THE TEAM:
James Noll is an author, an educator, and a musician. He writes horror, post-apocalyptic, and science fiction, including The Mad Tales Trilogy, The Rabbit, The Jaguar, & The Snake, and The Hive: A Serialized Novel.
The reviews of his books are good!
“I'd recommend this book to absolutely everyone.” (Mary Anne, Amazon review)
“There were elements to ‘The Unan' and ‘Savages' that reminded me of the world of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. The Gunslinger would have it in pretty well in this setting.” (Dr. Gonzo, Amazon review)
“[The stories] reminded me of Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episodes.” (Byron Decker, Goodreads Review)
"Darn good collection! Some good, bizarro stories. Well-written and enjoyable"-Geoff (Audible Review).
Jamie Bronson is an artist. He paints using acrylic and loves to depict people in various states of violent distress, angry confrontation, and peaceful mountain pastorals. He used to live in Hawaii but moved to Virginia for some reason.
Jamie took to reading fantasy and science fiction before he could really draw. He used it as an escape from the real world, to lose himself in the beauty and danger of an amazing other place. That kind of escape provides a certain escapism that appealed to him, and his art is an extension of that earlier desire.
Jamie’s work is meant to elicit strong emotions, thoughts, and a sense of escape. He wants his viewers to feel like they’ve entered a different world, to find themselves elsewhere or otherwise for a moment, to lose themselves in the images.
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
The Encyclopeadia Bizarre: Vol. 1 Aggros
The Encyclopaedia Bizarre is an illustrated book featuring nightmarish hybrid creatures and all of their associated lore, including myths, legends, stories, and other interesting (and often funny) tidbits.
Here's an example of one of the monsters: The Squirsquito. The Squirsquito is (of course) a mix of a squirrel and a mosquito. I didn't imagine it to be so terrifying in its original inception, but Jamie took the idea and made the beast one of the more horrific creations in the collection.
You can download the completed Squirsquito entry here!
Here's another one of my favorite beasts: The Blind Rake. It's a mix of a marsh rat and a Texas blind snake.
We're bringing the Encyclopaedia to Kickstarter to fund the first volume: Aggros, which features the more violent creatures in this universe. As you can imagine, creating the art takes time and money, and so does the layout, editing, and production. Right now we have eight of the creatures completed:
- Squirsquito (squirrel + mosquito)
- Tecuani (unknown)
- The Blind Rake (marsh rat + Texas blind snake)
- Snider (snake + spider)
- AK Africanized Wasp (africanized wasp + AK 47)
- Cursine (pit bull + grizzly bear)
- Leopargle (leopard + eagle)
- Mounade (mouse + hand grenade)
We have plans for two more:
- Sceel (scorpion + moray eel)
- Hyguana (hyena + iguana)
Finally, we've created the evil corporation that is breeding all of these things: The SingleCorp.
SingleCorp also makes body modifications, including Barrel Arm Biceps™, Second Sight Eyes™, Nimble Digits™, and Cochlear ConNext™. Here's a draft of the ad for Barrel Arm Biceps™:
We'll also need to produce backgrounds for each hybrid and a cover. The money raised from this campaign will be used to pay for all of the art and illustrations, as well as the publishing, production, and shipping of the first edition.
Before I go over the specific breakdown of The Rewards, everybody who backs the project will get big old thank you (by name, of course) at the front of the book (of course)!
Risks and challenges
The main risk of this project is the same for all Kickstarter crowd funding: that, either because the project doesn't catch on or we're unable to market it correctly, we won't be able to meet our goal.
There are a couple of challenges with this project. The first has to do with the collaboration between artist and author. This is a world entirely of my (James's) creation, and it takes a lot of communication and drafting, as well as willingness to pivot and compromise, between the two of us to make sure we're both happy and satisfied with the final outcome. For example, my initial idea for the Squirsquito was nowhere near as aggressive as the image Jamie created, but I happily adjusted my Encyclopaedia entry to match the tone of his work. Also, I love the idea of the Allicopter, but Jamie isn't comfortable with the mechanics of the illustration. He was, however, VERY interested in adding the Tecuani (a monster from The Rabbit, The Jaguar, & The Snake) to the collection, so we compromised. The Allicopter is out (for now), and the Tecuani is in!
Another challenge is simply a matter of deadlines. We will definitely ship the printed copies by the end of October 2018, but I'd love to ship so that it arrives before or on October 31, 2018. Once our funding goal(s) have been met, Jamie has three monsters to ink and seven backgrounds to create. He needs to get that done in a month so I can take the time to layout and finalize the book, not to mention take care of all the button-pushing: buying the ISBN, taking care of all of the technical requirements, dealing with last minute edits and changes. If we get backers who support us with The Cursine or Squirsquito Rewards, Jamie is going to have to add their images into the art, and I'm going to have to incorporate them into the copy in a way that is meaningful and satisfactory. Finally, if we're lucky enough to meet our Stretch Goals, we'll have to add more monsters and more ads to the book, which will force us to extend the deadlines accordingly.
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Funding period
- (32 days)