Hey everybody!  I didn’t expect to be saying this for at least another 3-4 months, but Exile, Magus is live and in funding mode!  When I saw the G&S contest announcement, it was too good of an opportunity for me to pass up.  I’m now in that somewhat panicky "I wasn’t ready for this" first day of campaign launch mode.  Its both an incredibly nervous and highly energized feeling.  I’ve already gotten a pretty good start, so now its just up to me to keep up the momentum.  I’m hoping you’ll join me in that endeavor as well.  That’s all I’ve got for now, expect to hear from me every Tuesday or Thursday from now until the end of this contest with updates on our progress as well as other fun "things" I’ve been doing my best to save up to share with you all.

It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but as of today I am a published author.

Almost a year after I first started pestering people with buymybookbuymybookifyou’rereallymyfriendyou’llbymybook harassment, it’s finally out.  If you’re reading this, you’ve already gotten your copy (I hope!), but now they’re available online at Amazon, B&N and others, and at dozens of independent bookstores all around the country.  

Thank you so much.

The amount of effort that goes into publishing a book is truly awe inspiring.  My editors Kiele Raymond and Michael Trudeau transformed some mediocre writing into the polished manuscript you received this past month.  I’m beyond over-the-moon about the cover Elyse Lyons produced for me, and Emily Zach and the rest of the production team at Girl Friday was professional 100%.

Meanwhile, at Inkshares, my marketing manager Avalon has been working overtime getting me interviews, reviews, and my books in stores, while newly appointed CEO Adam Gomolin has been in overdrive on the derivative properties side.

And then there are the Nerdist folks, who not only sponsored the contest in the first place, making this whole thing possible, but who also treated me like a real Author when I visited them at Comic Con in San Diego.

Thank you all for your tireless work to make this project as successful as possible.

Now, some news:

Monday night I was featured on The 207, a Portland and Bangor local features show on NBC.  The boys from Bull Moose were extremely kind in their promotion of my novel.

Today I woke up to a Bangor Daily News review, which was similarly positive.

I’m also looking at scheduling book signing events around the Bangor area over the next several weeks.  Check out my Facebook page to stay current!

Lastly, in case you missed it, I’ve got a Comic Con recap on my blog, which you can find here.

So that’s pretty much it.  

I can say thank you enough
Dave

PS: Leave reviews!!!!!!!!!!111

If you’re still getting my mail, you’ll have noticed I sent you Chapter Two, today, and Chapter One a few days ago. As the hand-off to my beta readers looms, I’d like to emerge from the writing cocoon in which I’ve been for seemingly ever.

J-F. Dubeau imparted advice to me about how to succeed at this racket and I need to follow it. If you look at how he’s doing, you have to agree he’s onto something. He’s the author of The Life Engineered and A God in the Shed, the latter of which may become a television series or movie! How he finds the time to do his podcast, his writing, and any and everything else in his life is astounding to me, and really admirable. He’s a tough act to follow, but also proof of how winning a contest and being backed by a syndicate can really catapult a title, on Inkshares. Getting exposure and the endorsement of other authors, or the CEO, or Nerdist / Sword and Laser / Geek and Sundry ... that’ll definitely build momentum.

In tangential news, just for the heck of it, I decided to look for an article anyone may have written about emphatic punctuation. I couldn’t find anything. (I guess I may need to do it myself).

Sue Ranscht, one of the authors of the amazing YA book Enhanced, was an early champion of my book, Disintegration and, in her reading of my manuscript, she brought up my use of double question marks and other joint punctuation (consider this article about unconventional punctuation, not all of which I love, but some of which could be useful).

I like using "??" when someone is especially confused. I don’t think a single question mark drives it home as clearly. As well, I think "?!" really conveys the "Are you @#$%ing kidding me?!" behind certain questions, while "!?" indicates panicked incredulity "What the @#$% is that!?" ... I think an interrobang is a bad idea because the mark itself doesn’t *visually* indicate (yes, the name does) which comes first and (as the name says), if it is "?!," what about "!?"?! ( :P ) I haven’t employed any "?!?!" but I’m not against it ... but, man, just imagine how piqued that person would have to be.

How do you feel about singular punctuation marks? I think they’re woefully inadequate at expressing a wide range of emotion. I think reading comic books is how I came to appreciate more emphatic punctuation. Those "surprise lines" that shot from a character’s head were handy, too, but that tactic doesn’t quite work in prose. :D

(Picture: Halloween night 2001)

Hello friends, family, and fellow authors

We are three months away from the release of The Catcher’s Trap and this humbling journey continues to fill me with joy.

