I am still reeling with emotions after the crazy finish of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest. It is gradually sinking in that Mission 51 will be a published book and I will be a published author! It feels surreal. I am grateful beyond words for all of you. Inkshares publishes books only with the pre-order "approval" of the crowd. Mission 51’s publication could only happen on Inkshares with the support of wonderful people like you! Thank you very, very much!

I am truly not quite back to myself yet. I feel off-balance in a good, exciting way. I know this is a transitional feeling. For the past year and a half, I have been focused on writing and preparing myself for exactly this sort of contest. Now I will shift my focus to the goal of editing and publication. It feels like a brand new day full of hope and promise!

Inkshares has sent me a detailed questionnaire to help them help me through the process of editing, cover design, and marketing. I am to hand it in with my manuscript. I informed them I want to review it one last time and tidy up some loose ends before they start their process. I will let you all know when I have delivered the manuscript to Inkshares. It won’t be long.

Meanwhile, Mission 51 is now considered an Inkshares "property." I have a page on their "Properties" section, which is available to third parties in the entertainment industry who may be interested in the story. That’s pretty exciting, too! I haven’t completely tweaked that page, but if you are interested in what I have so far, you can check it out here.

Once I turn in the manuscript, I will join a few other works that have merited publication on Inkshares and are waiting for them to focus their professional resources on editing, layout, cover design, marketing, production, and distribution. It’s a thorough process that will take some time, quite possibly a year. I hope to have a better handle on the timeline once I hand in the manuscript. I will always inform you as soon as I know anything relating to the production of Mission 51.

Again, thank you for this incredible opportunity. I literally could not have done it without you!

Peace!

~Ferd  👽

Torkiyan missions to Cerulea (the planet Earth) have often ended in tragedy. Travel across the galaxy and a succesful landing must be difficult! The most recent evidence of these tragedies includes the remnants of the spaceship and the dead alien we found in Roswell in 1947, which experts believe was part of Torkiyan Mission 50.

This original illustration by artist Chris Pyke is in the Mission 51 chapter called Roswell Revisited. You’ll have to read the book to get the rest of the story! :-)

Mission 51 remains in 1st Place in the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest on Inkshares. Like Mission 51, the book in 2nd place also has to do with issues of immigration. This seems to be an important subject for our times.

Mission 51 is a mature Inkshares project. Perhaps that is why it started strong in the contest and has remained in 1st Place for the entire duration of the contest so far. But there is no guarantee whatsoever it will remain in 1st Place at the end. There are other strong authors/stories that can easily displace Mission 51 now in the closing days of the contest. Several of these books are very close to doing so. Only the top three will win a coveted publishing contract on Inkshares.

You can be an integral part of bringing Mission 51 to Amazon, to bookstore shelves across the country and maybe even around the world! You would do it by placing a pre-order. Contestants are ranked by the number of individual people who place a pre-order. If you have been thinking about doing so, it is essential to do it now!

If you think you have pre-ordered but did not receive a confirmation email from Inkshares, it probably did not go through. Be sure you have that confirmation email. If you didn’t, please try again or contact me!

Please help me win a publshing contract for Mission 51 by pre-ordering your ebook or signed copy now. Thank you all so very much for your support!

Peace!

Ferd 👽

I was taken completely by surprise this morning with some wonderful news and I am still reeling in the excitement of it! Mission 51 is the June 2017 selection of the Rite of Passage Syndicate!

I want to thank the Syndicate Lead, Christopher Lee Eichenauer, and the entire syndicate membership for this incredible honor! I humbly join a remarkable group of authors and works and I am greatly encouraged by their faith in me and Mission 51. Please check out the Rites of Passage Syndicate and consider becoming a member of this supportive group of amazing human beings.

This boost gives further momentum to the Mission 51 campaign in the current Nerdist Science Fiction Contest on Inkshares. We remain in 1st place out of more than 160 contestants. But the contest is far from over. There are many remarkable books by talented authors in the competition. We need to keep pressing on!

I am eternally grateful to everyone who has pre-ordered a copy of Mission 51! If you have yet to pre-order, I ask that you click on the green pre-order button below. It is through your kind and generous pre-orders that Mission 51 will become a published reality. Be a part of it!  :-)

Thank you again to Christopher Lee, the Rite of Passage Syndicate, and everyone who supports Mission 51. You have all touched my heart more than you can know!

