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Greetings, amazing backers: muses, benefactors, and sponsors of amazing tales! I have a new special edition book about to release! If you were hoping this is was the next volume of Curse of the Fey Duelist, I want to promise you it will release in 2026 (I’m writing it now and it’s more than half done.) This one is for my other bestselling series, Shadowless… and this special edition is freaking amazing. I’ve got a preview copy in hand (pics on the prelaunch page) and the print run is already in production, even. The Darkest Edition has upgrades fans have asked for and I wanted to get this one out there to replace the hardcover editions people get from me at comiccons and events. It will also be exclusive—you can’t get this one anywhere except from me in person or my website! Here’s what it’s got:

Black pages, white text. Dust jacket with foil art below the cover and colored, illustrated endpapers--this is the black on black and is the Darkest Edition. It collects all of the first three stories of the original arc, plus includes the prequel story, which is not normally collected in the main set when bound in physical edition.

 

Nuclear fire brought endless night.
The darkness hides invisible terrors known as entities.
Sheltered in the underground Ark 1 facility, Earth’s last 300 humans fear the dark above all else... the shadows hide an ancient, primal evil--one that can take control of people, and which humans have no defense against. Deep within the miles of well lit corridors, the lights begin to flicker and fail.

Before a new darkness falls, a drug addict and a man with Downs syndrome must reclaim the light and stop a new and final demonic Armageddon... but they learn that someone inside Ark 1 had more to do with unleashing these hellish fiends than any of the survivors know.

Stay in the Light... Stay alive. 

 

I’d be thrilled if you’d check it out and smash the button that says “Notify me on release!”

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feyduelist/shadowless-the-darkest-edition-novel-black-pages-foil 

I am set to mail out the last couple packages tomorrow (I hope). I have just been waiting on a couple items for those with larger pledges (for some reason, my domestic printer was super slow to print one specific volume of an older antho, which has caused the slight delay for orders including that one. It is set to arrive tomorrow according to the tracking!)
 
Another slow-down was orders that added the Call of PoohThulhu horror game. It arrived just today and I have that in hand. Those will go out tomorrow as well (or at least be packaged up and ready, depending on what time my packages arrive.)

Watch the mail--barring any damaged items from shipping which is the only reason I may have a delay at this point, all of the remaining things should arrive soon!

The books have arrived! I usually get a notice when books hit domestic soil and did not get it, so it was a surprise when I got a text message from my wife telling me to go to the garage...

The photo isn't clear, but that's a couple of rows deep... also, my home is a historic victorian monstrosity and everything is period-correct, including the garage doors--meaning these are the old style and spring-hinged to flip up... that means I cannot open the door (the other door doesn't open.)... luckily I have a dolly for this! which happens to also be inside the garage.

It took a bunch of doing, but all the stock is secured inside the garage and ready for me to begin fulfilling pledges. Expect your books soon!

Meanwhile, tell your friends that they can get a copy directly from my website: authorchristopherdschmitz.com 

Hey everybody--especially backers!

Just dropping in with an update... Surveys are going out over the next week or so. Bear with me; I am far more experienced with Kickstarter than with Backerkit, and some pieces operate differently, leading to some confusion on my part.

Here's what I can say: all the holiday cards are done with art by one of the two artists who worked on my goofy comicon investigation game (Division of Nerd Crime: the Game) who is a talented artist and becoming my go-to for art with certain styles.

My shopify webstore got hit with a huge scammer attack that led to me being soaked for a bunch of money and shopify was flat out unwilling to help recover those fees despite the fact that they say they do and then charge hundreds of dollars per year for their service... apparently the fine print says: we don't actually do that. I am no longer with shopify and my online store is presently being rebuilt on Wix (www.authorchristopherdschmitz.com). 

You will see a fun add-on being the Call of Poohthulhu which I also designed--some of you may have backed the kickstarter last year. Here's the news on that: it should arrive at the same time as the books so these can be shipped at the same time for backers of Twisted Yuletide! (the KS is being fulfilled by a different party, but I will personally fulfill the anthology campaign, including add-ons.)

Timelines: I am expecting notification any day that the shipping carrier has arrived in port. Once that happens, it will be 5-15 days for me to get the delivery and begin fulfilling backers. Halloween arrival is still possible, but less likely. Production and shipping timelines were slowed down by an overseas holiday I was unaware of (we Americans rarely take days off in comparison). Mid November is still my late-timeline projections and we are within our initial estimates--if any of that changes I will let you all know!

If you're not a backer but want to get this book ASAP, you can purchase it directly on my (rebuilt) website and I will fulfill the order as quickly as possible--note that, due to rights agreements, I can only sell physical editions of the book on my website.

So there I was, going back and forth with a scammer and with a mediator from the gig services company. Of course, every time someone asked a question or made a promise, that extends the timeline by 1-2 days. I kept working in good faith towards a resolution, but remained adamant that I could not use the delivered art unless it could be proven to be human created.

Every time the "artist" made a new claim that he could deliver some kind of proof, the clock resets as I need time to review and provide feedback, etc. and the scammer was working the clock so that they can take off with the money (and the customer service mediator kept insisting they could do nothing since the scammer was claiming they could provide proof.)

I happen to dabble in art, though I don't do it for my books besides graphic design/layout pieces. I could see that the "artist" had probably done this before and sent in his "proof" in an obscure file format that only other artists would be able to use (and which I have the software for) which shows, well, nothing... no proof as claimed. Once Mr. Scammer realized I wasn't some artistically illiterate person and saw that the jig was up, they deactivated their account to prevent further communication from me.

That allowed the customer service agent the opportunity to make a verdict since it became obvious the "artist" was trying to make off with all the money. Luckily, since I'd been proactive, I got all that tied up within the system and the scammer got the boot with me getting my funds back...

But what does that mean for the Horror Holiday Cards? They are still happening. I have plenty of artist friends and a guy who did some art for one of my board games is doing something similarly themed, but artistically like the old Frosty cartoon meets macabre, and I'm excited for it... he only cost a little more to hire, and I'm happy to do it! PLUS, it will be complete in time to have the cards created (domestically) and included in the fulfillment of physical orders.

Huzzah!

Make sure to share the campaign with all your friends! There's just 1 day left!