If the Muse of Story dies - all stories die with her.
Murder of Crows, by Athena
Fable Montgomery is the Muse of Story.
Fourteen years ago she gave up her memories, her lover and her world to prevent a new Dark Age. But when Fable’s aunt is murdered, the fate of two worlds rests on Fable’s ability to recover the memory she worked so hard to destroy.
In a surge of power she writes the Prophecy of Crows, a 240 page manuscript of the future. Yet before she can read it, all but thirteen pages are stolen. The remaining thirteen pages lead her through the story – but the last page foretells her death.
And if Fable dies, all stories die with her.
Read the first three chapters at http://www.wattpad.com/3296272-murder-of-crows
Here's the synopsis video:
Hi! I’m Athena.
I’m here on Kickstarter today to raise the publication funds for my novel, Murder of Crows.
Murder of Crows is book one in the fantasy series, The Pillars of Dawn which tells the story of the ancient Greek Muses born into our modern world. They’ve come to rescue creativity and prevent the human race from sliding into a new Dark Age.
This series was written to explore --through storytelling, adventure and romance --how creativity affects our world and what would happen to humanity if creativity were ever threatened.
Murder of Crows opens the series with Fable Montgomery, the Muse of Story and her fight to come to terms with her power as well as the necessity of learning to trust her own personal story. “Trust the story”.
Thank you for all your support, generosity and kind words!
Sincerely,
Athena
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FAQ
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There are no charges for US shipping. However, an international shipping fee may be applied to international orders.
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Good question! I’m glad I got a chance to answer this one.
It’s true that anyone can write a book or document and upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon for little to nothing in upfront cost. “Publishing” a book is actually quite affordable.
But “Producing” a book, and not just any book but a book with quality polish and industry standard expectations requires professional editing, packaging, formatting and marketing.
While the Kickstarter says I’m raising publication funds, it could be more accurately called production funds for a professional-looking publication package. I’ve broken down on the Kickstarter page where the funds will be distributed.
With the explosion of digital publishing, it’s more important than ever to provide a well formulated, polished product for the readers/clients. It’s a matter of trust and expectation that as an Indie Author I still hold myself to the high standard of storytelling with as much grace as possible. This means offering a book that is as free of errors, typos, grammatical mistakes and plot holes as possible. It is my desire to do the story justice and reward reader trust by raising Kickstarter funds to produce a publication that can stand on its own beside other professionally produced products. -
The brilliant cover was created by A.M. Sartor. We are still talking about posters, but if that becomes an option I will certainly update that information in a hurry!
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No. Murder of Crows is the first book in the series, The Pillars of Dawn. I’ve arced the series, outlined the books and written the final climax. Murder of Crows was in fact too long for a debut novel and by industry publishing standards I knew it would not get picked up unless I broke the first book in half.
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My original target demographic is 18-48 year old women. However, during the Beta-reader phase the results showed that men between the ages of 25 and 40 (and a 70 year old man) enjoyed the novel, “for the action elements, world development, dragons and swords.” Furthermore, my female Beta-readers included a 14 year old girl and several women in their 50’s. All of whom provided high marks and useful feedback despite not being in the parameters of the original target base.
Therefore the short answer to the demographic question is – I aimed for a specific demographic and ended up with quite a lot of overlap. Honestly, the wide range of Beta-reader acceptance left me somewhat surprised, pleased and no longer certain about my intended audience. Which leaves the conclusion – my demographic is now men and women who enjoy fantasy, romance, swords and sorcery, dragons and adventure with some adult sexual content. -
That’s a fantastic question! My aim is to release the second book within a year of Murder of Crows. I understand it’s a bit of a wait, but I hope it will be worth it as it’s longer, more action packed and complex.
Even though the second book is a year away, I am also setting up short stories about the world, backstories and histories of Aria and even recipes for download off the website. This will allow fans and readers to stay in touch with the world, the character and even some of the plot elements between release dates in the series. -
Hopefully no later than May 2012.
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The book is a paperback 5"X8”. Not a trade paperback, but slightly larger than mass market. I won’t know the exact page count until the formatter finishes his work with the interior design, but the estimated count is roughly 400 pages.
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Wow. All of them. But for Murder of Crows in particular, my inspirations were; Jacqueline Carey, Laurell K. Hamilton, Sara Douglass, Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Ann McCaffery, Melanie Rawn, George R.R. Martin and David Eddings.
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Murder of Crows will be available on Amazon.com after April 9th, 2012. It will also be on smashwords.com and on the Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/NOOK-Book-eBook-store/379003094 Nook site.
Murder of Crows, A Novel by Athena.
Updated information can also be found on the new website, www.thepillarsofdawn.com
97
Backers
$7,375
pledged of $6,800 goal
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Funding period
Feb 7, 2012 -
Mar 28, 2012
(50 days)
- First created · 6 backed
- Athena BlissQuest 333 friends
- Website: theblissquest.com
Pledge $5 or more
1 backer
Tier 1 of the reward scale includes a personalized thank you note, written by yours truly, with gratitude and love.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $10 or more
42 backers
Tier 2 of the reward scale includes a personalized thank you note, written by yours truly, with gratitude and love AND a digital copy of the book titled, ‘Murder of Crows’ by Athena.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $30 or more
12 backers
Tier 3 of the reward scale includes a personalized thank you note, written by yours truly, with gratitude and love AND a digital copy of the book titled, ‘Murder of Crows’ by Athena. PLUS a handmade bookmark made from a feather and beads.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $60 or more
20 backers
Tier 4 of the reward scale includes all of the previous tier rewards as well as a signed hard copy of the book, ‘Murder of Crows’ by Athena.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $120 or more
4 backers
Tier 5 of the reward scale includes all of the above tiers as well as having your name included in the acknowledgement section of the book. “A special thanks to: (your name here)”
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $250 or more
0 backers
Tier 6 of the reward scale includes all of the above tiers PLUS a T-shirt with the key phrase of the book, “Trust the Story”.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $500 or more
3 backers
Tier 7 of the reward scale includes all of the above tiers PLUS one extra copy of the book, signed. PLUS one 8X10 glossy print of the author, signed.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $1,000 or more
1 backer
Tier 8 of the reward scale includes all of the above tiers PLUS a 30 minute chat via phone or Skype with the author.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $5,000 or more
0 backers Limited (2 of 2 left)
Tier 9 of the reward scale includes all of the above tiers PLUS “Patron Saint” status on the world of Aria. A patron saint might be the protector or guardian of a river, or a guild or even an entire culture on the mythical world of Aria where our main character Fable was born. If you are so inclined, we can even discuss including your photo on the website or in the book near the glossary with a description and brief history of your particular Patron Saint Status. And, then next time you’re in Portland, Ore. I’d very much like to buy you a drink at a marvelous little martini bar I know, and say thank you in person.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
