You all voted for the next novel I will write and here it is, Natural Born Cyborgs! You can click on the buttons below, on the page up top, or on the pic to your right! So many places to clickaroo!
Want to know the final tally? Here ya go!
Natural Born Cyborgs
53%
Big Box Blood Bath
29%
PoDLanD
17%
For all of you Big Box Blood Bath fans out there, don’t you worry. I have some ideas for that one! How would you feel about a serialized novel? Released in installments? That seems to be the big thing right now and BBBB would be perfect for that! Throw your thoughts on that into the comments section below.
Have other comments (I know you do)? Then comment away! I want this pre-order process to be open and fun. Ask me anything and as long as it doesn’t involve spoilers I’ll answer!
So get to pre-orderin’!
Cheers!
United States Pre-order
International Pre-order
Natural Born Cyborgs– The techno-virus used by the Three hundreds of years ago has mutated and combined with BC (biochrome) to create a generation of natural born cyborgs- part biorganic metal, part human. Society decides these Splicers, as they are called, are too dangerous to let live and rounds them up for extermination. Those not found must hide their true natures and fight for their lives. And the lives of those yet born. Set in the same universe as DEAD MECH, but hundreds of years after the events in the Apex Trilogy, Natural Born Cyborgs is the first in the Splicer Wars series of novels that introduce the world to the new MechPunk style of science fiction- raw, unrelenting, brutal, and shiny.
It has been decided that Natural Born Cyborgs will be the next novel I write. I set up a couple of polls to narrow it down and my adoring (they adore me!) public voted and let me know handily which novel they wanted to read first.
Which means two novels didn’t get picked. What of those? Well, the runner up was Big Box Blood Bath. That was a surprise. At no point did I think that title would take second overall. I thought it would be a fringe title that maybe one day I’d take a look at. I have to say I am quite pleased that my readers wanted that one second.
Actually, quite a few wanted it to be first. And makes me wonder how many of those that voted will pre-order Natural Born Cyborgs when what they wanted was Big Box Blood Bath. Of things that make you go hmmmm, this is the hmmmiest. I hate to disappoint a large portion of my readership, but I can only write one novel at a time. Sure, I’ll put it back on the list when it’s time to vote for the next next novel I write. But what if it gets second again? Will there be an armed uprising? Mobs burning me in effigy? Dogs and cats living together? Total anarchy?
I don’t know. I do know that I will have to watch that issue when it comes time to vote on my next next novel. If the vote is close maybe I’ll pick the top two. The great thing is there are only the rules that I set. If I want to write two novels that are voted on then I can do that! The main thing is whether they get pre-ordered and funded.
That brings me to the pre-order question (pre-order info will be up later this week): how many of the folks that voted will now pony up $50-$75 to pre-order Natural Born Cyborgs? As we know, living in the democracy that we do, votes are cheap. Books cost money. This is all a grand idea and experiment, but certainly not a done deal. The great thing is it can’t fail. Why? Because it is open ended. I am not putting a deadline on funding the project. It could get funding in six days or it could take six months. No one will know until it happens. I’ll promote the project for sure, but I can’t make that all I talk about or folks will tune me out. Can’t have that! NO ONE TUNES OUT JAKE BIBLE!
There is another thing this project has made me aware of: I need to up my writing game. I can’t just crank out this novel and hand it to the readers and say, “There you have it. Take it or leave it.”. That’ll kill any chance of doing the project again. So I have to make sure that this novel is better than all the others I have written previous. No hack and slash fiction here! Well, some of the characters may hack and may get slashed, but the words on the page have to be well thought out. In other words, I have my work cut out for me to make this the best novel I’ve written.
Fingers crossed I can deliver. I’m pretty sure I can. The notes I already have are getting detailed. The world I get to build will be on the foundation already set in the Apex Trilogy. But I get to totally mess with that and warp it how my warped mind likes to warp things. Warpalicious!
How about I talk some on the actually pattern of voting? Great idea! And there was a pattern, for sure. The first round of voting started on a Monday. That was when I got the most votes. The voting participation declined as the week went on. It also declined during the day until I sent out a tweet or posted on Facebook, then the votes would start coming in. This pattern was to be expected. Also, when I moved to the final round of voting, there were less participants than in the first round. That was to be expected as well. You lose participants to attrition. Some burnout on the promotional announcements, some just plain forget.