Last week Out Traveler’s editor, Brian Van Gorder, had this to say about my book: “In his fast-paced and tense first novel, The Catcher’s Trap, Ricardo Henriquez introduces us to an entirely original, richly detailed universe filled with strong, well-developed characters trying to survive their nightmarish new world. Sure, there are plenty of horrible monsters lurking on every page, but it’s the glimmers of joy found in the despair, the humor poking through the inhumane, that may just be the book’s cruelest beasts.”

As I read his words, I couldn’t help to feel emotional and reflect on the past 15 years of my life. On October 2nd, 2001 I arrived in the U.S. like many other immigrants: full of dreams and hopes for a life of unlimited possibilities. During my first 2 years, I rented a small bedroom where everything that I owned fitted with room to spare. I worked as a waiter from noon until 1 A.M. 6 days a week while learning English by attending free adult education classes, reading children books and watching Will and Grace.

Those days were hard. Money was not enough to live comfortably and, as time passed, I started questioning the decision of leaving my country.

Fast-forward to August 2016. Thanks to the love and support of many, many people, today I’m writing to you, my readers; friends who either cared enough about me to pre-order a book that didn’t exist yet, or strangers who read a couple of chapters and thought they would take a chance on this weird fantasy/horror idea.

Mister Van Gorder’s words not only made me reflect on this journey and feel thankful for all of you. They also gave me much-needed fuel to continue working on The Catcher’s Trap sequel, Worlds Walker and continue pushing to make sure my book is a success.

So there are two things I will do in the coming months:

1. I will start a campaign to get The Catcher’s Trap to sell 1000 copies before its release day (November 8th)
2. I will finish writing Worlds Walker before the end of the year.
   

Both goals are bold. But I feel energized and ready for them.

If you are on this list and haven’t pre-order a copy of The Catcher’s Trap, please consider doing it.

If you are on this list and have not check yet Worlds Walker, check it out here and consider following the project.

Have a fantastic week.

Hello everyone,

I guess I should talk about this shouldn’t I?

There’s a minuscule little article on The Tracking Board that talks about me and my upcoming book; A God in the Shed. Go read it. It’s fun. I’ll wait.

You’re back? Awesome. So what do you think? Yeah, I was a bit overwhelmed. Still sort of am. I’m not exactly wired to take compliments or bask in the glory of good news on that scale. I’d love to pretend that it’s because I’m humble and level-headed but in truth I’m just terrified of disappointment and incapable of processing success. My own issues aside, I think it’s important to know a few things about this announcement.

What this isn’t:

• The rights to A God in the Shed haven’t been sold.
• You’re not going to see A God in the Shed on TV any time soon.
• I’m not rich and famous.

What this is:

• An important step in the right direction.
  
• A sign that the rights might one day sell, which still wouldn’t mean a series would get produced, let alone distributed, but again; step in the right direction.
• Nic Pizzolatto is now my new best friend and can come to all my birthday parties.

The great Mike Mongo (Astronaut Instruction Manual) once told me; "However long you think this process is going to take, double that." and the awesome Adam Gomolin also shared this nugget of wisdom; "It’s a no until it’s a yes."

So I’m going to try and take it easy. Keep the day job and continue chipping away at my other projects (check out Arch-Android, the sequel to The Life Engineered, along with Too Many Controllers).

Thanks again for the support everyone. Go read that article again and while you do that, keep telling yourself; ’I’m part of this.’

Because you are.

JF

Hello everyone!

Gentle readers,

Huge thanks to the following folks for their support this past week:

• Errin Nicholas-Bilek
• The other Jeremy Thomas
• Phil Rood
• Danielle Mahon
• Tahani Nelson
• China Wendel

And especially Thomas J. Arnold, who was my 142nd, 143rd, and 144th preorder.

Going into the final six days of the campaign, I have been tightening up the outline in preparation to implement some draft notes I’ve received from beta readers, and working with Adam Gomolin to bring the second half of the novel from not existing to not sucking. It’s come a long way from the humble little novella it was in March, but I still need to sell 106 preorders in order for this project to reach Quill.

If you’ve already preordered your copy, consider preordering another to foist upon friends and family.

If you haven’t yet, I really need your support. If you’re not in a position to spend another $10, I totally understand (I’m not either, you’ll notice from the lack of "preorder swap" DMs) but would still appreciate your spreading the word on social media.

We only need to sell like 20 preorders a day to reach our goal, we can totally do this.

-J.