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Apotheosis liked an update for Rune of the Apprentice

Baby Freya is now 2 months old! Jeez! The past few months has been a whirlwind of love, excitement, family, and sleep deprivation!

(Full post can be read on my blog HERE to see future posts sign up to my newsletter HERE)

Despite the newfound groggy-eyed joys of fatherhood, I have still been hard at work not only on RUNE’s sequel (Oath of the Apprentice), but also on an exciting new Indie Video Game project called Shadow of the Moon (which takes place chronologically between The Rune Chronicles books 1 and 2). I’m so excited to tell you about this game I’m shaking... Or is that the coffee which is currently keeping me awake?! The world may never know...

Many of you might remember Shadow of the Moon from the collaborative Inkshares video game anthology I was a part of called Too Many Controllers. Yes, that same book which "won" the Nerdist and Inkshares Video Game Publishing Contest. (And yes, thanks for asking, I am still sore about the book being canned.) Well, some friends and I were talking about how TMC being canceled shouldn’t be the death of such a great story. We were sad, however, because Shadow of the Moon was written with video game mechanics at its core, and therefore, did not really read well (make sense) as a stand alone literary work.

I kept on trying to figure out a way around this because Shadow of the Moon’s female protagonist, Zera, is featured heavily as a main character in The Rune Chronicles Book 2: Oath of the Apprentice. I could not get over how cool Zera’s background and unique motivations were and desperately wanted readers to have a chance, if they were interested, to know more about her and why she was such a bad ass. Sadly, try as I might, I could not find a good fix to the logistical story problems and was stumped for months!

Well, during the days following Freya’s birth I came to the crazy conclusion that if I could not "write" a solution for the story dilemma, the only "logical" course of action was to actually turn Shadow of the Moon into a full fledged indie video game! GG EZ Fix!

I must have been profoundly sleep deprived because changing mediums would add a huge, exponential multiplier to the amount of work required. Like, There are no words which can adequately describe how much more effort making a video game, even an indie, will be. But I have been working on this project for two months now, and trust me folks, Zera’s story is, hot damn, well worth it! Truly.

Seen above is Zera, the protagonist of Shadow of the Moon, and I have so much more I’m dying to share with you all! We have art, game design mechanics, real to life martial arts, and even code for our custom SDL game engine (which should run a playable demo soon.) Its crazy awesome how much cool shit will be in this game! And the story, oh how the story has grown and evolved!

All of this is thanks to our amazingly talented team. Despite my sleepless nights, I have been able to gather a super dedicated group over at Apotheosis Studios to help me transform my novella into a Rogue-like Action-Adventure, 2D Top Down, RPG Video Game of epic, pixelated proportions! (Think Hyper Light Drifter meets Darkest Dungeon meets Bastion. Yes, you heard me right--we are not fucking around. This game is the real deal.)

I am leading this fearless indie dev team as Creative Director/Writer and so far we have 2 other writers/designers, 1 programmer, 1 editor/marketer, 2 "interns", a wolf, and a viking baby! What could possibly go wrong?!?! If you want to join our ranks, hit me up at @StoneJamison (Currently we are looking for a pixel and/or sprite artist, and music composer, btw!)

I’m also super excited to say that I will documenting our game progress on my blog HERE with an Apotheosis Studios Indie Game Dev Blog Series! I have so much more to share (and some really killer art) but will save those additional details about the game for the "official" blog series, so stay tuned! And yes, I will be doing all of this with a new baby. Many believe I have lost my mind, which if true, should make this game and RUNE’s sequel pretty freaking awesome, haha!

All jokes aside, buckle up Masters and Apprentices and get ready for many more blog posts to come. I am so excited to not only share developments and updates on Shadow of the Moon game development, but also how my wife and I raise our Viking Ninja baby girl.

And in case you are wondering how one raises a little Viking Ninja baby girl in 2017... Well, I’m not really sure, but I figure age and gender appropriate toys (swords, obviously!); good role models (bad ass active duty Army musician mommy and Zera of Shadow of the Moon!); and a loving, strong, and supportive daddy (I’m still growing out my "Ragnar Viking haircut") is a good place to start!

Stay tuned via my news letter HERE and I’ll let you know how it all goes!

Oh, and P.S. if you have not yet posted a review for Rune of the Apprentice on Amazon Dear god, please do so! We currently have 66 reviews, but need 100+! It really helps! Seriously! Thank you!

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Apotheosis liked an update for Rune of the Apprentice

Military Family Charity Donations
MP3 Audiobook CD
New Vai’kel Map!

