Update on three concurrent projects

 I've got three concurrent projects I'm working on alternately at the moment.

Work continues on the audiobook for book two. I've posted chapter 13 to Soundclick. Incidentally, in search of new listeners, I've also posted the entire audiobook of book one to YouTube, but my antiquated software of choice, Windows Movie Maker, resulted in some pretty crappy audio quality, so I'll probably have to re-do it.

I'm about 124 pages into the manuscript for book 3, and I've made some real improvements to the plot summary for the rest; it really feels like it's coming together as a coherent story.

I've also recently begun serious work on a Spanish translation of book 1. Combining my own language skills with some surprisingly good help from Google Translate has made the project feasible, and so far I have completed two chapters of the first draft of the translation.

Updated Book Two's title in the sneak preview at the end of Book One

After my little anxiety attack about that line in chapter 5 of book two and making the one-word change associated with it, I figured while I was at it, I'd also update the ebook and paperback of book one where I have a sneak preview of book two at the end, to reflect the updated spelling of book two's title. So I guess that will result in more existing copies becoming collectors editions someday in the far future.

Made a one-word change in Book Two

(08-01-2022) Tonight I read an article about Beyoncé promising to re-record a lyric on her new album, and I found out that the word "spaz," which in the United States is a 1980's slang term for "freaking out" apparently in other countries is used as an ableist slur toward people with Cerebral Palsy.

I was horrified to find this out. I was not aware of this fact, as I had never heard the word ever used in this context. I had only ever heard it as a benign slang term as a kid.

Upon finding out about the derogatory use of this word, I am immediately removing it from the line in Chapter 5 of Book Two, in which Persephone referred to Don's reaction to finding the bootleg Oklabraska tape as a "happy fanboy spaz dance." I've removed it from both the ebook and the print version of Jerry Copperpot and the Voyage of the John Heeder. I am also cutting it out of the still-unfinished audiobook and will update the file on my Soundclick site.

If the Cancel Police are reading this, please be aware that whatever you say about me is probably not nearly as bad as the dialogue that I could write for Mulderscull in this situation.

But that said, I officially and fully apologize to any and every person I may have offended, either in the past or the future, with the use of that word.

Book Two has been retitled AGAIN!

 

I finally just went ahead and changed the spelling of Book Two's title AGAIN, this time to Jerry Copperpot and the Voyage of the John Heeder. Because I'm just that nitpicky, and my wife also confirms that John looks better than Jawn. It's less nonsensical, and helps to avoid distracting from the Narnia parody in the title. Here's to hoping that my fellow Narnia fans will like it better too.

Here's the link to the new ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2QK7VRD

And if Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder ever saw my book, I would hope he'd feel honored to have a fictional ship named after him in a non-infringing sort of way; a ship whose captain is a (spoiler alert!) giant trilobite that speaks only in phraseology derived from popular online quotes from the film.  Now, I'm just waiting for Amazon to approve the new edition. In the meantime, the previous versions have been discontinued. All existing copies of the previous two editions, including the 4 unsold ones sitting on a shelf in my bedroom, are now collector's items that are still worth reading but not worth collecting.

All previous blog posts referencing Book Two will be retroactively edited to reflect the new name and the links updated, as soon as I have the new links.

Now I have to change the title spelling on my advertising fliers, and turn the old ads into paper airplanes for my kids to throw around the house.

I also plan to fix the book purchase link, cover art, title etc on the available audiobook chapters on my Soundclick and Soundcloud pages. And maybe even get off my butt and do some more work on Book 3.

Because this is what you do when you're bored on Memorial Day.

Work continues on audiobook 2; also joined Soundcloud

I've finished re-recording all the parts of book 2 that reference the name of the ship and the changes in the title. The first edits of Chapter 9 parts 1 and 2 are now complete, and available to stream on my Soundclick site.

I've also joined Soundcloud, however they will only let me upload 3 hours worth of audio on a free account. But at least it gives my first audiobook a little more exposure to the public, and they make it easy to link to the Amazon page to buy the audible version.

Here's the link to Soundcloud: 

https://soundcloud.com/michael-j-goble