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 अपनी कुल्हाड़ी ' अपना पाँव


India is the only such country in the world. Where the number of non-Indians is significant. The sad thing is that with the continuous increase in the number of such people, their dominance is increasing among politicians, secular persons, so called intellectuals to newsprint and electronic media and people active in the field of human rights. There is also another section of non-Indians living here who are opposing everything related to national interest from day one. This class is still harboring foreign thought while history has put an end to the existence of its masters. These minorities are ruling the majority. They have taken their share and divided the country into two parts with the demand for a separate home state. Yet the non-Indians residing here are openly engaged in a well-planned plan over the next few decades to rapidly increase their population and reduce the majority in numbers to fulfill their dream of spreading the flag of Islam. Our ruling non-Indian leadership is also helping and encouraging infiltrators coming from the eastern border to settle across the country for the sake of their vote bank. And now there are plans to allow jihadists and terrorists to enter the western border even in public, without a visa or a passport.

संसार में भारत अकेला ऐसा देश है . जहां अभारतीयों की संख्या अच्छी खासी है । दुःखद बात यह है कि ऐसे लोगों की संख्या में लगातार बढ़ोत्तरी के साथ राजनीतिकों , पंथनिरपेक्ष व्यक्तियों , तथाकथित बुद्धिजीवियों से लेकर अखबारी और इलेक्ट्रॉनिक मीडिया तथा मानवाधिकार के क्षेत्र में सक्रिय लोगों के बीच इनका वर्चस्व बढ़ रहा है । यहां रहने वाले गैर भारतीयों का एक और वर्ग भी है जो पहले दिन से ही राष्ट्रीय हित से जुड़ी हर बात का विरोध कर रहा है । यह वर्ग अब भी विदेशी विचार को छाती से लगाए हुए हैं जबकि इतिहास ने उसके आकाओं के अस्तित्व को ही समाप्त कर दिया है । ये अल्पसंख्यक , बहुसंख्यकों पर शासन चला रहे हैं । वे अपना हिस्सा ले चुके हैं और एक पृथक गृह प्रदेश की मांग के साथ देश को दो भागों में विभाजित कर चुके हैं । तिस पर भी यहां रहने वाले गैर - भारतीय , खुलेआम इस्लाम का परचम लहराने के अपने सपने को पूरा करने के लिए आगामी कुछ दशकों में एक सुनियोजित योजना के तहत अपनी जनसंख्या तेजी से बढ़ाने और बहुसंख्यकों को संख्या बल में कम करने में लगे हैं । हमारे यहां सत्तारूढ़ अभारतीय नेतृत्व भी अपने वोट बैंक की खातिर पूर्वी सीमा से आ रहे घुसपैठियों को देश भर में बसने में सहायता तथा प्रोत्साहन दे रहा है । और अब तो सार्वजनिक रूप से , पश्चिमी सीमा से भी जिहादियों और आतंकवादियों को बिना वीसा या पासपोर्ट के प्रवेश देने की योजना बन रही है ।



Or planning to give entry of passport. A country that came into existence on the basis of hatred of India is being openly invited, whose sect teaches to destroy other sects. An older and better democracy in the world has turned into a mob system, where two types of laws are in effect. There is a section that can terrorize law makers, law enforcement agencies and even the judiciary, with large-scale riots, looting, arson and rape, but will not be caught. in another class

या पासपोर्ट के प्रवेश देने की योजना बन रही है । भारत - द्वेष के आधार पर अस्तित्व में आए एक ऐसे देश को खुलेआम निमंत्रण दिया जा रहा है जिसका संप्रदाय दूसरे पंथों को समाप्त करने की शिक्षा देता है । दुनिया का एक पुराना और बेहतर लोकतंत्र , एक भीड़तंत्र में परिवर्तित हो चुका है , जहां दो प्रकार के कानून प्रभावी हैं । एक वर्ग वह है जो बड़े पैमाने पर दंगे , लूटपाट , आगजनी और बलात्कार कराने के साथ कानून निर्माताओं , कानून का क्रियान्वयन करने वाली एजेंसियों और , यहां तक कि न्यायपालिका को भी आतंकित कर सकता है , पर उसे हाथ भी नहीं लगाया जाएगा । दूसरे वर्ग में

We, you and even are highly respected and supreme religious leaders, who are arrested at midnight and closed in prison and are tortured like criminals for months. And their bail is not allowed. A neighboring country attacked India four times and every time the brave army of India defeated the enemy. While our indulgence leadership, who lived here, transformed the bay of the soldiers in the defeat by the conversation. This country with ancient civilizations believes in peace and nonviolence even after so many millennia. In a long history of 12,000 years, this country did not attack anyone nor used power against another country. While this country has suffered the sting of innumerable barbar attackers in the last one thousand years, who attempted to erase all the approval belief centers, including our temples. After almost a thousand years, after 58 years we are still waiting for 58 years, we are still waiting. Here's the plan to kill you on your feet since the first day of independence. It seems as if India is moving towards the trough of the fall and if such a situation remained for a long time, its existence can end. The irony is that the slavery of a thousand years which could not destroy, it is expected to be destroyed within a hundred years of freedom.



                       T

That's it God's Leela is also strange, which is trying to destroy it as a curse, while he has given the wealth of oil to the barbarians who spread terror in more than half the world. Lord Krishna had promised to take birth in the Kurukshetra field when he was in danger of religion. Now the existence of this country has been questioned because of these non-Indians living here. Will he be born as a leader by eradicating the sufferings of our country and removing all the injustices?


