Now Evil Hat is going for The Big Stretch.

If they hit $15,000, they’ll be producing a stand-alone SotC pulp fiction novel by Atomic Robo creator Brian Clevinger. Brian will be writing about Benjamin Hu–think Sherlock Holmes from Hong Kong, running around like Indiana Jones as an olympic-class fencer.

And if they hit $20,000, I get to write the next one.

My character is Amelia Stone, the Spirit of Justice! She’s tough as nails, lives by her fists and her wits, and is so full of pulpy goodness I could squee. I’ve been desperately wanting to try my hand at crazy in-your-face no-holds-barred no-apologies-given pulp since I started reading the ERB Mars books, and this opportunity was too awesome to pass up. I cannot *wait* to give this a shot, and, well you guys aren’t going to let me down, right? You’re, er, going to go forth and, er, make me write another novel this year, right? You’re, um…

…I’ve done it to myself again, haven’t I. :)

No, really, I actually have the time to do this and I’m tremendously excited about the chance, so please! Go forth and help make it happen! There are loads of awesome rewards and exciting potential, and this is a crazy fun chance for me to do something I will probably never have another opportunity to do, so, um, I’m gonna be over here in the corner holding my breath while we wait to see what happens.

Watch the skies!

So on to the ORSSP write-up!

Project Proposal: I set out with a goal to to write 6 short stories set in my Old Races universe, to create content for a possible future print publication collection of Old Races stories. I had in mind a financial goal of $3,000 ($500/story), but the especially important aspect to me was obtaining an audience for the stories to make certain I wrote them.

Project Conclusion: Over 180 patrons donated over $4,000 toward the ORSSP, making it not only a success in terms of getting me to write the stories, but also a clear financial success in and of itself.

Proof of Fiction Committed: There are teasers available for five of the six stories. For the sixth, my patrons have generously agreed to let me post the entire story publicly.

“Salt Water Stains the Sand”, a tale of the djinn, is available here.

Teasers for the other stories are available here:
The Death of Him, a story of the selkies
Awakening, a story of the vampires (set after the Negotiator Trilogy)
Falling, a story of the gargoyles
St. George & the Dragons, a story of the dragons
and
Legacy, a story of the humans

Really, it went so well I’m more than half tempted to do it again this year, except I already have a great deal on my plate in 2012. :)

First up: “No Dominion”!

Project Proposal: I set out with a goal to raise $4000 through Kickstarter.com to fund the writing of a Walker Papers tie-in novella about Gary Muldoon, Joanne Walker’s septuagenarian sidekick:

Recently widowed after nearly fifty years of marriage, Gary Muldoon had given up on adventure. Then shaman Joanne Walker climbed into the back seat of his cab, and since then, Gary has trifled with gods, met mystics, slain zombies and ridden with the Wild Hunt.

But now he must leave Joanne’s side to face a battle only he can win. Because as their long battle against a dark magic-user races toward its climax, it becomes clear that it was not illness that took Annie’s life, but their enemy’s long and deadly touch.

Though lovers be lost, love shall not…

     …AND DEATH SHALL HAVE NO DOMINION.

Project Conclusion: Over 500 patrons contributed over $20,500 to the “No Dominion” campaign, earning them the following:

3 novellas
5 short stories
3 chapters of a book that doesn’t exist
& 1 CE Murphy photographic calendar

…which, frankly, was rather more than I expected. :)

Proof of Fiction Committed: There are two pieces of free fiction associated with the “No Dominion” campaign. Neither is actually from the “No Dominion” novella, because that novella begins in the middle of RAVEN CALLS, the 7th book of the Walker Papers series, which isn’t due out until March 2012, and I didn’t want to spoil anything. Instead, I’m offering up the following:

Magic Hath An Element, the first chapters of URBAN SHAMAN, as seen through Gary’s eyes instead of Joanne’s, and Forgotten But By A Few, the first “No Dominion” campaign short story.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

In the end I had about 180 patrons for the ORSSP, and it made in the region of $4K for six short stories. That’s a pretty damned good market value, around $.11 a word, so thank you. Thank you all very, very much.

