Well, when I was young my dad told me I'd have to work my ass off for everything, and this project is certainly proving him right. With a week left, we have over $1000 left to raise or we get nothing. We have promises from a couple people but at this point I can't take anything for granted.

So again, a special thanks to everyone who gave, and again, this isn't just about the money. Right now we just need to get the word out, get people to see the video and see what they think. So if you want to help see this project a success, please share our link with whomever you can.

Jim has also written a good letter draft that you can send to your friends. I've included it below.

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Hello,

Jim Wheelock here. I’d like to update you on how Ron Bassilian and I are doing in our drive to raise funds at Kickstarter.com.to complete our graphic novel, INFERNO 2010.

First off, thanks, as usual, to all of you who’ve pledged donations and gotten us this far. Ron and I are excited about INFERNO 2010 and appreciate your support. There’s been a lot of interest in our book, and we’ve been a Staff Recommended Project at Kickstarter almost since day one, and we were the Project of the Day during San Diego Comicon.

As I write this, we’ve raised $4,750, or 79% of our goal of $6000. That looks pretty good, and possibly some of you are thinking, “why don’t they just take their money and go home?”

The fact is, we can’t. The deal with Kickstarter is that unless we reach the goal we set for ourselves at the beginning, WE DON”T GET ANYTHING! All of the pledges we’ve gathered already are never charged, and it’s as if none of this ever happened. That’s what makes Kickstarter a horse race -- exciting, gut-wrenching, challenging, and, in a perverse sort of way, kind of fun.

Our deadline is August 31st, so we’ve still about a week to reach our goal. We’re respectfully asking you to help us out.

I was talking with a good friend the other night, and she said that if she won the lottery, she’d give us the money we needed. Well, that’s a safe bet, but I think that what she was thinking is what some of you are, too, that if you can’t (or don’t want to) donate big, there’s no point in doing anything.

That’s not the case at all.

Kickstarter is fiscal trench warfare, and we can do this on beer money. Some good people have given us very big pledges, but one of the first pledges we received was for $5, and that one made me realize that this could work. We still need about $1250. If 125 of you donate $10, we’re there -- and you all get some Reward swag and your names in the book.

Obviously, we’d like to get bigger pledges, and the Rewards are better the more you donate. The finished book is going to be really nice, and we want you to read it. Getting a signed copy at the $40 level’s a pretty good deal, and there’s more Rewards piled on the higher up in the donation echelon you go, including the chance to appear as a character in the book. Take a look at our Kickstarter page for all the details, and watch our terrific promo video that shows you what we’re doing with the book. As we get closer to the deadline, Ron is doing update videos, and we also have Facebook and Twitter pages.

In addition, we’re asking you to pledge what you can NOW, rather than keeping us in suspense until just before the end. People like to back winners, and the more we have in the till, the more likely Kickstarter regulars are to join in.

It’s fast and easy to pledge. You risk nothing -- Kickstarter uses Amazon’s secure payment system, and your card will not be charged anything until we actually reach our goal.

Our Kickstarter address is http://www.inferno2010.com.kickstarter.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions at all.

Thank you very much.

Jim Wheelock and Ron Bassilian.