About
Pseudopod: Year 10
$33,677
495
Pseudopod, the world's longest running free short horror fiction podcast, is celebrating its 10th Halloween and wants to raise funds to pay their narrators. Rewards include an eBook anthology and tiki mug designed especially for us by Horror in Clay.
What horror lurks at Pseudopod
Are you new to Pseudopod? Don’t let our decade of content daunt you. We’ve assembled a list of thirteen stories that show the strength and diversity of our offerings. We’re certain that this list will provide something that will tickle the pineal gland of every horror fan.
Escape Artists is the umbrella organization that includes four weekly speculative fiction podcasts. PseudoPod produces horror, PodCastle produces fantasy, EscapePod produces science fiction, and Cast of Wonders produces young adult speculative fiction. We typically produce single-narrator readings with minimal production (no dramatic adaptations, little to no radio theater). Escape Artists has a combined unique download rate of well over a quarter million per month. We distribute under a creative commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. We run a mixture of new and classic fiction.
The storied past of Pseudopod
2016 marks Pseudopod’s 10th Halloween. Just about this time in 2013, we were weeks from shutting our doors and turning the lights off. Thanks to contributors like you, we were able to not only survive, but thrive. While we have always paid our authors, last year we raised our pay for full-length original fiction to professional rates. This year we adjusted this policy to cover all original fiction. That makes us one of two regular fiction markets that exclusively runs short horror while paying SFWA professional rates, and original sales also count towards membership requirements for the HWA. Now we’re asking the listeners to help chip in so we can compensate all of our content creators.
We want you to have a stake in the longest running horror fiction podcast on earth. As part of this campaign, we’re going to be raising the capital to pay our narrators for a number of years; both for our bonus monthly content as well as our regular weekly episodes.
Since the primary mission at Pseudopod.org is the promotion and preservation of the short horror fiction format, we want to assemble a companion anthology to celebrate what we’ve done over the last decade. This includes reprints of stories we’ve run as episodes of Pseudopod, as well as some original fiction from authors we’ve run a number of times. We are also working with the fine folks at Horror in Clay to produce a tiki mug that celebrates a decade with Pseudopod.
The Anthology: For Mortal Things Unsung
This anthology is not just "A Decade of Pseudopod." In addition to reprints both familiar and new to the Pseudopod audience, the anthology will include brand new stories from Orrin Grey, Damien Angelica Walters, and A.C. Wise. We have a new Coyote Tale from Jim Bihyeh, a Tale from the White Street Society by Grady Hendrix, and a Tale of the Guru Keresh by Tim W. Burke. Editor Alex Hofelich has woven a thread of Pacific Ocean resonance throughout the anthology, to go along with our exquisite tiki mug.
Check out the full table of contents. Cover art will be provided by Hugo Award winning artist Elizabeth Leggett. Teases and reveals to come soon as updates to project backers.
The Mug: Pseudopod Tower
The Pseudopod Tower 10th Anniversary Mug is a 9-inch tiki totem. The production edition funded by this Kickstarter campaign will be around 16-ounces, and will come in a gruesome glaze—purple as the bruises of love. No more than 1,000 will be produced of this 10th Anniversary edition mug.
We'll let Jonathan M. Chaffin of Horror in Clay tell you more about the mug in his own words. Not-so-coincidentally, Jonathan also designed our very first logo and t-shirts:
"The Pseudopod Tower tiki mug (as even I've started calling it) was originally called "The Eye of Kanaloa." (It was only called that in my head, and it didn't catch on.) The front depicts a Kanaloa totem, rare for a tiki mug. In the mythology of the old Hawaiian gods, Kanaloa is symbolized by the squid or by the octopus. He exists in complement to Kane, the god of creation, and guides the way to hidden springs . . . which I thought was appropriately symbolic for the dark places horror writers mine for inspiration. Unique among representations of the old god, statues of Kanaloa have round eyes. According to Kauai tradition, if you could look into the eye of Kanaloa, you would see a mystic pattern and be healed. Peering deep into the eye of OUR Kanaloa may turn out differently . . . there appears to be a fanged, tentacled and clawed beastie inside. Use your own best judgment.
The microphone is a Shure 55 vintage mic similar to the one I used to borrow for narrating.
The obverse of the mug shows one incarnation of Pseudopod Tower—from noxious catacombs beneath to soaring spires and roofs above; existing both in and between worlds. The Tower is composed of as many categories of horror as I could cram together. This mug is one of the truest examples I have ever created of the architectural confusion of pop culture references that is my brain. It is jammed with allusions and homages to horror, tiki, radio, and eldritch lore. Deep in the bowels of Pseudopod Tower, we see the ghastly-organic engines and servers (and beasties) tended by one of our dedicated Slush-masters. What horrors will be brought forth next?"
Limited edition mugs available at the higher donor levels (We have included a limited run of 10 - one for each decade) will be the same size, but will be hand glazed in a multi-step, multi-tone process. All mugs will be high-fired ceramic, food- and alcohol-safe, and ready for you to carry through the darkest dreamscapes and murkiest dungeons.