की हो । ईश्वर की लीला भी अजीब है जो इसे अभिशाप स्वरूप नष्ट करने में लगा है , जबकि आधी से अधिक दुनिया में आतंक फैलाने वाले बर्बरों को उसने तेल की दौलत दी है । भगवान श्रीकृष्ण ने कुरुक्षेत्र के मैदान में धर्म के संकट में होने पर जन्म लेने का वचन दिया था । अब यहां रहने वाले इन अभारतीयों के कारण इस देश के अस्तित्व पर ही प्रश्नचिन्ह खड़ा हो गया है । क्या वे ' एक नेता के रूप में जन्म लेकर हमारे देश के कष्टों को मिटाकर और समस्त अन्यायों को दूर करके 


 अपनी कुल्हाड़ी ' अपना पाँव


India is the only such country in the world. Where the number of non-Indians is significant. The sad thing is that with the continuous increase in the number of such people, their dominance is increasing among politicians, secular persons, so called intellectuals to newsprint and electronic media and people active in the field of human rights. There is also another section of non-Indians living here who are opposing everything related to national interest from day one. This class is still harboring foreign thought while history has put an end to the existence of its masters. These minorities are ruling the majority. They have taken their share and divided the country into two parts with the demand for a separate home state. Yet the non-Indians residing here are openly engaged in a well-planned plan over the next few decades to rapidly increase their population and reduce the majority in numbers to fulfill their dream of spreading the flag of Islam. Our ruling non-Indian leadership is also helping and encouraging infiltrators coming from the eastern border to settle across the country for the sake of their vote bank. And now there are plans to allow jihadists and terrorists to enter the western border even in public, without a visa or a passport.

संसार में भारत अकेला ऐसा देश है . जहां अभारतीयों की संख्या अच्छी खासी है । दुःखद बात यह है कि ऐसे लोगों की संख्या में लगातार बढ़ोत्तरी के साथ राजनीतिकों , पंथनिरपेक्ष व्यक्तियों , तथाकथित बुद्धिजीवियों से लेकर अखबारी और इलेक्ट्रॉनिक मीडिया तथा मानवाधिकार के क्षेत्र में सक्रिय लोगों के बीच इनका वर्चस्व बढ़ रहा है । यहां रहने वाले गैर भारतीयों का एक और वर्ग भी है जो पहले दिन से ही राष्ट्रीय हित से जुड़ी हर बात का विरोध कर रहा है । यह वर्ग अब भी विदेशी विचार को छाती से लगाए हुए हैं जबकि इतिहास ने उसके आकाओं के अस्तित्व को ही समाप्त कर दिया है । ये अल्पसंख्यक , बहुसंख्यकों पर शासन चला रहे हैं । वे अपना हिस्सा ले चुके हैं और एक पृथक गृह प्रदेश की मांग के साथ देश को दो भागों में विभाजित कर चुके हैं । तिस पर भी यहां रहने वाले गैर - भारतीय , खुलेआम इस्लाम का परचम लहराने के अपने सपने को पूरा करने के लिए आगामी कुछ दशकों में एक सुनियोजित योजना के तहत अपनी जनसंख्या तेजी से बढ़ाने और बहुसंख्यकों को संख्या बल में कम करने में लगे हैं । हमारे यहां सत्तारूढ़ अभारतीय नेतृत्व भी अपने वोट बैंक की खातिर पूर्वी सीमा से आ रहे घुसपैठियों को देश भर में बसने में सहायता तथा प्रोत्साहन दे रहा है । और अब तो सार्वजनिक रूप से , पश्चिमी सीमा से भी जिहादियों और आतंकवादियों को बिना वीसा या पासपोर्ट के प्रवेश देने की योजना बन रही है ।



Or planning to give entry of passport. A country that came into existence on the basis of hatred of India is being openly invited, whose sect teaches to destroy other sects. An older and better democracy in the world has turned into a mob system, where two types of laws are in effect. There is a section that can terrorize law makers, law enforcement agencies and even the judiciary, with large-scale riots, looting, arson and rape, but will not be caught. in another class

या पासपोर्ट के प्रवेश देने की योजना बन रही है । भारत - द्वेष के आधार पर अस्तित्व में आए एक ऐसे देश को खुलेआम निमंत्रण दिया जा रहा है जिसका संप्रदाय दूसरे पंथों को समाप्त करने की शिक्षा देता है । दुनिया का एक पुराना और बेहतर लोकतंत्र , एक भीड़तंत्र में परिवर्तित हो चुका है , जहां दो प्रकार के कानून प्रभावी हैं । एक वर्ग वह है जो बड़े पैमाने पर दंगे , लूटपाट , आगजनी और बलात्कार कराने के साथ कानून निर्माताओं , कानून का क्रियान्वयन करने वाली एजेंसियों और , यहां तक कि न्यायपालिका को भी आतंकित कर सकता है , पर उसे हाथ भी नहीं लगाया जाएगा । दूसरे वर्ग में

We, you and even are highly respected and supreme religious leaders, who are arrested at midnight and closed in prison and are tortured like criminals for months. And their bail is not allowed. A neighboring country attacked India four times and every time the brave army of India defeated the enemy. While our indulgence leadership, who lived here, transformed the bay of the soldiers in the defeat by the conversation. This country with ancient civilizations believes in peace and nonviolence even after so many millennia. In a long history of 12,000 years, this country did not attack anyone nor used power against another country. While this country has suffered the sting of innumerable barbar attackers in the last one thousand years, who attempted to erase all the approval belief centers, including our temples. After almost a thousand years, after 58 years we are still waiting for 58 years, we are still waiting. Here's the plan to kill you on your feet since the first day of independence. It seems as if India is moving towards the trough of the fall and if such a situation remained for a long time, its existence can end. The irony is that the slavery of a thousand years which could not destroy, it is expected to be destroyed within a hundred years of freedom.



