We Did It!
2 days ago
– Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 09:53:29 AM
Hi, all—
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support! The campaign came to a wonderful close yesterday afternoon. (If you didn't make it in time, see below.) We didn’t quite make it to the hardcovers, but it was an amazing success even so. I’m so excited to make, for you:
- The revised, upgraded edition of The Mason of New Orleans ebook, with new graphics, maps, and typography.
- A print version, with all those upgrades.
- An audiobook.
- And I’m going to finish The Angel of Ecbatana, and deliver it in all those formats.
- Oh, and let’s not forget the fabulous art prints!
The earliest of those rewards will fulfill later this year, with the last of them (specifically the print version of The Angel of Ecbatana) delivering next summer.
In the meantime, here’s what to expect:
- BackerKit will take a couple of weeks to collect all pledges and provide me with backer data and funds.
- Then I’ll open the pledge manager. That helps me gather critical data to provide you with your rewards. It’s where you’ll pay for shipping—and where you can make upgrades to your pledge, if you so desire.
- When the pledge manager closes (about a month from now) I’ll start delivering the early rewards.
If you backed at the Patron level, sometime in the next couple of weeks I’ll set up a community hub and invite you to it. It’ll be a place where we can chat, I can show off work in progress, and I’ll ask your thoughts when I could use a little creative input for a name or other detail.
Remember, to get any of your rewards, you have to complete the pledge manager. So please look out for an email invitation in about two weeks!
Thanks again!
—Charles
I'm Listening to Audiobook Auditions!
6 days ago
– Mon, Sep 23, 2024 at 04:37:31 PM
Hi, all—
Here’s some exciting news: for the past two weeks I’ve been receiving auditions for the audiobook narration of The Mason of New Orleans (and eventually The Angel of Ecbatana, as I’d like to have the same person read both).
The process is pretty interesting. I put together a snippet of the book—about 15 minutes’ worth that includes dialog by several key characters and scenes with different moods and pacing. I then posted it as an open call on the ACX marketplace (the back end of the Audible/Amazon platform). After it was approved by ACX (which, due to a glitch, took a few weeks longer than usual) it was available for narrators to audition.
Since then I’ve received 51 submissions (as of this writing—I’m still getting one or two more every day). Some—though really just a few—are pretty awful. Most are pretty good. Some are awesome! I have about a dozen on my short list.
(By the way, 15 minutes times 51 auditions? That’s a looooot of listening!)
This week I’m going to go through that short list and narrow it down to just a handful. Here’s what I’m listening for, starting with (roughly) the most important things and working downward:
- The is voice a pleasure to listen to
- And sounds like Martin, our POV character
- The dialog imparts characterization, but isn’t acting, and doesn’t have heavy accents (every character in these books speaks French—too much accenting will get tedious fast!)
- The pacing matches events in the book—a sense of urgency in action scenes, for example
- The price is right (this sort of work is done on a PFR (per finished hour) basis; The Mason of New Orleans is about 17 hours, and rates run from $100 to $800 or more PRF)
- The voice actor has an audience that may bring readers to my books
When I have it down to my final few, I’ll give them some notes (on how to pronounce names, what character voices might sound like, and so on) and ask each to submit a second audition—probably reading a shorter snippet that contains some different character voices. From there I’ll make my final choice!
I hope to get through all of this in the next few days. If we’re lucky, maybe I can share a snippet of audio before the campaign ends Thursday afternoon!
New Art for Everyone! (And a New Stretch Goal)
8 days ago
– Sat, Sep 21, 2024 at 08:39:15 PM
Hello, everyone—
I’m happy to announce that yesterday we unlocked our stretch goal! Olivia will illustrate Etien, Compte de Namur, increasing the set of art prints from six to seven. And everyone’s getting an additional print. As a reminder, that means:
Etien has not yet been illustrated, but hopefully we’ll have some sketches to show you in the coming week. Until then, for those who might not have seen them, here are the existing six illustrations:
I want to talk about our next stretch goal, but first:
It’s Our Final Week!
