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Month: August 2012

Kickstarter funded!

Published by Tim Pratt on August 29, 2012

My kickstarter for collection Antiquities and Tangibles has funded! (Not shocking, I know; it hit the goal a while back. But still, reasons for yay!)

I had 273 backers, plus two more who sent checks, for 275 total. By contrast, my kickstarter for Grim Tides last year had only 182 backers, plus five who sent checks, for a total of 187. Nearly 90 more this time!

Why? I suspect having a relatively low buy-in to get the e-book helped. For only $10, you actually get something useful and interesting! I personally don’t often have a ton of money to give to kickstarters, usually only $10-$20, so I like projects where I get something cool for not much money.

Then, once I hit the funding goal to do the Complete Stories e-book, I got a lot more $10 donors, presumably because that sounded like a pretty good deal to people.

I made more money from the Grim Tides kickstarter, but then, I asked for a lot more, too; I didn’t quite double my funding goal for that project, while this one got 442% funded. I also offered a lot more high-end backer rewards for Grim Tides, which was great — but which was also a lot more work on the fulfillment end. This project, by contrast, will be a lot less work to fulfill, since it doesn’t have limited editions and chapbooks and bookmarks and postcards and artwork and all the other stuff I had to create/commission/send out for Grim Tides: just books! (And a couple poems and one little single-copy story chapbook.)

So: I’d call this a success. Now I just have to write new stories and put the book(s) together.

Briarpatch Audiobook for Your Listenings!

Published by Tim Pratt on August 27, 2012

The audiobook of my novel Briarpatch is now available at Audible, read by the inimitable Dave Thompson of Podcastle fame. Yay!

This has been in the works for a while. Much thanks to Dave for his excellent voice work, and to my agent Ginger Clark for getting things rolling and then shepherding the whole process along. (There are plans to do a Rangergirl audiobook in the not-too-distant future, too.)

I’m down to 48 hours remaining in my collection Kickstarter for Antiquities and Tangibles. Pay $10 and you get the new collection e-book — and a special backers-only exclusive, my Complete Stories, which will be a pretty prodigious hunk of electronic wordage. (Pay more and get that stuff, and other stuff too.)

A Secret Beach

Published by Tim Pratt on August 23, 2012

Podcastle has an audio version of my story “The Secret Beach” up this week, read by the inimitable Dave Thompson. It’s one of my favorite stories to perform at readings, since it’s basically a monologue, so I think it lends itself to listening.

The Kickstarter for my new collection, Antiquities and Tangibles, sailed past $7,000 over the weekend, which means I’m doing the Complete Stories e-book, too. I’ll also write some story notes, because I am incapable of doing any collection without adding a certain amount of authorial blathering. Anyone who kicks in at least $10 gets the new collection and the complete stories. About a week left to go.

The Couch of Transition

Published by Tim Pratt on August 14, 2012

After much thought I figured out a new stretch goal for my collection Kickstarter: if I hit $7,000, I will create a Complete Stories e-book, containing all my published short fiction (minus a couple of work-for-hire things; but if I own the rights, it’ll be in the book). Everyone who donates enough to get the collection e-book (a mere $10) will also get the Complete Stories. And at least for the foreseeable future, the Complete Stories will be available only to Kickstarter backers. It would be a ton of work, but I think the end result — more than 100 stories! — would be pretty cool, so I hope it happens.

***

This is my son’s last week at his preschool. In a mere two weeks, he starts his new life at public school. It’s kind of mind-blowing. He’s super excited, though. He doesn’t quite grasp the melancholy aspects, yet.

We bought a new couch this weekend (our old one had busted springs for two-thirds of its width, so using it was like sitting on a melting marshmallow), and it came disassembled in several enormous boxes, so I created a vast outdoor box palace for the kid, dubbed his “houseroom.” It’s so nice to make that kid happy.