                       T

That's it God's Leela is also strange, which is trying to destroy it as a curse, while he has given the wealth of oil to the barbarians who spread terror in more than half the world. Lord Krishna had promised to take birth in the Kurukshetra field when he was in danger of religion. Now the existence of this country has been questioned because of these non-Indians living here. Will he be born as a leader by eradicating the sufferings of our country and removing all the injustices?


की हो । ईश्वर की लीला भी अजीब है जो इसे अभिशाप स्वरूप नष्ट करने में लगा है , जबकि आधी से अधिक दुनिया में आतंक फैलाने वाले बर्बरों को उसने तेल की दौलत दी है । भगवान श्रीकृष्ण ने कुरुक्षेत्र के मैदान में धर्म के संकट में होने पर जन्म लेने का वचन दिया था । अब यहां रहने वाले इन अभारतीयों के कारण इस देश के अस्तित्व पर ही प्रश्नचिन्ह खड़ा हो गया है । क्या वे ' एक नेता के रूप में जन्म लेकर हमारे देश के कष्टों को मिटाकर और समस्त अन्यायों को दूर करके 


 

Make 100 - Graceless: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Novel

by Esther Jones

 Everyone who becomes a backer in the first 48 hours of the campaign will receive an invitation to a Story Craft and Author Q & A session with Frog and Esther Jones on January 29, 2022 at 2 pm. If you can't make it that day, you can send me your questions and we'll record it for you to watch later!

 Do you love urban fantasies set in a gritty, magical world almost like yours?

Do you dig fantastical monsters invading from other dimensions?

Do you love kick-ass characters who have to learn how to stand up to their own demons?

Meet Andrea, one of the main characters in Graceless: 

For a thousand years, I was a demon’s slave.

Two people saved me. Only one lived.

Robert sacrificed irreplaceable alliances to bring me to this world.

But the illegal magic that freed me triggered a huge outcry.

Now the demon has followed me here—and he's fueling a massive war between mundane and magic that threatens to engulf the whole globe.

Does my life really balance all the death that's followed?

Can I find the strength to grow into a strong protector instead of prey? Will I be able to fight the demon and win? How can Robert and I save a world driven to hate everything we are?

Read the first six chapters of Graceless by clicking here

Series Specs

Current Number of books: 4

Age range: Young adult/New adult. Suggested age range would be thirteen and up.

Genre: urban fantasy, adventure, alternate history

Page count: 266-296 each

Trim: 6"x 9"

Format: Paperback/ebook (pdf, mobi, epub)

Graceless is 100% written and ready to print once the Kickstarter campaign ends - 

 The World of the Gift of Grace

This series began with the first urban fantasy story I wrote about a teen girl who summons a spirit to ask for help. The spirit ends up cunning and malicious, but she doesn’t know that.

But anyway, these books start with that one basic rule: dealing with otherworldly spirits is a risky business, and that we absolutely need people who can do it, even if the act of doing it is hated—lest the otherworldly spirits destroy us all.

We're making that short story, Blood & Spirit, available on Kickstarter as a digital bonus perk for any backers who sign up for our newsletter before or during the campaign. It's the first time the story's been available since 2011, and I'm not sure when we'll have it available again, so I'm super pumped to be able to offer it to you guys.

Also, in most urban fantasies, the magic is a secret thing. Hidden. In ours, the entire world knows about the magic our characters use—and has outlawed it. Summoners have formed this organized-crime syndicate called the Grove system—and cops are constantly hunting them down.

But magic is limited. In order to use magic in the Gift of Grace, you must have blood, runes, and a special ability called the Sense, which then allows you to summon something—items, forces, spirits—from point A to point B. But you can’t use magic to actually create anything. You can’t subtract anything.

The potential for irreparable harm is pretty big when you're not actually making anything with your magic and instead just pulling it out of something that already exists. 

So cops and other authorities really aren't fans of summoners, seeing them as sources of unpredictable chaos and massive harm. Authorities try to stomp down on our characters wherever and however they can. 

This conflict has only escalated by the time we reach Graceless. We begin the book with the hostilities between mundane authorities and the Grove syndicates at an all-time boiling point.

So why do summoners keep using their abilities despite being hunted down and having all of this hate thrown their way?

The Weave that makes up reality in the Gift of Grace world is constantly fraying and letting other realities bleed into ours, which leaves our world open to incursions from uninvited, otherworldly Visitors. Some of those Visitors are friendly, but many are not. 

 What's Special About These Books?

These books are urban fantasy action adventure, but borrow heavily from alternate history, portal fantasy, mystery, and humor.

Because my husband and I are huge anime geeks, we've been told our action scenes come across in a super cool, cinematographic way which is especially vivid. And you should probably blame (or thank) anime for the giant, otherworldly monsters, smart villains, dimension hopping, and slightly obsessive characters. 

When it comes down to it, Frog and I write about things we love and things we care about, and we have a blast doing it.