What I really found interesting was the pack mentality that set in on the last round of voting. In the first round people could only see the results as I posted them on my Facebook page. This blind voting freed folks up to vote how they wanted without regard to which novel was in the lead. In the last round of voting I set it so folks could see the results whenever they wanted to. This meant that those that may have wanted to vote for Big Box Blood Bath may have actually ended up voting for Natural Born Cyborgs. It’s simple human psychology that folks want to back a winner. But when I tweeted or posted that the race was still on and any title could win I would see an uptick in votes for Big Box Blood Bath and for PoDLanD. Showing people love an underdog when rallied.
Nothing groundbreaking. This is simple poll and statistics behavior. I haven’t discovered anything that pollsters haven’t already known. It’s just cool to see it first hand.
There you have it for now. I am sure I’ll come across more insights into the process and I’ll post about those. I want this process from here until I publish Natural Born Cyborgs to be open and honest. Have a question for me? Then comment away below! Or send me an email or tweet or FB message. For those of you that have reached out you know I’m pretty responsive. And just damn pretty!
Welcome to the Top Three novel pitches! These novels fought their way through the first round of ten and have come out triumphant! But, as you know, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
So vote below and on Monday the 22nd of April I will announce the winner and that will be the novel I write next!
But, before you vote, know this: I am letting people see the results as they happen this time. This way when you vote you will know what title is in the lead. Not the one you want? Then rally others to come and vote! Sway them towards your personal preference, make them see it your way, bring them into the light! In other words get your mom and cousin Nora to vote. It’s free.
NOW VOTE!
Natural Born Cyborgs–
The techno-virus used by the Three hundreds of years ago has mutated and combined with BC (biochrome) to create a generation of natural born cyborgs- part biorganic metal, part human. Society decides these Splicers, as they are called, are too dangerous to let live and rounds them up for extermination. Those not found must hide their true natures and fight for their lives. And the lives of those yet born.
Set in the same universe as DEAD MECH, but hundreds of years after the events in the Apex Trilogy, Natural Born Cyborgs is the first in the Splicer Wars series of novels that introduce the world to the new MechPunk style of science fiction- raw, unrelenting, brutal, and shiny.
Big Box Blood Bath–
The world outside BigMart is gone.
No more.
Adios.
Kaput.
Those left inside cannot leave.
Ever.
Naturally, real estate is divided and factions are formed upon the concrete and between the massive shelves of foodstuffs and durable goods.
It’s men versus women, children versus the aged.
And every aisle for itself!
A gore-filled romp of Thunderdome meets The Mist all set in a Sam’s Club-style hell.
PoDLanD–
In The Retail States of America, the PoDs are everything. School, shopping, dining, and work are all done in the PoDs. Why go outside? Why ever leave a PoD? PoDs are life!
But for Customer Service PoD Captain First Class Huxley Moore, the world tips upside down and Huxley finds himself, and his two other ComPoDres, flung out into the Wildz.
Literally flung. Like their PoD was picked up and thrown out into the Wildz. Well, not really. More like a major system malfunction that activates their PoD’s escape protocols. Either way, not good.
Now Huxley, and his ComPoDres, must drag their PoD through the Commune, the Coast, the Cascades, the Columbia, the Cartels, and the Capitol, in order to get back to the Customers they have sworn to protect and serve.
Join Huxley in this science fiction satire as he fights his way back to his life in PoDLanD and discovers some truths along the way.
It is time for you to pick my next novel. Voting will be open all week and through the weekend. It will narrow down to three and then voting on those three will be on Monday. Huzzah!
Natural Born Cyborgs–
The techno-virus used by the Three hundreds of years ago has mutated and combined with BC (biochrome) to create a generation of natural born cyborgs- part biorganic metal, part human. Society decides these Splicers, as they are called, are too dangerous to let live and rounds them up for extermination. Those not found must hide their true natures and fight for their lives. And the lives of those yet born.
