful I am. I waned to talk to you a little bit about what the book means for me. I plan on getting a better video very soon with the help of a good friend, Andrew Ludewig at MTI Photography. 

The book is important to me for many reasons. It is something that I’ve worked on for a very long time, like many writers. I started dabbling with it in high school and then really went to work on it in college. I somehow managed to balance being a caretaker to my elderly grandmother, putting myself through college, working nearly full-time, staying up until 2 AM doing design homework, and finding the spare minutes between classes to write. I’ve given a lot in life to people, sometimes too much. I’ve been through a lot. This book was my refuge. It was my saving grace. I’ve poured all of myself into for many years and it is time for me to let go, and time for me to show it to others.

For me, publishing the book just as much about healing as it is about achieving a goal. Thank you to those who support me and those considering supporting me.

After tomorrow evening I’ll be gone for a few days, in the mountains and away from technology. I’m very concerned about losing all the ground I’ve managed to gain in a relatively short time. If you could make recommendations and pass the link to the book along, even if you haven’t pre-ordered and are still on the fence, I would greatly appreciate it.

(That ended up being more detailed than the video! I’m so much better at writing my thoughts than speaking them, which is why I need some professional video help)

Thank you and much love!

I really enjoy sharing good news with you. When something happens in my campaign that gets me excited, like hitting a landmark number or getting a mention in some media source, I just want to gush about it to my supporters. You’re all like a family to me, and the roles you’ve all played in getting me this far will never be forgotten.
Unfortunately, not all news is good news. As much as I enjoy sharing the good news, these updates should be about transparency. You deserve to know the genuine state of things, whether the news is positive or negative. Today, the news is a mixture.
Let’s do the good news first:
 

In light of the recent setbacks to my campaign, Inkshares has granted me an at least 30-day extension. Overall they’ve been extremely understanding and reasonable, and I really want to thank Avalon, Thad, Elena, and all the rest of Inkshares staff for working so hard and diligently to handle this problem. They’ve all been very communicative, professional, and encouraging through this process, and I don’t want their hard work to go unthanked. They genuinely seem as determined as I am to see Tantalus Depths reach the levels of success it truly deserves, and I am extremely grateful for all the hard work they’ve done behind the scenes.

Now for the bad news.

Tantalus Depths lost a lot more pre-orders today. A lot. All told, it looks like almost a third of my pre-orders were illegitimate ones. That’s hard for me to stomach. It’s not just hard because I’m seeing my numbers drop and realizing just how much more work I have ahead of me, it’s hard to know that what I had thought to be all genuine community support was, in fact, largely counterfeit. Whoever’s been abusing the credit system to support my book probably thought they were doing me a favor. They probably believed that by artificially raising my pre-order count with false orders, they were helping me get to my goal. I can appreciate the intent, and I can admire the initiative, but I find the methods unconscionable.

Tantalus Depths is a fine book. I’m proud of my work, and I believe in it. I believe it to be a story worth sharing, something worthy of print on its own merits. I worked really hard to get it to the state it’s in. I’ve also worked really hard on bringing in the genuine, legitimate pre-orders that I have, and I’m proud of that hard work too. These false pre-orders, though...I’m not proud of those. I’m embarrassed to have had those in my campaign. I’m not sorry to see them gone. While it’s hard to see my pre-order count ticking backwards, I’m relieved to know that those orders I’m losing, I never really had. The ones I’ll have left at the end of the day will be the ones I worked hard for and genuinely earned. I’ve no need for manipulative tactics and exploitative methods: I have a good book to sell. When enough people have seen it, it will reach its goal, because it’s good enough to get there. I know this, my genuine supporters know this, and once this campaign is over, it’ll have been proven.

To the person or persons who have abused this system to support my book: thank you for your interest in Tantalus Depths. I hope you’ll show that interest by purchasing a pre-order with real money, and encouraging your friends to do the same. I also hope you will stop exploiting this site. Doing so harms every book you touch, and harms the company as a whole, which harms every author who’s published with it. Do not poison the well for this community for the sake of promoting a book you like. It helps no one in the end.