One of our main characters is a foster kid who's already come face-to-face with the system and has big trust issues because of that. 

One of our characters has a hidden disability she's studied her ass off to compensate for. 

Another has suffered an immense trauma and has to figure out how to live in spite of that. 

All of them look at the world a little differently, but with an edge of humor and...dare I say it...grace.

As extra, bonus fun, many of the settings in these books are fictionalized from real cities where we've lived, too. You can actually go check out many of the places where Andrea, Robert, and Grace run for their lives... or "have their adventures."

As for Graceless, it really pays off a lot of things we set up in the previous three books. Andrea comes into the series damaged after being captive of a demon in another dimension, and this book is really the chance to see her come into her own and find her path to move forward. Our books showcase many different kinds of strength, and it isn't always just about kicking a monster's butt or landing the heaviest blow. Although, that of course is fun too. It's an action adventure series, after all. 

 The Main Characters

Each book in the Gift of Grace series is told from two perspectives. Graceless and Falling From Grace are told from Robert and Andrea's perspectives. The first two books in the series, Coup De Grace and Grace Under Fire are told from Robert and Grace's perspectives. 

I often get asked if there's a romantic relationship between any of the characters in this series. There's the potential for something romantic between Robert and Andrea, but so far, they're kind of fumbling their way around it. These books lean more into humor or gritty action adventure rather than sweet.  

 ANDREA: Imprisoned as a battery to fuel a demon's magic for an inconceivable span of time, Andrea sometimes has difficulty remembering that she's human. She bargained her freedom away in return for help, and is still struggling with the consequences.  

 ROBERT: A foster kid with a real problem for authority, Robert has a big heart and a reckless attitude that leads him right into the middle of trouble, wherever it may be. He's pissed off both the mundane and Grove syndicate authorities, so he's usually fielding multiple lethal threats without anything like...tact.  

 GRACE: Robert's mentor and a huge influence on both Andrea and Robert, Grace has immense knowledge about summoning, a love for delicious food, a zany fashion sense, and a genius for improvising. Which is good, because she's constantly getting thrown out to make do on her own. 

 Who am I? Who are We?

I'm Esther Jones, and I'm a writer, editor, and small publisher at Impulsive Walrus Books. 

I wrote Graceless, and the rest of the Gift of Grace series, along with my husband, Frog Jones, who is helping run this campaign. 

Anytime I say "We," I'm talking about Frog and me. We have a unique writing process where we outline the book we want to write together, then divide up the characters and each write half the book.

So basically, we're collaborative writing duo married to our work and each other. We write, edit, and publish science fiction and fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. 

When we started writing together, multiple people told us to "stop now" or we'd ruin our marriage. We're ten years, five novels, eighteen short stories, one publishing house, and several other creative projects into this partnership now, and it seems to have worked out okay so far. We've posted a collaborative writing FAQ on our website where we wrote out the rules we've found to be successful for our collaborations. No creative collaboration is ever quite like another, but you're welcome to borrow our method if it suits you. 

Graceless will be the seventh book we've published on our own since opening our small press. In addition to the Gift of Grace series, we've also published the popular Well...It's Your Cow anthology featuring USA Today Bestselling author Lee French, Sam Knight, and others.

Why Kickstarter?

Frog and I have always loved connecting one-on-one with readers and fans. But during the pandemic, it's been a lot harder find places to do that. Kickstarter feels like it gives us a similar opportunity to reach out and talk to you directly. 

The Gift of Grace novels also go back to the very first stories Frog and I wrote together. They were originally published through a different small press when we were new, baby authors. But we've recently gotten the rights to the series back. Now, we're able to continue with the story we've always wanted. 

Kickstarter gives us an opportunity to relaunch the series, get our fourth book directly in front of you, pay for volume four's production costs, and just maybe put some money toward books five and six—which are the final two books we have planned for the series. 

We've done everything we can to make sure Graceless is print ready before coming to Kickstarter, and we hope you'll be just as excited as us to carry it across the finish line.  

 Which Pledge Should I Choose?

I've tried to break the pledge rewards into three general tracks. A digital book track, a physical book track, and an exclusive, limited edition track (that includes an limited edition enamel pin). Many of the physical book tracks will also give you the option to download the digital rewards. If you don't see an option you want please message me! It's hard to predict all the combinations you might look for. There are also many addons from the rewards available, allowing you to make your own custom bundle. 

 Digital Book Track:

$1 - Original outline for Graceless, signed by both the authors.

$5 - One Graceless ebook.

$10 - Two Gift of Grace series ebooks.

$15 - Three Gift of Grace series ebooks.

$16 - SPECIAL THANKS + One Graceless ebook. 

$20 - All four Gift of Grace series ebooks + special digital note from the authors.

$34 - Impulsive Walrus Digital Catalog. 

$36 - SPECIAL THANKS + All Four Gift of Grace ebooks. 

$75 - Video Commentary with Frog and Esther + All Four Gift of Grace ebooks.   

Physical Book Track:

$20 - One Signed Gift of Grace paperback, pick one from volumes 1-3.

$20 - One Signed Graceless paperback.

$35 - SPECIAL THANKS Signed Graceless Paperback.

$40 - Two Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks, pick two from volumes 1-3. 

$50 - SPECIAL THANKS Signed Graceless paperback + Digital Combo (includes all four Gift of Grace ebooks).

$60 - Three Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks, volumes 1-3.

$80 - ALL Four Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks.

