Machiners,

My most ardent and unabashedly enthusiastic supporters! Good morning!

Uh oh, I hope none of you are malfunctioning today - do not close this email !!

Believe it or not, we are now less than two weeks away from publication of The Last Machine in the Solar System (April 11!!!). There’s been lots of exciting news lately, which I’ll mention in subsequent updates. 

Here I want to hit a few critical points relevant to YOU, benefactors of Jonathan, The Last Machine:

1. If you bought a book during the CONTEST, you should have received it. Whether that is a hard copy paperback or an eBook. Didn’t receive your book? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Email me please and let me know what’s going on: matthew.sobin@gmail.com

Let’s make sure everyone who put up money a year ago when this was just an idea gets the final product! eBooks are available for download by logging into the Inkshares website and going to the webpage for The Last Machine.

2. If you have received your book, please read it! Seems obvious, right? In theory, one of our big advantages is that this is a 60 page illustrated novelette. It can be read in 1-2 hours. And that brings me to...

3. Leave a REVIEW! This is possibly the most critical thing you can do. Read the book? Great! Please go onto the book’s Amazon page and tell others why you LOVED it :-) Authors need 100 reviews before the Amazon algorithm takes them seriously and starts suggesting the book to random Amazon visitors. Here’s our Amazon page: Last Machine on Amazon

Also important: You can copy the same review over to Goodreads. So far we’re doing really well with Goodreads reviews. Check them out here and leave your own: Last Machine on Goodreads

4. eBook holders, grab a paperback! This can make a huge difference as we push The Last Machine to a wider audience. Go to your local independent bookstore and see if they have The Last Machine in the store! They don’t? They’ll order it for you! And this may bring about a larger wholesale order from that store. They’ll say to themselves, "Hey, what’s this cool looking book that brought this person in here with such enthusiasm??" That’s the idea!

Can’t make it to the store but still want a paperback? Purchasing on Amazon helps too. Then when you leave an Amazon review, it will be shown as a "Verified Purchase" review, which further helps the Amazon algorithm. 

5. I’d love to know what you think of The Last Machine in the Solar System. You’ve now read the book, left your reviews, and have strong opinions about the story. Great! Shoot me an email. I’d love to hear your personal reactions to Nikolai and Jonathan’s journey to the ends of the solar system (and back)! 

Email me here: matthew.sobin@gmail.com

Signing your books!

And for those who haven’t seen it yet, the final front and back cover!

Stunning work by artist Dan Stiles and the design team. Also, my sincerest thanks to authors Tal M. Klein (author of The Punch Escrow - check it out on Inkshares!) and Jacques Vallee for their wonderful back cover blurbs.

Expect some more frequent updates as we hit pub day and beyond! More to come!

-Matt

March is winding up and significant work is progressing on Human Resources. During the past month, my developmental editor was assigned and read the manuscript. Since then, we’ve been working furiously on the planned edits to whip the book into shape. Matt, my editor, is brilliant. He’s been deconstructing the manuscript with insightful observations, making great suggestions, and generally keeping me working hard. With his support, a new outline for the novel is emerging, that trims away unnecessary distractions, crystallises the themes, and adds extra punch to the plot. The unfortunate outcome of this effort is more work, but I’m excited by the improvements. Human Resources will be dramatically improved by the time it reaches your hands. On a related note: feel free to send me all your caffeine, I’m going to need it :).

If you haven’t already done so, it would be great for everyone to follow my various online accounts — it feeds my ego, staving off the crushing self-doubt of a writer!

• Follow my Facebook page.
  
• Follow me on Goodreads.
  
• Follow me on Amazon.
  
• Sign up to my newsletter (covers more than these HR updates).
  

Finally, I wanted to point your attention towards two particular projects on Inkshares:

Sorcery for Beginners

A 13-year-old boy finds an easy-to-read, how-to manual for magic. Now he just has to prevent everyone else from stealing it.

Sorcery for Beginners is in production and written by my talented editor. It’s a fun premise and is going to be a great read.

Rule Britannia 

A female airship Captain and her crew work to prevent a despotic Queen Victoria expanding her empire.

This new project is by a fellow Tasmanian and now funding. There isn’t enough steampunk in my life, and Rule Britannia will fill that void in an epic manner. The excerpts have me bouncing up and down for more.   

Hello everyone!

So… I have a small request today. The nominations for the Dragon Awards are now open and my book is eligible! I know most of you haven’t had the chance to read past the teaser chapters on Inkshares but the book finally went to the printers last week so the wait is almost over!

Anyway, I would very much appreciate it if you could take a minute to throw a nomination in for the best fantasy novel! This type of thing can do wonders for the visibility of a new book.

There’s a tonne of categories but you don’t have to fill in any more than you feel like.

 http://application.dragoncon.org/dc_fan_awards_nominations.php

 Thank you all yet again!

65 days to publication! And just because - here is the updated cover now complete with blurbs :) 

Hey everyone! I have news! Important News!

Every year, debut books and new books that JUST came out are eligible for awards! One of them, is easy to vote for, and has a huge impact!

If you think that the Seventh Age: Dawn is your favorite Apocalyptic Novel of the year, let the Dragon people know! There are a ton of categories so you can nominate your favorite stuff all over the spectrum. 

Click Here - to nominate things. You can fill out the entire thing, or only one, and even come back later and add stuff. It’s free. There are a ton of great writers and books to nominate, and it’s one of the bigger Sci-Fi Fantasy awards so even a nomination really matters!

Thank you so much for your time!

Yesterday Inkshares finished the final layout of The Punch Escrow and sent it off for galley printing (that’s book biz talk for advance reader copies). The book’s gotten some AMAZING blurbs from some AMAZING people. I wanted to share my favorites with you:

"An alt-futuristic hard-science thriller with twists and turns you’ll never see coming. I couldn’t put it down." - Felicia Day, author of the bestselling You’re Never Weird On The Internet (Almost), Geek & Sundry founder, and soon to be Kinga Forrester in Mystery Science Theatre 3000!

"This book angered me to my core, because it’s based on an idea that should have occurred to me. The fact that Tal executed it so well, and made such a page-turner out of it, just adds insult to injury." - Scott Meyer, author of the Magic 2.0 series

"The Punch Escrow will have you rooting for its plucky, sarcastic hero as he bounces between religious fanatics, secret agents, corporate hacks and megalomaniacs in a quest to get his life back." - Robert Kroese, author of the Mercury Falls series, Starship Grifters series

More news soon!

-Tal

Exciting news, faoii! Listen up!

Today has been a wonderful day. It was the first day that I felt like myself since I got sick over a year ago. It was the first time in a long time that I felt like everything was going to be okay. Honestly, I had gotten so used to feeling run-down that I had forgotten what a true faoii feels like. I remember now. And it’s wonderful. Today was filled with hope and it made all the doctors appointments, fear, desperation, and pain of the last several months seem worth it. Things are getting better, faoii. We are going to make it.

But, here’s what YOU care about: Five minutes ago I sent in The Last Faoii manuscript to Inkshares. It is the first step in the march to publication-- the march to our campaigns ultimate and most glorious victory. Ready your weapons, faoii. The final battle is about to begin.

Shields up. Now and always.

Faoii-Tahani