Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet (62 page)

BOOK: Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet

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Earthman Jack will
return in…

An Important Note From The Author

Dear Reader,

First of all, I want to take this opportunity to thank you,
from the bottom of my heart, for taking the time to read this novel. And since
you are currently reading these very words, I can only assume that you’ve
reached this point because you enjoyed the text and have arrived at this page
naturally, rather than glimpsing at it after angrily throwing it into a lit
fireplace, laughing maniacally as the flames slowly consume its pages as you
crack open your dog-eared copy of Twilight or Harry Potter for the trillionth
time.

If you were to look up “labor of love” in the dictionary,
I’m sure you’d find a picture of this book, right along side a picture of me,
in the entry. (That is, of course, assuming you’re looking at the dictionary I
keep at my desk. Sadly, Merriam-Webster has yet to return any of my letters
begging for general inclusion into future publications.) Which is why my heart
leaps whenever I see that others have taken the time to read my work, and have actually
enjoyed it.

Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet
first sprang to
life in my head back in the year 2000, the image of a boy finding a totally
awesome spaceship at the center of the Earth being its genesis. But I did not
start writing it in earnest until 2008. In those eight years, I developed a
concept for an epic space opera – one spanning many strange planets, grandiose events,
exciting adventures, and lame one-liners. I kept a notebook detailing all my kooky
ideas for what this story would entail, eventually organizing them into a fully
planned septology (which is like two trilogies and their weird one-off cousin
no one likes to talk about). Thus, this tome is merely the first of seven
planned books in the saga of the universe’s last Earthman.

The next book,
Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army
, will focus
around the Regalus Empire, and Jack’s first taste of what life is like within
it. All the main characters (well, those who survived the first book, anyway)
will be returning, along with a cast of new arrivals whom I am very excited to
introduce you to. But rest assured, just because Jack has escaped the clutches
of the Deathlords, does not mean he’s safe. Book 2 will see the stakes get higher,
the dangers get greater, and the mysteries get deeper. After all, we can’t
make things too easy for Jack, now, can we?

Though it took me four years to write
Earthman Jack vs. The
Ghost Planet
, nothing would please me more than to work on this series full
time. The reason this book took me so long to complete was simply because I
have an annoying habit of needing food and shelter (clothing remains optional),
all of which require me to do this pestering thing people like to call “earning
a living.” Because of this, I could really only write when I had the free
time. This meant sporadic episodes of imbuing the pixels of my word processor
with sheer and unadulterated brilliance, followed by long stretches of me being
forced to do silly things such as working at a job and paying taxes. (Neither
of which I much enjoy doing, I’m afraid.)

My ultimate goal is to make enough money from this book so
that I can work full time on the next one in the series, and then make enough
from that to write the third one, and so on and so forth. If I can indeed turn
my passion for Jack and his world into a suitable revenue stream, it would be a
dream come true.

However, I am not an author who has a lot of connections in
the publishing business. I do not have an agent. Nor do I have the patience
to go out and try to find an agent and publisher. This is why I decided to
self-publish this work. I am an independent author in every sense of the
word. I did not get paid a single cent to write this book – as I said before,
it was a labor of love. I have also invested a great deal of my own
hard-earned dollars to publish it in a professional manner and to market it to
the masses. I never expected I’d get rich selling this book, but that doesn’t
mean I hope it will never make any money.

That is where you come in, dear Reader.

Since this book is either going to be given away for free or
sold for a ridiculously low price in a desperate attempt to get people to read
it, my goal of making enough to be able to work on the sequel full time is not
very likely.

So I am asking you, if you enjoyed this book and would like
to support its story, and to help me continue revealing the epic space saga of Jack
and his friends, please do the following:

Go
to
www.MatthewKadish.com
Click
on the “Donate” button in the menu bar
Donate
some funds to support my work.

I’m hoping enough people out there will have liked the book
enough to want to see me continue writing future installments. If I can reach
my goal numbers, I’ll be able to focus all my efforts on crafting the next
volume in the series. Of course, I’ll be doing this anyway, but without your
support, it will probably take another 4-5 years for me to accomplish. With
your support, I hope to be able to release one novel a year, writing full time.

If you don’t have extra cash lying around that you’d want to
give to your friendly neighborhood indie sci-fi author, then please support the
series by recommending it to friends and family. And if you’re feeling really
festive, write a five star review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and GoodReads
(for reviews featuring fewer stars, please direct them to www.dontwasteyourtime.com.
Thank you.).

Regardless of whether or not you choose to support this
series, please know that I truly appreciate you reading this book and giving it
an opportunity to entertain you. The notion that something I wrote is actually
being read by others is still something crazy for me to wrap my rather meager
brain around.

My goal with Earthman Jack was to take everything I loved
growing up – sci-fi, adventure, video games, comic books, pretty girls,
superheroes, magic, and various other totally awesome things – and put them
into a single tale future generations could enjoy. Like an everlasting
Spielberg movie from the 80’s – filled with excitement, awe, and wonder - that
kids, teens, and adults could get lost in whenever it suited them.

After having read through this book for probably the
billionth time (no joke), I feel as though I was able to accomplish at least
that much. Hopefully, with future installments, and your support &
feedback, I’ll be able to accomplish even more.

Thanks for reading, and as Jack would say…

“Catch you later!”

Matthew J. Kadish

Author:
Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet

Special Thanks To:

Jon Nunan

Stephen Ladd

Jamie Brown

Paul Kadish

Brian Kadish

Melissa Kadish

Ron Kadish