$100 - SPECIAL THANKS + All Four Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks.

$125 - ALL Four Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks plus Video Commentary with Frog and Esther. 

$133 - Impulsive Walrus Books Print Catalog.

 Exclusive Limited Edition:

$45 - Exclusive Limited Edition Two Inch Pin Bundle (incudes Graceless paperback and ebook) Frog and I decided to get in on the fun of Kickstarter's January Make 100 creative project. There's only 100 of these adorable chibi pins, and this is the only time we'll make this one. (If the limited edition pins don't sell out during the campaign, we reserve the right to make the remaining pins available at some future date, but we won't make more!) Gift of Grace fans will already recognize which otherworldly spirit this depicts, so I feel like saying anything more here will lead to spoilers... Limited to 100.

$500 - Dedicate Graceless to a person of your choice. Your dedication will be printed in the front of the new book, Graceless. This reward applies to the edition being printed and released after this Kickstarter, and all copies printed in the future, until a new edition is made. (The dedication must be a real person of good reputation. No fictional or people of ill repute allowed. Must have the dedication to us within 48 hours of the campaign ending.) LIMITED TO ONE BACKER ONLY. 

 Where Will the Money Go?

I've put our Kickstarter goal at the bare minimum we need to get this project out the door to you. Our actual investment in this novel is actually much higher than the goal, so you can rest assured that your hard-earned cash will go back into the series, and anything raised over the break-even point for Graceless will go into producing volumes five and six in this series.

Here's my current estimated budget for producing and distributing Graceless and our Kickstarter rewards:

Production - $1,500

Printing - $1,200

Shipping - $900

Kickstarter - $500 

Total - $4,100

The total costs might be slightly higher or lower depending on how the final order turns out, but this is as close as I can get right now without seeing how many total books we're sending out to fulfill this order.

  Other books available through this Kickstarter 

Grace Under Fire: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Adventure Novel #1

Everyone's had a terrible boss—but most aren't in charge of a covert syndicate of underground magic users already hated by the public and targeted by law enforcement.

I'm pretty sure mine is trying to kill me. Summoners go missing, and he picks me to go check if demons are running loose and "report back."

I've got no backup.

No field experience.

And orders to stay under the radar...

While confronting supernatural evil that obliterates everything—and anyone in its way.

An orphaned teen with uncontrolled magic and an even bigger genius for trouble appears to be next on its hit list.

If we live, I'm going to retire and find a tropical beach with fabulous tacos.

IF we live. 

 Coup De Grace: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Adventure Novel #2

In that other world, I found a mysterious girl. Her life had been stolen to power a demon's magic.

And I left her behind, bound to that demon.

Now nothing else matters.

Not my graduation.

Not Grace's excuses or the politics of summoners.

Not my friends, and not my foster family.

I abandoned her, leaving her enslaved.

I will burn everything to fix that. 

 Falling From Grace: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Adventure Novel #3

Last summer before starting college, I rescued a girl held hostage in another world by a demon. The consequences of defeating that demon ended up bigger than I ever could have imagined…

My mentor died getting us out of there.

My magic brands me as a reality terrorist to be interrogated and killed.

I have to keep my head down and blend in as a normal first-year dorm student with attracting any attention…

While keeping an eye on the traumatized girl I brought into this hostile situation. And still preventing spirits and demons from encroaching into this world uninvited.

Oh, and the other summoners still hate my guts too.

Without my mentor, can I keep myself—or anyone else—safe in this aggressive environment? Is there anybody around me I can trust to have my back? Or are they the ones most likely to stab a knife into it? 

 Well...It's Your Cow: An Anecdotal Anthology Edited by Frog Jones

This anthology is what happens when:

Step 1: Frog builds a roman-style torsion catapult in our garage

Step 2: Friends want to see it hurl things heavier than a foam ball

Step 3: You arrange to hurl melons and other fruits into a friend's cow pasture

Step 4: One of your friends brings a coconut

Step 5: You mention this incident in the middle of a crowd of authors, and they all want to write their own story

Step 6: Frog edits an anthology of stories loosely held together by the question, "So, do we think this is a good idea?" and response, "Well... It's your cow."

Step 7: The authors then go wherever they want, and tell vastly different stories that all start in the same place.

Featuring stories by USA Today Best Selling author Lee French, Sam Knight, Frances Pauli, Sanan Kolva, Ian Madison Keller, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Deby Fredericks, Thomas Gondolfi, Kaye Thornbrugh, Voss Foster, Manny Frishberg, and many others. 

Socially Distant: The Quarantales Anthology Edited by Frog Jones and Manny Frishberg

In 2020, the COVID-19 novel Coronavirus came and our lives changed.

We all quarantined. We shut down our economy. And we made sure to keep a distance of at least six feet in an effort to keep the virus from killing as many people as we could save.

In the midst of this, the speculative fiction authors within this volume began to think about what life looks like if the quarantine doesn't leave. What happens if the illness keeps us all on restriction. Who will end up breaking that restriction? What will be their consequence? How will we exist, as a society, if we must keep our social distance?

These pages explore that concept. The humor, the pain, the triumph, and the everyday humanity of a life in quarantine. A collection of twenty-one stories from across the globe, from India to Britain to Canada to the United States, and all of them about what life looks like in the near future if we remain...socially distant. 

Blackbox Protocol: A Neverwhen Adventure Bethany Loy and Frog Jones

A cyberpunk detective-noir set in the science fantasy gaming universe of Neverwhen, this tie-in novella is a winner.

