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Blood Lies: A Collection of 7 Brotherhood of Blood Shorts

Created by J.S. Living

Lies and secrets cause Anastasia, Voica, Islyn, Indigo, Rimi, Mihnea, and Mihrihmah to go on journeys that will change their lives forever. Urban fantasy X Historical Fiction.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Post Campaign Update #1: Happy Holidays!
3 months ago – Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 01:42:39 PM

Happy Holidays Bloodlings!

I hope you're happy, healthy, wealthy, and enjoying time with your families!

Today I wanted to take a moment to thank you again for your support of Blood Lies. Here's a quick update of where I'm at on everything:

  • I'm halfway through writing the book. Though I'd hoped to be further along, between traveling and catching the flu, I got a bit behind. But, I've been going full-steam ahead the last week or so, and I'm confident I'll be finished with the initial draft by the end of this month/beginning of January.
  • I've already lined up an editor, I'm just waiting to confirm her availability. If things get too hectic, I'll contact my back-up editor, but I have faith everything will work out.
  • The art work is complete for all but two characters. Since we didn't reach the stretch goal for them, I have to pay for that art out of pocket, and it won't be available for sale any time soon. But, I'm determined to make the best quality project I can, so I refuse to omit them from the book. 
  • I've reached out to the company that creates the Challenge Coin. The quote was more than I expected, so I'll be paying for those out of pocket as well. That said, I'm really excited for the final product because the demo looked AMAZING! 
  • I did a test print of the art that is for sale, but it came out grainy, so it's back to the drawing board for where to print those out. 

The next update for this campaign probably won't be until January. Expect them to ramp up closer to completion of the project. In the mean time, happy holidays!

XOXO

J.S. Living

P.S. I'm participating in the 2025 Holiday Mega Sale hosted by Space Wizard on r/Fantasy for the benefit of the Mary Cariola Center. Over 300 authors are participating, and over 650 books will be free or $0.99. If you missed out on my books during my last two campaigns and the pre-order store, this is the perfect time to grab a copy!
 
In addition, I'm also offering 15% off all items in my online store! Use code CHEER to take advantage. This offer is only open to those on my email lists and those who followed or backed my campaigns, so you don't want to miss it. 

Less Than an Hour Left for Early Bird Rewards on the Blood Ties Audiobook Campaign
5 months ago – Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 08:26:28 AM

Hey, hey Bloodlings!

I hope you're happy, healthy, and wealthy. I just wanted to give you a quick update that there's less than an hour left for you to claim an Early Bird Reward!

By popular vote, the Early Bird Reward for the Blood Ties audiobook campaign is a glow in the dark vampire teeth pin. (I know the website says Challenge Coin, but it's a typo and BK won't let me fix it. Sorry!)

But, fear not! Even if you miss the Early Bird Rewards, there are still so many amazing things you can grab from this campaign, the main one being the Blood Ties Audiobook. So, what are you waiting for? Listen to the voices and click that "Pledge Now" button!

XOXO

J.S. Living



P.S. Don't forget to vote on the polls! There's a special prize waiting for the person with the highest score, and the team with the highest score on the leaderboard! Some of the polls close soon, so get in there while you can! 

Audiobook Incoming!
5 months ago – Sat, Nov 08, 2025 at 06:43:32 AM

Hey, hey Bloodlings! 

How are you? I hope you're happy, healthy, and wealthy. I wanted to give you a quick update on what I've been up to and what I have going on. So, here it is:

  • My next Backerkit Campaign launches in less than six days! If you enjoyed your copy of Blood Ties: A Collection of Three Covenant of Blood Shorts, then you'll LOVE the audiobook! Which is what I'm hoping to fund in my November campaign happening from 12 November to 3 December. 
  • My last Backerkit Campaign for my short story collection titled Blood Lies was successful! I'm in the process of getting everything together so I can fulfill orders in a timely manner. Wish me luck!
  • As a federal worker, I've been furloughed, so life has been lifing, but I'm carrying on. 

That's all for now! I hope you'll consider backing the Blood Ties audiobook production!

Pre-Order Store is Up and Running, Stretch Goals are Back, and my New Campaign Starts Soon!
6 months ago – Tue, Oct 07, 2025 at 06:09:40 AM

Hey, hey Bloodlings! I hope you're all happy, healthy, and wealthy!

From yesterday evening until about five minutes ago, I was setting up the BackerKit survey for you all when I realized something: Some of you might have missed the campaign!

This made me think about what I could do to ensure you get a chance to snag a copy of Blood Lies before it releases in stores. Plus, I thought we could still aim to unlock that $1500 Stretch Goal!

So, after great thought, I think I came to three suitable conclusions.

