First off, click here for some proper background reading music.
Second off, there is less than 24 hours left until the end of Kickstarter!

.:the omission (mea culpa)

So, I realized I forgot to mention that every digital copy of the book purchased from this campaign will come with a Kickstarter exclusive short story (the one I'm hand writing for the $250 donors)!  There are plenty of colorful characters in The Wind Merchant that I'd love to flesh out, but there are two in particular that deserve more time in the story, and that's the tale of when Elias met Emma... or in simpler terms (since I've not been terribly forthcoming with details about the book), the story of our protagonist's parents meeting for the first time.

.:concept art

(real life conversation)
Wife: You should join Pinterest.
Me: Isn't it just for girls?
Wife: No.
*one month later*
Me: I thought you said Pinterest wasn't just for girls.  Literally 95% of the people following me are female.
Wife: That's because it's mostly girls.  "Mostly girls" and "just girls"are two entirely different things.

I've discovered that Pinterest is a great place for finding concept art to inspire me on The Wind Merchant, and here are a few gems that hopefully get you as excited about the tale as they do for me.

I'll be periodically posting little things here and there that inspire me for the story, and hopefully you can get a taste of the flavor of this tale.

.:80%

The first draft is clipping along beautifully, and I'm well into Act 3 where all the fun scenes that I imagined at the beginning of the story flared to life in my imagination.  I really can't wait to share this story with you as it's taken an exciting direction that I didn't even expect when I set out to write the tale.

.:thank you

The last 25 days have been crazy, manic, exciting, affirming, and humbling.  I couldn't be completing my dream of finishing my first feature narrative film if it weren't for you all, and now I'm launching into the new venture of novel writing... something that I've enjoyed so much I definitely want to start pursuing as much as my schedule allows.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I can only repay you with what I hope to be a great story.

If I can ask one more thing... since this is our last hurrah and I am hoping to start writing more books beyond this one, every writer needs people that are interested in their stories to tell other people about that writer's tales.  If you could take a moment and one last time post the link to this update or the main campaign sometime today, it would greatly help me.

You've been amazing, and thank you for encouraging me in my creative endeavors.  I'll leave you with one last thing...

My wife got me this bracelet made of antique typewriter keys for Christmas, and while I don't want to give any spoilers away for the book, all I'll say is that the theme of the book is wrapped around this message... and it's your support that keeps me going, knowing that there are people willing to love and support me.

Keep flying,

-Ryan

So let me try this:

There is now a NEW DONOR LEVEL called "The Monochrome Package" at a $40 level.

Yes, it is what you're probably thinking it is. This is a limited time run of screener DVD copies to see the film GREYSCALE before it goes through the distribution process.  This will be before I lose full control of artwork/design of the disc and case, so it's my special little version.

As a show of thanks, everyone who has already donated at THE SILVER FOX ($50) level or higher will also receive the contents of THE MONOCHROME PACKAGE.

Last, but not least... as soon as the film is finished, there will be a backers only update with a link to the first five minutes of Greyscale.  I want you to be able to see a bit of the film as soon as I can for supporting me at any level.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  3.5 days... I'm blown away and so grateful.

Please continue to tell your friends.  Any extra money that comes into this Kickstarter campaign will help me start down the path to paying back those that literally invested in me and the film with their money and time... and it's a long path that I hope to walk until its end.

vaya con Dios,
Ryan Dunlap

I am completely blown away by the generosity and support you all have shown with this campaign.  It's humbling, yet immensely encouraging, which puts wind in the creative sails... and you can't put a price on inspiration.

Although I feel like The Wind Merchant is already a solid story, your generosity compels me to work that much harder to tell the best story I can for you.

Above is a picture of the book I'm writing the story in.

A snippet from the manuscript of The Wind Merchant.

The scene below is still an early draft that is likely to look a little different in the final version due to eventual rewrites and polishes, but I wanted to share a little bit of the flavor of the characters of Ras and Calista (often referred to as Callie).

Without too many spoilers, the scene is set with Ras having been slipped a narcotic painkiller for his recently dislocated shoulder.

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   Callie produced a brass sphere about the size of a snowglobe from beneath the book.  There were three holes where she inserted her thumb and first two fingers, activating the device in a high pitched whine of gears inside, and from the top an arrow lifted attached to a metal rod.  The arrow clicked into place and turned slightly to the left and upward, pointing East.
   “Ras, it’s a compass that follows the trail to the mountain pass to The Wild,” Callie said.
   “It reads the trace amounts of the element on the wind that comes from there,” Hal added.
   Ras stared wide eyed at it the way a drunken toddler would.  “Wow,” he over-enunciated.  “Can I try?”
   “That would be unwise.  The device attenuates itself to a user and once someone else touches it, it might not work properly for Calista any longer,” Hal said.
   Ras nodded solemnly.  “Don’t touch the shiny.  Got it.”
   “Precisely.  Don’t touch the shiny,” Hal said, agreeing as though Ras had just divulged a great secret.
   “How long will he be like this?”  Callie asked.
   “Days, months, thirty minutes… these things are hard to say.”  Hal winked at her.  “Dayus is preparing breakfast as we speak.  Can’t send you off on an empty stomach, now can we?”
   “No we cannot,” Ras agreed, looking up at the ceiling as though Hal were standing on it.
   Hal stood.  “If you excuse me, I’ll have Dayus fetch you both when breakfast is ready.”  With that, he exited the room.
   “Ras, are you all right?”  Callie asked.
   “Aside from my arm repeatedly attempting to exit my body, never better.”  He slumped on the fainting couch, looking at Callie upside down.  “How you doin’?”  He frowned.  “That came out wrong.”
   She looked a bit flustered.  “It’s just a lot to take in.  Hal told me so many stories last night.  It's just a little overwhelming.”
   Ras righted himself.  “Hey, hey… hey.  It’s OK.  What kinda stories?”
   “About The Wild.  I think we might have gotten ourselves in over our heads.”
   “We’ll be fine,” he slumped.  “When I have two working arms I can make entire fleets retreat,” Ras said.  “Then again I can accidentally sink cities.  I’m… dangerous," he said more to his hands than to Calista.  "But I promised to save Verdant, protect you, and bring you with me.  We’re in this thick as… thick as… butter.”
   “Thieves, Ras.  Thick as thieves,” Callie corrected.
   “Or butter.  Look it up.  It’s a thing.”  He inspected his fingernails, biting one.  “I’m sure of it.”  Not caring for the taste of it, he made a face.  “So what’s in The Wild?”
   “Pockets of frozen time, for one.  That’s what he wants us to collect, Ras.”
   “That would make a great birthday present,” he said matter-of-factly.
   “How so?”
   “Surprise, little Timmy, now you get an extra long birthday!”  Kids will go nuts over it.”
   “More like, Surprise, little Timmy, now you’re stuck in time as the rest of the world ages until the sun explodes,” Callie countered.
   “That sounds considerably less marketable,” said Ras.

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I hope you enjoyed the snippet, and thank you to you all for passing along the link for this Kickstarter.  We're getting so close so quickly!

-Ryan