Peace!

Ferd

This update is about a part of Mission 51 that I did not anticipate when I first put "pencil to paper."

There came a moment during the writing of Mission 51 when I thought a real picture would be a fun way to describe a part of the story. I made a very brief effort to draw something on my own, but I quickly realized my drawing skills were not good enough. So I began to look elsewhere. My search for a compatible artist eventually took me to DeviantArt, where I proceeded to look at the work of hundreds of artists. I found two who I believed could interpret moments in Mission 51 in a way that would be compatible with the spirit of the story: Idan Carré and Chris Pyke. It has been a sheer pleasure working with these two talented individuals.

The process of creating the images in Mission 51 starts with countless emails back and forth. Chris lives in England, so there is also the matter of working around time zones. I takes a lot of planning and time to get the moment of the story, the important elements, the framing, the angle of view, the expressions, and the feeling just right. Idan and Chris have an amazing ability to capture those kinds of things in their painting and drawing.

By way of example, I’ll share this portrait of Dr. Linda Deltare, an important character in Mission 51. The time period would be in the late 1950s or early 1960s, so she appears much younger than the old lady who approaches me in the Preface of the book. In fact, at that time she was close in age to the story’s protagonist, Mat. Deltare has a PhD in linguistics. She is a crossdresser and a chain smoker. But most importantly, she was Mat’s best, and perhaps only friend during those early years. In this phenomenal pen and ink drawing, Chris Pyke has captured Deltare in her office in Area 51, right down the hall from Mat’s cell. Awesome detail!

A last step that I have added more recently is expert digital colorization by a young colorist in Israel. Lea is able to add color and life to these drawings without taking anything away. The subtle shading, the hash lines, everything in the original drawing is still there. Magical!

I am fortunate beyond words to have the chance to work with such talented people, and I cannot wait to share the rest of their work with you. Please help me make Mission 51 a reality. I need your pre-order to stay in the top three of the Nerdist contest. That will get the book published.

Thank you in advance for your kind consideration and support!

Peace!

Ferd

I am humbled and flabbergasted by the show of support I continue to receive for Mission 51! Thank you all so very much! After the first two weeks of the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest, we are still in 1st place! More followers are following. Pre-orderers are pre-ordering. I am very grateful! :-)

I was especially floored when I took a look at the list of "Notable Readers" in the sidebar of the Discussion section of the Mission 51 project page. This is a list of successful Inkshares authors I greatly admire and I am honored to have their support! These are The Cool Kids of Inkshares! I encourage you to click on their names and support their work.

There are four more weeks to go in the contest. I am actively reaching out to everyone I know to ask them to join The Cool Kids Club, and that includes Mission 51 followers who are still on the sidelines. So if you haven’t yet placed your pre-order, perhaps Ned Stark can convince you...

"One must first purchase a Mission 51 pre-order!"

LOL. Again, thank you all very much for your kind support! I am blessed and grateful!

Peace and love!

(and join the club!)

Ferd 👽

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!

👽

Hi everybody!

Just a quick update. The Mission 51 family continues to grow, even in draft mode! I am excited to see more than 200 followers! Wow! A big welcome to all the new ones since the last update. I am so happy you are onboard!

Well, Mat is now officially on the loose! I have written his escape from a 15-year captivity in Area 51. He accomplished all he needed and wanted, and it was time for him to move on. He finally gets to experience "Cerulea" in all its glory! I look forward to you reading this someday soon.

Mission 51 is currently entered in the 2016 Launch Pad Manuscript Competition. Please cross fingers and toes that it is well received!

I am continuing to work with artists Idan Carre and Chris Pyke to add visual beauty to Mission 51. This has been a really fun part of the project!

That’s it for now. See? Quick!

Peace and love, y’all!

Ferd   :-)

9 days left in the funding campaign, and 83 pre-orders to go to reach the Quill publication goal. It seems daunting, but not impossible!

Can you help get Mission 51 published? If you haven’t gotten your pre-order(s), there is no time to hesitate! Please, get one (or more) now! Why not be on the short-list of Super Readers!?  :-)

If you are an author with an active project, get mine and I’ll get yours!

Remember, if I reach Quill, I will match the amount of money that people have invested in me and Mission 51 with a donation to the Ronald McDonald House Charities and their mission to help families with sick children.

Mission 51 is ready to launch. All it needs is YOU!

Thank you for your support! :D