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on April 8
Balance of Powers
Posted project update #6The Big Day
Post CommentHi everyone,First off, we owe you all an apology. We’ve been quiet and distant and we’ve taken you for granted. It’s not you, it’s us, and we promise we’ll change – starting right now.We want to make it up to you. We’ve reached a stage in our relationship when it’s only right that we set a date for the big day. How do you feel about July? July’s good, right? Okay, that’s settled: we’re launching Balance of Powers in July.The website is looking good, our prose is sparkling, and we’re now planning the interactive elements and real-world gifts for the most generous of you backers. How about we make the first interactive event our online launch party? Fine cocktails, sophisticated chat, and the possibility of a gruesome death – how does that grab you?Excellent. We’ll send out invitations a few weeks ahead of time.You’re far too good to us. We don’t deserve you.Here’s to a wonderful creative relationship,Adrian, Andrea, David & Naomi
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on January 12
Balance of Powers
Posted project update #5Document Get!
We have finally sorted out our international paperwork involving a truly dizzying array of stamps, seals, ribbons, and signatures. The final result is the most official-looking document any of us has ever handled, and now, it looks like we will finally be able to spend money. So of course things are now moving full steam ahead. Victory!
But that’s not the only piece of news we have to report this week – it is with delight that we announce we have decided on an artist for Balance of Powers – and it’s Anton Bogaty, the widely beloved illustrator who worked with us on Perplex City! It’s like old times all over the place around here.
We are also plugging away at other, more secret stuff with renewed inertia now the holidays are over. No promises, but fingers crossed by our next update we’ll have something exciting to announce…
And since we left you hanging over the holidays, we thought we’d share another little piece with you. Until next time!
There are two people sitting at the far table in the Cafe des Anglais, a man and a woman, both of them in their sixties, both dressed well but not obtrusively. Husband and wife? No, the body language is not quite right; they are neither at ease with each other nor obviously hostile. Brother and sister? Perhaps that, although he is fair-haired and pale and she is dark-haired and tan. Old friends, maybe, but they do not laugh. Colleagues.
"Do you know what they have?" he asks.
"The Prussians? Better question: do *they* know what they have?" she smiles, stirs her tea. Her voice is crisp, amused, cut-glass English.
"We're all looking for answers here. There's no need to pretend to be stupid." His accent is very faintly foreign, but hard to place. His face is perfectly impassive.
She meets his gaze, then drops her eyes. First hint of nerves. "It's evidence. Of whatever's going on out at sea and…"
"And?"
"And the last time it happened. And what happened afterwards," she speaks a little too quickly, as if glad to be rid of the words.
"Ahh. Yes, then we certainly do have to get it."
Her hand shakes a little, stirring her tea.
"Send Hausmann," he says at last, "he likes a little challenge."
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on December 9
Balance of Powers
Posted project update #4Dec. 9, 2011
Hello, again!
We said we'd keep in touch every two weeks, and that means right about... now. We're still working on that pesky paperwork-and-banking issue, but meanwhile, we thought you'd like to know about some other behind-the-scenes work we're doing.
The main thing right now we've made progress on is web design -- we've got a wireframe and the rough sketches of a design, and we're in the process of making a site that actually looks like that and behaves the right way even now. We're hoping to be able to open up at least our placeholder site in the not-so-distant future.
We've also had some long internal discussions about how exactly to do some of the stuff we've promised, both on a practical level (how can new people subscribe? Can we hook up MailChimp to SquareSpace's member management feature?) and on a narrative one (which parts of the story should be free, and which will be locked to paying subscribers?) We haven't made all of those decisions yet, but we've ruled some things out, so it's a start.
And finally, we've been working on getting an illustrator on board -- but nothing is set in stone yet, so pardon our secrecy just a while longer.
And last of all, to reward you for your patience, we thought we'd give you this.
(con't from page 12)
And why exactly does the modern girl find Prince James so compelling a
figure? Is it the winning smile, his always-polished attire? Is it the
charmingly open demeanor inherited from his Texan mother, or his
perfect gentlemanly discretion? (No scandals from the White Palace on
his watch!)