The mug has already been designed, modeled, sculpted, and molded. We just need to know how many to make. The master sculpt is already completed, and we have designed most of the other rewards.
After funding is successful, we will place the final order for the mugs. Time from signing the paperwork to having the mugs in hand should be around 150 days, so we should begin shipping these out in May.
Enhanced Patronage
For Book Lovers
We have partnered with several of our authors and friends in publishing to bring you bundles of great books you're bound to love.
The Strix Publishing Bundle
This bundle includes two premium hard cover editions from Strix Publishing:
- The Book of Starry Wisdom: Apocrypha of Lovecraft's Cthulhu
- Never Bet the Devil and Other Warnings by Orrin Grey
- Plus the eBook of For Mortal Things Unsung and a 10th Anniversary Pseudopod Mug
The Book of Starry Wisdom compiles newly edited editions of H.P. Lovecraft’s public domain cycle of Cthulhu stories, edited and produced by Simon Berman and illustrated by renowned deific and fantasy artist, Valerie Herron (The Book of the Great Queen). Accompanied by essays and musings by some of today’s premiere Lovecraftian scholars, writers, and devotees, this is a luxurious, approximately 200 page hardback tome, featuring a leather textured cover with gold foil pressed symbols of significance to the Cult of Cthulhu, and 13 interior B&W illustrations.
Listen to "The Music of Erich Zann" as Episode 100 of Pseudopod.
Never Bet the Devil and Other Warnings by Orrin Grey is a premium edition of a modern horror classic. First published in 2012 by Evil Eye Press, this collection put Orrin Grey on the map as an up and coming horror author of note. This new edition includes all ten stories from the original, as well as the heretofore hard-to-find "A Night for Mothing" and an all new story, "Goblins." This will be approximately 220 pages illustrated by M.S. Corley and features a beautiful 6 x 9" clothbound, foil-stamped cover, and a foreword by author Nathan Ballingrud.
The Orrin Grey Bundle
This bundle includes three volumes by Orrin Grey. Listen to "The Worm that Gnaws" as episode 155 of Pseudopod.
- Never Bet the Devil and Other Warnings (personalized and signed)
- Painted Monsters and Other Strange Beasts
- Monsters from the Vault
- Plus the eBook of For Mortal Things Unsung and a 10th Anniversary Pseudopod Mug
No matter where he draws inspiration from, whether the weird tales of Lovecraft, Machen, and Poe or the films of Murnau, Corman, and Argento, the end result is inevitably fresh and new. And wonderfully monstrous. If you love monsters—the macabre, the murderous, the misunderstood; the strange, the sinister, the sympathetic; the cinematic and the literary—you will find plenty to love in Orrin Grey’s Painted Monsters & Other Strange Beasts.
Monsters from the Vault disinters a bunch of classic (or not-so-classic) vintage horror films for your delectation. Revisiting films from the earliest of the talkies (shot in two-strip Technicolor!) to Bert I. Gordon’s 1976 “masterpiece” The Food of the Gods, this volume collects more than four years of Grey’s popular Vault of Secrets column on vintage horror cinema, featuring everything from mad scientists to mole people, giant bugs to devil dolls, and more. Thrills, chills, and, of course, plenty of monsters await you within these pages. So dim the lights, grab some popcorn, and get ready for our feature presentation
The Grady Hendrix Exorcism Bundle
This bundle includes a book and ephemera by Grady Hendrix. Listen to "Tales of the White Street Society" as episode 76 of Pseudopod, the first in the fan-favorite series.
- My Best Friend's Exorcism (personalized and signed)
- Rainbow unicorn stickers
- A very special anti-Dungeons and Dragons comic book from the Eighties
- Plus the eBook of For Mortal Things Unsung and a 10th Anniversary Pseudopod Mug
Grady Hendrix writes fiction, also called "lies," and he writes non-fiction, which people sometimes accidentally pay him for. He is the author of Horrorstör, the only novel about a haunted Scandinavian furniture store you'll ever need. It has been translated into 14 languages and is being turned into a television show by Gail Berman (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl). They have never met Grady, but that is their loss. His new novel is called My Best Friend's Exorcism, about demonic possession, friendship, exorcism, and the Eighties.
This bundle from the author of the Tales of the White Street Society includes a personalized and signed copy of My Best Friend's Exorcism plus rainbow unicorn stickers and a very special anti-Dungeons and Dragons comic book from the Eighties.
The Pseudopod Tapes, Volume 2
Listen to last year's Halloween Parade featured on Pseudopod.
The Pseudopod Tapes bundle includes:
- The Pseudopod Tapes, Volume 1 eBook
- The Pseudopod Tapes, Volume 2
- Plus the eBook of For Mortal Things Unsung and a 10th Anniversary Pseudopod Mug
Alasdair Stuart, one of the UK’s most knowledgeable and passionate genre journalists has finally decided to do a sequel to his first volume of Pseudopod Tapes. In the Pseudopod Tapes, Alasdair gathers a years worth of outro’s from one of the world's leading horror podcasts and collects them all together for you in this volume. Stuart hosts Pseudopod with a sharp wit, clear insight, tremendous honesty and warm humour. It translates extremely well to the page. ‘Alasdair Stuart, host of the must-listen Pseudopod just became a must-read!’ -Steven Savile
Coming Soon!
