Easter Sunday (20 April) will mark three months since the monkeys were released into the wild 🎉🐒
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I'll therefore be writing/sending a special edition of this newsletter on the day.
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It'll be a Q&A format of the first 5 questions I get asked.
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About the book or process that is.
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Not general life aha.
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So if you're intrigued about anything from The Monkey State — Characters origins, sales, worldbuilding, KU page reads, imposter syndrome, royalties, challenges, would I recommend writing a book etc. — Please reply to this email with your question.
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It'll be first come first served. And I can't wait to get stuck in.
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This week on the book front:
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> I had a fun call with a cartographer about mapping out Tierra Libre. He had an idea to create a network of 'roads', more like monkey pathways, through the jungle which would flesh it out in more detail than I'd ever imagined. Trying to work out how quickly a monkey would travel certain distances is never a challenge I thought I'd face in life 😂
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> Reviews/ratings have gone 25+ which is pretty thrilling and very humbling. This helps to make the book look more credible to readers who don't know me. And gives it more of a chance of luring Amazon finicky cat algorithm towards the monkeys.
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> In Search Of Maya has been sent to the first two beta readers (a big thanks to them + Kathy for preparing a dummy Kindle version) and I'll also be reading it 'for fun' on my Kindle to see how it flows after a fair few plot tweaks & edits...
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Off to catch the Liverpool game now although I'm probably more excited to see the conclusion of the Masters golf tonight. Come on Maccers!
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BBC had a nice article about the impending battle McIlroy (Northern Ireland) v DeChambeau (USA). They were asked about how they would unwind before the final round and both cited stories—in the form of TV or film—that they would watch.

One chose a James Bond film, specifically with Pierce Brosnan. The other is tucking into series 3 of Bridgerton. With episode one apparently sending them into a nice slumber. I never know if that's a compliment or not...
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The sports nerds here may be able to guess who picked who.

But again I thought BBC pitched it nicely as Bond v Bridgerton.

Who wins for you?
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I must adieu,

– J. R. Roberts
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P.S. An Insta influencer kindly produced a 'tropes promo' for The Monkey State. I know a few people who find these a little cringey... but I kinda like them and think they encapsulate books quite nicely.