Kickstarter

Burnt is a novel that I am currently about 20k words into. The problem is, like many authors that start their own Kickstarter is that I haven't finished the damn thing yet, and I want to. Not only that, but I want to be able to cover publishing costs. So here's the deal, the money from this Kickstarter isn't to live on, to buy groceries or booze (I don't drink anyway) or pay for my helper monkey. The money is to cover publishing costs so I don't have to take that out of my "feed my kids" money. Get it? So, after watching that idiotic video that pretty much covers the gist of the book, besides Spawn & Wayne Gretzky, you're probably asking - what the hell is Burnt about and why the hell should I give a hoot? Settle down. I'm getting there.

Burnt started out as a tiny short piece of fiction posted on the internet. From there, I took it into Google Docs and started fleshing out the story. You can immediately tell the tone, but you have no clue what is next. In fact, neither do I to a point. I mean, the $500 reward lets you insert characters into the story!

Ok, I do have a pretty concise outline. This is a post-apocalyptic tale like no other before it, and trust me, I've seen every post-apocalyptic movie out there (even Waterworld) and read most of the books concerning the subject. Instead of focusing on a greater journey of the people, or solving the worlds problems, this focuses on three days in the life of two isolated people. It starts off with today, explores yesterday then takes them into tomorrow. That's it. But those three days are going to be more dramatic and psychologically explosive than any other before them.

That's the basic gist of Burnt. My style in this regard is a little bit of Cormac McCarthy, a bit of introspective a la Kurt Vonnegut and a lot of my own neurosis and paranoia. Look, if you like Zombies and teen romance, then read a different book, cause there is none of that in Burnt. There is love, loss and lust and a bunch of other words that start with the letter L because there are a lot of very popular words that start with that letter.

So why should you back this project? Who the hell am I to ask you for money? I'm nobody. You can check out my profile. I write for Wired.com. I edit. I proudly represent Gunnar Optiks. I make dirty jokes on Twitter all day. Should all that make you care? Probably not. I mean, there are a lot of books out there on the shelves out there, a ton of authors who are probably better at this than me and so on. However, if you know me or know someone who knows me, you know damn well this book is going to be freaking awesome. And if this one is mildly successful, you know that I'll be drunk on my own awesomeness and my second novel will blow your tits off.

I'm a writer, plain and simple, and this is what I want to do for a living. It's been a tough road, but I think with your help I can achieve it. And if this Kickstarter fails, I'll probably finish the book and self-publish it anyway. I'm a simple guy. I could fill up this space with rhetoric and colorful analogies and complex algebra for no real reason, but that won't help get my point across.

So, before you even click the donate button (because you will cause I'm in your head, twanging your neurons) just let me take a moment to say thanks anyway. You see, even if you don't donate, you've seen the title of the book, you may have read the short story behind it all, and you now know my name. So perhaps we'll meet again in the future. If you did donate, and you feel all delightful and squishy inside, share this project with your friends and networks. It will warm the cockles of your heart. And be sure to hit me up on Twitter with any comments, questions, ideas, random insults, brownie recipes or otherwise inane thoughts. I'm out here in cyberspace all the time, trying to keep the scanners out of my head.

Donating to a Kickstarter is an investment. You aren't just helping getting this future award winning book published, you are helping get the next one published, and the next one and so on. I'm not sure what they are going to be about (although I have a billion ideas written down that are all as equally awesome as each other) so we'll work on that. Together. Because once I have your email address, I'll use Kickstarter to send you crazy ass spam and pictures of lolcats. Just kidding. But we'll keep in touch, I'll involve you in the creative process for future books and we'll hang out in cyber space and be all stalker buddies and what not.