Quick update-
thank you! Thank you!! Thank You!!!
After one full week of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest, Mission 51 is sitting in First Place! That is fantastic!
I am sincerely grateful for the outpouring of support for me and Mission 51 this past week. The whole thing is a bit scary. It’s scary just putting the story out there. It’s scary asking for pre-orders. It’s even scary being in 1st place. And believe me, I’m not the scary sort. This is just way different than anything I do in my usual life.
I do feel very good about the book. It has a fun feel, with serious undertones. The historical fiction side includes plenty of real people, places, and things. My hope is that readers want to check Wikipedia and other sources frequently while reading the book, to get a better and better feel for Mat’s world in 1954-1969. It has a lot of fun detail.
I’m proud of the "Staff Pick" and the "The Great Sci-Fi for the 21st Century and Beyond Syndicate" badges. It’s also humbling and cool to read the great recommendations Mission 51 has garnered. I’m grateful for it all!
There are still five weeks remaining in the contest, and there are now almost 70 projects participating. Twenty of them are now on the leaderboard. So I am grateful for where Mission 51 is right now, but I am still asking for your support. Many thanks to those who have already placed their pre-order. For those of you who have not, I humbly ask that you please take a moment to consider, and then another moment to go ahead and pre-order Mission 51. I would be forever grateful! :-)
Thanks again, and Peace!
Ferd 👽
OMG, I just had to report on this! Rob Batten and his Human Resources has just won one of the major prizes in the 2016 Launch Pad competition! He is one of the two recipients of the Scott Free prize. That’s Ridley Scott!!!
Congratulations, Rob! What a terrific accomplishment! I am happy for you, and actually, this helps us all on Inkshares. It helps solidify this platform as one that can deliver top-notch works, with ideas suitable for mass consumption. We are on Hollywood’s radar! Thanks, Rob!!
Again, congratulations, Rob! Great job! :D
Earlier this year, despite some solid success, I let the Inkshares funding campaign for Mission 51 end without asking for an extension for two reasons: I wanted to focus on the writing and not on the campaigning, and I wanted to submit Mission 51 to Hollywood’s Launch Pad Competition 2016. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed it didn’t make it to the finalist group, but today I received some very strong encouragement!
I received the formal Feedback Notes from Launch Pad, essentially an opinion about my submitted sample from an industry judge. Let me give you a few excerpts from the report:
"This is a knockout premise, and those are very rare."
"The fact that Mat’s story... is an immigrant story, takes this premise from being a great high concept to being a great high concept with real emotional subtext, and one that has resonance with our modern world today."
"The pages here consistently communicate the story clearly, with great momentum, and a very palpable sense of empathy for ALL the characters... This is a great read, and a very capable execution of a highly evocative premise. This project has tremendous potential."
"The quality of the writing here, not just on the conceptual level, but also in terms of the story in these pages and the writing of that story, is uniformly strong. The dialogue’s good too, voice specific and smart in its use of subtext."
"This project feels like it has strong potential for either a TV or feature adaptation, and stands on its own as a great read as a manuscript."
Well isn’t that just awesome!!! I am greatly encouraged that I am on the right track!
Looking forward to the next suitable Inkshares contest so I can jump in and try again. I really want you to read the story!
Peace, and Happy Thanksgiving!
👽
Late in the fall migration hawk-watching season, which usually peaks in late September, Princess Gail managed to capture this amazing image of a mature Red-tailed Hawk. This was taken two days ago at Pilot Mountain State Park, close to our home in Winston Salem, NC.
There are only tangential mentions of birding in Mission 51, but still, I thought you might enjoy Gail’s pic. :-)
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 :-)
This is a difference sort of update! :-)
Last week we traveled up to our Ohio homeland to participate in the mass-baptism of our 6 grandchildren! It is always great fun when the family can get together for any reason, and few are much better than a joyous occasion like this!
In the picture is the newest member of the family, baby Olivia, and me!
Life is great! :D
Hi everyone! Here’s another quick update:
1. First of all, please join me in congratulating Jaye Milius, author of the crazy cool "Terminus," on achieving Quill status! To me, this is what Inkshares is all about, outstanding new authors able to showcase their work, crowdfunding readers like us confirming its value with our pre-orders, resulting in a publication deal by a real publishing company. Really, how awesome is that! - A huge congrats, Jaye, on a completely well-deserved achievement!
2. On a more egotistical note, I noticed Inkshares has me listed as the "#98 Most Influential Reader!" Ha! Who knows how that works! I guess I’ll just keep being who I am and doing what I do, and we’ll see how high that will go! :-)
3. Chris Pyke and I are in the last stages of finalizing another cool illustration. We went back to one of Mission 51’s earlier chapters, "The Press Conference," and picked out not one but two essential moments in that short scene. We’ll present them in a two-pane, comic-book style illustration. I’m pretty excited about that!
4. Mission 51 will continue in draft mode while it is entered in the Launch Pad Manuscript Competition. The competition is now closed, and we are waiting on judging, etc. I have no idea how many people have entered, but I’m sure the competition is fierce. At the very least, I will get comprehensive feedback from a panel of judges who are all important players in the entertainment industry. That’s sure to be valuable. But please, cross fingers and toes for me that Mission 51 is well-received and at least makes the first cut in late September.
5. Last but certainly not least, I extend a very warm welcome to all the new Mission 51 followers. I am truly grateful that you are part of our fantastic family of mutually supportive authors and readers!
Peace and love, y’all! :-)
