Seven years ago I moved from the city to a farm where I taught myself to garden, raise animals & cook "farm to table". I show you how.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
status update: Lucifer's Hammer edition has shipped
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 12:47:15 PM
Lucifer's Hammer Edition
Every book has been double-bagged, vacuum sealed, boxed, labelled, and carted to the USPS.
Books are being shipped via USPS Media Mail.
At the very last second I had a nightmare vision of a postal inspector checking the media mail packages, seeing book encased in thick plastic, and getting very suspicious because nArCoTiCs sMuGgLiNg!!! and opening up the plastic only to reveal...an autistic level of information on purchasing tractors and making bacon.
Because no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the government, this scenario seems all too likely ... so I purchased insurance on every package. If your Lucifer's Hammer edition books have been ruined by overzealous postal inspectors, get in touch with me and we'll fix the situation.
Future Farmers of Aristillus
My bookbinder John has been paid for materials, and a massive stack of leather and endpapers is enroute to him right now. He says that the project will get done in January, so the FFA edition books should ship around 1 February (fingers crossed).
Lothlórien Forest Edition
I expect to fell the tree in the next month or so, once there's some snow on the ground to make skidding it back to the workshop easier.. Once the tree is felled it needs to be milled and seasoned. This might take a year or so. Expect the Lothlórien edition to ship in roughly in that time frame.
Signed copies for for Christmas presents
I've got three extra sets of Escape the City in trade paperback. If you'd like a signed set to give as a Christmas present, paypal me $60 (postage included) at [email protected] . Make sure to include your mailing address, and send the funds with the "to a friend" option to avoid me bugging you for a bit of spare change to reach the right amount. ( If you read this email on any day AFTER Monday 13 Dec, please check with me via email to make sure I have copies left before sending money.)
Merry Christmas!
- Travis
the last 10% is always the hardest...but I'm getting there.
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 01:41:43 PM
Leatherbound edition
Over the weekend I visited my bookbinder - John, of Molly Stark Bindery - and after chatting a bit about the new line of products he's carrying in his bookstore
we got down to the important topic of picking leather and end papers for the Future Farmers of Aristillus edition. I'm thinking a sort of British Racing Green leather cover, and an organic somewhat fibrous beige or brown paper for the endpapers would be fitting with a rural / agricultural theme.
Lucifer's Hammer edition
I have made some minor progress on the Lucifer's Hammer edition, buying some very large vacuum sealer bags and verifying that the books will fit in them. The next step is to buy a [ second ] chamber vacuum sealer, one big enough to seal these books in the large bags.
I bit the bullet and purchased the almost $2,000 large chamber vacuum sealer
and 136 copies of the trade paperbacks
just this morning. The complete Lucifer's Hammer edition books will almost certainly ship from me to you in the next few weeks.
Lothlórien Forest Edition
The Lothlórien Forest Edition will take some steps forward this winter, when I can drop a tree in the forest and skid it out with my tractor (skidding trees works a lot better on packed snow than on dry ground - see page 587 in Escape the City volume 1 !). The day before yesterday I took a walk in the forest and found the tree that I'll be using.
I also have an idea (no promises yet) for some carving on the wooden slipcases, but I can't hand-carve a dozen or so slipcases, so I've finally finished and calibrated the CNC machine I started building from a kit literally 10 years ago in a different state, and in a different life.
Onward!
I'm sorry for the delays, but even if the schedule has slipped a bit, I hope that my history of under-promising and over-delivering on this kickstarter project leaves everyone satisfied in the end.
Travis
Shipping almost done
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 05:49:57 PM
Signed Limited Edition
The ten signed-and-numbered limited edition books went out this morning...well, nine of them did. I'm still waiting for one backer to give me his shipping address!
Podcasts killed the video star
A week ago I flew down to DC to be a guest on Tim Pool's podcast where Tim, Ian, and I discussed the books, homesteading, vitamin C from rose hips, neoreaction, the possible future collapse of America, and the ideal gas law.
While I normally look like a hobo, I look even more like a hobo than usual in this video, as the airline ended up delaying my flight by five hours, and then I was rushed from the packed flight to the podcast studio without a chance take a shower or comb my hair. Exciting times!
