It’s Halloween time! The best time of the year, let’s all get drawn in by the hypnotic allure of the undead, pumpkin spice, and endlessly singing "This is Halloween" for the next 11 months. 

So here is my plan. Starting next weekend, I’m going to do one weekly update regarding Samhain lore and history leading up till the special event I’m hosting on 11/5 in Chicagoland set in the Seventh Age world. If you are interested in attending, find me on facebook for a one night LARP. 

Now, in other book news... there is actual news: 

1. I’ve been writing articles for Geek & Sundry for a while now. Mostly focused on gaming, rpging and storytelling. You can find them all located HERE. 
2. The Seventh Age has gotten an offer for an AudioBook! It’s going to be so weird hearing someone else read the lines that I wrote. I’ve got no real details at the moment. But more to come!
3. After watching Voltron the new Animated Show, I’ve decided that I’m perfectly okay with Aliens kidnapping me, knocking me out, and me waking up with white hair, an awesome scar of some kind, and a bad-ass cybernetic arm. 
4. As for my Sequel Dystopia, I’m going to let the funding on that run out I believe at this moment. The campaign page was designed for a contest and I’m just going to chill on that for now and keep writing. 
5. Release date is still 01/17/2017. If you haven’t read some of the sample chapters or picked up a copy... no better time than this month. 

Now, some Samhain News:

It’s celebrated from Sunset of October 31st to Sunrise on November 1st. So you’ve all got to update your trick-or-treating stuff. None of this "in by nighttime nonsense". Claim the night like proper monsters. 

Remember, on this night, it’s because Demons and Faeries roam the wild and the veil of the living and dead is thin. So you leave out food and wine and treats to placate them and leave your house alone. This is also why you dress up, less you be kidnapped and dragged off into the forests. 

I’ve been seeing a lot of candy, and sometimes some food. But I’m not finding a lot of offerings of wine being left out. Again, for you Chicagians. I drink Red Wine. 

Until next week!

Happy Tuesday, y’all!

Recently, Rick Heinz, the author of The Seventh Age: Dawn and all around mensch, wrote an article  highlighting five of the underdogs in the Geek & Sundry Fantasy Contest. Yesterday, A Beast Requires returned to the top ten list, with 95 backers and 117 pre-orders, putting the book 45% of the way to that elusive Quill goal. With 57 days left, doubling the number of pre-orders is totally doable, so let that specific type of hustle begin.

I like underdogs. Hells, I write about underdogs, seeing as I am one. When I told people I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, they laughed. There was no way the kid who couldn’t spell, let alone write, would ever string more than five words together in a coherent thought. I’m a stubborn one. Tell me I can’t do something and I will bust my ass to prove you wrong, then send you a postcard with a crudely drawn middle finger. 

I’ve been an underdog most of my life. I lost a lot when I came out, especially my family, and survived for almost two years living out of my car and on people’s couches. When I got sick, they told me it was terminal, and this month now marks my 6th year in remission. Yea, I’m so stubborn I told cancer to fuck off. When I lost my job of ten years, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever recover, I wrote a book. A Beast Requires has taken me four years of blood, sweat, and tears. When you tell people you’re writing a book, they think you’re a fool, that you’ll never finish it, and that there is no way in hell that it will be any good. Well, fuck those people.

Don’t ignore the underdogs. While they face incredible odds, eventually they will be victorious, and they will have done it their way.

57 days. Yea, we’ve got this.