Option 1: Pre-Order Store on BK
The first, is the pre-order store ran through BackerKit! If you want to get items that were exclusive to this campaign, this is the best way to get them before rewards are distributed in March 2026. I'll honor any of the funding amounts for Stretch Goals we hit before I close the pre-order store!

What does this mean?

We have until 11 November before I close the pre-order store, and we're only $467 away from the $1500 stretch goal! If we hit it, I'll still give y'all the two additional print options.

And!

If we hit any of the other goals, I'll honor those too. To recap, here's what those stretch goals were:
 

Option 2: November Audiobook Campaign on BK
Now, if you're not into those rewards, but you still want to get an early copy, there is also the option to support my upcoming audiobook campaign in November. The goodies for that campaign will be slightly different than the ones for Blood Lies, but the book is definitely one of the rewards.



Option 3: Pre-Order on my Website
The third option is the simplest solution, but it's also the one with the least amount of perks. Once all rewards are distributed for the Blood Lies Book Campaign and the Blood Ties Audiobook Campaign, I plan to put Blood Lies up for pre-orders on my website. That should take place around August or September 2026, about one to two months before the retail release (unless circumstances cause me to push up or push back the release).

Regardless of which option works for you, I hope you're able to grab an early copy of Blood Lies and get all the rewards you want!

Last, I'm excited to say that a sample of Those Bloody Recipes is now available for download! All you have to do is follow the Blood Ties Audiobook Campaign and you can be eating bloody good food. In addition, there's already polls and discussions available on launch party. If you want to get ahead of the competition, and vote on polls, now's the time. Have a great day!

XOXO

J.S. Living

We Did It! Time to Re-...I mean Work!
6 months ago – Wed, Oct 01, 2025 at 06:00:18 AM

Hey, hey Bloodlings! I hope you're happy, healthy, and wealthy!

Yesterday evening, we finished out this campaign with 38 backers and we hit $1033 in funding! Y'all, I am so grateful that you showed up for me and believed in this project. I'm even more astounded and excited that we were able to hit not one, but two of the Stretch Goals!

Even more amazing than that is that every single Printopia Campaign funded with a collective 291k in funds, and every digital zine was unlocked. You all did great. So, once again: Thank you!

I'm sending this email today because I didn't want to bombard you with another one yesterday after the craziness of Overtime. But, now that everything is finished, here's some things you need to know. No TLDR this time, please read everything in its entirety and contact me via BackerKit or email ([email protected]) if you have questions, comments, or concerns.

So, here's what's next:

1. Payment methods began charging yesterday and will continue charging today and probably tomorrow. You'll receive an email saying it was accepted or declined. If declined, BackerKit will explain how to fix the issue (it's usually as simple as changing the card on file). If your card declines, you'll want to fix this sooner rather than later.

2. I'm planning to sleep for a long time, sooo...

3. Just kidding.

4. In all seriousness, I'll begin working on the backend things (like putting together your surveys; getting quotes; ordering things; and, of course, writing, editing, and publishing the book.) Expect your survey to go out between January and March of 2026. I can't plan for everything, so I gave myself plenty of time to deliver quality products to you. That said, if something changes, whether things move faster or slower, I will send out updates to keep you apprised. You can view the updated timeline for these things on the FAQ page, which I plan to update as the project moves along and dates shift.

Blood Ties Audiobook Campaign: 

Quick reminder that I'm running another campaign in November for Blood Ties the Audiobook. My goal is to, eventually, turn all my books into audio so I can reach a wider audience and we can build an even larger community. I'll continue sending reminders about the audiobook campaign in these updates up until it ends on 3 December. If you all show up for the Blood Ties audiobook campaign the way you did for Blood Lies, I have no doubt we can make it successful!

Oh, and did I mention:
  •  The audiobook campaign already has samples up! You can check them out by following visiting my website (www.thejsliving.com/audio)! 
  • If you follow the Blood Ties audiobook campaign, you'll receive a sample recipe book containing foods from the Danube region: the place where the characters in Blood Ties are originally from! The recipe book isn't ready yet, but it will be soon. 
  • Of course, if you back the project, you'll get the entire recipe book for FREE! The recipe book is a limited time deal and will be exclusive to the Blood Ties audiobook campaign until 2027. 
  • For $3, you can reserve a spot on the campaign and get a set of Three (3) Oracle cards! 
  • Some polls and discussions are already up, so you can begin voting and discussing things like Early Bird Rewards, Returning Backer Rewards, why you love audiobooks, etc. And, just like with the Blood Lies Campaign, whoever has backed the project and is at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the campaign will receive a special prize! Same for the top team!