Leather-bound edition
I'm working with my bookbinder to move this project forward. I've picked out the leather, and hope to make a decision on end-papers within the next few days.
Lucifer's Hammer Edition
I have done several test runs vacuum sealing books, and I haven't figured out the secret sauce just yet. I may end up having to buy a larger chamber vacuum sealer. Rest assured that I have not forgotten, and am driving this to conclusion.
Based Con and Mammon
My friend Rob Kroese is throwing a small science fiction convention in Michigan this fall, which I'll be attending as a quasi-guest-of-honor. I'll sit on a few panels, and lead a class for would-be / future authors on the rudiments of writing. I believe that the con is almost entirely sold out, but Rob intends to do it again next year, so if this is the kind of thing that interests you, give Rob a follow on twitter.
I'm also submitting a short story to an anthology Rob is putting together alongside his "Mammon" trilogy of science fiction novels. That will be out towards the end of this year.
Books are selling well
The Escape the City books are selling very well at Amazon, and almost all of this is coming from word of mouth. Thank you so much!
If you want to tell a friend about them, the links are
Amazon is currently discounting the trade paperbacks by 10%, and the hardcovers by 17%, so now is a great time to buy extra sets for Christmas or birthdays.
Let me ask for a small favor, please
I'm happy to have over-delivered on this project: I said in the Kickstarter that I'd give you around 600 pages of text, in two 6" x 9" volumes, and I ended up delivering over 1,200 pages of text in two 8" x 11" volumes. The extra work in writing all of that took me away from paying work for three months, and the extra printing costs amounted to about $20,000 out of my own pocket, but I wanted to deliver the absolute best product to those who backed this endeavor.
...but now, having set up the guilt trip, I'm going to ask for a favor. Book ratings and reviews drive sales like nothing else.
If you could take just 5 seconds to click each of the links below, click as many stars as you think the books deserve, and then click "submit", it would mean a lot to me.
If you want to add a few words in the review section, that's gravy, and I'd appreciate it, but just clicking the stars and then "submit" is all that's required.
I know it seems like a hassle, but it really will take just 10 seconds total. Thank you so much for doing this! Reviews -> sales -> me writing more books!
- Travis
Shipping is almost entirely done
almost 3 years ago
– Sun, Jul 11, 2021 at 04:22:37 AM
Hardcovers and Trades
At this point orders have been placed for all customers worldwide. In descending order of units, I've shipped to US, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany,France, Finland, New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, China, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Russia, and two dozen others.
Absolutely insane!
Orders to UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France were only placed today, so they're still a few weeks from delivery.
Limited Edition, signed and numbered copies
I have ordered the hardcovers, which - once they arrive here in a week or two, I will sign and number, and reship out.
Lucifer's Hammer edition
I have done several tests with vacuum sealing books, and the chamber vacuum sealer that I use for butchering, while not venturing down into esoteric levels of hard vacuum suitable for, say, molecular beam epitaxy or other physics lab stuff, still draws a pretty noticeable vacuum ... to the point where the plastic is pushed so hard against the crisp corners of the books that smaller-than-pinhole holes are created, and the bag slowly admits air over several days.
I realize that n̵o̵ ̵o̵n̵e̵ few of you will actually immerse these books in liquids, but, still ... if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing right. I've placed an order for some rounded plastic "corner protectors", and if these, when placed on the book corners, help the bags stay airtight, I'll place a bulk order for a few thousand of them via Alibaba.
Future Farmers of Aristillus leather-bound edition
The hardcovers have been ordered and are now in the hands of my friend and bookbinder extraordinaire John "YOU ARE OUT OF ORDER" Rauscher. Hand work takes time - a lot of it - but we'll get this done later this year and out to you.
