First, I apologize for the broken link. It’s the first time in more than a year that I’ve typed one in by hand, then failed to test it. So of course, it would die.
Second, in spite of the link typo, I have a couple more than nine volunteers to read WARPAINT. ๐
So here’s what I’m going to do.
The first three readers are in on pure speed. You open the email that quickly, navigate past the broken link, and show up within a couple minutes of the post going live, you get to read.
Next two are in on speed of post plus best “Reason Why,” because the reason you want to do it matters a hell of a lot to me. So, working up the list from earliest to latest, I’m tapping the first two awesome-reason-why readers I come to.
Last four are in on speed plus something VERY specific. I need two readers who have already read HTCB, and I need two readers who have NOT read HTCB—and I’ll let these folks know especially why they were chosen, because I have the following questions I need to have answered. QUICKLY.
HTCB Readers:
1) Did WARPAINT answer questions raised but left unanswered by HTCB? If not, which questions remain?
2) Did you find any contradictions between the first and second books that were not answered in WARPAINT?
(The meaning here, wary reader, is that I built one core part of the plot on a contraction with the first book that came about when I realized I’d done something in the novel physics of HTCB that was a disaster (Novel physics, by the way, do not relate literally to physics. “Novel physics” is a shorthand for “this is the set of rules by which my story world works.”
In WARPAINT, I solve the disaster by showing and using the contradiction AND the disaster as part of the plot. So I don’t need to know about that one. But anything else, yes.)
Non-HTCB Readers:
1) At any point, did I lose you? If so, WHERE? (The book is intended to stand alone, and I need to make sure that it does.) Just one question, but I need to know every single place where I accidentally assumed knowledge from the previous book that you didn’t have so I can fix it. And I need to hear back on this VERY quickly, so if you’re not a fast reader, please let me know so someone else can step in and take your place.
Why Does SPEED MATTER So Much?
Because I need bug-hunting for the print version of WARPAINT by NEXT MONDAY, and for the ebook version of WARPAINT by next WEDNESDAY. (This is just no damn time at all, and I realize this, and I apologize.)
The folks here first demonstrated the ability to respond to urgency.
There’s a lot more time for folks who are reviewing, but for folks bug-hunting or answering questions, time is critical. I want to have live copies of the book available on all platforms for all readers starting to show up by the end of next week. And to actually be able to promo the book the first part of the week after. I want at least to have it live at LEAST a few days before Christmas.
The faster you can get a good list of bugs and some good answers to questions to me, the easier making that happen becomes.
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