Over the course of the campaign, we’ll be releasing updates showing the anthology cover art. We’ll release the full Table of Contents. We'll include teasers from some of the new stories. We’ll release essays from our family and friends, about what Pseudopod and audio horror fiction has meant to them.
Also, we have a pile of stretch goals waiting in the wings. Coasters! Bookmarks! T-Shirts! Print editions of the book! Additional payments to the authors of the anthology! More years of narrator pay!
And who knows what else may wash up on shore in the next 30 days...
Our tentative timeline:
November 22 - Kickstarter Closes
December 9 - Funding clears, all collateral ordered, prototype sent for production run molding
March 15, 2017 (estimated) - production completed, mugs in transit
May 2017 (estimated) - mugs in-hand in Atlanta, ready to be shipped
The Pseudopod Tower 10th Anniversary Mug was conceived and sketched by Jonathan M. Chaffin, an Atlanta-based graphic designer. After successfully launching five other tiki mug crowdfunding campaigns and fulfilling all of their obligations, Jonathan and his wife Allison launched and maintain www.HorrorInClay.com and www.MugCrate.com, a quarterly tiki mug and Polynesian Pop subscription box.
Escape Artists is the digital publisher of the speculative fiction podcasts EscapePod, Pseudopod, PodCastle and Cast of Wonders and the fun genre fiction magazine Mothership Zeta. Follow @EAPodcasts for all our episodes and news.
COLLABORATORS
First of all, thank you for backing! Here's a backer icon for your use!
This mug couldn't have gotten as far as it has without the hard work of some very talented collaborators.
Thanks to:
- Jonathan M. Chaffin and Horror in Clay
- The team at Munktiki Imports who helped with translating the design into the prototype featured here; Munktiki Imports will shepherd the mug through the overseas production process
- Our bookish friends Orrin Grey, Grady Hendrix, Alasdair Stuart, and the fine folks at Strix Publishing
- All our essayists including Ian Stuart, Orrin Grey, Jon Padgett, Matt Wallace, A.C. Wise, Karen Bovenmyer, Sandra M. Odell, Mur Lafferty, Ben Phillips, Alice M. Phillips, Moaner T. Lawrence, and many more to come.
- All our anthology authors. Check out the table of contents!
- Melissa Hofelich for her tireless copyediting
- The incredibly supportive Escape Artists Staff, with extra thanks to The Keeper of the Big Red Button, Alasdair Stuart, and the Chief Cat Herder, Marguerite Kenner.
- All of the Pseudopod staff who kept things running while we were distracted putting this together, with extra thanks to co-editor Shawn Garrett
- Anders Manga for providing us kick ass theme music for the last decade. Also their soundtrack Hexed which assisted with editing this campaign.
- The BookHouse Pub, SOS Tiki Bar, Trader Vic’s and anywhere else that still serves tiki drinks the right way: in a frosty ceramic mug
- Tad Callin, Allison Chaffin, Jonathan Chaffin, Melissa Hofelich, Becca Howie, Marguerite Kenner, Brian Lieberman, Sandra M. Odell, Ben Phillips, Jesse Scherer, Alasdair Stuart, KazCo - the manufacturers of Zom-B-Gone, the Suspiria soundtrack by Goblin, and the tireless crew who helped me spot errors and to polish this campaign.
Risks and challenges
• We reserve the right to refuse to run any message (Matross' Sponsors) or re-record any episode (Matross' Patron). In this case we will offer the backer the option of providing an alternate at least once. We're willing to work with you, but we're also protective of our brand.
• An author may not respond affirmatively to our request to reprint a story (Matross' Patron).
• Lead time could go long due to monstrous intervention (Kaiju rising from the ocean, etc); however, we are being advised by Horror in Clay (who has successfully funded five crowdfunded campaigns before and has been consistently asked to speak on crowdfunding panels at conventions) and we will provide constant updates.
• What about shipping? We go overboard with shipping: lots of peanuts and a large box. As mug collectors, we’ve suffered the agony of unwrapping a shoebox full of dust from a long-anticipated mug—we do not want that to happen to you. Alasdair has received three mugs successfully shipped from Atlanta to the UK.
• Will my mug look just like the one in the picture? The wiped-off glaze will vary slightly for each mug. The pictures above show generally what the glaze effect will look like: washed purple in the lower areas, bone/natural in the high places. As the limited edition mugs are completed, we will post pictures.
• In order of percentage, funds will be used for:
Mold, glaze, production fees for production run of mugs
Shipping, postage, and packing materials
Paying the authors, cover artist, and copyeditor who contributed to the anthology
Kickstarter fees and taxes
Paying narrators for one year
Glaze, firing, and shipping fees for domestic limited-edition mugs
Cost of rewards (and any stretch goals attained)
Future Projects
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Funding period
- (28 days)