Wooden slipcases
I need to build 12 or so wooden slipcases for the Lothlórien Forest Edition. I have identified a standing dead tree that looks like it would provide the perfect wood for this, but when I contemplate the task - dropping the tree, skidding it out, milling it into boards, drying them, planing them, and more - and then inspect the calendar, I have to be frank that it's unlikely that these will ship in the current year. I apologize for that, but there are only 24 hours in the day (27 hours, subjective, with my espresso consumption).
as-yet unassembled wooden slipcases noted with red dot
Workshop Tool chest Inventory
The workshop tool chest inventory, a small companion book, comparable in size and scope to the 40 page 6" x 9" trade paperback of Staking a Claim that I shipped as a bonus in an earlier kickstarter, has likewise not been started. I do intend to work on this this year, and do hope to ship it before year's end. I might, at my discretion, replace the Tool chest Inventory with a comparable or larger work. My wife and I have been talking about a variety of small 40-80 page books that might come out under the Escape the City banner, and if we end up doing one of these first, and investing a fair bit of time into it (e.g. "Escape the City: Teas from the Garden", etc.) I might choose to ship that in the place of the originally promised volume.
Other writing projects
I have made a pledge to myself that I would not work on any other writing projects until all of the Escape the City books shipped, and I'm sticking to that. I'll get the Workshop Tool chest Inventory (or equivalent) done before I switch off of EtC project and onto other things (I do reserve the right to do other writing once that is done, but before the wooden slipcases ship, as the wood for that project requires time to season).
Later this year I hope to write one or two short stories, and then resume work on the long awaited Aristillus book 3, Right and Duty, and Aristillus book 4, Absolute Tyranny. Those probably won't see the light of day for two to four years, but like Orson Welles and Paul Masson, I will serve no wine before its time.
I've also got a planned medium sized treatise on property, how various rights are bundled and unbundled, zoning codes, how a libertarian can ethically interact with a regulatory regime that he dislikes, small town New Hampshire politics, violations of FOIA laws, illegal meetings, sham site visits, incompetence, corruption, conflicts of interest, and all sorts of other #BarnLaw content with the tentative title of Tear it Down!
Finally, I've recently fallen in love with an idea for a novel that started with me answering someone on twitter as to why I thought the cyberpunk genre is dead. My answer is that cyberpunk occurred at a very peculiar time, when data and bandwidth existed in quantities large enough to be affecting the world, but were rare enough to be esoteric and have scarcity value. Before those two things existed in any appreciable quantity (1970) cyberpunk couldn't exist, and after they were "too cheap to meter" (2000), all of the tropes ceased to make any sense. Once I'd generated this economic explanation for a literary sub-genre, I couldn't let it go, and started to think about what set of events could generate a cyberpunk setting. My notes.txt file is growing rapidly, and it starts with an alternate history splitting off from ours around 1750, a politically fractured North American continent, a dirty radiological war fought in the 1910s, cast iron and plexiglass domed cities, an uneasy cold war in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s between rival powers (Massachusetts, Virginia, and others), a contaminated DMZ, borders draped with barbed wire, a walled city of spies, paranoia, smuggled data, diplomacy, a hacker underground, punched cards, magnetic tapes, and smuggled microchips.
Put on the Carpenter Brut or your other favorite synthwave, and think neon and dripping rain, Johnny Mnemonic meets the Spy Who Came in from The Cold, The Homebrew Computer Club, the Ministry of Truth on Beacon Hill, and Blade Runner.
I've got to be careful and not roll the tractor over die in the next five or six years, because I really want to write this novel, or series of linked stories, tentatively called Souls in the New Machine.
Books on sale...apparently?
Despite me setting the prices of the Escape the City volume 1 and 2 hardcovers at $49.95, Amazon's algorithm has chosen to discount them substantially below list price... to the point that the hardcovers are cheaper than than the trade paperbacks.
I'm not sure how Amazon manages to sell them at 62% off and still give me my full royalty, but understanding Amazon is not my problem.
If you're looking to stock up on some books that make great Christmas presents, now is the time to buy - I have no idea how long this quirk will last!
Life on the farm
All of the usual - weeding the pumpkin patch, wrestling sheep to trim their hoofs and given them their vitamins, digging up knotweed, fixing equipment, and more. Between farm chores, shipping books, and my day job, life is hectic, but good!
Enjoy your summer, and best of luck in your progress escaping the city.
