A mysterious realm where thoughts can kill, an ancient race of dimensional travelers wiped from history, a deadly secret responsible for the death of worlds, and the return of a primal enemy…

At last, the answer to the question, “When will the final Warpworld book be out?” is…NOW! This one was more than a labour of love, it was a labour of sweat, tears, and some choice curse words. Very choice. But we’re excited to give you the final chapter in Seg and Ama’s story and we hope you’ll be excited too, and maybe a little surprised.

We have some celebrations planned to go out with a bang. Starting on January 17th, we’ll be running our final blog series here on the Warpworld Comms. We’ll kick off with a conversation between Josh and I, looking back on the series, with some behind-the-scenes stories and photos. Then, we’ve invited a few guests to come and talk about those two little words that can change us forever: “The End”.

You’ll meet a bestselling author whose debilitating illness opened an unexpected creative window; a Game Master whose first campaign ending was truly magical; a sister who discovered a hidden side to her brother after his death; and an author who has some advice for writers grieving over the end of a writing project.

We’ll also have a few surprise treats and giveaways, so keep tuning in here or on our Facebook page.

Thanks for sticking with us! Here’s to The End!

Place: In Kristene and Josh’s brains

Theme: Working on the second draft of the final book of the Warpworld series, which has to be AMAZING and answer a lot of questions and also be entertaining and…oh good gravy, what have we done to ourselves??? *cries*

Dress: Casual. Like, we mean, why even bother getting out of your pajamas since you’re going to be in front of your computer screen all day–that’s how casual.

Food: Whatever can be eaten with no preparation eg. sunflower seeds, last night’s pizza, something you spilled on your shirt two days ago.

Drink: Tears.

In lieu of gifts, the authors ask for your continued patience and pity.

And while you’re waiting for this book to be finished, here’s a cute video of a baby sea otter.

Do you have any idea how long we’ve been waiting to say that? Well, I guess you do. So without further ado, here are all the spots you can get your hands on a copy right now:

Amazon (paperback)

Amazon (Kindle)

Kobo

Barnes & Nobel (Nook)

iBooks

Inktera

There are a few more vendors to come and, sorry non-US folks, it will take a bit longer for the paperback to show up on your Amazon site. <insert obligatory Canadian apology>

But wait, there’s more!

We have more news to share this week, including giveaways and freebies, so come back soon, tell your friends, tell your friends’ pets, tell your imaginary friends, tell random strangers walking down the street, shout it at them! Oh, and please don’t forget to rate and/or review us on Goodreads and/or Amazon. We love people who give us reviews, even bad reviews. It’s true. Josh and I sit around for hours talking about how much we love people who review our books and how if we ever win the lottery we’re going to give all the money to them! *nods*

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go cartwheel about a thousand times while screaming, “WOOOOO HOOOOO!”. Thanks for reading and thanks for waiting!

Blood for water

~Kristene

Go ahead and press the button, we won’t tell anyone.

Oops, now you’ve done it!

Yes, Warpworld Vol. 3, Ghost World is out and we’re pleased as the proverbial punch. What can you expect in book #3? Well, this is a spoiler free zone but here’s a taste:

A NEW STORM IS COMING

Somewhere through the warp gate, buried in the ruins of a long-dead civilization, a strange machine could be the key to the Storm that threatens Seg Eraranat’s world. But does this ghost world hold the secret of salvation or the ultimate portent of doom?

Haunted by the death of the woman he loves, and caught in the crossfire of a shadowy war, Seg Eraranat volunteers for a secret off-world mission. Not far away, Ama Kalder awakes under the care of a mysterious indigo-skinned stranger, living among a tribe of escaped slaves. With her memories lost to the Storm, she must battle for survival in the unforgiving wastes.

Separated by fate but drawn across the dimensions, Seg and Ama race to solve the mystery of the Storm before it’s too late.

Ghost World is available on all your favourite formats: Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks, inktera, Scribd, and even in…gasp…paperback!

When you’re finished, remember we always love to hear what you think!

Deposit thoughts here.

Give the authors a piece of your mind here.

To celebrate our official launch, we’ll be having sales and giveaways and even some live events. We’ve got another Shadow Story coming out, so even when the book is over you can still linger in the Wasteland a while longer. There will also be a new guest blogger series starting here on March 15th, with a new topic and a karg-load of special guests.

Whew! So much Warptasticness.

Keep your eyes on this blog for updates and goodies and inter-dimensional kittens*.

Blood for water.

