Happy Week of Days With Descriptors!

We are nearly at the end of said days, but as the focus of today is "Giving" it is the perfect time to remind everyone of my raffle. I have six Audible codes for the An Unattractive Vampire audio book and if you give money to an at-risk cause, your name will be entered in to win one of them. If you need more information, visit my website or see my last update. There are lots of lists out there of groups who need help. Groups like Trans Relief Project, CeaseFire Illinois, Doctors Without Borders, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and more. 

Once you’ve donated (and you did donate, didn’t you? *Guilt stare*) tell me you did. You can respond here with a comment (don’t just like the post, that doesn’t actually tell me anything) or find me on twitter or e-mail me at anunattractiveemail@gmail.com. Your name will be entered into the contest which ends December 15th.

Look it’s win/win. You win because you get to feel good about yourself AND might win a free audiobook. They win because they get the money and resources to help people who desperately need it. And humanity wins because the entropic decay of the universe will be put off a little longer. EVERYBODY WINS!

Except for the cannibal Futurekind. They don’t win.

So yeah. Long time no update. 

Stuff has happened. Probably a lot of stuff and I’ve been busy with grad school, but really I don’t feel like talking about any of that. Because right now sucks. A lot. 
 

Why I’m updating everyone at this time when so many of us just want to curl up into the fetal position and do nothing is because while I don’t have a lot of money to donate to causes that may need it in the next four years or the skills to help people (I write silly stories about monsters), what I do have are six codes for the audiobook version of An Unattractive Vampire. 

So here’s the deal: between now and December 15th, donate to an at-risk cause. Here’s a list from Jezebel to get you started. Once you’ve donated, tell me. Tweet at me @jimmcdoniel or leave a comment on this post telling me that you’ve donated or walk past me on the sidewalk and give me the Elder Sign. Just make sure I know and your name will be added to the list. On December 16th, I will draw six names and those lucky do-gooders will be able to experience my book as it was meant to be experienced: read to them by a British man.

So hey, let’s get out there and make this all suck slightly less.

UPDATE!!!

First and most importantly is a reminder that An Unattractive Vampire will be An Unattractive Audiobook at Audible.com starting the 23rd! So if you’re tired of physically reading the book with your eyes and would rather have it read TO you like you were some kind of Roman Emperor/Empress, lying on a couch being fanned and fed grapes, head on over to Audible and preorder it today! (Fans, couch, grapes, and Roman titles not included.)

Next is the BIG NEWS!

That’s right! There’s a new book contest, this time with Geek and Sundry, producers of pretty much most of the shows I watch, and I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring with my second book currently entitled, Morose: A Comedy.
The pitch: Death gets laid off at the end of the world.
The synopsis: The End is nigh. Armageddon has come. And with the four horseman taking over soul-collecting duties from the children of Death, the tragedy-masked member of the Reaper family most dedicated to his work, Morose, has something he never expected to possess: time. If only he had any idea what to do with it.

With the helpful prodding from his eternally irresponsible twin brother and vengeful, sometimes murder-god sister, not to mention those few humans who don’t immediately wet themselves in his presence, Morose will explore the most puzzling questions the mortal realm has to offer, like:
why caves don’t count as shelter,
why immortals shouldn’t be telemarketers,
pinball, 
proper wedding bouquet etiquette,
the meaning of life,
...and his brother’s insistence that he buy a television screen at least seventy-two inches wide.

However, Morose better find his answers soon, because the apocalypse is heating up and as the death toll rises, he might just be the only one who can stop it.

In the tradition of Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job and Terry Pratchett’s Reaper Man, Morose is a comic tale of life, Death, and the end of the world.

If you’d like to view a sample chapter or pre-order the book, you can head over to the project page for Morose: A Comedy.

A few of the contest details...
This contest is a little different than the last. Instead of total number of books, its based on number of unique readers buying books. So rather than buying a book for each of your coworkers, cousins, neighbors, and goth nieces and nephews, I need you to convince your coworkers, cousins, neighbors, and goth nieces and nephews to buy THEIR OWN copy.

The three books with the highest individual reader count by November 1st will be published by Inkshares and have the opportunity to be a part of GEEK AND SUNDRY! Have I mentioned how much I love Geek and Sundry? Let me count the ways.
How about this picture of me with Felicia Day?

Or this OTHER picture of me with Wil Wheaton while wearing a Tabletop t-shirt?

Or maybe there’s the Critical Role fan fiction I wrote? 

Yeah. I’m a fan. It would be a huge deal for me to be a part of their community. So what do you say? Let’s make Jim-erica Book Again!

Greetings All,

So it’s been awhile since last I updated, but it’s also been a hectic mess of conventions, deadlines, and submissions so...there.

CONvergence was great. All 250 ribbons I made were handed out. One of my fancy shmancy posters was vandal-eyesed, so clearly I made it. I played D&D for the first time and lots of people asked about my book (spurred on by said fancy shmancy posters.) All in all, it was a huge success.

But the BIG NEWS is: (Trumpet sound) An Unattractive Vampire is now available for preorder on Audible!  It will be released officially on August 23rd. So, if you need a bit of reading for when you’re stuck in traffic or catching Pokemon, you can listen to the sultry British tones of narrator Drew Campbell read my book to you. (Did I mention sultry British tones?)

Other news:

After eight seasons, Our Fair City just had the final read-through...EVER!   Oh the wonder and glory of watching actors squirm over their character’s fates. The power. THE POWER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! If you want to catch up before the end, including checking out the current season head over to iTunes or visit www.ourfaircity.com.

Also, for those writers amongst you, the submission deadline for Deathscribe 2016 is quickly approaching. Scripts must be in by July 31st. So, if you’ve a scary story to tell (in radio play format), then throw it on some paper (digital paper) and send it to Chicago! (via e-mail)