Of course not -- no American girl could fall prey to such shallow
fancies. No, our dear prince is more than just that. Beneath his royal
exterior, James is a man driven by a desire to see his country remain
pure to its spirit, eschewing the populist follies of Europe and the
Southern continents. No future king has ever shown such fervent
dedication to our founding ideals. Though if we're very honest with
ourselves, it certainly helps that the cameras love him as much as we
do.
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on November 25, 2011
Balance of Powers
Posted project update #3O, paperwork
One of our backers (hi, TC!) rightly poked us yesterday to find out what's going on with Balance of Powers. The answer, sadly, is nothing glamorous, at least not yet.
Right now we're bogged down in the international paperwork required to open a business bank account in such a way that all of your lovely donations don't wind up on any of our personal income taxes. We had thought this would be a fairly easy thing to do, but for reasons too tremendously boring to get into here, it's actually requiring us to ship a document between all of us to be notarized (it now has WAX SEALS and RIBBONS on it and looks incredibly official!) Alas, given how much travel we've all been doing, this has been a time-consuming process.
However, we're in the home stretch now, and hopefully it won't be long until we can finally get that bank account opened, and then we can start *spending that money* to bring Balance of Powers to life.
Note that we haven't been sitting entirely idle aside from the paperwork, mind -- more on that in the next update.
And speaking of updates: We've been really bad about that, and we think we need to get better. So we're pledging to give you an update about where we are a minimum of every two weeks until we're up and launched. No more radio silence for us!
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P.J. Vander Kooij on November 28
I've dealt with something similar, opening a foreign account for a business. It's a pain in the butt. Totally understandable that this is taking you some time.
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on October 17, 2011
Balance of Powers
Posted project update #2Thank you!
Hello wonderful backers of Balance of Powers!
We’re so thrilled that, with your support, we’re going to be able to make our dark sinister imaginary world a dark sinister reality. We thank you, the provisional government of Bulgaria thanks you, and the brooding forces of darkness thank you too.
We’re working hard to get the infrastructure set up that will let us tell our story. From mailing lists, to setting up a website with hosting and email management, to designing the physical products and, oh yes, finishing up writing the story, there’s a lot to get done, and we’re grateful for your continued patience, which, to be honest, rivals that of the calmly calculating government of the Kingdom of Texas.
We’re planning to release some morsels of story as soon as we can to start letting you into the world. And we’re especially excited that so many of you will be able to join us in our live online storytelling – we hope that you’ll get as deeply immersed in this world as we have already.
For now, goodbye! Or, as they say in Constanta: помощ!
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on September 17, 2011Funded!
Balance of Powers by Balance of Powers
An alt-history Cold War-era spy adventure, told over 8 weeks online, by email, and through the post.
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131% funded $6,565 pledged
- 129 backers
- Funded Sep 17, 2011
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on August 23, 2011
Balance of Powers
Posted project update #180% in under a week!
Post CommentWe're so excited that this is all going so well! We're thrilled to be making Balance of Powers and it's so amazing that so many other people are excited too. We keep asking ourselves what took us so long.
If we get to $7000 in funding, we'll make some audio content... perhaps something capturing the hustle and bustle of the streets of Midway. We're cooking up some extra incentives to give you if we go over even that much, too, so watch this space!
And now, just a little teaser:
Most ordinary decent citizens never come to Midway, that metal city on the waves. Why would they need to? It's the beating heart of the continent’s black markets, a den of exiles and scientists and spies; a place no government controls however much they try.
But everyone knows Midway exists, and where it is. Halfway between England and France, little more than a service station for the cross-channel railway when it was first conceived, it's now over two miles long and two miles wide. With all the new pillars that have been sunk into the sea to support it, with all the businesses and dwellings that cling like limpets to its outermost extremities, with all the powers that desire a foothold on Midway, you'd think it'd be wealthy. And it is, in a way.
But, like an oyster, it keeps its riches on the inside.
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on August 18, 2011
Balance of Powers launched a project
Balance of Powers by Balance of Powers
An alt-history Cold War-era spy adventure, told over 8 weeks online, by email, and through the post.
- $5,000 funding goal
- 09/17/2011 Funding Ended
Balance of Powers
New York, NY
Adrian Hon, Andrea Phillips, David Varela, and Naomi Alderman: four award-winning storytellers, writers, and game designers who love creating epic stories and worlds together.
Any new updates planned for March?
It's been a while. How are things coming along?
Derp?