***

I haven’t quite finished all my work for the year. I’ve got a short story to write, and an anthology to finish up, and a review I promised to write, all due on September 1 — but after that, I don’t have any particular writing responsibilities (besides putting together the new collection), so I might start writing a new book, Heirs of Grace, just for my own enjoyment. I’ll have my Thursdays free, now, with the kid in school, and I can’t spend all those hours napping or getting daytime drunk. (Or rather, I could, but I wouldn’t enjoy it as much after the first few times.) I even came up with a name for my main character, so, hell, that’s the hard part taken care of.

More on the Constantine Affliction

Published by Tim Pratt on August 10, 2012

My alter-ego T. Aaron Payton talks about The Constantine Affliction over at The Night Bazaar, and then he talks about it some more.

Y’all know I pretty much never post reviews anymore, but I did like these lines from one of the Amazon.com reviews (all 5-star so far; I’m enjoying that while it lasts):

What begins as a murder mystery in an odd steam punk London opens up into a fantastic world of Science Gone Wrong, and a love story too! This book has everything, Prostitutes, Robot Women, Tentacle Monsters, Transgender Disease, Lightning Swords, and a love sick Frankenstein.

I cannot dispute any of those characterizations. (Well, I wouldn’t call it a “transgender disease” really, and it’s more like Frankenstein’s monster, but I know what the reviewer means, and can’t dispute the flair of phrasing.)

Secret No More

Published by Tim Pratt on August 9, 2012

Today, I get to reveal a pseudonym!

I wrote a book called The Constantine Affliction, under the name T. Aaron Payton. Ta da!

I’ve been dying to talk about that book for ages, but had to wait until it was actually available for sale. Later today I’ll point you to a blog post over at The Night Bazaar, the Night Shade Books blog, where I talk a bit about the book and the pseudonym and such.

In other excitement, the Kickstarter for my collection Antiquities and Tangibles passed $5K yesterday, which means I get to commission some interior art! Still 20 days to go, too.

 

 

Impossible Dreams Film Live

Published by Tim Pratt on August 6, 2012

The short film adaptation of my story “Impossible Dreams,” directed by Shir Comay, is now available to view in its entirety! (In Hebrew, with English subtitles.) Take 22 minutes and enjoy. Previously seen only at film festivals, a couple of small screenings, and in my living room a few times.

Shir took my basic story and very much made it his own, but if you want to read my original version, it’s online at Wired.com.

Speaking of short stories, we now enter week two of the Kickstarter fundraiser for my next collection, Antiquities and Tangibles, which is doing better than I’d hoped. If you’d like to read the book when it comes out, $10 gets you the e-book.

I’ve finished writing a couple of stories in the past few weeks — “Snake and Mongoose” and “A Cloak of Many Worlds,” both related to the Marla Mason series. (The first is set immediately after Grim Tides, and the second is about some secondary characters in the series.) They were both written as prizes for Grim Tides Kickstarter donors, but fear not, they’ll be available in a future collection of Marla Mason stories. Which I’ve got nearly enough stories to fill, now.

Love Alone

Published by Tim Pratt on August 2, 2012

Miscellaneous things:

The anthology I’m co-editing with Melissa Marr, Rags and Bones, is going to be amazing. We received another fantastic story for it this morning, and at this point we’re just waiting on a couple of final contributions. I’ve been blown away by the quality of work we’ve received. And in a bit over a year or so, you should all get to read it too!

***

Bizarro author Spike Marlowe is donating all August royalties for her book Placenta of Love to Planned Parenthood. It’s a fun book — I don’t consider myself a bizarro fan, but it made me laugh aloud, and is even kind of sweet, in its twisted way — so pick up a copy and amuse yourself and do some good.

***

The Kickstarter for Antiquities and Tangibles, my next collection, is zipping along marvelously. If I get another $160 or so, I’ll write another new story for the book. $10 gets you the e-book, $30 gets you a paperback, and if you’re feeling more generous, there are other rewards too.

***

There’s other excitement bubbling around. In a week or so I’ll be revealing myself as the True Author behind a book that’s coming out this month under a pseudonym. And there’s some audiobook awesomeness that will soon be yours too. These are wonderful times.