Being a PI in the high-tech, magical city of Manzala requires more than street-smarts. Martin Aten makes do with a lifetime of experience in software engineering. 

Accompanied by the voice of his wife Jean and his memories of days gone by, he lives each life day-to-day, just scraping through.

But every once in a while, a job comes along that’s bigger than it looks. And when the city’s most successful techno-dwarf hires Martin to recover a stolen, prized personal possession—the job already looks massive.

From the dingy back-streets of Manzala to the planets beyond, this case is going to take Martin farther than any other case before. The hunt for a stolen item brings him new friends, new enemies, and—if he’s very, very lucky—the chance to save Manzala from a danger it doesn’t know is descending on it.

Regardless, he knows he’s not returning to Manzala the same man who left it.

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Make 100 - Graceless: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Novel

by Esther Jones

 Everyone who becomes a backer in the first 48 hours of the campaign will receive an invitation to a Story Craft and Author Q & A session with Frog and Esther Jones on January 29, 2022 at 2 pm. If you can't make it that day, you can send me your questions and we'll record it for you to watch later!

 Do you love urban fantasies set in a gritty, magical world almost like yours?

Do you dig fantastical monsters invading from other dimensions?

Do you love kick-ass characters who have to learn how to stand up to their own demons?

Meet Andrea, one of the main characters in Graceless: 

For a thousand years, I was a demon’s slave.

Two people saved me. Only one lived.

Robert sacrificed irreplaceable alliances to bring me to this world.

But the illegal magic that freed me triggered a huge outcry.

Now the demon has followed me here—and he's fueling a massive war between mundane and magic that threatens to engulf the whole globe.

Does my life really balance all the death that's followed?

Can I find the strength to grow into a strong protector instead of prey? Will I be able to fight the demon and win? How can Robert and I save a world driven to hate everything we are?

Read the first six chapters of Graceless by clicking here

Series Specs

Current Number of books: 4

Age range: Young adult/New adult. Suggested age range would be thirteen and up.

Genre: urban fantasy, adventure, alternate history

Page count: 266-296 each

Trim: 6"x 9"

Format: Paperback/ebook (pdf, mobi, epub)

Graceless is 100% written and ready to print once the Kickstarter campaign ends - 

 The World of the Gift of Grace

This series began with the first urban fantasy story I wrote about a teen girl who summons a spirit to ask for help. The spirit ends up cunning and malicious, but she doesn’t know that.

But anyway, these books start with that one basic rule: dealing with otherworldly spirits is a risky business, and that we absolutely need people who can do it, even if the act of doing it is hated—lest the otherworldly spirits destroy us all.

We're making that short story, Blood & Spirit, available on Kickstarter as a digital bonus perk for any backers who sign up for our newsletter before or during the campaign. It's the first time the story's been available since 2011, and I'm not sure when we'll have it available again, so I'm super pumped to be able to offer it to you guys.

Also, in most urban fantasies, the magic is a secret thing. Hidden. In ours, the entire world knows about the magic our characters use—and has outlawed it. Summoners have formed this organized-crime syndicate called the Grove system—and cops are constantly hunting them down.

But magic is limited. In order to use magic in the Gift of Grace, you must have blood, runes, and a special ability called the Sense, which then allows you to summon something—items, forces, spirits—from point A to point B. But you can’t use magic to actually create anything. You can’t subtract anything.

The potential for irreparable harm is pretty big when you're not actually making anything with your magic and instead just pulling it out of something that already exists. 

So cops and other authorities really aren't fans of summoners, seeing them as sources of unpredictable chaos and massive harm. Authorities try to stomp down on our characters wherever and however they can. 

This conflict has only escalated by the time we reach Graceless. We begin the book with the hostilities between mundane authorities and the Grove syndicates at an all-time boiling point.

So why do summoners keep using their abilities despite being hunted down and having all of this hate thrown their way?

The Weave that makes up reality in the Gift of Grace world is constantly fraying and letting other realities bleed into ours, which leaves our world open to incursions from uninvited, otherworldly Visitors. Some of those Visitors are friendly, but many are not. 

 What's Special About These Books?

These books are urban fantasy action adventure, but borrow heavily from alternate history, portal fantasy, mystery, and humor.

Because my husband and I are huge anime geeks, we've been told our action scenes come across in a super cool, cinematographic way which is especially vivid. And you should probably blame (or thank) anime for the giant, otherworldly monsters, smart villains, dimension hopping, and slightly obsessive characters. 

When it comes down to it, Frog and I write about things we love and things we care about, and we have a blast doing it.

One of our main characters is a foster kid who's already come face-to-face with the system and has big trust issues because of that. 

One of our characters has a hidden disability she's studied her ass off to compensate for. 

Another has suffered an immense trauma and has to figure out how to live in spite of that. 

All of them look at the world a little differently, but with an edge of humor and...dare I say it...grace.

As extra, bonus fun, many of the settings in these books are fictionalized from real cities where we've lived, too. You can actually go check out many of the places where Andrea, Robert, and Grace run for their lives... or "have their adventures."

As for Graceless, it really pays off a lot of things we set up in the previous three books. Andrea comes into the series damaged after being captive of a demon in another dimension, and this book is really the chance to see her come into her own and find her path to move forward. Our books showcase many different kinds of strength, and it isn't always just about kicking a monster's butt or landing the heaviest blow. Although, that of course is fun too. It's an action adventure series, after all. 

