Halfway on the second day!

Thank you EVERYONE for your help thus far! We're already past the halfway mark for the campaign's goal of $5,000. Your contributions will help make publishing The Evenarian a reality. To show my deepest thanks for your overwhelming support, I want to give something back.

I was hesitant to offer a reward level that basically amounts to pre-sales of the book because negotiating with publishers is notoriously difficult and because, as Kickstarter has stated, this website is not a store.

But with this much support already, I am prepared to buy the books from the publisher and mail them to you my making a new pledge level of $41. If you've already pledged at a lower level, you can still adjust your pledge amount.

With this new funding level, I hope we will be able to reach $7,000. So tell your friends that they can pledge and "pre-purchase" the book for $41. And if we reach this second push goal of $7,000, then I will add a very affordable level where I mail you a map of The Evenarian's world. So after all is said and done, you'll get a little tube in the mail with a map that you can hang on your wall - but only if we can reach that second push goal.

I love you guys. No, really. Everyone who contributed, even at the $1 level. Your support means everything. I hope you will share this Kickstarter campaign with your friends and ultimately enjoy my book.

Click here to make or adjust your pledge.

Also, I'm going to post another excerpt from the book on my blog shortly. So stay tuned for that!

Hey everybody, I made a video!

Who's excited to see a new video about The Evenarian? I'm putting the finishing touches on the short video that will be on my official Kickstarter page come November 1, but I couldn't wait to share it with all of you!

It's a casual conversation in a San Francisco cafe. It's a glimpse at my working routine and my office. It's also a great overview of the book. I put a lot of positive vibes into this video and hopefully you'll want your friends to feel them too, so let them know about it.

And as always, kill the prophecy, save history.

WE DID IT!

We have reached our goal of 100 likes on Facebook!!!

It's such a nice thing to wake up to this morning. This book means everything to me, and I'm ecstatic to learn that other people like the idea, and support me writing it. I have these characters in my head, and they each have fully formed opinions on what is truth. I left my job to bring them to life, and into bookshelves where you can read about them. It's hard work, and lonely at times. But your support encourages me. Again, thank you.

Like! Share! Stalk!

Barnaby was right in his blog: I am shy about releasing my work. But that needs to change.

I feel like I've been a "behind the scenes" writer for too long. If you saw me at my old jobs at the Rochester Business Journal or the San Francisco Business Times then I was just a page in the newspaper, a voice on the phone or a name on an email signature. But a key thing about being an author today is the process of building and even becoming your own brand. The mysterious reclusive author no longer exists in a world where everyone has the internet in their pockets. So let's go with it, shall we?

"Like" the Evenarian page on Facebook and you'll be guaranteed to get instant updates about the book's status - and ways you can help make the published book a reality. You can start by liking the page and sharing it on your own Facebook profiles! I'll post some excerpts from the manuscript soon after I write some more of the book. I know you're all excited to see that. So click the "like" button on the top right of the Facebook page, keep reading this blog, and you'll be the first to hear of any writing samples as soon as they're out.

Kill Hitler

The Evenarian will be fantasy book, like Game of Thrones, but it has a character who had time-traveled to kill a historical figure who will be responsible for causing the future world's problems. It's a takeoff on the old "if only someone would go back in time and kill Hitler" idea. But would that actually work out?
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We assume the kill-Hitler scenario would work because that era is so well-documented and we have many first-hand accounts of what happened (let's face it, The History Channel owes its success to World War II's thorough records), so a prospective time-traveling assassin would be able to pinpoint the perfect moment to swoop in and complete his mission. But even though those events took place less than 100 years ago, there are still many gaps and unsolved mysteries of the era.

So...what if someone went back in time several centuries, even thousands of years, with a similar goal? What if the man they try to kill had been prophesied? Can one really kill a prophecy to save history?

Ironically, we rely on history to help shape our worldviews and often our own identities. But can we really know everything in history? No. It's impossible. Just think of all the mistakes one over-confident person could make if they were actually able to go back in time.

Suddenly that whole kill-Hitler thing doesn't sound so simple. Nether is killing The Evenarian.

Hey everybody, I'm writing a novel!

-->Like the rest of the civilized world, my husband and I were hitting Game of Thrones pretty hard last year. I was awed by George Martin's ability to craft a nuanced, believable world. At that time, we were also reading a book by Neal Stephenson, one of the best-known names in speculative fiction. That book was "Anathem," which is about a planet where science and the regular world are firmly divided, to harrowing results.

One day, my husband Barnaby said to me out of the blue "I have an idea for a book." Turns out it was not "out of the blue." He had the main plot, themes and characters fully developed in his mind from conception, to the point where he told me an amazingly detailed story from start to finish. The man is a genius.
Instantly I knew this was the kind of book I had always wanted to write. The more we talked about it, the more excited we became. As lifelong science fiction and fantasy fans, we were thrilled to discover something this good to give back to the community that have brought us so much inspiration and enjoyment over the years.
I've wanted to write a book - this book - for a long time. As we shared the idea with friends, we got overwhelmingly positive feedback. "I would read that" so many people told us. We knew were onto something special. So this year, with my husband's support and with the support of my readers and friends, I left my full-time job as a journalist to focus on writing full-time.
Imagine, if you will...
A traveler arrives into a medieval world to prevent the original rift between magic and science that has caused so much strife throughout history. His goal: kill a messianic figure foretold by prophecy. Known only as the Evenarian, this man (or woman) was responsible for spreading a revolutionary message that led to science's supremacy over magic, and to a future full of war. To save history, the traveler has to do more than eliminate a person. He must kill a prophecy. 

And now, we're able to share this story with all of you. Stay tuned for more!

--Julia P. Dickinson