It was also a huge success in terms of creating content for a possible future Old Races collection, which was my original goal with the project. And as those of you who’ve subscribed know, it’s gone a long way toward setting up the Old Races universe for future books, should I decide to return to it with book-length fiction. So that was an added bonus, and I’m pretty delighted about it. :)

I’m working on getting cover art done for the ORSSP, and when I’ve got that I’ll send out the .mobi and .epub files to all patrons, so it’ll be easier for those of you with e-readers to peruse.

After this year’s mad rush of crowdfunding, I’ll probably only be running/participating in one next year (the ElectriCity graphic novel! Squee!), so y’know, again: thank you. Thank you for supporting me as a writer, both by buying the books I write and by participating in these direct-market projects I’ve been running. You guys are absolutely, madly awesome, and I’m tremendously grateful to you all. Thank you.

And Happy New Year!

The “No Dominion” Kickstarter campaign is at just below $13K right now, with a week left to go. And I have reached the peculiar point of now being afraid to mention it much, when in fact normally one would be going OMG HOLY CRAP HOW HIGH CAN WE GO?!?!?!

Because at $15K I’ve promised another novella, but with all the little stuff I’ve thrown in, another novella at $15K isn’t really cost-effective. I mean, there are four short stories, and a chapter of HEAVEN CAN WAIT, and not only have I got a novella listed at $15K, but I also (rashly, but I fear I’m still rather enthusiastic about the idea o.o) promised 2 more chapters of HEAVEN CAN WAIT at that dollar amount too. I mean, on the positive side, I did make it clear those were deadline-at-my-discretion, but even so, I’m finding myself in this weird position of going “crap, I hope it either peaks at about $13.5-14K or goes all the way to like $17 or $18K…” And I hate to close it down early because I said I’d run it for six weeks and I by God think I should, so I’m a bit flaily here!

Truth in crowdfunding, lads, that’s what this is. :) So guide me, intarwebs! Shall I sit here being mum or shall I see just how darned far this horse will go?

Also, can I just say HOLY CRAP 360 BACKERS!!! That’s just shy of TWO HUNDRED more than have signed on for any of my other crowdfunding projects! I don’t know if it’s because it’s Walker Papers/Gary vs Old Races, or if it’s because it’s Kickstarter, or if I’ve flogged it more or if it’s been RT’d more or what, but HOLY CRAP!

(I will of course write the second novella if the campaign hits $15K, because I said I would! Just in case this made anybody wonder. It’s just that only in retrospect am I appreciating the flaws in my plans. :))

Everybody knows Jumbletown isn’t like other cities. Stuff falls through from other places here, and mostly, it can’t leave. Head north to Detroit or south to Tampa Bay and it’s just ordinary world out there, no fae or vampires, no Civil War soldiers or little grey men. A lot of Jumbletown’s new arrivals are dangerous. A lot of them aren’t. Some of them settle down, make families, make a life…but their children can’t leave.

And then there are girls like Cori May, born in Jumbletown and untouched by the magic that’s trickled through. Her friends think she’s lucky: she’ll be able to leave someday. Cori thinks ordinary (or leaving town, for that matter) pales beside girlfriends with rainbow wings or the power to stun with a touch.

But it’s the very ordinariness of Cori’s human soul that draws the fallen angel Mirael and the demon Sebastian to her. For both, capturing Cori’s love–and her soul–offers redemption. For Mirael, plucking a pure mortal soul out of the Jumbletown mire would win her a chance to return to the Heaven from which she fell. For Sebastian, who may know more about Jumbletown’s creation than he’s letting on, seducing that same pure soul would be a one-way ticket up the ranks of demons in his home world of Hell.

But neither demon nor angel imagined falling in love with Cori, and when it comes to the final battle for her soul, perhaps…

…HEAVEN CAN WAIT.

