The campaign has ended (while my British arse was sleeping, of course!) and I'm grateful to all 101 of you for joining me along this journey! Thanks to you, The Chosen One Con campaign was fully funded and met its stretch goal for map art and a character portrait, as well as my unofficial third stretch goal to pay for ALL the editing this book will need.

I couldn't have done it without your support. Thank you for taking a chance on me and this book!



A MASSIVE THANK YOU to The Book Bazaar 2025 and especially Aimee Cozza of The Lucky Machine for running a tight ship. All 22 projects that took part in The Book Bazaar fully funded on time, raising over $50k for indie authors! That's incredible, and I'm glad to have been part of such an excellent community for my first ever crowdfund campaign.

Now, Backerkit will start charging your bank cards and collecting funds for those pledges, so make sure your card details are updated! This process takes a couple of weeks.

Then, I can start sending out surveys for the digital rewards. Remember, this book isn't ready yet, which means the paperbacks and some physical rewards won't be sent this side of 2025. Once I get the funds, I'll reach out to my artists for the map and portrait art, but since we're heading toward the holiday season now, they won't be commissioned until the new year. We're saving the magic for 2026!

But until then, applicable backers will get a copy of the TV Guide digital reward to introduce you to the world of Aefenhold, and those who opted for add-ons for my Cruel Gods series will also get those hopefully before Christmas. If you chose to 'name a thing' I'll also be in touch!

While I continue to work on The Chosen One Con, I'll drop updates periodically to let you know the progress, but you can also join my newsletter if you'd like for any additional updates. I also share cat pics and recommendations for indie books.

Speaking of cats, you've earned yourself a kitty pic:



I'll be back in touch soon with those digital rewards! You can sit back and relax while I get back to work.

Until then, stay magical!

With just three days left on the campaign, I'm super grateful for all your support and can't wait to finish this book and get it in your hands. Thank you to everyone that has pledged this far or otherwise shared the campaign. I couldn't have made it this far without you!

There's still time to update your pledge, convince your friend and enemies to pledge, and take a look at what funky add-ons we have to offer.

In case you missed it, the Aefenhold map and Max character portrait have been added to applicable tiers and also as an add-on. But that's not all! I've also added one more super special tier for these final view days...

The Chosen One tier!



This digital-only tier gives the same rewards as the Silver Mage License tier, including The Chosen One Con eBook and digital rewards, but also adds the stretch goal digital rewards AND all my eBooks, including future eBooks yet to be written! This means all my Cruel Gods series eBooks that exist now and future ARCs of The Chosen One Con's sequel after it's written and any other future bodies of work. As I plan to write MANY more books in the future, this is a guarantee you'll get all of these first.

Everything could be yours, but pledge soon! There're only three days left!

It's incredible to think we've hit 80 backers and 250% funded on this project with 9 days to go!! I couldn't have come this far without your support. As a reward for following the project this far, let me talk about my cats.

Yes, my fluffy balls of chaos.

You see, this project is still in development, and one reason for that is because cats are very demanding and distracting and I have two of them.



The tabby kitten on the left is the new addition to the house, Gustave, named after Gustave from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. He is chaos incarnate and has recently started climbing walls. To the right is three-year-old ragdoll Bayley, named after audiobook narrator RJ Bayley, who mostly gets on with the kitten when Gus isn't jumping on his face. Both like to terrorize me in their own way.

By continuing to back this project, these cats will get their treats!

Speaking of RJ Bayley, I'll be hosting a stream later today via The Book Bazaar's Twitch channel, where RJ will be reading out the beginning of Chapter One from The Chosen One Con. Tune in to get a feel for the story. And if you like what you hear, keep on supporting the campaign so we can make an audiobook happen!

Until then, I've got a new fun poll that introduces some of the TV (Or MV) shows in the world of Aefenhold. Which show do you want to watch?

Incredibly, we've hit fifty backers! All fifty of you have put your faith in this project, and I'm super thankful! Fifty is a nice big round number, magical you could say, so to celebrate, let's have some fun with another poll!

But first, let's talk about potions.

In the city of Aefenhold, potions are an everyday item and are consumed frequently, much like tea or coffee. There are three main types of potions that serve different functions, and these come in different colours and flavours.

Only silver and above licenced apothecaries can legally brew potions, and many stores have backrooms with alchemy stations that resemble a chemist. Anyone without a license can purchase minor potions, but the more powerful and dangerous ones are colour coded depending on the level of spell and license required to use it, so silver, purple, and blue vials. Being caught with a potion without the proper license is a crime.

 

Generally, green potions represent biological vials that don't require a license, whereas red represents mental vials, and orange are cosmetic vials, though these colours sometimes change depending on brand marketing and flavour. Potions can also come in a variety of flavours, from apple to aniseed.

The most popular potion on the market right now is the Vim & Vigor by Royal Regis, which comes in the Royal Regis patented gold colour and tastes faintly of caramel. The Vim & Vigor is an energy boost, the equivalent of a strong cup of coffee or energy drink!

Other major brands include Mystic Parlor, Phantom Phil, Tenpenny Tinctures, and the Soulstice Emporium.

So which potion do YOU need today? Vote in our poll below!