This text is taken from the crowdfundr update page for WHO KILLED THE HUMANS? - my next sci-fi comedy anthology. This isn’t the full update log, that can be found on the crowdfundr page tomorrow.
(link at bottom of this email).
WHO KILLED THE HUMANS?
At the time of writing, I am 75,000 words into the book (discounting the few thousand words I actively dislike, and glare at whenever I open the computer).
I have refined and altered the formula that proved successful with Who Built The Humans?, building on the concept of a choose-your-own-adventure and trimming it back. The goal here is to make the multiverse feel more tangible, more simple, and in that simplicity allow the complexity of the stories to thrive.
With that in mind, the basic premise for WKTH is that for some of the stories, you are presented with a 'what if?' scenario first. Then you choose whether to read the sci-fi answer, or the comedy answer. I'm not doing this with every premise as I want to surprise you when you're reading the book.
Lax Morales
A few of you (hi, Chloe!) have asked if Lax Morales is returning in this book. For those who don't know, Lax Morales is a shapeshifting alien who makes his home on Earth after crash-landing here in the 1950s. He's also hunting down a time machine, and being hunted in turn by Fixer, a reptilian alien who remembers attending Lax's funeral. It gets complicated. He showed up in WBTH in the Furukawa universe, which is now being turned into three time travel novels with THE EARTHLOOP TRILOGY. His two brothers also showed up in WBTH, in different universes, implying something multidimensional happened during his crash, splitting their ship down three time streams.
So, to answer your question. Yes, he is returning.
Publishing against the flow of time.
In WBTH, there were some smaller universes which I really wished had a bigger potential to find an audience. So, I waited two or three years and reprinted them as standalone pieces. It is a collection, after all.
This was the plan all along: To have a 'best-of' collection for a dead sci-fi writer who was not yet dead, something that honoured the classics whilst punching holes in the weirdness of the (eternal) present state of things.
For WKTH, one or two stories will be made available elsewhere as a way for me to advertise the collection. Hologram Kebab, for example, is currently free on Amazon and other retailers.
Back to the WKTH wordcount.
So, as I said up top, 75,000 words in. Not many more than the last update, but I wrote and cut a lot in recurring cycles, getting to a better, punchier story.
My short story THE COSMONAUT WHO DIED TWICE clocks in at 16,000 words. That’s probably going to show up in WKTH, if there’s room for it.
Ultimately, that primordial concept for WBTH remains as the DNA for the series.
A 'best-of' collection for a dead writer who isn't yet dead.
The beginning of the end.
I wanted to thank you all for supporting this weird new book. I'm approaching the end of the crowd-funding phase now, and looking to pause certain perks. I'll also be deleting most of the ones which nobody has joined yet, because if nobody wants them they're not useful and would only make producing the book harder. It's more cost-effective for me to produce 5 packs of stickers than 1 pack of stickers, for example.
So the doors are slowly closing.
I know times are hard for everyone, and I know I am not exactly in Brandon Sanderson levels of megafame as an indie author, so I have been relentlessly excited with every single bit of support here so far. I honestly didn't expect this much. Every penny is going into creating this thing.
Thanks again for supporting it!
The end of the beginning.
Once I've worked out how ARCs work, I'll open them for WKTH and let you have a look at some of the stories. I'll keep some secret though, I still want to surprise you with what I've imagined.
End
That’s it for the update. There’s a longer, more detailed version over at the crowdfundr page, and after this little outro (and a picture of a new shirt) there’s a reader poll.
Skulls and jellyfish. Can’t go wrong. The brand is Joe Browns.
About that. My instagram is slowly turning into a standup comedy and fashion page, which feels a lot more naturally than throwing photos of my books at strangers online and hoping they buy them (I also have an instagram for that). I do a lot of stuff. This Substack feels like the nucleus to it all.
And next up, two polls I conducted on instagram recently to work out what everyone there wants from my content.
If I did a livestream (or recorded a youtube chat) here soon, what would you be most interested in seeing and talking about?
Second poll. You can decide what books I talk about next.
I like doing these polls because, even if you’re on emails and can’t comment easily, you should be able to be heard by voting.
As always, thanks for taking part.
Youtube
I’m also on Youtube, sometimes. Below is an example of one which was 90% improv - it’s a 24 minute video about why the new Arts fad of glamorising misery needs to end, and writers need to be encouraged to enjoy their art again.
Example: Earthloop is very difficult to write because I need to know how book three ends before writing book one. I take on difficult projects like this because completing them is rewarding and writing them is like inventing a new type of machine. I find people who say time travel is ‘overdone’ to be boring and unimaginative; there will always be new ways to revisit the past.
WBTH also included time travel, and had the very first chapters of Earthloop included within itself as the Furukawa Universe. With WBTH, I knew I was writing something new and weird, and took the risk that a few years down the line people might email me to tell me they loved how weird and fun it was.
I only had to wait six months after release for that message to arrive.
So, I think taking on difficult artistic projects is worth it. I think if you want to tell a new story, you have to go through the difficult parts.
And those parts should be seen as what they are: fun.
I’m going to treat this video to a proper thumbnail soon, but I do like having videos that make people on Youtube feel like I’m on the 2am bus, yelling into their face about reptilian aliens. I think it suits my brand.
That’s it for today, see you in the next one,
BIONICLE
This book title is amazing.