Not Dead Yet Newsletter #16

Read this newsletter on the web.

In this 16th edition of the Not Dead Yet Newsletter, I cover my new story, WriterStead, and Everyone Dies review score.

Iron Meridian: Solarpunk vs Dieselpunk

Help shape a dieselpunk-versus-solarpunk fantasy before it’s published. Become a beta reader!

During my vacation I stopped trying to write a sequel to "Everyone Dies" and started on a new book.

For years, I've had this vision of writing a gritty book about a conflict between two warring states who both conquer new dimensions. One is a dieselpunk empire with a strong religious foundation to control thought. The other is a solarpunk-style empire that uses cultural design to control thought. While one is absolutely better for the environment, both societies have their issues.

While the book isn't finished yet, I'm looking for beta readers. You'll read 20-30 chapters, answer some specific questions, and give me brutally honest feedback. I need people willing to tell me what I'm doing right and wrong.

I’m looking for feedback on how both empires claim to be the ethical choice. Read it and tell me which one you believed.

Click here to become a beta reader of Iron Meridian.

WriterStead launched!

A quick note from behind the scenes: we're (my wife and I) launching WriterStead, a website builder and help system made specifically for authors. It’s designed to make the audience-growing side of being a writer a little less tangled. It provides an author-focused website with the tools us writers already use to grow our readership, integrating with email lists, StoryOrigin, and BookFunnel.

My wife built it, she's fantastic with technology.

What's my role? I'm the person who onboards people to WriterStead. In discord (in chat and calls) I help fellow authors get WriterStead working the way they need with other tools like BookFunnel, StoryOriginApp, and the nigh infinite list of email list providers.

I'm in the process of bringing over my own grimdaniel.com site, you can see what I've done so far here: drg.writerstead.com

If you are an author and would like to try it out, (and have me help onboard you), you can learn more at writerstead.com/from/drg/newsletter-16. If you use that link, you'll get 50% off your first month.

Also, for every person you have sign up off your own referral link (which I can help you set up), you get a month free. There's no limit to this, our dream is that we have people who never pay except for their first month.

Click to try out WriterStead at 50% off

Everyone Dies drops to 4.6 😱

Yes, it's true. My book, "Everyone Dies", has dropped from 4.7 to a 4.6 rating on Amazon.

More seriously, I'm happy with all the reviews I'm getting. In fact, I'll take some more please. 😃 Please leave a quick review.

Featured stories I've reviewed

When survival is a lesson carved in blood, hesitation is a death sentence.
A grounded grimdark novella about a young miner caught between brutal systems, impossible choices, and the forest that punishes both.
Read my 5 star review

Duty, knowledge, and survival in a living world
A tale of a cold healer trapped inside a living titan, where mercy is the deadliest Protocol
Read my 5 star review

Stories by other authors

Bite-sized horror stories are brought to you by twenty-five authors.

The Arena Doesn't Know What It's Cheering For.

She stole once. They stole her life.
A dark fantasy of debt, power, and the brutal arithmetic of survival

A dead agent. A silent town. A conspiracy written in her own hand.

When a Stranger's Golden Eyes Held the Answer to a Question Yet Unspoken.
A dark epic fantasy with complex characters, dangerous magic, and a world that doesn't forgive.

A Space Opera with Dragons.

Mild; mistaken; mortified. And dark father of the Realm."