Where We're At
We want to create a collection of stories about haunted houses and other weird places. Each story is written from the perspective of someone who has encountered this strange location.
Stories will be solicited after we've funded, but here are the types of stories we'd love to see:
- Haunted houses, obviously.
- Space stations poised at the edge of an anomaly.
- Towns missing people for no clear reason.
- Espresso stands that travel through time.
- Malls that function as dimensional crossroads.
- A cursed painting in an otherwise empty field.
- Unusual sculptures that seem to come from out of this world.
- Structures or ruins left behind by indigenous peoples.
In the past, we've seen amazing stories that have blown our minds with how they play with the theme. We are certain that this anthology will be no different. We have often published first-time authors and are always interested in hearing from authors from otherwise marginalized groups.
This will be our fourth anthology, and the previous three have all been well received.
- "LOVED this collection of fiction. I read this book cover to cover immediately."
- "I've really enjoyed Mad Scientist Journal's anthology series of historical accounts, I eagerly backed the last two on Kickstarter, and I think this is the strongest one to date."
- "Every single story in this collection is wonderfully creepy and totally engaging."
- "Consistently superior writing coupled with outstanding editing."
- "I enjoyed it from cover to cover, and would recommend it to my friends."
Rewards
The main reward is the book. We're shooting for 80,000 words, which comes out to about 300 pages in a 5.5" x 8.5" paperback. The product will have thematically appropriate interior art. Since our book is all about buildings and places, two of the artists we're recruiting are actual architects. Our current roster is:
- Scarlett O'Hairdye (who also did our cover art)
- Kristen Nyht, AIA, AICP, LEED AP
- Luke Spooner
- Raymond McCaughey
These are the reward tiers:
- Neighborhood Watch: For $1, you can receive updates about the Kickstarter and buy add-ons after the Kickstarter has completed.
- The Digital Record/The Print Record (Early Adopter): Early backers will have the opportunity to obtain the book at a discount. $3 for the ebook, $9 for the print book.
- The Digital Record/The Print Record: For everyone else, we will be offering the ebook for $5 and the print book for $15.
- Patron of the Arts (Digital/Print): Higher end backers will have their names listed in the acknowledgements for the book. $10 for ebook, $20 for print.
- Editorial Feedback (Digital/Print): We have read, reviewed, and critiqued a bunch of short fiction over the years. For $40 (ebook) or $50 (print), one editor of your choice will provide feedback for one short story up to 8,000 words. The critique will be provided under the stipulation that the critiqued story cannot be submitted to Mad Scientist Journal (or related projects) for at least one year after the critique is delivered. Includes the rewards from Patron of the Arts.
- Editorial Double Feature (Digital/Print): Same as Editorial Feedback, but both editors will provide a critique.
- Limited Edition: For $100, we will provide a limited edition hardcover book. Numbers will be limited to however many backers we have at this level, plus a few more based off of needs outside of the Kickstarter.
For Patreon Backers
If you are one of our supporters on Patreon, you will get a little something extra.
If you back both our Patreon and this Kickstarter at any level, we will send you a set of postcards featuring the interior art from this book as a special thank you.
If you also back this Kickstarter to a level that gets you a physical book, we will send you a signed bookplate!
Patreon backers must be backers at the time this Kickstarter closes, and at least one payment has to go through successfully. If you are not already following us on Patreon but want in on this, click here to pledge your support.
Add Ons
As is customary in Kickstarters, we have additional items you can add onto your pledge. If you'd like one of these, we prefer it if you just add it to your pledge here. This won't be your only chance to get these, but it helps us more if you pledge it here.
- $3 - A digital copy of one of our previous anthologies in the Mad Scientist Journal Presents series. Get two for $5 or all three for $7!
- $10 - A print copy of one of our previous anthologies in the Mad Scientist Journal Presents series, plus the corresponding ebook. Get two for $15 or all three for $20. (Extra costs for shipping outside of the United States.)
- $10 - Extra Book: Additional print copy of Utter Fabrication.
- $15 - Digital Archive: Ebooks of 20 issues of Mad Scientist Journal, from Spring 2012 to Winter 2017.
- $40 - Complete Archive: Print and digital copies of every Mad Scientist Journal quarterly we've done, which is eight print books and 20 ebooks.
- $10 - Digital Subscription: Ebooks of four upcoming issues of Mad Scientist Journal, Spring 2017 through Winter 2018.
- $25 - Print Subscription: Print and ebooks of four upcoming issues of Mad Scientist Journal, Spring 2017 through Winter 2018.
Stretch Goals
If we meet our basic funding, we will look into stretch goals. Our first two are:
- $5,000 - Building an Extension: We will increase our book size by 10,000 words, which will be about 2-4 additional stories.
- $5,500 - Interior Decorating: We will commission an additional artist to provide interior art.
Many Thanks!
As always, we want to thank the people who helped us get this going. Scarlett O'Hairdye knocked the cover art out of the park. Derrick Swedelius put together our lovely video. Tea Sky Blue provided the music for the video.
Risks and challenges
This will be our fifth book Kickstarter (and fourth anthology Kickstarter). We have successfully funded and fulfilled all of them. We have been down this road before, and we're familiar with it. We've learned many lessons over the years and have continually made changes to do better next time.
Because the interior art will not be done until after the Kickstarter, there is always the risk that one of our illustrators will be forced with withdraw. However, we have several artists we work with regularly and have many people we can turn to in the event of an emergency.
We will be paying authors more for this anthology than we have previously (2-cents/word instead of 1-cent/word.) This will likely result in more stories submitted, which may slow down our evaluation of submissions. However, that is only a hiccup and not a roadblock. We've had worse setbacks and still delivered.
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Funding period
- (27 days)