http://kck.st/1IMG6iM : Backed this project this week.
Check it out here :
About this project
Journey to a distant land where bold adventurers wield magical blades against dark creatures from the shadowy depths. Thrill to the arcane power of enigmatic sorcerers as they master forbidden arts to strike down their diabolical enemies. Marvel at the courage of common folk who refuse to surrender to the tide of evil sweeping over the land. These, my friend, are the CHAMPIONS OF AETALTIS!
We want to publish a collection of pulse-pounding adventure stories that transport you to a world of magic and wonder. To accomplish this, we’ve gathered some the greatest fantasy authors alive. Each original tale we're bringing to you takes place in a fantasy world called Aetaltis, and you’ll come along for the ride as these talented authors explore the power of a shared setting to bring an entirely new universe of adventure to life.
We didn't mess around when it came to selecting authors for this project. We reached out to some of the very best fantasy authors alive today to write stories for CHAMPIONS OF AETALTIS!
We have a virtual treasure trove of rewards waiting for you when you pledge to back the CHAMPIONS OF AETALTIS!
To help inspire you and encourage you to get your friends involved as well, we're revealing our first six stretch goals! If funding reaches these levels, your rewards get even bigger!
UNLOCKED! Secret Stretch Goal #1: 100 Backers!
Thank you for your support! With your help we hit 100 backers today! To celebrate this milestone we're adding a digital copy of Marc Tassin's swashbuckling adventure story, The Accidental Pirates, to everyone's reward package!
The Accidental Pirates by Marc Tassin—After winning a ship from the magistrate in a card game, con-man Dysart Draymore and his apprentice Sparrow find themselves getting more than they bargained when they set sail on their prize!
We have experience delivering high quality books and have a great head start on this project already—just like we did in our previous successful Kickstarter. Many of the stories are already written, the cover design is finished, the paint on the cover art is nearly dry, and many expenses have been paid in advance. We're able to do this thanks to the exceptionally talented group of people we've brought together to create this book.
John Helfers—Editor & Consultant
John Helfers is the Hugo-nominated editor of more than one-hundred anthologies for major publishers such as DAW Books, Tor, Baen, and many others. For sixteen years John worked for Martin H. Greenberg at Tekno Books, the largest commercial book packager in the nation. John is also an accomplished author of both short fiction and novels for properties such as The Twilight Zone™, Shadowrun®, and Transfomers®.
Marc Tassin—Project Creator
Marc Tassin is the creator of Aetaltis and the author of more than a dozen short stories. His stories have appeared in a number of anthologies including multiple titles from DAW Books. He's also written for video games and role-playing games with work appearing in Shadowrun products and Dragon Magazine.
Melanie Meadors—Publicity & Consulting
Melanie R. Meadors is the writer of short story and novel length speculative fiction. She is also the publicity coordinator for Ragnarok Publications and a freelance author publicist.
Mitchell Malloy—Cover Art & Art Director
Mitchell Malloy is an illustrator and concept artist whose work has appeared in products from Fantasy Flight Games, Posthuman Studios, and Mechanical Muse. He is also an Illustrator for Riot Games and has worked on their League of Legends products.
Shawn King—Cover Design & Layout
Shawn King is an award winning Graphic Designer, specializing in print media. In June of 2014 Shawn became the In-House Graphic Designer for Ragnarok Publications (dark fantasy, urban fantasy, speculative fiction, supernatural horror). He was recently featured in an interview forAmazing Stories magazine.
Illustration by Mitchell Malloy from The Heroes of Thornwall
More than three hundred years have passed since the fall of the Atlan Alliance, and the people of Aetaltis have finally brought order to their fractured world. Fledgling nations have grown into powerful kingdoms, thriving merchant states have re-established old trade routes, and the priests of the Enaros have rebuilt their great temples. But in this time of hope, the shadow of an ancient evil is rising once again.
- Excerpt from The Heroes of Thornwall
The world of Aetaltis is a fantastic new fantasy setting created by Marc Tassin. Aetaltis was designed to embrace the classic elements in fantasy literature, games, and film that we all love and deliver them in a way that is both refreshingly new and intimately familiar.
A Conclave of Creative Minds: Marc's experience in gaming taught him that a group of creative people working together often created richer, stronger, and more fantastic worlds than any one person working alone could hope to achieve. To harness this power, Marc created Aetaltis as a shared world from the beginning. Shared worlds are settings designed to allow multiple creators to play together in the 'sandbox' in a way that lets them feed off one another's creativity without stepping on each other's toes.
One World. Many Doors::Everyone has their own way to experience other worlds. Some prefer novels, others love short stories, still others gravitate to comics, and some people love games. There is no one way to explore these realms that works best for all people. Aetaltis is built on a framework that offers many means of entry without one point of access limiting others.
The Aetaltis Project: Phase 2
This Kickstarter is Phase 2 of a larger project. The successful Phase 1 Kickstarter, a role-playing game book set in Aetaltis called The Heroes of Thornwall, was completed just before this Kickstarter launched. Each project is a stand-alone endeavor, but the end game is to bring these projects together along with some of the most creative minds in the industry to create one of the greatest fantasy settings ever imagined.
Thank you for your time and patronage! We'll see you in Aetaltis!
Risks and challenges
I believe that the real question is not "What are the risks?" but rather "What plans do we have in place to mitigate those risks?"
COLLECTING THE STORIES: Some of the stories aren't finished because the best authors are always the busiest. What if they don't deliver? --->MITIGATION: We mitigate this risk by working with pros. These are people who know how to deliver. Just glancing at their published credits shows that they know how to see a project through to completion.
