About
"Origins," theme song for Your Superhero Origin by Meri Amber & the Pop Mythologist
Accident. Disability. Illness. Trauma. Heartbreak. Depression. Losing your job. Losing your home. Losing a loved one.
Have you experienced any of these things? Have you ever felt like despite your best efforts, your dreams, ambitions and plans were ruined by life circumstances?
No one likes pain and no one likes to suffer. Yet not only can you bounce back from adversity, you can let it transform you into a super-powered version of yourself, and this book, Your Superhero Origin, will show you how.
These are just some of the benefits you can experience by absorbing the wisdom in Your Superhero Origin:
• Greater strength & resilience
• Greater clarity of life purpose
• Better focus & discipline
• Deeper, more satisfying relationships
• Deeper, longer lasting feelings of fulfillment & happiness
Hidden within adversity is a gift but it does not present itself to you automatically. You have to have the courage to look for it and the wisdom to avoid the many traps that await you.
By reading Your Superhero Origin you will be able to answer the questions, "What is Your Superhero Origin? What is the radioactive spider bite, the gamma bomb blast, the lightning strike, that will turn you into a superhero?
MY ORIGIN STORY:
Your Superhero Origin was born out of the single most difficult period of my life in which I've suffered for years from a combination of debilitating chronic illness, broken career dreams, poverty and social isolation. I felt completely trapped and became increasingly depressed. To turn things around I had to syncretize everything I had ever learned and come up with a way to turn my pain into something positive.
As a result of this process I truly believe that I am now stronger, braver, wiser and more skilled than I ever was before. But it would not have been possible without the years of crisis.
In Your Superhero Origin, I will share what practical tools and strategies I used to cope with ongoing crisis. I used these tools to not only cope but to keep fighting to improve my situation. These are not arbitrary ideas with no basis in reality. They are now being supported by science and can be applied to any kind of difficult life situation.
Best of all, I will be talking about all these things through the lens of superhero fiction. Because superheroes make everything more fun! :)
PROGRESS:
I am currently at around 75,000 words with the first draft and am about 75-80% done with it. When the rough draft is done a professional editor, and perhaps some volunteer readers, will go through it. Then there will be extensive revising and rewriting. The final draft will probably be somewhere between 80,000 - 100,000 words, and the printed book will likely be close to 300 pages, approximately.
My goal is to have the book out and shipped by the winter of 2016.
ATTACHED ARTISTS:
No good book about superhero lore can be without illustrations! I currently have 11 awesome artists attached to the project and hope to commission more if this Kickstarter does well.
(Note: the images below are from works these artists have been involved in, not the art that will appear in the book.)
ALI CANTARELLA | The Hasty Pastry, DinoBugs
DAN DOUGHERTY | Touching Evil, Beardo, Bob Howard: Plumber of the Unknown
( Twitter, DeviantArt )
DEAN HASPIEL | Beef With Tomato, The Red Hook, Batman '66
TOM KELLY | Sword of the Savage Samurai, Stuffed Animal Saga
( Twitter, DeviantArt )
MENTON3 | The Memory Collectors, Transfusion, The Fly
MONTY NERO | Death Sentence, Death Sentence: London
MICHAEL AVON OEMING | Powers, Sinergy, Mice Templar
MATHEW REYNOLDS | The Mercenary Sea, Marlow
GAVIN SMITH | The Accelerators, Human City, '68
JOHN STINSMAN | Lady Pendragon, Avengelyne
( DeviantArt, Facebook )
NATE STOCKMAN | Reyn, Anti-Hero
JAVIER CRUZ WINNIK | A Reason to Smile
EXPENSES:
For numerous reasons, I am self-publishing Your Superhero Origin and am determined to make it be of the highest quality possible. I've been enlisting the services of some of the best in their fields. These are the minimum costs that need to be covered for this book to see print and to meet my high standards both editorially and in terms of print quality:
- Offset printing by Kraken Print for 500 copies minimum $3176
- Comprehensive editing by Michael Garrett $1400
- Self-publishing consulting by Jane Friedman $350
- Cover design & perk designs by artist Tom Kelly $400
- Commissioned illustrations by artists $3500
- Interior design, layouts & typesetting $595
- E-book multi-format conversion $180
- Indexing software $119
- ISBN numbers for paper and e-book $250
PERKS:
Digital Wallpaper
Official Theme Song, "Origins," by Meri Amber & the Pop Mythologist, MP3 Single
'Your Superhero Origin' E-book
'Pop Mythology & Friends' MP3 Album
A compilation of songs that I co-wrote along with a cast of talented artists for 2015's FAWM (February Album Writing Month). These artists have generously donated their efforts for this album perk. They are:
Meri Amber, Candle, Robert Cooke, Valerie Cox, Joanne Gabriel, Kolton Holbrook, Leslie Hudson, Deborah Linden, Jim Lundy, Sean McGaughey, G Slade, Darci Strutt, Peter Watkinson
Paperback copy of 'Your Superhero Origin'
Notebook
Button
Sticker
Bookmark
Poster
Bonus 'Superhero Wisdom: Essays' E-book
Painting by Artist Rose K. Kong
FAQs:
How are you qualified to write a book?
I've been writing for print since high school when I was the entertainment reporter/editor for my campus newspaper, for which I won an award from the Journalism Education Association. I went on to write for my college paper and was given the "Best Writer" award by the editorial staff. My first job out of college was writing for the nationally circulated magazine KoreAm Journal where one of my articles was syndicated by the New York Times Syndicate, and I have freelanced many articles for various publications and sites.
In 2012 I founded my own site, Pop Mythology. In the Hero Wisdom section I write content that is in the same motivational genre as Your Superhero Origin, and I've written over 280 posts in the past few years. A few of my articles have been particularly successful such as "The Daredevil Method" and "The Deadpool Mindset" which were picked up and republished by the popular consciousness-expansion site HighExistence.com.
I'm a writer. This is what I do. This is what I've always done. I'm qualified.
Can we see some writing samples?
You bet, here's a small handful. You can also see a wider variety of articles I've written at PopMythology.com.
- Master Your Emotions With the Daredevil Method
- The Deadpool Mindset: You Have Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain
- How to Absorb Your Enemies and Be Like Mega Man
- Size Matters: Be Willing to Be Small Like Ant-Man
- You Don't Need Money, Smarts or Beauty to Be an Avenger
- Born This Way: Discover Your Mutant Powers Like the X-Men
- Between Rage & Serenity: Use Xavier & Magneto as Mentors
- How 'The Dark Knight Rises' Can Save Your Life
Is there a particular reason the attached artists are all men?
No, that's a coincidence. While preparing for this Kickstarter I asked just as many female artists whose work I admire but most of them were not available. However, I've recently approached a few other female artists whose work I like and we are in the process of discussing the details.
Risks and challenges
You might be concerned if I'll be able to fulfill this project if I'm dealing with medical issues. The answer is yes, I can and I will.
I am extremely focused and am also fiercely determined to carry out this Kickstarter properly, and there will be no other project on my plate until this is completed. I also carried out a successful, charity-oriented Indiegogo two years ago so this isn't my first time with crowdfunding. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-me-win-my-battle-against-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-fibromyalgia
The only risk I foresee would be a sudden, dramatic deterioration of my condition, but this is highly unlikely as I am receiving proper treatment. And even if this were to happen it would only be a temporary delay.
I also have people helping me in various ways, easing the burden of doing everything by myself. With their help, all will be well.
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Funding period
- (35 days)