I’ll write the first chapter if the Kickstarter campaign hits $12K. I’ll write two more chapters if it hits $15K. Those’ll be freebies, available for everybody to read. After that, I’ll write another chapter, posted weekly starting after April 15, 2012, for everyone subscribing at $25 or more, for every $1000 dollars past $15K. If the campaign actually breaks the absurd $30K rollover point, I’ll write the whole thing. :)

(And yes, you can up your donation amount if you want to–just go to the campaign page and, um. Okay, well, I know it’s possible because a bunch of people have done it already, okay? I don’t think it’s very hard, even, but I don’t actually know how to do it… :) “and click “Manage Your Pledge.” Enter a new amount in the pledge amount box. Note that you are not adding to your existing pledge; the amount you enter will be the total amount collected if the project is successfully funded.” (via the kickstarter FAQ & Gabriel Who Can Read Instructions :))

(Also, because I appear to be adding a whole lot more stories to this campaign than expected, I’ve upped the high-end rollover stuff–extra novellas, or an extra novel–from $10 to $25. I feel slightly like a git for changing it mid-campaign, but subscribers at $10 will still, without question, get the novella and three short stories, which I think is pretty fair. She said nervously.)

Hat-tip to Trent, who asked if the “Jumbletown” he kept seeing on my to-do list was a story idea (it wasn’t, Jumbletown is a freecycle site in Ireland), and to Corin, who suggested the angelic storyline. :)

I’m doing an Old Races short story project throughout 2011. This project will deliver 6 Old Races short stories to its patrons. This story of Janx, “Saint George & the Dragons,” is the second story in the project, and has now been delivered to the patrons who have thus far subscribed. I’m pleased to offer the rest of you a teaser for it.

Saint George & the Dragons

At the heart of the River Seine, a dragon. Spoiling waters, fed on sheep, but in thrall to maidens fair. Daughters, never wives; a treasure trove, until the daughter is the daughter of a king, and a kingdom is bereft.

A saint with sword and cross: a princess saved, and a dragon slain. He is Quirinus, he was Perseus, Marduk, Tahrun and Thor; and his dragons Cetus, Tiamat, Illuyankas and Jormungandr. He has slain dragons for a thousand years, and will slay them a thousand more.

#

“He is a menace!” Outrage, rumbling like thunder through caverns near a shore. Well enough, that: there was little thunder to be had in this land, and the roar of a dragon’s fury might at least be mistaken for heavy seas. Or they could be if the seas were heavy at all, but beyond the cavern mouth they lay serene and calm, cerulean skies reflecting on still waters.

“He is a mortal.” Insouciance, uncaring; even boredom. Not at all the desired emotions, when the question at hand is the survival of a species. But the water was very blue, a jewel in itself, and there should have been a way to claim it.

“He has murdered one of us!”

“It happens from time to time.” Hardly the right answer: new outrage rose from some twenty throats. Janx sighed and turned from the view. Mediterranean blue could neither be equaled nor captured, and the beasts at his back were losing patience. “For the third time, will you not take human form to hold this discussion? How do you think they find us, these dragonslayers? They listen for storms where the sea is calm, they follow stories to cities of gold, they come to where legend claims virgins are sacrificed to mighty wyrms, and there we are, awaiting them in all our ancient, vulnerable glory. Humanity’s guise may be distasteful, but it will also save your lives.”

He had made the argument countless times over countless years, and it had fallen on countless deaf ears. He, at least, took his own advice: lanky with red hair cropped close to his skull, and a beard too tidy and sharply pointed to meet the approval of Roman matrons. There were, after all, limits: he couldn’t bear the thought of his own fine features hidden behind one of the curly monstrosities worn by the wealthy. But details of fashion aside, with his skin warmed to gold by the sun’s caressing touch and jade eyes, Janx was by all immediate appearances human. His brethren knew better; they could sense his dragonly mass, shuffled to some unreachable spot until it was needed. That he chose to wear a human shape did nothing to undermine his presence.

But they, all of them, kept to their serpent forms. It had taken months to find caves large enough to hold them when they would not shift, and even so there was sinuous life to the walls as one dragon shifted and made minute way for another. They did not, as a whole, bear each other’s presences well; dragons were large, and largely solitary because of it.

Large and greedy, and all the more solitary for that. “Virginity,” Janx muttered, “is a stupid thing to treasure anyway. It doesn’t last, you know.”

The Old Races Short Story Project patronage window is now closed.

I’m doing an Old Races short story project throughout 2011. This project will deliver 6 Old Races short stories to its patrons, starting with “Salt Water Stains the Sand”, the story of–to quote the reader who asked for it, “the first time Malik lost.” This story has been delivered to the patrons who have thus far subscribed, and I am now pleased to offer you a little ol’ teaser for it.

