I was one of the first INKSHARES authors back in 2015.
That manuscript was the only fiction I’d ever written and having heard the apocryphal tales of JK Rowling’s 500+ rejections before she sold Harry Potter, I felt vulnerable entering the competitive "Be My Agent! Publish My Book!" space. So I opted for INKSHARES’ kickstarter-type process and have never regretted it. That experience formed the foundation for my current full-time career as an author with an agent and two-traditionally published books!
Still, getting one’s work in front of new readers is never easy.
So here goes...
KILLER NASHVILLE READERS CHOICE: VOTE NOW
My latest mystery/thriller Under A Broken Sky is up for a 2023 National Reader’s Choice Award from Killer Nashville!! 30 seconds of your time to vote here now at the link below would help others learn about my writing (and see INKSHARES "on my resume") through this fan-driven recognition!! Nothing to buy. No list to join. Nominees are alphabetical by last name. Deadline to vote is 9 PM CA time Monday July 31st. (Thank you for considering this, though I understand completely if it’s not a fit for you.)
Happy Reading and Writing!
ps If you’re a writer engaged in the daunting process of chasing a preorder goal right now, stick with it. If you have questions about that or other writer-ish things, shoot me an email at kris@kriscalvin.com.
KRIS CALVIN
Greetings, adventurers!
Once again, it’s been awhile. I’ve been working diligently on the edit, but it’s been slow going—I have two young children and I’m working two jobs, trying to spend time with my spouse, keep my living space some semblance of clean, and retain a few shreds of sanity here and there, so finding and making time for this has been a challenge, to say the least.
I do want to add that I am struggling with this edit. I never expected this process to be so oddly vulnerable, and I’m left wondering if this book is even worth releasing. This isn’t due to being unable to take criticism, but rather because I am faced with just how much there is wrong with the manuscript. I was a very different person when I wrote it—the first book was written 15 years ago, after all. I was another different person when I funded it, and now I’m a much different person during the editing process. I am trying to make this book worthy of its wait, but I don’t know that it ever will be. I suppose that’s the risk I run in pursuing anything like this, but I don’t want to disappoint anyone with this.
It’s been a long road and I’m humbled by how patient, supportive, and kind everyone has been during the process. The first delays were out of my hands, but these delays are completely on me, and for that I am sorry. Having such a gap between funding and editing has changed my mindset about the book. That being said, I struggle with finishing projects when they get past the “fun” stage, so I am determined to finish this, no matter how I feel about it. And, let me make this perfectly clear: I do not feel good about it, at all. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so either things get rushed because I’m feeling excited about them, or they get abandoned because I’m no longer excited about them. I’m sure I’m not the only one and some of you can relate, so in some small way, maybe sharing this will help somebody.
In any event, enough with the Debbie Downer talk. I actually do have a very exciting update that I meant to give you all two months ago but, quite frankly, life completely got away from me and I have said “I need to share that already” to myself almost every weekend since then and have just not had the chance, as things have been crisis after crisis or just packed to the gills. So, as promised 2 months ago (somehow?!), here is your official, actual cover for Mushroom and Anchovy, by artist—and my very good friend—Molly E. McGuire.
Molly really captured the essence of a certain part in the book and her attention to detail is so keen. There are some details in here that will only be understood after reading the book, and I love that. I hope you do, too! Her work is so beautiful and she was always my first choice for the cover. She’s been very busy the past few years and we weren’t sure we could make it work, but we did and I couldn’t be happier.
I’ll continue to work on the edit and will hopefully get more news for you before too much longer (comparatively). If you ever have any questions for me, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m an open book—unlike this, which will hopefully be that, one day.
May your travels be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting,
K. M. Cooper
20 June 2023!
After more delays than anyone would like, this is finally happening! 20 June 2023, four weeks from today, will see the North American release of Unnatural Ends. What this means for you, if you’ve pre-ordered any physical copies, is that you should CHECK and UPDATE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS. It has been a while, after all, and if you’ve moved in the meantime (as I have) you don’t want the thing you’ve paid good money for to be sent off to the wrong place.