 The Main Characters

Each book in the Gift of Grace series is told from two perspectives. Graceless and Falling From Grace are told from Robert and Andrea's perspectives. The first two books in the series, Coup De Grace and Grace Under Fire are told from Robert and Grace's perspectives. 

I often get asked if there's a romantic relationship between any of the characters in this series. There's the potential for something romantic between Robert and Andrea, but so far, they're kind of fumbling their way around it. These books lean more into humor or gritty action adventure rather than sweet.  

 ANDREA: Imprisoned as a battery to fuel a demon's magic for an inconceivable span of time, Andrea sometimes has difficulty remembering that she's human. She bargained her freedom away in return for help, and is still struggling with the consequences.  

 ROBERT: A foster kid with a real problem for authority, Robert has a big heart and a reckless attitude that leads him right into the middle of trouble, wherever it may be. He's pissed off both the mundane and Grove syndicate authorities, so he's usually fielding multiple lethal threats without anything like...tact.  

 GRACE: Robert's mentor and a huge influence on both Andrea and Robert, Grace has immense knowledge about summoning, a love for delicious food, a zany fashion sense, and a genius for improvising. Which is good, because she's constantly getting thrown out to make do on her own. 

 Who am I? Who are We?

I'm Esther Jones, and I'm a writer, editor, and small publisher at Impulsive Walrus Books. 

I wrote Graceless, and the rest of the Gift of Grace series, along with my husband, Frog Jones, who is helping run this campaign. 

Anytime I say "We," I'm talking about Frog and me. We have a unique writing process where we outline the book we want to write together, then divide up the characters and each write half the book.

So basically, we're collaborative writing duo married to our work and each other. We write, edit, and publish science fiction and fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. 

When we started writing together, multiple people told us to "stop now" or we'd ruin our marriage. We're ten years, five novels, eighteen short stories, one publishing house, and several other creative projects into this partnership now, and it seems to have worked out okay so far. We've posted a collaborative writing FAQ on our website where we wrote out the rules we've found to be successful for our collaborations. No creative collaboration is ever quite like another, but you're welcome to borrow our method if it suits you. 

Graceless will be the seventh book we've published on our own since opening our small press. In addition to the Gift of Grace series, we've also published the popular Well...It's Your Cow anthology featuring USA Today Bestselling author Lee French, Sam Knight, and others.

Why Kickstarter?

Frog and I have always loved connecting one-on-one with readers and fans. But during the pandemic, it's been a lot harder find places to do that. Kickstarter feels like it gives us a similar opportunity to reach out and talk to you directly. 

The Gift of Grace novels also go back to the very first stories Frog and I wrote together. They were originally published through a different small press when we were new, baby authors. But we've recently gotten the rights to the series back. Now, we're able to continue with the story we've always wanted. 

Kickstarter gives us an opportunity to relaunch the series, get our fourth book directly in front of you, pay for volume four's production costs, and just maybe put some money toward books five and six—which are the final two books we have planned for the series. 

We've done everything we can to make sure Graceless is print ready before coming to Kickstarter, and we hope you'll be just as excited as us to carry it across the finish line.  

 Which Pledge Should I Choose?

I've tried to break the pledge rewards into three general tracks. A digital book track, a physical book track, and an exclusive, limited edition track (that includes an limited edition enamel pin). Many of the physical book tracks will also give you the option to download the digital rewards. If you don't see an option you want please message me! It's hard to predict all the combinations you might look for. There are also many addons from the rewards available, allowing you to make your own custom bundle. 

 Digital Book Track:

$1 - Original outline for Graceless, signed by both the authors.

$5 - One Graceless ebook.

$10 - Two Gift of Grace series ebooks.

$15 - Three Gift of Grace series ebooks.

$16 - SPECIAL THANKS + One Graceless ebook. 

$20 - All four Gift of Grace series ebooks + special digital note from the authors.

$34 - Impulsive Walrus Digital Catalog. 

$36 - SPECIAL THANKS + All Four Gift of Grace ebooks. 

$75 - Video Commentary with Frog and Esther + All Four Gift of Grace ebooks.   

Physical Book Track:

$20 - One Signed Gift of Grace paperback, pick one from volumes 1-3.

$20 - One Signed Graceless paperback.

$35 - SPECIAL THANKS Signed Graceless Paperback.

$40 - Two Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks, pick two from volumes 1-3. 

$50 - SPECIAL THANKS Signed Graceless paperback + Digital Combo (includes all four Gift of Grace ebooks).

$60 - Three Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks, volumes 1-3.

$80 - ALL Four Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks.

$100 - SPECIAL THANKS + All Four Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks.

$125 - ALL Four Signed Gift of Grace paperbacks plus Video Commentary with Frog and Esther. 

$133 - Impulsive Walrus Books Print Catalog.

 Exclusive Limited Edition:

$45 - Exclusive Limited Edition Two Inch Pin Bundle (incudes Graceless paperback and ebook) Frog and I decided to get in on the fun of Kickstarter's January Make 100 creative project. There's only 100 of these adorable chibi pins, and this is the only time we'll make this one. (If the limited edition pins don't sell out during the campaign, we reserve the right to make the remaining pins available at some future date, but we won't make more!) Gift of Grace fans will already recognize which otherworldly spirit this depicts, so I feel like saying anything more here will lead to spoilers... Limited to 100.

