The Animal in Man is done. I can hardly believe it. No one doubted that this day would ever actually arrive more than me, I assure you. After months of what I called Radio Silence, I’m back - fingers trembling - to send out this reader update.

So what happens now? Well, I’ve sent all 350+ pages to Inkshares just an hour ago, and from there they’ll put together my production timeline and all the other wonderful things they provide. I’ll collaborate with them to nail down some ideas for the final cover design. In the months that follow there will be edits… load upon load of edits. The more meticulous work, you see, is really just starting.

I’ve never finished a project this massive in all my life, and yet, it’s not entirely finished. Still, I can’t contain my excitement. This is a turning point for me, and I couldn’t have done it without all the follows, all the interest (all the pre-orders!) for The Animal in Man. I just wanted to thank you all for your continued support. You’ll be hearing from me on the reg from now on!

(“Natural Collapse” - Design by Diogo Hornburg via threadless.com)  

Hello, all! I am running a small giveaway associated with Witherfist. This is to celebrate not only the final month of the G&S contest but also my appearance at a local convention where I’ll be promoting Witherfist on October 22nd and 23rd! 

I will be giving away one £25 / $32 and one £10 / $12 voucher for Amazon to two random readers who order during October. I will select the two winners at random from anyone who orders during this month. 

If you have already ordered, you can enter the contest by referring another reader to purchase the book. Additionally, each copy ordered will count as one entry into the contest - so if you purchase a copy and refer a friend to buy a copy, you will get two entries. To refer a friend you can either use the recommend links on the project page or just send me a message to let me know the name of the person you have referred. 

While I’ve got your attention, here’s a little teaser of some new artwork of Arren to match the awesome piece of Irusai that I shared with you previously.

 You can read about Arren in her excerpt chapter: https://www.inkshares.com/books/witherfist/book_segments/arren-1

Milestone Update!

I am pleased to report that a good draft of Mission 51’s final chapter is now complete! I am so very pleased with how the story has turned out! I can’t wait for you all to read it someday, and I hope that day is soon.

Now I will review and edit, embellish and improve, cut and paste, drag and drop, twist and shout, etc, etc.

Even after edits I anticipate the story will remain at around 80,000 words. That’s not a bad number for a sci-fi story that did not require a ton of world-building. But of course there has to be some. Mat is an alien after all, and this story is a second-hand recounting of the actual events, so I have details for you!

The book will be back in Inkshares funding, hopefully in the near future. I am waiting for a suitable contest. When that happens, I hope that you, my cherished Inkshares family, will help Mission 51 blastoff!

Peace and love to all,

Ferd   :-)

Mugs up, Faoii! I want you all to congratulate the winner of the $100 Visa Giftcard!

It goes to...

Jay Lockwood! Author of A Beast Requires!

Congratulations, Jay! I will be DMing you shortly to get your address. 

The battle is progressing well, Faoii. We’ve earned a respite. Enjoy yourselves! And don’t forget to congratulate your brother-in-arms!

Faoii-Tahani

It’s October! The final month of the Geek and Sundry Inkshares contest is here, and Witherfist is still fighting to find a spot in the top 10. We’re in 13th place, unlucky for some, but not for us. 

This morning Witherfist reached 83 readers! Thank you to everyone who has helped to support the book.To celebrate, I thought I’d share with you all something very cool indeed: the first concept art of Irusai Daud, the woman known as Witherfist herself. 

What do you think? Does she look as you imagined her? Let me know.

Happy Friday!

I don’t know about you, but this week was exhausting. I’d say I’m happy for the weekend, but I’ve got to work on Saturday (part-time wedding photographer/videographer). It’s time to rally and keep pushing, both with this campaign and staying awake while interacting with humans. I find that when I get this rundown, I just got to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I think that’s a good solution for a lot of things in life. 

Campaign Update: We are 64 orders from making Quill! That is super exciting! We are still 5th in the contest. Help me out by recommending the book on Inkshares. It’s that cool black Recommend button next to those colorful social media icons at the top of The Living God page. While you’re there, why don’t you share on your social media as well? 

And, this is really important! If you haven’t already, why don’t you leave a review? Its as easy as clicking the link right there and typing, "This book is really interesting! Check it out!" 