FIRST TIME PUBLISHING AN ANTHOLOGY: This is my first time assembling an anthology independently. --->MITIGATION: I'm working with John Helfers to help with this project. Not only is he an amazing editor, he spent 15 years working for Tekno Books, one of the largest book packagers in the world. He's helped to assemble and edit hundreds of books, many of them anthologies, for the biggest publishing houses in the world.
FIRST TIME PRINTING AN ANTHOLOGY: I printed a book in my previous Kickstarter, but I haven't printed an anthology before. MITIGATION: I'm working with Thomson Shore to print this book, the same company that successfully printed my last book. This is the same company that prints books for Ragnarok Publications. In addition, I'm working with Shawn King to handle layout and design. Again, Shawn is highly experienced. You can see his work here and here. Everyone I'm working with has done this before.
THIS IS EXPENSIVE: This is a very expensive project. If my math is wrong or something unexpected happens, how do I keep it alive? --->MITIGATION: By paying for key pieces in advance I help to reduce the areas of risk. In addition, I have worked with my financial consultant to ensure that I can draw funds, if required, to cover sudden, unexpected costs. I REALLY hope I don't have to, but I can if I must.
DELAYS: This is a complicated project, and despite the fact that I have some amazing people working with me, it is possible that my hope of delivering by December might be overly optimistic. --->MITIGATION: I'm working very hard to plan things to avoid delays. That said, this project covers a lot of new territory for me. I can't know the unknowns, but I can promise you that I will remain in constant communication so you never have to wonder what's going on.
To view more details about the Project check out : http://kck.st/1zMMUG0
About this project
Millions of children lack books in their homes or cannot access books elsewhere. Their school libraries have been shut down, they live too far away from public libraries and their families cannot afford to buy books, which average $10 a piece. For many families, taking care of basic needs will always win over buying books.
Little Free Library® helps solve this problem, and we can do more with your help and pledge today. 96% of Little Free Library's expenses are covered through the sales of our products. We are a social enterprise non-profit. Hence, nearly every cent raised from this campaign will help us:
Install hundreds more Little Free Libraries that 'kick start" brighter futures for thousands of children through the power of literacy,
Water book deserts - rural or urban areas where books are difficult to access or afford,
Help teachers provide books to their students that they can take home to enjoy and build their reading skills during summer and year-round,
Provide police departments with Libraries of Understanding that will help them engage with youths and encourage them to read.
Positively impact at least 100 communities through the power of reading.
How is the possible? Because Little Free Library®, is the organization that started and sustains a growing global literacy movement.
Have trajectoryand reach, growing from one library to 25,000 in just 5 years and there are now Little Free Libraries in every U.S. state, every Canadian province and in 75 other countries,
Have already circulated40 million freebooks through our libraries,
Have a strong network of book-loving and community-building stewards who last year alone put 2.7 million volunteer hours into building a culture of reading in their neighborhoods,
Have powerful literacy partners like Library of Congress' Center of the Book, American Library Association, First Book, International Literacy Association, Books for Africa, and Room to Read, to name a few.
Show your compassion through action by helping us “kick start” this initiative today.
For many, they rarely have a reason to talk with those closest to them. Little Free Library is a catalyst for neighborhood conversation as stories are swapped, literature shared and deeper connections made. Little Free Library brings literacy right to the curbside, building cultures of readers.
Each Little Free Library acts as a “mini town square” and book distribution center, where children and adults can meet, connect and pick up a good book. An individual or group of stewards regularly care for each Library and ensures that it is in good repair, friendly and regularly stocked with high-quality books.
Hailed by the New York Times as a “global sensation,” Little Free Libraries are becoming a widely accepted way to not only share books and encourage the love of reading, but strengthen community ties and connect face-to-face in an increasingly digital world.
Little Free Library's Libraries of Understanding help police departments and civic groups build relationships with whom they protect and serve, and provide youths hope of brighter futures through the wonder of books.
We want to double and deepen our impact and build 50,000 Little Free Libraries by 2017. With a little help from friends like you, we can reach this goal.
Can I select more than one reward?
Absolutely! Select one of the rewards first, and then add up the total amount of all the rewards you'd like and enter that as the total amount you're going to pledge.
After that is completed come back to this page and click the "Contact Me" button under the "Back this Project" button on the top right side of the page and let us know which combination of rewards you'd like. After we receive your message we'll send you a confirmation and you're all set!
What happens if you don't reach your goal?
Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing venture so if we are unable to reach our goal amount of $50,000 we'll receive none of the pledges, and none of our backer's credit cards will be charged. Yes, this makes us a little nervous, but we really need this amount to make a difference so please band with us and help to bring more books to communities in need!
What happens if you exceed your goal? Do you have stretch goals?
After we do an embarrassing happy dance, we have great things in store for our stretch goals.
With every $500 extra raised, we can positively impact another community with a Little Free Library and a book-loving steward to ensure its success.This is a conservative assessment. We can usually do even more,
With an extra $10,000 we can mobile optimize our website with a modern responsive design.
With an extra $20,000 we can upgrade our technology to better respond to needs of our community and those hoping to bring Little Free Libraries to their neighborhoods,
With an extra $50,000 we can better build our infrastructure to meet global demands on our organization that are growing every day.
$550 Pledge - Color Tome Little Fere Library
$500 Pledge - Amish Built Little Free Library
A branded cause-related marketing sign for library sponsors
$50 Reward: Men's Take Me To Your Reader Organic Cotton T-Shirt
"When my husband and I planted a Little Free Library -- a community book exchange -- in front of our Minneapolis bungalow, the response from the neighborhood was immediate, and immediately positive." 5 Reasons To Love Little Free Libraries - Huffington Post