This campaign ends Thursday. There’s less than a week left to really make the most of it. Please, please, please, if you can spare a few moments, won’t you give this campaign a little shout-out to your friends and followers online? More on that below.
Word of mouth is what drives successful campaigns. And I’d really like to maximize this success, because…
Let’s Make Some Hardcovers!
Second only to an ironclad commitment to finishing The Angel of Ecbatana in a timely manner, which you all forced upon me (in the most wonderful way possible) by funding this campaign, the thing I most want from this campaign is to publish these books in hardcover.
In
my day job, we make beautiful deluxe books and other game products all the time. I’ve been part of the team that built the stunning deluxe versions of the
Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game, the forthcoming
The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game, Stealing Stories for the Devil, and Invisible Sun (which didn’t technically have a deluxe edition, because the standard version is one of the most deluxe RPG products ever published!). Not to mention the beautiful and unique deluxe version of
The Weird, along with the
Cypher System Rulebook and many others.
In other words, I know a thing or two about making great hardcovers. And I want to make them for YOU. (Well, and for me. I want them too!) But we’re still at least 100 backers away from that being practical.
So: at 200 backers, I’ll publish The Mason of New Orleans and The Angel of Ecbatana in hardcover. 200 backers is double where we are now—a big ask. Can we do it? Only with your help!
Here are some ways you can help spread the word:
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Follow me on Facebook, and share some of the posts you find on my profile.
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Follow me on Bluesky, and share some of what I post there.
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Follow me on Instagram, and share some of those posts.
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Follow Olivia on TikTok, and share some of her very funny videos.
- Create your own posts on platforms you’re active on. Mention that you’ve backed this campaign, and why you dig these books. You can include some of the art below (right-click to copy or download it). Include this link: https://bit.ly/3X4VTqk
- Finally, if you’ve read The Mason of New Orleans, posting a quick review on Goodreads or Amazon is the most amazing thing you can do. Be sure to post and share links to your review!
That’s the sort of thing it takes. If every backer gave it a few minutes, we’d hit this goal for sure! It would mean a lot to me.
Thanks so much for your support!
FUNDED! Thanks for Making This Happen!
21 days ago
– Sun, Sep 08, 2024 at 03:46:40 PM
Hello, everyone! Thanks to your support, my Booktopia campaign is funded. You’ve put me on the path to finishing the sequel to The Mason of New Orleans, giving both books a print version, and creating audiobooks for both of them. This project means so much to me personally; I’m truly touched by and grateful for your support.
If you do much crowdfunding, you know what’s next: stretch goals! (For those new to crowdfunding, this is where we look to increase funds over and above the goal, so we can further add to or improve the items being funded.) Ultimately, I’d like to upgrade the print versions of The Mason of New Orleans and The Angel of Ecbatana to a deluxe hardcover. But that’s probably too big a jump for our first goal. (We’ll need to get well north of 200 backers to make that happen.) So let’s start with an easier step.
Every pledge level currently includes at least one art print, with an illustration by my very talented daughter Olivia, depicting a character from these novels. Here are the six portraits. (Some of these haven’t been been revealed before now. This is the first time we’ve shown all six, and the first time we’ve shown how they all look together.)
As I write this, we’re a little shy of 75 backers. If we can make it to 100 backers, Liv will add a seventh character to the mix. And each pledge level will get an additional print! That means:
BUT CHARLES, WHO WILL THIS NEW ILLUSTRATION DEPICT?
The six existing portraits illustrate Martin and the most pivotal friends, protectors, love interests, and fellow-travelers in his 12th-Century adventure. Who should we illustrate next? That’s for you to decide!
Gigot
“I, uh—appreciate—the help. You must think I am an idiot. The others—”
“Don’t be too upset about them. They’re just afraid of you.”
What? “Afraid of me? Why?”
“It’s not every day a man is born whole from nothingness.”