~ Kristene

*Inter-dimensional kittens are illegal under Cultural Theorist Guild Code 247-G.

Actually, I think it’s worse.  Have you ever tried signing your name with a mouse?

So if you see this…

That’s the electronic version of “Kristene Perron”. Or “Joshua Simpson”. Possibly both together. Oh, and it may also a contain a mathematical equation that explains the origins of the universe.

But seriously, Josh and I will be happy to sign your ebook and we can even personalize a note just for you. All you have to do is visit us on Authorgraph: Get your e-signatures here

Also, congrats to our recent Goodreads Giveaway winners. Your signed copies are in the mail. Happy reading! For everyone else, we’ll be doing one more giveaway soon, so keep checking back.

Blood for water.

Kristene

Thanks so much, we look forward to your comments and reviews!

Blood for water

~Kristene and Josh

Warpworld is not a book (or series) with a message. Let me be clear about that. No message. None. Zero. Zip. Josh and I did not sit down with an agenda when we wrote the first book. Heck, we didn’t even sit down with a plot outline. The story demanded to be told and we have spent the ensuing years as its helpless caj.

In his recent review of Warpworld, author Noah JD Chinn captured our vision perfectly when he said…

…the authors are simply laying these cultures out there as things that exist, rather than proxies for someone’s ideals or warnings of where we might end up.

Having said that, the story had to start somewhere and that was with a premise, a couple of main characters, and a lot of world building. When it comes to the world building, this is very much a case of write what you know. It’s no surprise that Josh, who lives in the arid desert environment of west Texas, laid the foundation for Seg’s barren world and I, an ocean-loving tree-hugger who resides in the lush wilderness of western British Columbia, created Ama’s watery world. The two worlds are starkly different. This was a conscious and deliberate choice but its purpose was to create conflict, (a necessary ingredient of fiction), not to set a stage for environmental finger wagging.

Having said that, it’s no secret that protecting the world’s oceans is something I am passionate about. People like Wyland, David Suzuki, Rob Stewart, and many more, inspire me and keep alive my hope for a healthy ocean ecosystem for the generations that come after mine.

So, there’s no message in my fiction, but there is love. If you also love the ocean and would like to do something about it, here are 50 ideas for you.

*With special thanks and credit to David Helvarg (author) and Jim Toomey (illustrator) and their book 50 Ways to Save the Ocean, a project of the Blue Frontier Campaign. 

1. Visit the Beach!
2. Don’t buy anything made from coral
3. If you eat seafood, make sure it’s sustainable
4. Support businesses that are ocean-friendly
5. Pet owners, read the label on your pet’s food – consider sustainability when choosing a brand
6. Reduce Toxic Household Pollutants
7. If you go snorkeling in the sun, put on a t-shirt and shorts instead of gooping on sunscreen
8. Support organizations that protect the ocean

Even ocean predators need love!

9. Keep your carbon footprint small to reduce the effects of climate change on the ocean
10. Support Marine Education in schools
11. Recycle and help keep waste out of the water
12. Restore a stream, river or watershed
13. Go whale watching with a responsible guide
14. Don’t buy any product made from shark fins or cartilage
15. Dispose of chemicals properly, including prescription drugs
16. Divers – take only pictures, leave only bubbles
17. Join in a local fish count
18. Volunteer for a beach clean up
19. Don’t waste water
20. When boating, watch where you drop your anchor and try to use permanent anchoring buoys
21. Boycott any place that keeps marine mammals in captivity
22. Watch a documentary about the ocean and its inhabitants – Blue Planet is a wonderful start
23. Boaters, go slow around Manatees
24. Anglers, adhere to local limits and consider catch and release fishing
25. Join a marine mammal rescue center
26. Choose environmentally friendly detergents and cleaners
27. Volunteer at a marine sanctuary
28. Plant native species in your yard and reduce the amount of grass, to help keep fertilizer from seeping into the ocean
29. Don’t release non-native species into the wild
30. Don’t buy Sea Turtle products
31. Do your homework before you travel – choose beach resorts that are environmentally responsible
32. Anglers, dispose of fishing line responsibly
33. Tread carefully when exploring tide pools
34. Take your kids to play in the water – surfing, sailing, swimming
35. Use less plastic
36. Aquarium owners, only buy fish that have been collected in an environmentally responsible manner
37. Don’t touch coral when you dive or snorkel
38. Don’t feed wild marine animals
39. Learn your local maritime history
40. Report dumping or other illegal activities
41. Never chase or harass marine wildlife
42. If you see trash on the beach, pick it up
43. Use cloth or re-usable grocery bags to keep plastic bags out of the water
44. Learn about tides, navigation, and ocean currents
45. When watching ocean wildlife, keep a respectful distance
46. Keep oil off your shore
47. Cut the rings of plastic six-pack holders. Aquatic life and birds can become entangled in them.
48. Maintain your boats, cars, and other heavy equipment to reduce oil leaks
49. Be a blue boater
50. Celebrate the ocean and spread the word!

