WHAT IS MOONSHADOW'S GUARDIAN?
Moonshadow's Guardian is a sword and sorcery novel of roughly 90,000 words. It's the first book in the Moonshadow Rising Duology, and after almost ten years of work, I'm ready to bring it out into the world.
BLURB FOR MOONSHADOW'S GUARDIAN
All Riana has ever wanted is freedom. Unfortunately, that's the one thing her kind cannot have.
Bound by the curse in her demonic blood for millennia, Riana has tried several times to bend the rules and live out her life in the mortal realm. Now her consistent rule breaking has drawn the attention of Loki, God of Mischief, the main tormentor of Riana's kind. But instead of punishing her, he offers her the escape she has always desired. All she has to do to is save the kingdom of Moonshadow from a mysterious magical plague.
Armed only with the inherent power of her own blood and Loki's pet dragon, Riana is determined to fight for the right to create her own destiny.
However, when her mission forces her to destroy the last remnants of an ancient culture, Riana must ask – what is freedom really worth?
Moonshadow's Guardian is a tale about the meaning of belonging, and the struggle to create a future not defined by your past.
WHAT THIS KICKSTARTER WILL PAY FOR
Moonshadow's Guardian has already been through several extensive edits and rounds of beta reading, and I've invested a significant amount of my own money into the book as well. I've already paid for professional cover art and the first round of professional editing
But traditionally published books go through at least three rounds of editing before they hit bookstores. I want to give Moonshadow's Guardian the same chances of success as any traditionally published book.
Multiple rounds of editing get expensive fast. To make them happen in time for a November 2018 release date, I'll need your help.
Here's what your contribution will pay for:
One round of professional editing - $950 – This edit will go beyond regular copyediting by focusing on clarity, consistency, clichés, overall style, and grammar and punctuation. This is more expensive than most copyediting, but also offers more depth, ensuring that Moonshadow's Guardian is a book you will love reading.
One round of professional proofreading - $250 - This will catch any spelling or grammar errors left over.
Uploading to Ingram Spark - $75 - This lets me gain bookstore distribution and increase the reach of Moonshadow's Guardian.
Maintaining an annual publishing schedule - Priceless - A new author's career is built on their ability to produce books regularly. Publishing Moonshadow's Guardian this year will give old readers something new to enjoy and new readers something to discover. And I will be one step closer to having enough books out to survive entirely from my career as an author.
Kickstarter Fees - The standard fees charged by Kickstarter.
REWARDS
Of course, this isn't all about what I get - it's about what YOU will get for your support. I've got books, books, and more books for you! This includes not only copies of Moonshadow's Guardian and my first book, Keeper of the Dawn, but also donated ebook AND print copies of some amazing books from other indie authors:
THE DEFENDER'S APPRENTICE BY AMELIA SMITH
The Defenders' order is dying, but that's no surprise. They've been in hiding for over a hundred years, and apprentices are getting harder to find – hardly anyone can see the dragons anymore.
Eppie is a successful pickpocket. She keeps her cache – and her ability to see the dragons – well hidden. One day she picks the wrong pocket, and the next thing she knows she’s been brought in to a mysterious secret order of swordsmen and swordswomen. She’s their last apprentice, their last hope. With far too little training, she sets out to help save the dragon Tiada, but if her mentor and the others fall in the battle, who will defend the dragons next time?
THE DAWNING OF POWER TRILOGY BY BRIAN RATHBONE
Power is back. No one is prepared. The Dawning of Power includes three books: Call of the Herald, Inherited Danger, and Dragon Ore. Echoes of the ancients' power are distant memories, tattered and faded by the passage of eons, but that is about to change. A new dawn has arrived. Latent abilities, harbored in mankind's deepest fibers, wait to be unleashed. Ancient evils awaken, and old fears ignite the fires of war. In times such as these, ordinary people have the power to save the world . . . or destroy it. The World of Godsland Young Adult Epic Fantasy Series in order: The Dawning of Power trilogy Call of the Herald Inherited Danger Dragon Ore The Balance of Power trilogy Regent Feral Regal The Artifacts of Power trilogy The Fifth Magic Dragonhold The Seventh Magic
THE BEST WEAPON BY MARTIN BOLTON AND DAVID PILLING
Two young men, born on the same day on opposite ends of the world and into two vastly different cultures, are inexorably drawn together by forces outside their control or understanding.
As they come of age and face their own personal trials, they begin to become aware of their true identities. Driven by dark forces, their shared fate draws them on a journey to the centre of The World Apparent, where their enemies gather in wait.