“I wasn’t born. Not just then, I mean.” I struggled for words. “I—I came here. From somewhere else.”
Gigot shrugged.
“I don’t think Stephan is afraid of me.”
Gigot glanced back through the holly bush, where the tarp had come down and was being rolled up next to a waiting mule. “If God or the Devil have put anything on earth that frightens Sieur Stephan, I have not yet seen it,” he responded.
“But you aren’t afraid of me?”
He turned back and looked me in the eye. His voice lowered. “You are also frightened.”
I nodded.
“I know what that’s like. I am also not of this place.”
My heart jumped. “Really?” I stammered. Had he been through this too? Were there others? Did they know what the hell had happened, or how to undo it? Could they find the way back, or form a support group or at least just show me the ropes? “Where—where are you from?”
He hesitated for just a second. It seemed like he was going to say something else, but then he answered, “Verdun.”
“Verdun.”
He nodded.
“Ah.”
Gigot is a retainer in Lady Madeleine’s household. Noblefolk in the time and place of this story don’t maintain standing armies, or even substantial bodies of guards—especially untitled nobility like Madeleine. But with her largish manor and half-finished castle, she has a couple of armsmen in her retinue, and Gigot is one of them. Of all the people Martin meets in his initial days in the 12th Century, Gigot is the first to show him genuine kindness.
Hugh
“Hugh,” Cyril said, greeting him. He set down his side of the chest, and I gladly did the same. The pads of my fingers were on fire. Cyril and Hugh shook hands, Hugh offering a big, lopsided grin. Then he glanced at me: Face first, then the bloody sleeve, and finally Madeleine’s crest at the center of my torso.
“This is Maitre Martin,” Cyril said. “He’s a mason.”
Maitre. Master? I thought of objecting to the whole thing, but decided it wasn’t the time. Besides, Hugh was giving me a nod of approval, and that was a better expression than I usually rated—though he looked a bit puzzled. “Ma Dame has brought a mason into her service?”
“It was something of—an accident,” Cyril replied. “A story for another time.”
“Well enough,” Hugh said. “Welcome, Martin. I’m Hugh.”
We shook hands.
“The bailiff,” Cyril added, by way of explanation.
“Ah,” I said. I’d ask someone what the heck a bailiff was later. In keeping with my only-look-like-an-idiot-in-front-of-one-person-at-a-time policy.
A bailiff, as Martin later learns, is the highest authority in a manor village—other than the knight or other landlord to whom the manor belongs. Sort of the local cop, if you will. Hugh is the bailiff of Bois de Haillot, Lady Madeleine’s manor, so Martin rubs elbows with him a number of times throughout The Mason of New Orleans.
Etien, Compte de Namur
I didn’t like Etien the moment I saw him. Maybe I was predisposed to it by this time; I don’t know. He looked like Mike Ditka—powerfully built, thick-necked, and with an obvious intolerance for nonsense. Even from here, even as he sat in casual conversation, it was like I could see the veins trying to force their way out of his forehead and neck. Like the Bears were down 28-10 in a playoff game. I don’t have anything against Mike Ditka; he’s probably a wonderful person. But this guy radiated the same sort of intensity and grit, and something about him made me certain he didn’t always use his powers for good.
Madeleine strode toward him, Stephan one step behind. Gaspard stood there for a second, but Cyril gave him a brief nudge. We followed. One of Etien’s buddies nodded our way, and the Count looked up, as if noticing our arrival for the first time.
“Lady Madeleine,” he said, straightening. “At long last.”
(If you've read
the chicken carcass scene, this passage leads right into it.) Etien is the count of Namur, a region in what is now Belgium. He’s a vassal of Henri, Duke of Brabant, who in turn is a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor. Only it’s an interregnum when Martin arrives, so there is no Holy Roman Emperor—and Etien sees an opportunity to grab Madeleine’s castle. He’s the (or at least
a) big-bad of this story, and Martin gets a much closer look at whether Etien uses his powers for good later in the book.…
Vote Now!
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