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| Recently funded thanks to backers like you! |
Welcome to June! Summer is here!
Let's get you caught up to some of the crowdfunds currently going on right this second and see what you might have missed out on! I'm going to highlight three of them that need just that little nudge to get over the finish-line and make their goals, one of which is near its end and another that just started as of this writing.
Crowdfunding, as you might know, is now an essential part of the NewPub climate, a way for readers to get books funded and for creators to get out of the red faster. It's a way of producing stories for audiences in a much more reliable way, as long as the campaign creator doesn't fumble the ball, anyway. All the way around, it is an invaluable tool for the changing industry and also allows more creativity from creators at the same time.
Without further ado, here are a few crowdfunds you might have missed. Lets get to it. You're going to want to keep an eye on these.
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| Find it Here! |
J. Manfred Weichsel isn't a stranger to Wasteland & Sky. I've recommended and spoke of his material before. The difference this time is that he has created a new project to be an editor of. Sword & Scandal is a collection he wishes to produce by commisioning writers towards. The funds are pretty much just going towards that. As you can see above, the art is already done.
"You might be wondering just what the title refers to. What does Sword & Scandal actually mean? He describes it below:""Sword & Scandal" is a play on the popular Italian sword and sandal genre of epic films. These will be stories with traditional historical and mythological settings from heroic fantasy, but with more gratuitous nudity, sex, and gore than what you usually see published. They will be subversive without becoming grimdark and will retain the sense of fun you would want from a pulp adventure, and the sense of wonder you would want from a weird tale.
"Sword & Scandal will have an open call for submissions, making the process of selecting stories democratic and ensuring that the anthology gets the best writing it possibly can. Unlike other publishers who tend to play it safe with their selections, we will be looking for the wild, strange, and outrageous. We want to publish off-beat and off-the-wall stories that would never otherwise get to see the light of day.
"Humor is also a big part of what we do. We will actively look for stories that incorporate a similar sense of humor as ours: dry, sardonic, and satirical. We enjoy humor that is character-driven, dark, and surreal. But we also like farce."
That might give you a vibe for what he is hoping to commission. If you've read Mr. Weichsel's stories then you know he isn't fooling around.
As he goes on to say:
"Sword & Scandal is not an anthology for genre purists. It is for thrill-seeking readers who want something new and different. The tales in this book will be adventures to scandalize. So, if you want to see such a new market open up to writers, and if you want to help bring such a book into existence, and if you want to hold such a book in your hands and read it, then contribute to Sword & Scandal now!"
There are only a few days left on the campaign! Help it get over the finish line and get yourself some spicy stories of the kind OldPub will no longer publish today!
Back Sword & Scandal today and get it funded! You can find it Here!
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| Find it Here! |
This one just launched, so I'm slotting it here for easy visibility. David Skinner is an author whose stories, like my own, have run in both Cirsova and Storyhack magazines, and they all have a special spin to them that make them uniquely his.
In this crowdfund he is funding both for the third volume of his short story collections, but also for an omnibus containing all 25 stories as well as the cover illustrations in said earlier volumes. In other words, you can either continue your collection, and catch up in one swift move.
As you can tell from the title, Mr. Skinner writers wonder stories, though not always in the way you might expect. Like all the best ones, they can get weird!
Here is the campaign description:
"My name is David Skinner. I write wonder fiction: science fiction without much science in it. I have been collecting most of my wonder stories in a series of volumes called Stellar Stories.
"It is time for Volume 3.
"It is also the perfect time for an omnibus of all three volumes.
"I am offering Volume 3 to those who already have Volumes 1 and 2, and an Omnibus to those who are just joining Stellar Stories. Even those with previous volumes might want the Omnibus, since omnibuses are neat."
Here is a listing of the included stories:
- The Fourth Gift
- Banana Man
- The Girl With the Nuclear Bomb
- The King's Portion
- Some Things Missing From Her Profile
- Due a Hanging
- Ambit of Charon
- The Spare Midge
- An Uncommon Day at the Lake
- Mae Walks
- Tainted by Grace
- The Courtship of Jay and Elusivebeth
- Dead Neighbor
- O Po Teef
- The Escalating Wish
- Poof Poof Ya Does Me a Favor
- The Impossible Footprint
- The Unshrouded Stars
- Motive of Man
- Wayward Scarecrow
- Lament for a Sister
- The Baron of Nevada & His Branded Broads
- End of the Sigh
- His Own Ends
- A Devil's Intuition
A description for each story is included on the campaign page. Volume 3 contains the final eight stories listed while the omnibus contains them all.
Once again, you can find the Stellar Stories crowdfund Here!
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| Find it Here! |
For our third crowdfund, let us get to one that is already funded but should still not be missed out on. This book is a sequel to another (which can be picked up in this campaign, should you wish to catch up), and continues the theme today of weird stories being on the docket.
You see, what has returned to prominence through the new climate of publishing isn't just forgotten story styles, but inventive approaches to classic predicaments and ideas, filtered through a lens of creators who don't slide carefully in modern genre boxes. Every campaign featured today is like that, and the De re dordica books are no different.
Head back to the 1970s and dive into a mystery quite unlike any other. As you might suspect, it gets weird.
The description of the book is as follows:
"In this follow-up to the cult classic Shagduk, the mystery of Professor Sherwood's disappearance deepens. As does Steven Miller's involvement with Fort Worth's occult underbelly and with his secretive colleague, Diane. Find out what happens when impish shenanigans go too far and when doors best left closed lead the fledgling sorcerer to the world's very edge. Ursula of Ulm is the second book in the De re dordica saga."
"Unless I am experiencing the final stages of Philly fever-induced dementia, the events of the last four months can not be dismissed as paranoia. One need look no further than my bedside table for damning evidence. I lay wide awake, mentally juggling nucleotides of mutant conversational DNA. Randy's toast: "Por la razón o la fuerza!" Wailing bagpipes. A name: Shagduk."
You can back Ursula of Ulm Here!
As for Star Wanderers, I can give you the most recent update from Cirsova about what is happening. We funded well above our goal (thank you so much!) which means we are extra focused on getting the final product polished and out the door.
From the campaign updates:
"The proofs should be shipping out soon. I don't anticipate any problems with them, but we want to give JD a chance to go over everything; since JD is in Canada, it'll take the books a little longer to get to him once they ship--we're looking at them showing up in mid June.
"The trading cards should be here next week.
"Barring any disasters, we'll be shipping books out by sometime in the middle of July.
Hopefully the mail isn't as slow as it usually is and I can get this done ASAP, but rest assured that we are on schedule to get the books out the door.
And that's it for this edition of Crowdfund signal boosts! I'm sure there are many more to come, and that I've potentially missed some, but that is just par for the course with these things. There are just so many to go over.
I'll leave you with the same trailer for an upcoming project I left in a recent post and I will see you next time. As for what that actually is, you're going to have to wait a bit longer. We've still got Star Wanderers to get out the door, after all!
Until the next! NewPub only gets better from here.
What is Phantom War? You'll learn soon enough!
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