Set in the same universe as DEAD MECH, but hundreds of years after the events in the Apex Trilogy, Natural Born Cyborgs is the first in the Splicer Wars series of novels that introduce the world to the new MechPunk style of science fiction- raw, unrelenting, brutal, and shiny.
Chrome–
Stone and Reginald are back. The two bioborgs (organic metal cyborgs with human consciousnesses) from the Apex Trilogy are now in the Mexican Empire and refusing to get along with anyone or play nice. Sucked into a world of drugs, violence, greed, and corruption, the partners, and former operatives for the Three, are pushed to their limits. Unfortunately for those pushing, Stone and Reginald have no limits. A high-action techno-thriller, Chrome continues the brutal, unrelentingly violent saga of two killers trained in the art of chaos and destruction.
PAIN–
Day is for the Unseen. Night is for everyone else if they want to stay alive.
But that is about to change…
In an alien landscape, humanity is forced to live at night and only the Coffin Men travel from settlement to settlement, bringing needed supplies, information, and entertainment. Pulling their massive iron Coffins behind them –their homes, their armories, their sanctuaries- these men brave the dangers of the night and fear only the Unseen of the day. But Coffin Men are never allies. They work for themselves and protect their routes with brutal finality, many times entertaining settlements with a no-holds barred fight to the death to see which Coffin Man will keep their territory or lose it to a new challenger.
Trained by his father, but left orphaned, Pain is known as one of the most ruthless of the Coffin Men, having raised himself from a young boy, pulling his Coffin on his own, developing the skills of a killer, trader, fighter, ambassador without help from anyone. When Pain hears whispers in his mind during his fretful daytime sleep, he realizes that the Unseen may no longer be willing to keep only to the day as they have for millennia. Something has changed. And Pain knows that if he doesn’t unite the settlements, and the Coffin Men, then humanity’s tenuous grasp on survival is over.
Stone Cold Bastards–
What if the Dirty Dozen were a crack team of gargoyles that must defend their Sanctuary against a raving horde of demon-possessed humans that want nothing more than the destruction of the entire human race and all that is good?
Yeah. That.
Stone Cold Bastards is set in a world where Hell has released every last demon and most of humanity is now a puke-spewing, blue-skinned, head-spinning mess. The last hope humanity has are a rag-tag team of gargoyles, come to life and ready for battle now that the End of Days is at hand. Do the gargoyles care that humanity is being wiped out? Not really. Do they intend to go defend those that are being brutally murdered and tortured? Not so much. Will they fight to their last carved claw to keep their Sanctuary, and everyone in it, from harm? Oh, hell yes they will!
Will they open their Sanctuary to a wandering gargoyle and the small child it says is the last hope for all? They haven’t decided yet. They’re thinking about it over bottles of whiskey. Come back tomorrow.
Action, violence, pulpy good fun is what Stone Cold Bastards is all about!
Big Box Blood Bath–
The world outside BigMart is gone.
No more.
Adios.
Kaput.
Those left inside cannot leave.
Ever.
Naturally, real estate is divided and factions are formed upon the concrete and between the massive shelves of foodstuffs and durable goods.
It’s men versus women, children versus the aged.
And every aisle for itself!
A gore-filled romp of Thunderdome meets The Mist all set in a Sam’s Club-style hell.
Instinct–
Peter Bremer is a man thrust into a world of brutal violence as he tries to help a friend escape the clutches of organized crime. Peter has never fired a gun, never held a knife outside of his kitchen, never been in a fight.
Never killed anyone.
But the man quickly finds out he’s good at all if it. Some might say he has an instinct for it.
Especially the killing.
Instinct is a non-stop thriller that puts Peter in harm’s way on every page. A race to the death, Instinct pulls zero punches and will leave you breathless as Peter Bremer discovers, and must come to terms with, his true nature.
PoDLanD–
In The Retail States of America, the PoDs are everything. School, shopping, dining, and work are all done in the PoDs. Why go outside? Why ever leave a PoD? PoDs are life!
But for Customer Service PoD Captain First Class Huxley Moore, the world tips upside down and Huxley finds himself, and his two other ComPoDres, flung out into the Wildz.
Literally flung. Like their PoD was picked up and thrown out into the Wildz. Well, not really. More like a major system malfunction that activates their PoD’s escape protocols. Either way, not good.