1. Military Family Charity Donations

Excited to say we have our final pre-order royalties numbers all figured out! The grand total came to $2,806.33 (again, this was triple checked/confirmed by Inkshares)! So very excited to get these hard earned funds to our four designated Military family charities! With February nearly over, it has been both suggested and requested that I wait until next quarter (just over a month from now) to submit, and I will follow up with you all both here and on my blog once the donations have been made!

Additionally, if you all remember, when my Inkshares campaign ended in October of 2015, I also made my own independent $10,000.00 discretionary grant to ’Our Military Kids’ to support their fabulous work. Although not connected to my RUNE campaign or my pre-order charity pledges, I had really wanted to do all in my power to aid these communities. ’Our Military Kids’ no doubt put those funds to good use, and will do likewise with their share the new funds they are soon to receive!

Thank you all for your help and support in this. We were able to raise a good deal of money for some great organizations! Yay!

2. MP3 Audiobook CD

Shiro has an important announcement! The MP3 Audiobook CD of Rune of the Apprentice is now available! It’s only $9.99 and super awesome! Not only a perfect collector’s item, this is a wonderful option for those who want the audiobook, but just don’t like digital. And no, I’m sorry I don’t think they are making a cassette tape edition, so we will all have to settle with only CDs! I highly suggest you listen to a free sample HERE! Enjoy!

3. New Vai’kel Map!

Amazing artist M. S. Corley and I are 95% done with the new Vai’kel map! How exciting! For the next update, I think I am going to do an entire post showing exactly how I made it (with pictures of each step along the way) but for now you can have a seek peak below! Again, I cannot speak more highly of M. S. Corley (if you remember he did RUNE’s cover) and am so excited to show you all the finished map soon! Super stoked to also collaborate with him on the cover art for RUNE’s sequel, Oath of the Apprentice.

Alright, that’s all for now! Thank you all for your support with the charity campaign! I am so proud of our community for making this happen! And, lastly, if you have not yet reviewed RUNE on Amazon and/or Goodreads, good god, please do! THANK YOU! :)

"I was immediately captivated by the world created by Stone; the world of a teenage boy, Aleksi, cast out of innocence into the machinations of adult politics and manipulation. Aleksi is forced into a life of danger, uncertainty and the possibility for a hopeful, better future. He has the skills and the magic, does he have the courage?" ―David Atekpatzin Young, Native American Storyteller and Healer, author of Chicansimo and A Magic Feather

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Apotheosis liked an update for Rune of the Apprentice

Masters and Apprentices,

With October just around the corner... the November 1st Rune of the Apprentice launch date is nearly here! Yay!

The next few months will be a crazy Runic blur of conventions, signings, and events! So exciting! My wife Becca and I just got back from Annapolis Comic Con and had a blast! You can watch an interview I did with Landon of Reaper Legion Network below! (Reaper Legion is awesome, for those who love sick beats with a powerful message, I highly suggest you check out Landon’s very successful rap--it’s a wild mix of social justice and geek culture. So freaking cool! The interview he did with me is on their brand new YouTube Channel dedicated to science, technology, geekdom, and education. Love it!)

In other news, Rune is off to the printers! Yay! Not only does this mean that you all are one step closer to getting your copies, but that also means that I was able to upload the final version of the Rune’s Prologue here on Inkshares!

As always, Becca and I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported us on this wild Runic adventure! Best part is that the awesomeness has only just begun! The next few months will be crazy--and this is only Book 1! We have signings across the country and events galore and want you all to join us! Once everything is finalized I will be making Facebook events so all interested can come, get some free swag, and join in on the Runic epicness!

Next convention will be the 2016 National Book Festival at the Library of Congress, here in DC! I’m super excited! After that it’s New York Comic-Con! I’ve got a lot planned for NYCC, so stay tuned! Will be a fun time filled with epic Cosplay!

Oh, yeah, and as seen below, even Spider-Man picked up a copy of Rune! So, make like Spidey and swing by Amazon to snag that 25% pre-order discount! It won’t last long and with a Nov. 1 release, Rune makes the perfect holiday gift!

Lastly, I will end with a new and recurring segment called "Praise for Rune of the Apprentice" where I will highlight a review/blurb posted online. This one is from D. L. Wainright, author of The Hollow Sun and Fractured Masks who I met at Balticon. She loved Rune and is a really great author, too! Enjoy and hopefully see many more of you in person, soon!

"Stone is a masterful world-builder, and I felt like I was truly stepping onto Terra from the moment I started reading. There is a depth and complexity to the world and characters that breathes life into the narrative itself. Reading Rune of the Apprentice was a fun and magical adventure that left me thinking about the world and its characters long after I put the book down." ―D. L. Wainright, author of The Hollow Sun and Fractured Masks