Meanwhile, I’m still plowing on with my campaign. I have no idea where I’m going to find all the rest of the pre-orders I need now, and I have no idea where I’m going to find the energy I’ll need to get through an extra 30-or-so days of this madness (I’d fully intended on going into a coma for about a week after my campaign ended), but I know I’m going to figure it out. This community is so supportive, and my friends and family have been just as supportive. One way or another, we will get there. I’m working on figuring out some more story updates I can send that won’t be spoilery so I can keep opening up the rich world of Tantalus Depths to you over the next few weeks of extra campaigning, and I’m hoping to come up with one or two more incentives. Since I have to climb back up to the 600 mark, I’m making that the goal we need to hit for me to release my video of me reading chapter 3. beyond that, who knows what’s ahead?

We’ll find out together. Come, let’s dive into those depths...

Dear Fine and Very Patient Readers!!

Books are coming, but so sorry to have to report another slight delay in the shipment of some of them. 

Here’s what happened -- I received 6 cartons of books to be signed and returned to Inkshares so they could then send them out to all who pre-ordered. I signed the books, boxed them up and sent them back. But in the process, not one, but two SNAFUS occurred!! 

SNAFU 1 - two boxes of books got lost in transition. Yep, just vanished!  Thanks USPS! Good work!!

SNAFU 2 - Some signed books did make it to Inkshares offices but there was a label mix-up and they were sent to the backers of another book! (The very fine The Knight Proper, by Adam Greven and Matt Deller -- check it out if you get a chance). 

So...here’s where we are -- the signed books that made it are being shipped tomorrow -- Tuesday July 9th. Unfortunately this is only half the amount, the other half being either lost or sent to the wrong place. But...good news: replacement books are on their way to Inkshares. They want to just ship them ASAP so they won’t, unfortunately, be signed by yours truly (if you are in the LA area and want a signed book, I’m happy to oblige -- or if you want to send me a copy, I could do that and send it back!!). 

So sorry for this delay. Physical books will be in your hands soon. If you’re still waiting after about a week, please feel free to email Elena at hello@inkshares.com 

Don’t forget eBooks are readily available to read now but I understand many of you prefer physical books (as do I) so sit tight...They are coming!  

Overnight, the Mission 51 funding campaign came to an end, and the project is now in “draft” mode. We finished with a very respectable 183 pre-orders, though that was shy of the 250 required for Inkshares to publish. The book will not be published at this time.

I’ll have to say, I am much, much more excited about the whole thing than I am disappointed. When I started, this book was not written. Now it is! - I became aware of Inkshares earlier this year, half-way into the Nerdist Space Opera contest. I had an idea for a book for quite some time, so I decided to jump in late in the contest, learning the Inkshares process as I went along. I basically started from scratch, hammering away madly, and by now have developed a solid story of which I am proud. Along the way, I have met a multitude of awesome people: readers, supporters, fellow authors, artists, and the folks at Inkshares. I am nothing but gratified and encouraged!

The final tally for Mission 51 was 194 followers of the project, of which 128 wonderful people pre-ordered 183 copies of the book. I received 14 high-quality recommendations, was chosen as a “Staff Pick,” and received the support of the GREAT SCI-FI for the 21st CENTURY and BEYOND SYNDICATE. Wow! Thank you!!!

Now that Mission 51 is officially in “draft” mode, all of the readers, who have my everlasting gratitude for your interest and generous support, will get their money back. The project will remain listed on Inkshares, will continue to gather followers, and I will be able to communicate with you through this forum, to keep you updated on the continuing progress of Mission 51.

I will continue to revise, enhance and beautify the book, including the art. It is possible that I will engage in another funding campaign here on Inkshares, but I will not do it until the book is entirely finished, which it nearly is. I will await another suitable contest before that happens. When that moment comes, I will be completely prepared to deliver a top-notch product! I hope you will decide to support it again at that time.

For now, I have entered Mission 51 in the 2016 Launch Pad Manuscript Competition. I’m pretty excited about that! It opens several other opportunities for publication. Please check out the link. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

In any event, like I said before, I can assure you that this book will be published one way or another. I would love to have the backing and services of a formal publishing house like Inkshares, or some other publisher, but I have self-published several books before and I will self-publish Mission 51 if the need be.

So stay tuned for future developments. I will keep you posted. I am not going away!

Again, thank you all so very much for supporting me and Mission 51. I have truly felt the love!

Peace!

Ferd  :-)