Happy Halloween, Sailors!

In mere hours, the Geek & Sundry fantasy contest will be over. By tomorrow afternoon, the winners will be officially announced, and we’ll find out if Storm Song will have what it takes to remain in the top 3.

So I’m coming to you one last time while this contest is live to say thank you to the 324 individuals who have already pledged their support to my dream. No matter what happens over the next few hours, I am still blown away by the fact that literally hundreds of people have looked at my book and said "Yes, that should exist."

There are about 70 or so of you that are following the project, but haven’t ordered. Now, I know for a fact that sometimes you order and see a confirmation on the website, but the order doesn’t go through. So if you guys want to do me a solid, check your inbox to make sure that you got a confirmation email for your order. If you didn’t, email hello@inkshares.com right now to see if they can help you get it straightened out.

Even if that’s only one or two of you, that’s one or two people that wanted to order, but might not have just yet.

For those who are following, but haven’t ordered yet... The time is now!! I want  you aboard this ship, taking off on fantastic adventures with me!

I’ll be updating tomorrow once the results are official. I’ll be sure to let everyone know what has shaken out of this whole thing. Thank you again for all of your encouragement. I couldn’t ask for a better crew.

- Allison

Good evening, Sailors!

I’ve returned home! And I’m getting right back to work. I drew the three winners for the dice giveaway, so I won’t waste too much time before getting right to it.

Our three dice winners are... Sara McMillan, Katie Chaos, and Sarah Work! I’ll be in contact with you all separately to work out how to get your prizes sent to you!

If you missed out on buying a copy to enter into the dice giveaway, don’t feel like you’re out of luck for any Storm Song goodies. I wouldn’t leave you hanging like that. What we’re going to do from this moment until the end of the contest is a print giveaway! I have been lucky enough to have met a talented young woman named Emily Zurl who created an original piece for Storm Song that I think is just the coolest thing since sliced bread. But you can decide for yourselves.

SO COOL, RIGHT?! Every person who orders a copy of Storm Song between now and the end of the contest will receive an 8.5x11 print of this gorgeous piece of art. And if you also refer a friend who purchases, I’ll write a custom note on the back and sign it. Art stays pristine and intact, but you get some customization on the piece! For those of you who have already purchased, if you refer two friends, I’ll send you a customized print as well! 

October is half over, guys. That’s just insane. What’s even crazier is that it means there’s only a couple weeks left of the Geek & Sundry contest. Every moment of this has been an emotional roller coaster I wasn’t expecting. I’ve learned a lot about myself and about my amazing support system. I’ve also made some of the most wonderful new friends a gal could ask for. Thank you thank you thank you- a thousand times. 

Until the next update!

- Allison

Happy Monday, Sailors! 

Guess what? We’ve officially hit over 250 copies ordered!! How exciting! There are 230 of you who have purchased Storm Song, who want to see this book become a real, tangible thing out in the world. I can’t thank you guys enough for order and promoting. More than that, I want to thank everyone for taking a chance on me. I promise you won’t regret it. 

The one shot D&D session was a lot of fun! Putting the characters and the elements of Elysia back into a d20 system was a wild, nostalgic trip for me. I hope to have the opportunity to do more of those! 

Also! Storm Song was featured in this Geek & Sundry article which is a sentence I never imagined myself typing. Check it out! There are four other amazing stories also featured!

So far, we’re holding onto 3rd place, which means we’re still in the top 3- but I don’t know about you, but I would feel way more comfortable in 2nd place. Or heck- let’s shoot for 1st. It’s possible! But if I’m going to manage it, I need help from you guys .There are about 100 of you who are following that haven’t ordered. That would be huge! And if you’ve already ordered, try to convince someone in your life to throw $10 at the project as well! 

I think we can pull out some amazing things in October if we all work together, gang. I’m ready to get to work. What about you?

- Allison

Good evening, Sailors!

Wow, September is wrapping up this week, which means the final leg of this contest is about to begin! October is going to be just as exciting for the Storm Song campaign- possibly more so! And how are we kicking off October? 

That’s right! A one-shot Dungeons & Dragons session within the Storm Song world. On October 2nd, I’ll be hanging out at Game Paradise in Fountain Square, running a session of Thoster and company hunting down the Luck Diamond. What this means is that I’ve been going back to my roots and transposing my characters back into D&D character sheets. And I thought you guys might like to see a little of that!

Thoster’s stats, for example:

Check out that sweet, sweet charisma score. 

But what about Vashile’s spell list? 

