Updates

Since March I’ve been getting questions from readers worried that there is no planned third installment into The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs (TCOJT). If you fall in that group I want to relax your concerns. I’m working on the next book daily. I have an infant these days, so sometimes I only get butt-in-seat-typing time for twenty minutes, but I use it to move the project forward.

I have a working title for the next installment, but I’m holding off on announcing it for two reasons:

I’ve decided that, if TCOJT III starts heading upwards of 800 pages without feeling like I’m near the planned conclusion, I’ll need to seriously consider breaking the book in two. I am rather resistant, after having stated for years that I had planned a trilogy. Regardless, if this happened I would obviously need two titles and in that scenario my current working title might not fit either of the theoretical books.
I’ve learned my lesson from book two. If you don’t know, I was at one time, pretty sure that The Never Paradox was going to be titled The Never Trespass. During the revision process I felt the book should be more focused on the complexities of time paradox then it was on the many ‘trespasses’ that took place. So, I changed the title, and for months afterward, I saw people confused about what book was coming out. So… yeah… let’s not do that again.

Updates:

(1) The Never Store

The Never Store launched back in August. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can here.

(2) Kindle X-Ray

Amazon has given authors more power to improve the reading experience of ebooks. If you have seen the X-Ray option in the kindle app when reading before you may already know what I am talking about. If you haven’t, the X-Ray option now allows me to go in and basically set things like a glossary of characters and terms that the reader can access while reading. This includes descriptions of characters as well as aiming Wikipedia articles to the appropriate content. For instance, if you didn’t know who Mr. Miyagi was when the name was dropped in The Never Hero, I can now actually select the appropriate Wikipedia information that will tell you about the karate kid character.Now, I know most of you reading the blog aren’t going to go reread the whole book for that…

“but wait… dares more!”

The new tools now allow me to put in commentary. So, I spent awhile the other day putting in anything I thought was noteworthy about the characters. In other words, it is a lot like watching a movie with director commentary turned on now.

Anyhow, if you were ever curious about things like what inspired characters like Hayden and Collin, you can check it out in your Kindle App. Also, if you haven’t done so, I do recommend making sure you have the latest version of the ebook. It has been a long time since I’ve been notified of any errors in The Never Hero, as I always fixed them immediately if a reader was kind enough to let me know, but that doesn’t mean that the file you’ve have on your device is getting those updates. I recommend checking out this tutorial on how to check for updates and make sure all your ebooks are actually the most recent published version.

*Note, at this time I’ve only completed commentary for The Never Hero.

(3) Donuts Gaming

Readers, I am going to abuse you– just this once, I promise–but its for nepotism! …er I meant… a good cause!

My oldest son, Luke, has always wanted to start a youtube gaming channel. For obvious reasons he has always found the idea daunting. So, in an attempt at being… I don’t know… a role model or something, I recently decided to help him. So, I’ve started teaching him what I know about video and sounds editing so he could learn to bring the production quality of the videos up.

Anyhow, if you happen to be a gamer, like gaming videos, or just want to laugh a bit, it would mean the world to me if you’d check out our first video. Hoping a few likes, comments, and subscriber will inspire him to put his creative efforts “all in.”

The Never Paradox – Audiobook and Paperback Editions Now Available

I know a lot of you have been waiting for The Never Paradox to be available on paperback or audiobook. Steven Barnett and I wanted to give both these formats 100%, and now that they are here we can’t wait to hear what you think! I am perpetually honored to have each of you as readers. I can’t thank you enough for your patience, support, and kind words!

Audiobook

Currently Available on:
Audible
Amazon
iTunes

Paperback

Currently Available on:
Amazon
Barnes and Nobles

Rocking Self Publishing Author Interview

Hi Folks! I was recently interviewed on the Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast.

I had a great time talking to Simon about the The Never Paradox and all that came between book one’s release and the sequel. We discussed the fans and beta readers who stepped up to see it through–and a few of you will recognize yourself in the stories.

Hope you enjoy! Follow this link to podcast interview!

The Never Paradox – Kindle Edition – Now Available

Today is the day folks!

The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs
finally continue on Kindle!

Thank You! All of the readers out their who have supported the series, if it were not for you, this wouldn’t have been possible!

Updates On Other Formats

You will find a progress bar on the right hand side of the page that shows how far along each format is in the process. Below are some specific details.

Paperback: I am pending receipt of an LCCN number from the Library of Congress. Should be available to order soon!

Audiobook: Steven Barnett and I have passed the halfway mark recording The Never Paradox. If you missed it, there is currently a teaser chapter available on The Never Hero’s Facebook page and twitter feed.

Additional items of Note:

Want Amazon to notify you when new products are available from T. Ellery Hodges?

