About
About One in Blue, The Other Green
I'm a prolific writer, it's one of the perks to having time and being bipolar. Writing keeps me sane, it gives me an outlet. I usually have a dozen short stories on the go and a few novels as well.
One in Blue, The Other Green follows Elyn London, matriarch of the London Kishai and delves into her life when she was known more for being daughter of Coronis' latest Oracle. It's not a life she would have chosen but then everyone has lessons to learn, even an old soul like Elyn.
As a child, she spoke with psychopomps, psychically saw through the eyes of her twin and discovered a love of calligraphy, a talent which will see her become an artist as well as a priestess. But Elyn's life, it's never a happy one: she has lost friends, known true sorrow and rejection but she continues on, determined to make good on promises she doesn't remember making.
Entrapped by her mother' prophecy and her sister's hated, all Elyn wants is to carve out a life for herself. To do so, she will travel to the ends of the known universe, to a small planet called Earth.
But fate isn't done with her yet.
This is a short novel (around 76k) that serves as the prequel for The Shadow of the Stars, the final book in the Changing of the Sun trilogy, as well as the Priestess series of books which are narrated by members of various worlds' clergy (though the first few books are mysteries set in London). Elyn's story sets up a fragment of Earth, post-Contact, in which the Kashinai have enclaves in numerous cities but the welcome is not always a warm one.
In terms of the manuscript, I need to give this at least two more passes before it goes to editing. There are some subplots which are still revealing themselves, some arcs which need polishing. This means I'm aiming to make this my project for the latter half of 2016, aiming to get the book in electronic and physical form to folks for Christmas.
Special Kickstarter Bonus: Sweetness in Sorrow
Included, as a bonus, is the novelette Sweetness in Sorrow (narrated by Zoe, who appears in OiB, tOG). This story is the first in an Ashteraiverse serial that I tried to fund earlier in the year and failed. I hope to give it another go after Elyn's story has been told. That said, Zoe and Elyn's stories intersect and Sweetness has already been edited (if you're a member of Team Parting you'll find it in the anthology Beyond the Stars Beneath the Sea).
New to the series? You can see the other books by visiting here: http://smarturl.it/ashteraiverse and also http://www.theashteraiverse.com!
BTW, for those who want a fancy map by Rob Antonishen, here's what the Reshka of the contemporary time looks like. You can get your own copy (supply your own frame) as part of one of the pledge tiers:
Excerpts
More will be unlocked as we go.
Formats
The paperback will be 5" x 8" with a full wraparound cover and the ebooks available in .mobi and .epub (which will work on your Amazon and every other device on the market).
If you get an ebook, you will receive both formats so you can read the book on whatever e-reader you own.
What is the money for?
- Editing Blue to make it publishable.
Yep, the usual and painful but also the most important part. I have an awesome editor named Therin Knite and I want her to make OiB, tOG shine.
- Print and ebook covers
I have already chosen the art for my cover, I just need Scarlett Rugers to work her magic on the ebook and print covers. Scarlett's the uber-talented designer behind the cover for The Whispers of the Desert and A Star Filled Sea.
Do you like the concept above? I love it!
- Ben Adams' art
Having Ben do my art, well it's becoming a thing. He did gorgeous work on The Changing of the Sun, The Parting of the Waters. My favourite piece, however, was for A Star Filled Sea. Ben does amazing work and the final piece in this book's journey will be to get him to do something to make One in Blue, the Other Green really special. Seriously, check out what he did for my last novel:
- E-book and print formatting
I heard about Polgarus Studio via Hugh Howey (which is like the highest recommendation you can get in the indie publishing world). I hired them to format Whispers and Changing for me. I never regretted it; it's delegation, Jason Anderson does a wonderful job and I know he will take a lot of the load of me. He will do both the e-book (in .mobi and .epub) of Blue as well as the printed layout for me and it will look amazing.
- The costs of the various rewards
Print copies, rewards and art cards etc will all cost money and this is something that final amount has to include. Also postage because it's ALWAYS more than it should be.
- Kickstarter and Amazon's fees.
Kinda obvious but always worth mentioning. If/when I reach my goal, Kickstarter get a percentage and so do Amazon for processing the payments. Go figure.
Here's a basic breakdown of where everything is going in a handy pie chart:
Who am I?
I'm a storyteller, I always have been. I started writing at ten, teaching myself to touch type as well as how to use computers. I spent a decade working in journalism, as a blogger and a reviewer before chronic depression, anaemia and a combination of my physical disabilities pushed me into early retirement.
I even retrained as a teacher but my health issues mean I'm never going to be able to work again, which makes me sad but does nothing to negate the sheer exhaustion of suffering a chronic illness. I found writing to be cathartic, to be the one way I have to stay sane and I'm not going to stop. I wrote a novel, then I wrote short stories and now I'm publishing them.
I've always been visually impaired and this is no more obvious by the number of blind characters who crop up in my stories. In my case I have retinopathy of prematurity due to being born at twenty four weeks which left me with white matter damage to my brain from too much oxygen, a blind right eye and a blurry left one.
I also have Asperger's though that can sometimes be more of a boon than a bane, especially when it comes to research. Three and a half years ago I qualified with my lovely guide dog, Unis, and she serves me very well, allowing me to go out safely as well as keeping me company while I write.
For nearly a decade I freelanced for everyone - seriously, the list is as long as my arm - from anime magazines like NEO and Newtype USA to games publications including Kotaku and Official Xbox Magazine to newspapers like the Eastern Daily Press and The Guardian. Now I am recreating myself as an author, specifically focusing on science fiction and urban fantasy.
I've had stories
I'm in the prime of life, apparently, so being retired as due to my disabilities is incredibly frustrating as I would love to work and put my skill sets to good use.
In February 2014 my debut Kickstarter campaign for The Changing of the Sun, the first book in the trilogy, funded at 115% of the goal. In April, I distributed a prequel e-novella called The Whispers in the Desert to my backers. In September, the novel itself found its way into backers' hands and it was a thing of beauty.
I ran my second campaign in November 2014 and that also funded (just!) which allowed me to cover the costs associated with publishing The Parting of the Waters. Then I ran my most recent campaigns for a standalone novel called A Star Filled Sea, which funded, and a serial called A World of Strange New Things, which didn't.
Now I have a new byline for my books, a new persona. Asha Bardon is a short story author, a novel writer and a proud indie publisher. But, for this project to succeed, I need your help.
Why am I doing a Kickstarter?
A part of the reason I like Kickstarter are the people. I'm constantly amazed by the generosity of my tribe (that's you guys, my various teams) and strangers.
I live on a fixed-income which is rather tiny. I could pay for all these things but it would take fives times as long and I love the communal side which comes with crowdfunding, I get to talk to my backers, to take them with me on each roller-coaster ride of a journey, knowing they'll queue up for the next go.
Sadly I simply cannot afford to make this project a reality without your help.
This campaign marks my fifth Kickstarter. I now have a much smoother system in place so I'm hoping to get the book out to you by November in all the usual formats.
Sound good?
Risks and challenges
As someone who has run three successful campaigns and one not so successful one, I'm getting the hang of this crowdfunding lark and my indie toolbox is now a well-oiled machine.
I'm crowdfunding this not just because of the financial side but, rather, because I want to make sure there's a need. By definition, if people pledge, then there are folks who want to read this short novel and so we're all good.
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Funding period
- (46 days)