“Blood for water.”

~Kristene

The huchack is a pond-dwelling creature, roughly akin to a water-breathing porcupine. Huchacks feed by grazing on algae and minerals, which they excrete as a stringy, fibrous byproduct that can be harvested and processed into a wide variety of materials. Huchack fiber weaves can be used to create hard plastics, or softened for conversion into clothing. (One notable facet of this process is the amount of ‘rinse’ that huchack-weave clothing receives determines its worth – rough, barely processed fibers are a mark of the denizens of the underground cities [undercities] that lay under all the major urban centers of the World, while well-softened clothing [virtually indistinguishable from cotton] is a sign of true status and power.)

Another notable feature of the huchack is its venom-laden spines. As the spines accumulate ferrous materials from the grazing diet of the animal, these spines are commonly utilized in magnetically-accelerated weaponry, the most common of which is typically referred to as a ‘chack’, in reference to its source. The spines are impregnated with a low-grade toxin similar to the venom of the Brown Recluse spider of our world, which causes the mortification of tissue around the site of wounds. Chacks are extremely brutal weapons, the use of which would be considered a war crime in many civilizations.

The toxin of the huchack creates a further complication in the extraction of both huchack fibers and spines. Since the venom leaches into the water, the extraction process is universally lethal for caj sent to extract the spines, with the typical lifespan of caj sent to the ponds running at slightly less than a year. As such, pond duty is typically reserved for caj who are troublemakers or otherwise unusable.

The huchack is the blessing and the curse of the World, a symbol of the lengths the People will go in order to survive and the callousness with which they regard the rest of the universe.

~ Josh

Don’t forget to keep following the National Reading Campaign and to encourage Canadians everywhere to read!

A career nomad, Josh Simpson has driven trucks through the lower forty-eight states, treated and and disposed of hazardous waste, mixed mud as a stonemasonry laborer, failed abysmally in marketing, got on people’s nerves as a safety man, and presently gets on their nerves even more using nerve release techniques in musculo-skeletal pain relief. He lives amidst the scrub and mesquite of West Texas, cohabiting with the requisite writer’s minimum of two cats. Warpworld is his first published novel.

Q: What are you reading right now?

A: John Campbell’s Lost Fleet: Victorious

Q: As a kid, why did you love reading?

A: There’s no simple answer for that. I grew up in a family that read extensively, and so it wasn’t as if reading was a novel activity that transported me away from the humdrum of life. It was simply something we did. My family consumed food, cigarettes, and books.

Q: Are there any books that changed your life?

A: Undoubtedly any number of the loads of books I read had influence, again we read so much that pointing to a few, singular works is difficult. However, there was one story I read when I was about six or seven that does stand out. I can’t remember the name of the story, but it was a book I’d fought to read because we had fairly strict age-restrictions in the elementary library and it was considered over my ‘reading level’ in the first grade. The story was the tale of astronauts on the moon, and at the end the ‘jerk’ character sacrificed himself to save the others. The characters were on the far side, away from their base, they had enough lift in their vehicle to save two of the three they had there, and they wouldn’t be able to come back and recover the third for a week, while they had 48 hour air supplies. So at the end of the story they come back and find out that rather than wait for his air to run out, he’d popped his suit and gone out on his own terms. This ending was very different and that’s why it stayed with me so long, because at that age the typical fare would have had the jerk be redeemed and become a nice guy, and there’s always a way to save everyone. This was my first exposure to a Cold Equations type of story where the reality is that people are lost along the way.

Q: Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

A: Dog ear-er, for sure. I usually keep a nonfic in the bathroom and they typically have a dog-ear for every page or two.

Q: Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

A: Dirk Struan from Clavell’s Tai-Pan. Such a well-rendered character. As for favorite villain I’d pretty much have to go for Tyler Brock from same novel. The conflict between the two was deep and multi-faceted, strangely honorable yet utterly cutthroat.

Q: Anything else you want to say about reading?

A: Heinlein put it best – slightly less addictive than heroin, more expensive than weed.

Thanks Josh! (Now get back to work, we have a third draft to finish!)