Travis
Escape the City: 95% of orders placed, deliveries in progress, partial shipments, debit card woes, smol farm update
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, Jun 22, 2021 at 08:20:23 PM
95% of orders placed
At this point my scripts have injected all orders for both trade paperbacks at hardcovers for all customers in the US, Canada, Belgium, Brazil, Austria, Chile, Israel, New Zealand, Hungary, Russia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, South Africa, Mexico, Ireland, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Finland.
There are a few countries that are served by local Amazon websites: Australia, France, the UK, and Germany, and I have not yet placed orders for delivery to these countries. I need to investigate to see if the money saved on import duties and shipping by sending these orders via the local amazon affiliates instead of from the American Amazon.com is worth the extra labor extending the screen scraping tool I wrote. I hope to drive this project to completion (one way or the other) and inject all such orders next weekend.
Deliveries in progress
Several hundred people have already received their books; we're right at the first inflection point in the "S" curve.
Unboxing pictures are appearing on twitter, which is exciting!
"I got a partial shipment"
I have gotten several reports of people who placed an order for a set of books (or multiple sets of books) and received a box containing some, but not all, of what they ordered.
In every single case I have investigated, Amazon has broken the order up into multiple shipments, and the "missing" books have already been shipped, and are usually slated to arrive a day or two behind the first shipment.
If you get a partial shipment, don't stress, just wait a day or two.
"I ordered the Lucifer's Hammer edition, but.."
A few folks have said "I ordered the Lucifer's Hammer edition, but I got regular trade paperbacks, not sealed in plastic".
The LH edition includes TWO sets of books: one sealed in plastic, one regular. You got the regular ones, direct from Amazon. The collectible apocalypse-proof second set will arrive a few weeks later.
"I ordered the hardcovers, but ..."
A few folks have said "I ordered the hardcovers, but I got trade paperbacks".
Every time I've investigated this, I've found that the person in question ordered the hardcovers at Kickstarter and then added on a second set of books (trade paperback) later.
You can check your complete order at backerkit.com.
The hardcovers are, on average, a week or so behind the trade paperbacks.
Debit card woes
When the Kickstarter and Backerkit closed I set aside $40,000 for book printing and shipping costs.
I started out placing orders using my USAA debit card (and thus drawing directly on the set-aside fund), but USAA has let me down - they've repeatedly frozen my debit card, and despite placing a note in the account that the card should not be frozen, have frozen it again a half dozen times.
I have switched to funding the orders with a credit card, but as of yesterday I have maxed out the credit limit. My credit card will not let me prepay, or even pay off the amount already charged ... because those charges are pending but have not actually posted yet. So I have to wait a day or two more before I can pay off the CC and then Amazon can resume shipping.
I'm waiting for the awesome folks at Stripe to roll out some 21st century solution to this 20th century infrastructure.
smol farm update
About a week back used my riding mower and a 40 gallon tow behind sprayer (both discussed in the books) to spray two neglected pastures, each about 1.5 acres, with a mix of 40 gallons of water and 1 quart of 2,4-D / 3,6-D broadleaf specified herbicide. A week later I can see that the poison ivy that has been dominating these pastures is looking yellow and weak, while the grasses in the same pasture are looking healthy and green. God bless modern chemistry! The books talk about 2,4-D but not about the mixture of that with 3,6-D. I need to make a note to talk about that in the second edition.
( That's a great segue point to say that when the books arrive, if you see any mistakes or areas that could use better information, please file a ticket , so that the 2nd edition, which I might issue in 3 years or so, can fix the problems. )
After riding the mower through the poison ivy I took a shower and made sure to scrub extra well. Unfortunately later in the day I got the bright idea to take off the mower blades, sharpen them, and put them back, and didn't give any thought to the fact that the mower deck had been dragging through poison ivy for an hour. I just flew in from New Hampshire and boy are my arms t̵i̵r̵e̵d̵ itchy.
I spent a few hours yesterday swinging a pick to dig up rhizome (roots) of Japanese Knotweed. The fight is long and arduous, but the outcome is never in doubt.
Over the weekend some friends visited and their 10 year old daughter conspired with my wife to grab the smallest lamb, "smol", and bring him inside the house as a surprise.
sheep where they shouldn't be (2021, colorized)
Available at Amazon
If you want additional copies, or if friends want copies, the books are live at Amazon in trade
