Kickstarter

LINDA is a novella and song cycle written by me, Karinne Keithley Syers, that will be serialized on hilobrow.com from June to November, 2011. Each installment will have 2 chapters of the book, an original illustration by Rascal Jace Smith, and an original song by me. At the end of the project, I'll print a limited edition hand made book of the illustrated LINDA. 

The story itself hovers between the fiction of Linda's adventures in hollow earth and the process of trying to imagine Linda. It is made of a season's devotion to holding in mind this imaginary friend. 

The audio portion, which unfolds alongside the story, is a cousin to my old serial sound program, the basement tapes of the mole cabal. Composed of found sound, homespun plunking, and layers of vocals, these songs will form a song cycle -- something I've long wanted to make. Here's the last basement tape I did. And here's an old basement tape that's rull nice. 

The songs won't be as long as the basement tapes, though (they were all about 10 minutes with a song nestled in there somewhere). If you want to get a song-feel, listen to these uke covers. And if you like them, consider pledging at $75 -- and I'll do a cover of a song of your choice. Cinematographer * Working Class Hero * There is a Light

It's been a dream of mine to commission Rascal for a long time. Here's why:

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To see more, go to rascalsart.com

Having gone into debt over and over, and underpaid my collaborators because I never have any funds to pay them with, I'm committed to a debt-free model for Linda. The money I raise will go:

--to commission Rascal for 23 original illustrations

--to buy printing equipment and materials so I can create a handmade limited edition of LINDA for subscribers

--to print CDs with the finished song cycle

--to replace some old sound equipment

--to make all the gifts for supporters

Hey and there's more! I missed dancing, so part of the book is an instructional appendix with how-to photo lessons so that you can do the 12 original line dances I'm making for Linda at home. You can even have a party. There's a Linda dance party equipment pack that comes with music and large print instructions. The dances are line dances, but they come with mind-bending meditations to perform while dancing, so you'll get a workout in the part of your brain that's more connected to reptiles, trees, and bears, than language. 

The fundraising campaign runs until May 31, and the series begins the following week. If I don't manage to raise the money, the series will still happen, but there won't be any illustrations, any books or cd's, or patches or bookmarks or line dance party packs. 

Thank you!