Kickstarter

In June of 1772, a band of brave Rhode Island colonists attacked and burned the hated British revenue schooner, the Gaspee.  Her commander, Lt. William Dudingston, had harassed and abused colonists for months, and Rhode Islanders had had enough.  In a daring nighttime raid, the patriots attacked the vessel, wounding her commander and burning her to the waterline.  All this unfolded 18 months before the Boston Tea Party -- the Revolution starts in Rhode Island!

I am the author of three previous books of Rhode Island history, and am currently researching my fourth, about the raid on the Gaspee.  All of my books take a popular, narrative approach -- I tell stories.  I don't "do" academic deconstructions, I write for the general reader, the person who may be interested in history but may not be an expert.

One way to bring these stories to life is through the use of illustrations and images from period sources -- my three other books have been pretty heavily illustrated.  It's a great way to draw a modern audience into the story.

Many of those illustrations are in the collections of various libraries, historical societies, and other institutions which charge licencing fees for use of their materials in such a project.  Some of those fees can be quite hefty -- over $100 in one instance.  And those fees are the responsibility of the author -- me.  My publisher, the History Press of South Carolina, will not cover those costs, and sadly, this seems to be pretty standard practice in the publishing world.     

So I am appealing to your kindness and generosity to help defray the cost of obtaining those images.  My books have a very small market, and the royalties are not lavish, so I may not make back the money I need to spend on the image rights.  

I don't write these books to make a ton of money -- I write them to tell the stories, and to remind people that real history happened right here in our own state, not just Boston and Philadelphia and New York.  But ... I want to be able to do that without losing my shirt.  

If you can help with a contribution of any size, you'd have my undying thanks ... and a reward at the appropriate donation level.

If you can't help out on a cash basis, that's cool, too -- maybe you can just pass the word along to others who might be interested.     

Thanks for stopping by.  Look after yourself.

With all good thoughts,

Rory