$500 - Dedicate Graceless to a person of your choice. Your dedication will be printed in the front of the new book, Graceless. This reward applies to the edition being printed and released after this Kickstarter, and all copies printed in the future, until a new edition is made. (The dedication must be a real person of good reputation. No fictional or people of ill repute allowed. Must have the dedication to us within 48 hours of the campaign ending.) LIMITED TO ONE BACKER ONLY. 

 Where Will the Money Go?

I've put our Kickstarter goal at the bare minimum we need to get this project out the door to you. Our actual investment in this novel is actually much higher than the goal, so you can rest assured that your hard-earned cash will go back into the series, and anything raised over the break-even point for Graceless will go into producing volumes five and six in this series.

Here's my current estimated budget for producing and distributing Graceless and our Kickstarter rewards:

Production - $1,500

Printing - $1,200

Shipping - $900

Kickstarter - $500 

Total - $4,100

The total costs might be slightly higher or lower depending on how the final order turns out, but this is as close as I can get right now without seeing how many total books we're sending out to fulfill this order.

  Other books available through this Kickstarter 

Grace Under Fire: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Adventure Novel #1

Everyone's had a terrible boss—but most aren't in charge of a covert syndicate of underground magic users already hated by the public and targeted by law enforcement.

I'm pretty sure mine is trying to kill me. Summoners go missing, and he picks me to go check if demons are running loose and "report back."

I've got no backup.

No field experience.

And orders to stay under the radar...

While confronting supernatural evil that obliterates everything—and anyone in its way.

An orphaned teen with uncontrolled magic and an even bigger genius for trouble appears to be next on its hit list.

If we live, I'm going to retire and find a tropical beach with fabulous tacos.

IF we live. 

 Coup De Grace: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Adventure Novel #2

In that other world, I found a mysterious girl. Her life had been stolen to power a demon's magic.

And I left her behind, bound to that demon.

Now nothing else matters.

Not my graduation.

Not Grace's excuses or the politics of summoners.

Not my friends, and not my foster family.

I abandoned her, leaving her enslaved.

I will burn everything to fix that. 

 Falling From Grace: Gift of Grace Urban Fantasy Adventure Novel #3

Last summer before starting college, I rescued a girl held hostage in another world by a demon. The consequences of defeating that demon ended up bigger than I ever could have imagined…

My mentor died getting us out of there.

My magic brands me as a reality terrorist to be interrogated and killed.

I have to keep my head down and blend in as a normal first-year dorm student with attracting any attention…

While keeping an eye on the traumatized girl I brought into this hostile situation. And still preventing spirits and demons from encroaching into this world uninvited.

Oh, and the other summoners still hate my guts too.

Without my mentor, can I keep myself—or anyone else—safe in this aggressive environment? Is there anybody around me I can trust to have my back? Or are they the ones most likely to stab a knife into it? 

 Well...It's Your Cow: An Anecdotal Anthology Edited by Frog Jones

This anthology is what happens when:

Step 1: Frog builds a roman-style torsion catapult in our garage

Step 2: Friends want to see it hurl things heavier than a foam ball

Step 3: You arrange to hurl melons and other fruits into a friend's cow pasture

Step 4: One of your friends brings a coconut

Step 5: You mention this incident in the middle of a crowd of authors, and they all want to write their own story

Step 6: Frog edits an anthology of stories loosely held together by the question, "So, do we think this is a good idea?" and response, "Well... It's your cow."

Step 7: The authors then go wherever they want, and tell vastly different stories that all start in the same place.

Featuring stories by USA Today Best Selling author Lee French, Sam Knight, Frances Pauli, Sanan Kolva, Ian Madison Keller, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Deby Fredericks, Thomas Gondolfi, Kaye Thornbrugh, Voss Foster, Manny Frishberg, and many others. 

Socially Distant: The Quarantales Anthology Edited by Frog Jones and Manny Frishberg

In 2020, the COVID-19 novel Coronavirus came and our lives changed.

We all quarantined. We shut down our economy. And we made sure to keep a distance of at least six feet in an effort to keep the virus from killing as many people as we could save.

In the midst of this, the speculative fiction authors within this volume began to think about what life looks like if the quarantine doesn't leave. What happens if the illness keeps us all on restriction. Who will end up breaking that restriction? What will be their consequence? How will we exist, as a society, if we must keep our social distance?

These pages explore that concept. The humor, the pain, the triumph, and the everyday humanity of a life in quarantine. A collection of twenty-one stories from across the globe, from India to Britain to Canada to the United States, and all of them about what life looks like in the near future if we remain...socially distant. 

Blackbox Protocol: A Neverwhen Adventure Bethany Loy and Frog Jones

A cyberpunk detective-noir set in the science fantasy gaming universe of Neverwhen, this tie-in novella is a winner.

Being a PI in the high-tech, magical city of Manzala requires more than street-smarts. Martin Aten makes do with a lifetime of experience in software engineering. 

Accompanied by the voice of his wife Jean and his memories of days gone by, he lives each life day-to-day, just scraping through.

But every once in a while, a job comes along that’s bigger than it looks. And when the city’s most successful techno-dwarf hires Martin to recover a stolen, prized personal possession—the job already looks massive.

From the dingy back-streets of Manzala to the planets beyond, this case is going to take Martin farther than any other case before. The hunt for a stolen item brings him new friends, new enemies, and—if he’s very, very lucky—the chance to save Manzala from a danger it doesn’t know is descending on it.

Regardless, he knows he’s not returning to Manzala the same man who left it.

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