You may have noticed that I specified North American release up there. This is because we’re also getting a UK release a month later, in July. (I think this means that those of you in the UK will have the satisfaction of getting your ordered copies in before Waterstones.) Inkshares is breaking into the UK market, and guess what they’re using as a battering ram?
That’s right. That’s me on the cover of the issue of The Bookseller distributed on the second day of the London Book Fair last month. The other guy is Fulton Ross, author of The Unforgiven Dead, which you should definitely check out because it’s a darn good read.
We’re just counting down the days now!
“Karl. Wake up.”
“Uhhhh.”
“C’mon, wake up, Karl,” she says.
“Huh?”
“It’s happening again, isn’t it?”
“Uhhrrggg.”
It’s a gritty gurgling sound, a reflexive groaning sticky with pain, raw with confusion in a blur of reality that’s too stabbing bright. And the smells. Ohmigod! Gut-wrenching odors. A miasma of scented cleaning fluids rolling in on a surf of nausea while an artillery barrage explodes in my skull with every pulse of my heart.
Boom, boom…b. . .
Greetings, adventurers,
Congratulations to those of you who correctly correlated yesterday’s cover reveal with the date! Those of you who know me well believed it anyway and I love that about you. Regardless, yes, yesterday’s cover reveal was absolutely an April Fool’s Day joke, but so many of you were so warm about it nevertheless that it made me smile. Thanks for understanding me!
That being said, if you really do want to read about adventuring anthropomorphic animals, you might be interested in the next series I’m writing... but that won’t see the light of day for a few years, yet. Definitely do keep an eye out, though, through my Substack and my website, as I’ll be trickling out information as it comes--probably starting as early as next year. The first book is written, but I’ll likely release them together. Stay tuned.
Now... that being said, you may be wondering about the future of Mushroom and Anchovy. A few things.
1. I am not actually rewriting them as ducks. I am slow because implementing the edits has taken me considerably longer with my current work schedules. That said, I am making good progress and we are still looking at a 2023 release for this book.
2. As for the cover, I actually have hired somebody. I am very excited, because this artist was always my first choice and I know they’re going to do an incredible job. They have been VERY busy these past few years and neither of us had thought we could make it work, but here we are. They are hard at work right now and have shared some details with me, and I am hoping to do the actual cover reveal this week.
3. I’m going to keep the joke cover on this site until the actual cover reveal, because I think it’s funny.
4. Because the reception was so warm about the joke cover, I kind of want to do SOMETHING with it. Maybe a bookmark, a poster, or a journal... or something. I’m thinking about it. If you have any ideas, let me know!
Thanks for having a laugh with me yesterday. I really cannot wait to get this book into your hands this year--and that’s no joke!
May your adventures be fraught with wonder and just enough peril to keep them interesting,
K. M. Cooper
**SORRY IF THIS SENDS TWICE! The first one wouldn’t send the picture!
Greetings, adventurers!
It’s been awhile but I have finally come to you today with something very exciting: a brand new cover reveal. I have been planning the new cover for some time and waffling over who to hire, what design to have, etc., and I was struck with inspiration earlier this year. I decided to just bite the bullet and do it myself. Without further ado, here is the brand new cover for Mushroom and Anchovy, hopefully gracing your bookshelves later on this year…
What do you think? It’s really something, isn’t it? I want to add that part of the delay is that I’ve been rewriting our titular heroes as ducks. It has taken quite some time to go through the entire book and make sure every instance of human facial features is replaced with duck bills, and that I throw a handful of scattered feathers into the narration from time to time. I think that, ultimately, this will make for a much better book, because who doesn’t love ducks going on adventures?
I will have more news in a couple of days, but for now, I hope you’ll bask in the glory of this new cover and really take it in properly.
Woo-oo!
K. M. Cooper