I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to get on her bad side. 

And for those of you who might be curious how Linn’s Silvertongue ability works? 

So that’s a little of what I’ve been working on lately. I’m really excited to get to the one shot session and share my world with more gamers in my local community! Speaking of gaming, though- there’s something else I wanted to announce!

The dice giveaway deadline is going to be extended until October 15th

I wanted to make sure to give everyone a chance to get their order in or refer their friends who might want to receive the dice prizes. So far we’ve got around 75+ entries with referrals and orders. I am convinced we can break 100 entries for the giveaway in the next couple of weeks! If we do, I just may have a few surprises in mind for you guys... 

As always, I appreciate all of you who are standing behind my project and helping to make this dream of mine a reality. I adore you all. If you haven’t ordered, please consider doing so today. If you have already, please find a friend and convince them. It means the world to me. 

Thank you!

- Allison

WE ARE LIVE!

Head on over to the STORM SONG facebook page to tune in for the live reading of Chapter Six! 

There are giveaways happening! You don’t want to miss out, folks! 

- Allison

Good morning, Sailors!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I spent mine out and about, getting the word out about Storm Song! I journeyed up north to Muncie, IN to visit Ball State University, where I studied Creative Writing- and where the world of Elysia all began. It was a really fun trip! That same day, I also hit up some local game shops in Indianapolis to advertise my entry to their customers. I’m pleased to announce that on October 2nd, Game Paradise in Fountain Square is allowing me to run a one shot D&D session within the world of Storm Song! You can find out more about the event here

Speaking of D&D… I’m so excited to announce that today marks the launch of our official Storm Song...

Yes, that’s right! Since this whole book started with a D&D campaign, it felt only right to spread the nerd love. On October 1st, I’ll be giving away 3 sets of dice, each one themed around a character from Storm Song:

Thoster - teal and grey

Vashile - red and black

Linn - purple and gold

Each dice set will come with the pictured treasure chest to keep them safe, as well as a dice bag made by my extremely talented friend, Heather. These are still in the works, so they aren’t pictured yet, but trust me, guys... They’re going to blow your mind.

So how does this work, exactly? There are two ways to enter

1. Any new pre order from Sept 12th - Sept 30th will earn you one entry
2. Any referral you give where the referred party pre orders in the giveaway time period will earn them an entry as well as one for yourself

Referral entries are UNLIMITED so grab everyone you know and convince them to pre order so you can stack the odds in your favor like a true pirate would.

**In order for me to know that the referred pre order came from you, please email me at asgriner6587+dicegiveaway@gmail.com with your name and the name of your friend who has also ordered. Once I have confirmed the order, I will count your referral entry.**

So get out there and convince your friends and family to buy my book, so I can send you some awesome goodies!

As always, I do want to thank each and every one of you guys for everything you’ve done to help me with this project. It means more than I can say, though I’ll keep trying.

- Allison

Good morning, Sailors!

We’re 1/3 of the way through the Geek & Sundry contest, but I hope we’re just getting started! Today marks 3 weeks since I made my way to the 1st place spot. The race is extremely tight, though, so I know we need to keep up our momentum and keep pushing for that next goal.

Speaking of goals - a delightfully Southern friend of mine has thrown down the gauntlet and declared that if we reach 200 unique readers by Sunday, he’ll record himself reading Chapter One. I know I want to hear it. Do you? If so, find a friend, a parent, a sibling, a coworker -- convince them to pre-order and we can hear Thoster’s dialogue with some Memphis drawl.

I wanted to take some time to say thank you to each of you that have pre-ordered. 116 individuals have thrown support behind me and my book. I can’t express enough gratitude for everything you’ve done by ordering and promoting for me. You guys are just the best.

There’s also another 60 or 70 of you that are following along with my project. Hi! I hope you’ve taken some time to look around. There are 5 chapters up for you guys to read and decide if you think Storm Song is a project worth putting your support behind. I hope that you find that it is!

As some of you may have read in the Inkshares blog that I answered a few questions for, the inspiration for Storm Song came from the very first Dungeons & Dragons campaign I ran in college. Thoster was only a half formed thought then, a character that developed as that story did. By the end of the campaign, I knew that I needed to explore his life before he ever met that particular group of adventurers. Storm Song is Thoster’s origin, and it’s a piece of me that has shifted and evolved over the last decade or so. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to share it with all of you!

As always, I’m here if you have any questions for me about the project. You can contact me at asgriner6587@gmail.com.

- Allison