Follow this link, and beneath the dangerously handsome young gentlemen, who one can tell is quite modest from his elegantly presented photo in classic black and white, you will find a “Follow Me Button.”

Want to be told when T. Ellery Hodges is offering his books at ridiculously low prices?

Follow this link over to bookbub, and click the Follow button on the top right of page.

SEQUEL NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Okay Folks, are you sitting down? This isn’t a drill! I’m normally a bit longer winded, but typing with one hand while burping a newborn tends to cut down one’s prose to an absolute minimum…

THE

NEVER

PARADOX

CHRONICLES OF JONATHAN TIBBS

Volume II

NOW AVAILABLE FOR

PRE-ORDER

Additional Details

Release date is set for March 23rd! This edition will sell for $5.99 shortly after release date, but Pre-order early and get the kindle edition at a discounted $4.99 as a thank you for early ordering.

The question I’ve been getting most frequently since this news hit the interwebs: What about paperback and audiobook editions? When will they be available?

Right now, Steven Barnett (Narrator) and I are working hard to get both formats released on the same day as the eBook. I will keep you updated if we run into any challenges.

Challenges? I don’t know… like if Steven gets pneumonia or my hands get amputated.

Thanks again everyone for all your patience and support!

Baby X Has Arrived

Hi All,

I’ve been MIA the last few days, and a lot of you have likely guessed why.

My wife and I woke up the morning of January 6^thto find her water had broken. Regardless of what thirty years of sitcoms had me imagining this moment would look like, we operated like a highly trained team of Navy Seals with 9 months mission prep.

But… as every Navy Seal might tell…

“No Battle Birthing Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy Delivery.”

Okay, maybe zero Navy Seals ever said that, but here is the short version of what followed:

Our plan had been that, unless mom or baby were in danger, we wanted to try for an natural (intervention-less) birth. Unfortunately, two days of labor passed and Amanda was only dilated to 3 cms. Those who have gone through labor may already know, once the water breaks, there is an increased chance of infection for mom and baby with every cervical inspection as the clock ticks. We held out two days before trying to induce. In the end, we waited 4 days before allowing the doctors to perform a cesarean. Amanda, warrior that she is, refused and drugs up until that point.

Both mom and baby came through healthy and happy! Xander was born Jan 9th.

Now, some of you know, I have a step-son, Luke, who was nine when I met his mother. Fewer of you know, that this last year I adopted another son, Tyler. Tyler has been a friend of Luke’s since third grade, and his mother passed away last year. I bring up all this because I cannot say that I have never been a father, but I have never been present for the birth of one of my sons. It was nice for me to find out that all that talk one hears about what they will feel in that moment isn’t some myth. What strikes me now, is that I feel as though I love everyone in my family more than I did before… a thing I’d be hard pressed to explain and wary to dissect.

Now, I promised myself I wouldn’t be like some ‘other’ parents and take a thousand pictures, each with a slightly different angle and facial expression, that no one but my wife and I would really see a difference between. Of course I failed to live up to that promise, but I have done my best to pick only a few favorites for the sake if this blog post.

I’m telling you mom…it went on for Four freakin days!

img_1631-2 — Second Hand Sleep deprivation… it doesn’t just hit mommy and daddy!

STATE OF THE SEQUEL

The last few weeks, I’ve seen a number of Never Hero fans express fear that The Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs series is dead. Clearly, I am late with providing an update, because…

capture — *In case this reference is too vague

2016, may have taken a lot of lives—but it will never take our Sequel!

Yes, the The Never Paradox is very far behind my original projections. When I first published The Never Hero, I thought I would have this thing wrapped up before 2015 ended. Well, it probably goes without saying that if I could, I would reach back in time and slap that overly optimistic version of myself. There isn’t much for me to say other than “I’m sorry”—a lot of life kept happening. I won’t bore you with the details…but I will tell you that the sequel became a better book with every delay.

In October, I sent the final draft of The Never Paradox manuscript off to my editor. I recently received it back with over 16,000 points of feedback.

Okay, okay, everyone calm down!… I was pretty burnt out when I sent TNP over—didn’t have the energy left to do a final run through for typos. Most of those feedback points are very quick grammar errors. There were only three isolated sections with recommended re-writes, and they are very minor.

So here is the deal:

My wife is 8 months pregnant
My son [working title: Xander Hodges] is due to be born on January 10^th
I DO NOT WANT TO BE WORKING ON THIS SEQUEL WHEN HE GETS HERE!

Now we all know delivery dates are never exact, but let me beat you to the punch-line and point out that they are far more accurate then T. Ellery’s initial sequel release projections. So here it is folks, I’m challenging myself to a race against time… because that makes it sound more dramatic.

If you look at the homepage, you’ll notice some new progress reporting bars along the right-hand side. I am going to try and update these with my daily progress.