Salt Water Stains the Sand

My name is Tahira Firaz Galia al-Shareef di Nazmi al-Massri, and today I have killed my brother.

He does not know it yet, but I see it as he limps away over desert sands. He is an exile, lost to his people, and because of that, he is dead. Because of me, he is dead.

It is not how I hoped this story would end.

#

“He is wealthy and powerful. Respected among the clans. You could do no better.”

“He is old.” A silly argument: I am old. There are very few young among us anymore, not since the Bedouins came to ride their horses through our sands and take the few resources we once called our own. The humans; my father and brother would not be pleased that I know their tribes by name, or that I care. They are all young, every one of them, even their most venerable sages. The most extraordinary see a hundred changes of the season, and I have long since lost count of how many soft desert springs I have witnessed. So: I am old.

But not as old as Amar, who is so old the desert sun has bleached the blackness from his hair. So old that the sandstorms have driven lines into his skin, so old that his scowl reminds me of young mountains, harsh and sharp with their newly-risen ridges. He is old, and has thirteen wives, and I will not be the next.

“Tahira,” Malik says with a winsome note. “Tahira, you must listen to reason. Amar is powerful. He could destroy us if you refuse him.”

The Old Races Short Story Project patronage window is now closed.

There is a book I’ve been trying to write since I was twelve years old. It’s called RIGHT ANGLES TO FAIRYLAND, and it’s a traditional YA fantasy novel: Five children discover a fairy circle on Midsummer’s Day, and make their way into a Fairyland torn apart by centuries of strife–on one side is Fairy, caught in Winter, and on the other side, Goblin, bound to endless Summer. The five make allies on opposite sides of the conflict, and individually go on quests that will help to bring the shattered land back together–or destroy it forever.

I wrote the rough draft in 2002. It was the best thing I’d ever written. It probably still is the best thing I’ve ever written. But it has languished unrevised for most of a decade now, for the simple and rather pragmatic reason that people keep paying me to write other things. I literally haven’t been able to afford to revise this book which is closest to my heart.

Last week I was dumbstruck by the idea of making the Angles revisions a crowdfunded project. It gives me a deadline, it gives those readers who want to participate by buying in an opportunity to read a full novel, and it gets it done. So that’s what I’m going to do.

The Angles commission will probably run for six months, as I’m setting a delivery deadline of July 1, 2011, but there’s a catch:

I may close the commission as early as April 14, 3 months from now, if I get it done by then. I may give 24 hours’ notice about it closing, or I may not. I’ll post about this monthly or so, in order to remind people, but I won’t ride it any harder than that. So if you want in, don’t faff about too long. :) (I know I’ve just put up the short stories commissions, too, which is why there’s a 3-month window on this–a bunch of people who may not have much spare cash have already bought in to the short stories, so I don’t want to double-tap them in January.)

Given that this is an actual novel, not just a novella or short stories, I’m going to go ahead and set a $15 buy-in, since my novels tend to be trade paperbacks with approximately that price tag.

And, because this is a revision project, I can for once give you a really decent teaser: Here are the first three unrevised chapters of RIGHT ANGLES TO FAIRYLAND. (Do bear in mind I wrote this almost ten years ago, and don’t judge me too harshly. :))

As usual, the finished story will be delivered via email as a PDF (and *maybe* in ebook format–leave a note in the Paypal transaction if there’s an e-format you’d like to have it delivered as) on or before July 1, 2011.

Book six of the Walker Papers, SPIRIT DANCES is up for pre-order at Amazon (but not Indiebound, or I’d link there too).

I’ve created a Ireland 2011 calendar. Zazzle’s got a 20.11% off sale on everything until Thursday, January 6th, so this is a good time to buy! Use “2011NEWYEARS” as the magic code.

I’ll be doing an Old Races short story project throughout 2011. This project will deliver 6 Old Races short stories to its patrons, starting in February. There is one caveat to this: if one of the stories gets out of control and decides to become a novella instead of a short story, I reserve the right to deliver 3 short stories and 1 novella instead of 6 shorts–it all ought to come out to about the same wordcount, either way.

This is a year-long project–you’ll be able to buy in up til midnight GMT on 31 December 2011, and will receive all the stories to date when you buy in.

The Old Races Short Story Project patronage window is now closed.