Book Cover promotion is still going strong. If you haven’t yet placed a pre-order, and happen to need a flashy cover designed by a professional cover artist, a cover that isn’t pixilated or potentially going to get you sued for copyright infringement, I’m your girl. Here is just a PSA about copyright infringement. I point out the copyright thing because many authors don’t know that taking images from Google and using them in their promotions, whether as a book cover, a poster, or banner ad is illegal and it can really get you into trouble with copyright laws. I am part of a number of author web and Facebook groups and I can’t tell you the number of times I see copyrighted content being used by an author. This includes artwork found on Deviant Art (or any artist’s website). You have to have written permission (often a contract) to use artwork from an artist, and it often includes payment upfront or commission from book sales. Unless the artist is a friend, and then that is between you guys. Memes or GIFs are totally different and not included in this PSA, just images taken and passed off as belonging to some you or related to a work that you created, when in fact it was created for someone and something else. If you need imagery for your book or promotions I highly recommend stock photography websites. There are some free and some paid. My favorite free one is, I kid you not, Free Images.com.  My favorite paid one is Deposit Photos.com, it is reasonably priced. Okay, end of PSA and sorry, that made this update got pretty long, but I thought it was something that would be helpful to you guys in the future. 

Aleira Ritan

Aleira grew up in Adrid, on its border with Mavahan. When she was five her family tried to flee the poverty and civil war in Adrid as refugees, her family was slaughtered and she was captured during a border skirmish with Mavhan forces. Aleira was sold as a slave to a small facility that specified in training Champions and Challengers. Since she was small and frail, she was branded with the mark of a Sparring slave, and never meant to be anything other than disposable practice meat. But, Aleira did not die. She fought, she killed, she lived. She survived to become the reigning champion of the female Challengers and was later bought by the royal family and given to Xalen as a wife. She did not know Xalen’s kindness at the time, but saught to show him that she was no man’s property. She beat him senseless on his wedding night, which earned his respect as well as his admiration. They grew to love each other. After losing her child, Aleira vowed that she would make Mavahan pay and that, when the time came, every slave would taste freedom.

Hello, fine readers and followers. How are all of you on this dreary, gray, New York day? I hope you’re somewhere sunnier than I.

Okay, ladies and gentle men, time for an update on all things Ghost-y.

You may have noticed last time I said a thing about having the book done and submitted by the end of July. Well, that didn’t happen, but there are reasons, some good, some less so. Let’s begin.

I was talking to Inkshares around the time of the last update and mentioned my intention to submit at the end of July. Inkshares have a lot on their plate at the moment with a bunch of books in production and some behind the scenes changes, and they felt it would be in the best interests for my book if I took a bit more time to work on things, and not rush it so that when it came time to submit they could give it the appropriate attention. 

So what this essentially means is the book is about 95% certain to not be coming out in 2016 which, while disappointing, is best for the books future. Rest assured though, it will be coming as soon as humanly possible in 2017.

One side effect of this "take your time" directive was that my brain went into "oh you can put this off for a while" mode (among many other unhelpful modes)...and here we are: three months later and no finished draft.

This is a problem. For me. For you. For Inkshares. 

It is not, however, a problem without a solution and that solutions name is accountability. It’s all well and good to give myself deadlines, but if I’m the only one I’m beholden to, then I tend to fall between the cracks. So I figure having near on 400 people on my case should be a good motivator.

So, starting next Friday I’ll be sending out weekly updates that will include the daily word totals for the previous week. They’ll continue until the first draft is done (which is close mind you) and then I’ll reassess the schedule as things head into beta reading and revisions and such.

Current Stats

Word Count: 94,203

Chapters Finished: 27 of 32 

What’s Left: 23, 26 & 30 need to be finished and I have yet to start on 31 & 32 (though they are fully outlined)

Estimated Final Word Count: somewhere around 110,000

I’ll see you all next week. 

Dear friends and followers,

I don’t like to send these out more than once a week. However, I do have an announcement, which I would rather not keep for the weekend:

The third Peterkin Investigates game is out! In "Labour’s Letters Lost", a packet of letters--highly sensitive information, apparently, and potential for scandal--has been lifted from a private safe during a dinner party. Eric Peterkin is called in by his club’s secretary, Jacob Bradshaw, to deal with the matter as discreetly as possible, and you get to investigate the mystery in Eric’s shoes.

Enjoy!