You can use them to check in on the state of things, cheer me on, or… you know, yell when the bars don’t move…

I mean… case you were curious…

I’d prefer the cheering…

Balance Warrior Podcast – Author Interview

Hi All!

I was recently interviewed on Balanced Warrior Podcast and the episode goes live today!

We talk about The Never Hero: What inspired the story, characters, themes, and symbolism– but we also geek out a bit and talk superheroes and scifi.

Want to thank host Red Foot (Jarret Kaufman) for having me on, I had a lot of fun!

Click here or image below to listen!

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Today on Balanced Warrior Podcast, Science Fiction author, T. Ellery Hodges! Todd is the author of the novel, The Never Hero, which has sold over 40,000 copies on Amazon, and is just an all around awesome individual. Join us today as we discuss topics such as training sequences in books and movies, the writing process, making sacrifices to accomplish your dreams, finding a driving force, pop-culture references as a way to relate, and self-promotion.

Ever Wanted To Ask Me… Stuff?

Nathan Van Coops, a friend and fellow author, is throwing a launch party for his newest title: The Day After Never (book three in the ‘Times Like These‘ series).

A few other authors, including but not limited to, Rysa Walker, Michael J. Sullivan, Bryan Cohen and myself, will be joining Nathan on Facebook during the online party. Each author will be doing book giveaways — along with other prizes — and answering fan questions.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to ask me something while I was on the spot, this is your chance! I am only slightly terrified that you will all now see how poor my grammar is when witnessed in real time without an editor.

The Details:

The launch party starts Tuesday July 12, 2016 @ 1 pm EST (10:0 AM PST) on Facebook
My Q&A session begins at 5:30 pm EST (2:30 PST)
If interested, the Facebook event link is available here
Prizes include: Free books and eBooks, Amazon gift cards, and even a Kindle Paperwhite

Hope to see you there!

Sequel Progress Update

I’ve lost faith in my ability to approximate how long it will take to finish a novel. It goes without saying that any dates I had hoped to hit have been thrown out the window at this point. That being said, readers are due some explanation as to what has been causing delays on my end.

The Biggest Offender By Far – New Ideas

During the revision process, better ideas come up. If the idea is powerful enough that you can’t ignore it then you do readers and yourself an injustice not acting on it. Now, sometimes this means entering a few lines of dialog into a section you’ve already written.

BUT…Other times it causes a ripple that requires you rewrite 40 pages.

It’s a love/hate relationship for me. Often, I’d be sitting on my porch thinking of how to fix some scene I didn’t feel was working, looking for an angle or something subtle, but then the realization comes:

“The scene doesn’t work because the story is missing [Insert Eureka Idea]!” T. Ellery said. He smiled for a cathartic moment, then his face grew pained as he understood the full scope of what he had just done to himself.

Life

When you are trying to hit a date, and you imagine you’ll be done at a certain point, all the ‘life stuff’ you have scheduled after that point doesn’t go away. This can put a burden on a lot of the process. For instance, I had always imagined that I would have the book to the editor before I went on a week long trip to visit my parents. That didn’t happen, and I didn’t get much writing done during the visit. Then when I got back my family reminded me that we were headed to NorWesCon for the next 4 days. I had already committed to going with them.

Procrastination

Admittedly [shame] I hit a rough patch a few weeks ago after I got back from parental vacation and NorWesCon. Before I left I had no trouble staying in my office for 6-8 hours a day. For one reason or another, I couldn’t get that to happen when I returned, was lucky to keep my butt in the seat for 1-2 hours. Only recently have I hit my normal groove again, but those weeks of fighting to get my focus back took their toll on the publication date.

Carpal Tunnel

This caught me completely off guard… because I’m an idiot.

For months I’ve woken up in the morning with that feeling I had slept on my arm wrong and it had caused my hands to go numb. I’ve always had poor circulation, and cold hands, so I more or less thought it was just a matter of getting older. It became a real problem recently, I started waking up every three hours with my hands both numb and yet my nerves telling me they had caught fire. Super annoying, probably because I love sleeping more then I should. Anyhow the only way to get the pain to stop was waking up and moving around and after a few days of it my sleep cycles were completely off and I was running lower and lower on energy.

I raced to the internet to find that these were symptoms of carpal tunnel. Now, I guess I should have figured this would happen if I was going to write full time. For now, I got some braces and I’m dealing with it until the sequel is finished, because I just got my groove back and don’t want to make any changes to my habits. After the sequel is handed over to the editor, I’ll look into some dictation software or other solutions for getting the finale done. Surgery if it gets bad enough.

Anyhow, I’m making progress again, hoping that no new ideas will push the finish line out now that I am finally closing the distance again. I’m confident though, I am running out of scenes that feel like they are missing something.