Archive for the ‘commissions’ tag

Crowdfunding: Old Races Short Story Project

This is the landing page for my second major crowdfunding project of 2011, the Old Races Short Story Project. I’m posting it here and now because The Rose & Bay Crowdfunding Award is open for nominations, but it’s also a really good way to do a year-end round-up and look at what I’ve accomplished in non-traditional publishing methods over the past 12 months.

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. :)

Crowdfunding: “No Dominion”

It’s that time of year again: The Rose & Bay Crowdfunding Award is open for nominations, and part of the process is making certain nominees have a landing page for people to go read about their crowdfunding efforts in 2011. I’ll be doing two landing pages for 2011: the “No Dominion” Kickstarter campaign, and the Old Races Short Story Project.

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!

Old Races short story commission

She was too young, even for a man with no age, but she caught his eye. Slim, dark-haired, with long fingers caught in the skirt of a shapeless dress, she was clearly not a child of wealth. She no doubt belonged to the riverboat upon which she stood, a shabby thing that had seen better days. Even so, in the fire’s light they both bent toward beauty.

It was her gaze, fixed on the sky, which arrested him. Others watched the fire, drawn in by its glow and movement, but she looked upward as though she could see what soared above the smoke. That was quite impossible: even knowing who danced there, Daisani could barely see them himself, but the girl watched as if she knew. Such seeing eyes were enough that he might have gone to her then, despite her youth, but tonight; tonight Chicago was burning.

Want more? This short story is up for commission through fundable.com. Fundable is a site which takes pledges for financing a project. If the project reaches its financing goal–in this case a base of $750 with paypal fees included, so a total of $826–then fundable accepts the pledges and the project goes forward. If the goal isn’t reached within 25 days of the first donation, then the project is canceled and no one pays anything. There’s a $10 minimum donation fee, which is fundable.com’s idea, not mine; I’d have probably set it at $5. Sorry about that.

“Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” will be a 7500 word Janx and Daisani story. Contributors will have exclusive access to the story for at least three months before it’s produced anywhere else.