As their world slides into war and chaos, they discover there is much more to The World Apparent than meets the eye, and glimpse the other worlds that lie beyond the physical plane. Created and manipulated by demonic forces, they must seize control of their destiny, conquer their fears, vanquish their enemies and prevent the very disaster they are supposed to bring about. But first they must learn that the power to do so lies within...
The Best Weapon is the first book in the Tales of The World Apparent, a fantasy world created by David Pilling and Martin Bolton.
MOONLESS BY CRYSTAL COLLIER
Alexia’s nightmares become reality: a dead baron, red-eyed wraiths, and forbidden love with a man hunted by these creatures. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with her beloved and risk becoming one of the Soulless.
STARTER ZONE BY CHRIS PAVESIC
When hydrologists inscribe the consciousness of a human mind onto a single drop of water, a Revelation sweeps the land. The wealthy race to upload their minds into self-contained virtual realities nicknamed Aquariums. In these containers people achieve every hope, dream, and desire. But governments wage war for control of the technology. Terrorist attacks cause massive destruction. The Aquariums fail. Inscribed human minds leech into the water cycle, wreaking havoc.
Street gangs rule the cities in the three years since the fall of civilization. Sixteen-year-old Cami and her younger sister Alby struggle to survive. Every drop of untreated water puts their lives in peril. Caught and imprisoned by soldiers who plan to sell them into slavery, Cami will do anything to escape and rescue her sister. Even if it means leaving the real word for a life in the realms, a new game-like reality created by the hydrologists for the chosen few. But life in the realms isn’t as simple as it seems.
Magic, combat, gear scores, quests, and dungeons are all puzzles to be solved as the sisters navigate their new surroundings. And they encounter more dangerous enemies than any they faced in the real world. Time to play the game.
EPIC BY L TAYLOR
Eleven teenagers. Eight planets. Seven Keys. One wronged queen.
When Annabelle Garcia and her friends find themselves mysteriously on another planet, they learn that they may only return to Earth after retrieving seven magical Keys for queen Mayra of Eden, who has been stripped of her crown and accused of murdering her husband. With reluctance, Anna and her friends accept Mayra’s offer, but the secrets being kept threaten to tear them apart. An impossible mission, the odds are stacked against them in every way. If they aren’t careful, our heroes and heroines will be pushed to the limits of the psyche, become enemies of nature, and if they’re caught by anyone, they face a high possibility of execution.
Danger lurks around every corner in the form of nightmares and monsters too vile for the worst of humans to endure. But with their combined skill and wit, and a little bit of luck, the crew just might be able to succeed and return home.
A highly imaginative novel that pushes the boundaries of fantasy, this is a tale that can only be described as epic.
HAIR TO THE THRONE BY MEREDITH KATZ
The city of Flecton is ruled with an iron fist by Demon Prince Vehr, whose human citizens suffer under demonic enslavement and live in fear of her ever-watchful presence. The prince herself is never seen, living in her underground palace and sending demons to kidnap skilled humans to serve her.
Ten years earlier, Merle's best friend and closest confidante Abeille, a promising silversmith, was taken to Vehr's palace. Now, Vehr seeks a hairdresser, and Merle has exactly the skills she needs. Surviving the hairy situation will take more than wits—it'll take good people to rely on, old friends and new.
WHY KICKSTARTER?
I'm crowdfunding Moonshadow's Guardian because it would be fall 2019 before I could afford to publish it on my own, but also because I believe in the power of the speculative fiction community. The adult fantasy community is tired of the same old tropes big publishers can't seem to move past.
As a self published author, I can challenge and subvert those tropes—and that's exactly what Moonshadow's Guardian aims to do. I believe it is these differences that will lead you, the speculative fiction community, to become champions of Moonshadow and help me bring this book into the world.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Moonshadow's Guardian has already been lucky enough to receive an enormous outpouring of support from the indie publishing community. Here are some of the amazing things the indie publishing community has done for me:
- KJ Harrowick is the internal layout for Moonshadow's Guardian FREE
- The publisher of Keeper of the Dawn, The Book Smugglers Publishing, was kind enough to let me use several copies of Keeper of the Dawn as backer rewards
- Authors Brian Rathbone, Amelia Smith, Chris Pavesic, Martin Pilling and David Bolton, and Crystal Collier donated copies of their novels as backer rewards
Risks and challenges
The biggest risk is that editing will take longer than expected. Moonshadow's Guardian is a complex book, and even though I've already put an enormous amount of work into it there's always a chance that my editor will discover a major flaw.
If this does happen, I have a streamlined editing process and full control over my hours as a freelance writer. I am prepared to block out a full three weeks for extensive edits to meet my timeline or come as close to it as possible. I expect that even with significant changes the longest this project will be delayed is one month.
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Funding period
- (30 days)