Now Huxley, and his ComPoDres, must drag their PoD through the Commune, the Coast, the Cascades, the Columbia, the Cartels, and the Capitol, in order to get back to the Customers they have sworn to protect and serve.
Join Huxley in this science fiction satire as he fights his way back to his life in PoDLanD and discovers some truths along the way.
Backyard–
“Some things insist on coming back inside, even when you’ve put them out back forever.”
The Reardons have moved from their shattered lives in Chicago to a small, old, family farm in the rural mountains of North Carolina. They struggle to pick up the pieces after their son and daughter are killed by a drunk driver. Now an only child, eight year old Abby must cope with a father that blames himself, a mother that has checked out with booze and drugs, and a new life on a farm with a sinister past. And a deadly future.
Backyard is a classic horror story harkening back to such greats as Ghost Story and The Shining. It tells the tale of a young girl that is for all intents and purposes on her own in an unfamiliar setting that would love nothing more than to have her join the things that live (or not) in the backyard forever.
B.A.M.F.V.–
Sick of the pop culture bullshit, vampires decide to come out to the world and show humanity that they’re just as varied as the race they came from. But before the vampires and the humans can come to an understanding of co-existence, the fundamentalist religions of the world declare war on the bloodsuckers. Just as an alien race targets the Earth for destruction.
Now the same religions, along with the rest of the human race, must beg the vampires to help save them from a force even more deadly than the fanged creatures of the night. Lucky for humanity, despite their variations in physicality, temperament and appetite, every single one of the bloodsuckers are Bad Ass Mother Fucking Vampires.
It’s Underworld meets Mars Attacks! in this crazy horror/scifi mash-up that will leave the reader cringing, crying, howling with laughter, and on the edge of their seat as those that meant to drain the last drop of blood from humanity now have to save them in order to survive.
Consume–
In America we are taught that Capitalism is the most important part of our society. There is debate about that amongst the many political and social organizations, but for Trey Bellamy there is no debate. The mighty dollar and all that it can buy is king in his book! Until one day he buys his morning latte and screams in pain. He is horrified to find a chunk of flesh missing from his lower leg. The ER says it is obviously the result of an animal attack. Trey knows it is obviously not. So when he goes to pay the ER bill, and two fingers are chomped off his left hand before his eyes, Trey begins a quest to find answers to more than just his spending problems. From the high-rise offices of medical research mega-corporations to the dank basements of Hoodoo priests, Trey has to figure out how to navigate a culture that runs on paying for what you need and rejecting those that can’t. But can he find an answer before spending more money and is forever consumed?
B.A.M.F.V.-
Sick of the pop culture bullshit, vampires decide to come out to the world and show humanity that they’re just as varied as the race they came from. But before the vampires and the humans can come to an understanding of co-existence, the fundamentalist religions of the world declare war on the bloodsuckers. Just as an alien race targets the Earth for destruction.
Now the same religions, along with the rest of the human race, must beg the vampires to help save them from a force even more deadly than the fanged creatures of the night. Lucky for humanity, despite their variations in physicality, temperament and appetite, every single one of the bloodsuckers are Bad Ass Mother Fucking Vampires.
It’s Underworld meets Mars Attacks! in this crazy horror/scifi mash-up that will leave the reader cringing, crying, howling with laughter, and on the edge of their seat as those that meant to drain the last drop of blood from humanity now have to save them in order to survive.
Consume-
In America we are taught that Capitalism is the most important part of our society. There is debate about that amongst the many political and social organizations, but for Trey Bellamy there is no debate. The mighty dollar and all that it can buy is king in his book! Until one day he buys his morning latte and screams in pain. He is horrified to find a chunk of flesh missing from his lower leg. The ER says it is obviously the result of an animal attack. Trey knows it is obviously not. So when he goes to pay the ER bill, and two fingers are chomped off his left hand before his eyes, Trey begins a quest to find answers to more than just his spending problems. From the high-rise offices of medical research mega-corporations to the dank basements of Hoodoo priests, Trey has to figure out how to navigate a culture that runs on paying for what you need and rejecting those that can’t. But can he find an answer before spending more money and is forever consumed?
Jake Bible Fiction 