About this project
$4,600
93
Update: Final chapter has been released! The book is now complete online. And what an ending! O.O
Thank you for visiting the Gauntlet paperback Kickstarter, brought to you by Chromatic Press!
A survival horror romance for adults and older teens, Gauntlet is the first illustrated novel to begin and end in the digital pages of Sparkler Monthly magazine. Help us lift this great story from the computer screen and into the pages of a paperback! And while we're at it, we'll expand Gauntlet with some brand-new items...including a replica of the bracelet our hero Clio uses in the labyrinth. If a Female Gaze magazine isn't going to publish fiction with a jewelry tie-in for adults, then who will? Who will do that for the world?!
Read all of Gauntlet online for free, only for the length of this Kickstarter! And if you agree that keeping it a digital exclusive would be a shame, please consider pledging to help us reach our goal of putting Gauntlet to the printed page.
Happy to embrace her adult independence, Clio moves to the sprawling city of her dreams. The layered beauty of the metropolis lives up to her expectations…until one terrible night, when she discovers the dark world at its core. Clio is launched into a frightening labyrinth where everyone seems to be playing a different game. This hidden inner city blurs the line between reality and illusion, concealing both dangers and rewards–and Clio’s forced journey is complicated by friendship, sexual awakening, and betrayal. Clio’s search for the secret inside the gauntlet’s heart will leave her questioning who she is and what she really wants.
In this pulse-pounding thriller by Ellery Prime (eprime) and illustrated by T2A (also known as teaat2am), Clio must play her hand wisely against the stacked deck of the house.
So, I wrote this novel. XD
I feel like a walking cliche to say that I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl, but yeah, that was me. Then my dad, who happens to be an artist (and back then, a young and poorly paid one), told me that I should do something more lucrative. Ahahahaha, heart stab. So I got a business degree, but ended up falling into programming for several years - which is actually quite creative, too, and I enjoyed it.
But I could only resist my destiny for so long. Eventually, I got an online journal and started writing for pleasure again, and one day Lianne from Chromatic Press (who had read my work) invited me to pitch an idea to them. Since I think their mission is super cool, I was thrilled and flattered. They accepted my pitch and Gauntlet was born! Fairy tales do come true!
My only regret was that I didn't have a dusty novel sitting in a drawer like so many other writers seem to have. I had to write the whole thing as I went along over the past year! My initial inspiration for Gauntlet came from a series of recurring dreams/nightmares that I've had over the course of my life. It also displays a little of my love for things like survival horror, escape games, mind games, philosophy, and charming guys. Writing it was definitely an interesting ride for me, but everyone around me managed to survive my mood swings at deadline time. Now that it's complete, I can't wait to see it in print form, especially since T2A's artwork is amazingly perfect for Gauntlet.
I hope you'll enjoy it, too. Thank you for your support!
By the way, my dad also apologized for ever giving me that advice, and I forgave him for all the boring accounting courses I sat through.
Ellery Prime began writing long before the Internet was around to appreciate it, but eventually technology caught up, and her love affair with fandom began. These days, her personal muse and taskmaster, Darth, bullies her into getting the voices out of her mind and onto the computer screen, otherwise she misses turns when she's driving because she can't stop telling herself stories in her head. Her philosophy for life and literature is that everything is better with a little bit of edge, a hint of the uncanny, and a dash of humor. Check out her Tumblr and Twitter for pretty boys and geeky things.
Also known as teaat2am, T2A is a freelance illustrator out of California who has forgotten that sleep is a real thing. She can be seen screaming in several languages on her website, Tumblr, and Twitter.
Additional art credits (from video): Red dress Sparkler cover by Romy-chan, Jacks playing card by Tacto.
Many thanks to Lucky Squid Studios for their advice and help creating Clio's bracelet (pictures to come)!
The four female founders of Chromatic Press collectively bring 25+ years' experience in the manga/light novel industry to the table, and launched their company to publish original, fem-positive fiction while paying advances to creators (of any gender). Their passion - both past and present - is deeply rooted in fandom and inclusive ideals. Read more about the staff on the Chromatic Press website here, and visit their fiction anthology magazine Sparkler Monthly for more Female Gaze fiction (ages 15 and up).
Where the money goes: The funds raised through this Kickstarter will go to the printing and shipping costs for the Gauntlet paperback and merchandise extras. If we clear our financial goal of $4,500, any additional funds we raise (minus Kickstarter fees and retail value of awarded rewards, etc.) will be split, with half going as a bonus check to the creative team of Ellery Prime and T2A, and the other half going right back into Sparkler Monthly, to help pay advances to more creators who are filling its digital pages with awesome, fem-positive fiction.
Some pics of the goods:
Those pin-up prints ($50 tier and up) were created for Sparkler's Cherry Bomb line, but they're not available to the public yet--we saved them for this Kickstarter.
Speaking of Cherry Bomb--Gauntlet already has a bonus story available there, for those of you interested in our top tier of YOU CONTROL THE WRITER. Cherry Bomb is for Sparkler's, ahem, after dark stories. And now you can be a part of it!
Risks and challenges
We've run two successful publishing Kickstarters in the past, and our editorial, design, layout, and print people are all the same as for the Off*Beat Kickstarter. There are always risks when you're a small operation, but with the book already written and the art 90% done, we're very confident that we can produce everything we promised. We'll keep all our backers informed during the printing process and let you know of any delays as soon as we can.
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Funding period
- (29 days)