Was looking through the folder on my computer with all of my story bits in it and came across a map I made of Umberland, years back, the fictional landmass where the bulk of Disintegration takes place.

As you can see, it's an almost UK-sized landmass. I came up with its general shape by looking at a bathymetric map of the Atlantic (thanks Google!), and then I extrapolated high points on the seafloor to be above sea level.

I just added a few names to it, in honor of a few multi-copy supporters of Disintegration: Kay Prunty, Brian Whiton, Dan Broyles and Dan Paskell all have place names on the island. Map's probably hard to read, but the places are: Prunty's Quay (at the very bottom of the island), Whiton's Heath (a major trading post), Broyles Moor and Paskell's Moor (which are the anchor points of a bridge). The bay created by the upper peninsula isn't marked, but I'm thinking naming it for Bob Broad. Broad's Bay? Broad Bay?

There are plenty of place names up for grabs, and character names, too. So, if you ordered more than one copy, let me know what you might like to bear your name and ...

Dear backers, readers and friends of Trekonomics,

This is the cover of Trekonomics.

All my gratitude goes to Jennifer Bostic for her amazing design, and to John Powers for his sculpture. Please note that this is not the final design. There will be a few last-minutes tweaks.

As you may guess from the cover, Prof. Brad DeLong, the great economist and Star Trek fan extraordinaire, is honoring Trekonomics with an original foreword. 

Let us know what you think! Your feedback is most appreciated.

In the meantime, with all my thanks,

Live Long, and Prosper,

Manu 

His book has already been mentioned on io9.com and it's getting really good reviews, so if you like robots, give it a chance and ORDER IT ON MARCH 1st!

SIXTH, AND FINALLY, I am going into deep editing mode for the next month. I will be doing little "Writer's Log" updates periodically, but otherwise I'll be going internet-silent until I finish my manuscript.

(We'll see how that goes.)

 Hello Everyone! 

I have some great news! RUNE's schedule and publication date has just been finalized! Although there are many deliverables on RUNE's production timeline (publishing and marketing a book is a MASSIVE undertaking), the one readers will be most interested in is:

RUNE OF THE APPRENTICE will be published on November 1st, 2016!

Additional good news is that YOU will be getting your copies before this date AND we will also be able to have special early release copies for New York Comic-Con, too! We don’t know the exact date books will be shipped to you, but I’ll keep you posted!

Even though you will be getting you books before November, I know this is still a long way out. Reading this, I’m sure you are feeling the same emotion I initially felt upon hearing the news: disappointment that RUNE will not be published sooner like originally planned. Despite that initial feeling, as I work more closely with both Inkshares and Girl Friday Productions, and see the tremendous amount of work being put into RUNE, that disappointment has been transformed into appreciation and gratitude. While I know you do not see this hard work first hand, I will do my best to keep you updated on our progress so you can see all we are doing to polish RUNE into printed perfection—which will hopefully help curb your disappointment, even if only a little.

I can go on and on about this and am happy to answer any questions over at @StoneJamison, or down below in the comments, however, I want to keep this update quick so as to not fill up your inbox. Although there are MANY milestones ahead, the next important steps are Cover Design and Developmental Edits!

Cover: I have a call later today where the RUNE team will be solidifying our collective vision for the cover so the designer can begin to move forward with samples for review and selection. There are usually three rounds to this process. The early samples will focus on options of several different directions and the later rounds will polish that vision, bringing it into a finalized physical form. The designer’s previous work is fantastic and I am very excited to see what he produces. I will keep you all updated as we progress!

Developmental Edits: Editing a 500+ page Fantasy/Sci-Fi epic is no small feat. Although RUNE has already had several rounds of professional editing, there is always ways to make a novel of this magnitude more engaging, engrossing, and awe-inspiring! I have been tremendously pleased with the pre- Girl Friday Productions edits, and am now very excited to see their continued polish added to RUNE. The next round of Developmental edits should be done by the end of next month, and then wrapped up by the end of March with copy editing and proofreading to follow in the months to come.

As I said, there are many more milestones after that (I have not even gotten started on marketing!) but for now I’ll end this update. The road to publication is a long one, however, I am so very excited to have you all along for the ride. RUNE OF THE APPRENTICE is going to enliven the hearts and minds of readers across the globe, and it warms MY heart knowing that you all are here to partake in this EPIC journey!

Hey Wonderful, possibly blizzardful people,