* By “beta read” I mean give feedback on while I read it to you live on stream.
** By “new” I mean a novella I’ve been working on for about fifteen years and am nearly finished with at last.
Last year, I published Dwayne, my first novella in the Tales from Existentia collection. The story of a woman who wakes up to find a 15-ton boulder just chilling in her living room was the first piece of long-form fiction I’d ever published, and I was nervous as hell about it. But it went over astonishingly well, especially considering the strange nature of the story!
Now, it’s time begin preparing to publish the second story from that collection…
Monkey Maids
Monkey Maids is a truly bizarre novella about two roommates…and seventeen primates…all attempting to co-exist in a two-bedroom apartment in Chicago.
There are shenanigans aplenty, ill-advised attempts at commercializing untrained monkeys, and, beneath all the madness, a tale about the lengths we’ll go to find human (and simian) connection.
I wrote the first draft of Monkey Maids sometime around 2008, and I’ve loved it. But I didn’t feel like I had it quite figured out what it was trying to say, or do, or be.
I’ve spent the past year, since the publication of Dwayne, poking away at the story, and now it’s almost ready for publication. Which means it’s time for…
Beta Reads!*
I’m nearing the end of the editing process on Monkey Maids, and I want you to be a beta reader*!
But I’m not asking you to read the draft, then send me feedback, like a traditional beta read. Honestly, who has time for that?
Nope, I actually want to read Monkey Maids to YOU. Live. On stream. Then, I want you to give me feedback in real time!
This way, everybody wins!
You get:
- A live reading from me, the author!
- An advance look at the next Tale from Existentia!
- A chance to impact the final version of the novella!
And I get:
- Your excellent feedback!
- A chance to vet this very weird tale with a live audience!
- Like a ton of beta reads*!
Since this is clearly going to be so much fun, I want to make the live-streams as accessible as possible to as many people as I can. In order to do that, I need to know what works for you. I’ve put together a short series of questions that will help me decide when and where to hold my live reading sessions.
I’d be ever so much obliged if you’d take a minute or two to fill out this quick survey!
PS – I’ve got a new project coming up soon with Oneshi Press! It’s a one-off high-fantasy role-playing game set in the Children of Gaia universe I’ve been helping to develop for a decade or so, and it’s going to be amazing! It’s combined with a gorgeous coloring book of fantasy animals and a short comic. You’ll love it! Follow now by clicking here!
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