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April 21, 2012

And because signalboosting is love

In between smiling winningly at the lot of you in the hopes you’ll help me with my project, I’d like to take the opportunity to mention some other excellent crowdfunding projects going on. Because I believe in subsidizing awesomeness, not to mention arts patronage and signalboosting!

First, I give you We See a Different Frontier, which is on Peerbackers rather than Kickstarter–but the same general mechanism of crowdfunding. (Peerbackers collects payment via Paypal rather than Amazon.) This project is for an anthology about colonialism in space, but they’re specifically interested in non-white, non-First-World perspectives, and it’s headed up by Djibril al-Ayad, general editor of The Future Fire, who I know via the Outer Alliance.

Second, back over on Kickstarter, let’s talk THE WARLOCK’S CURSE: #3 in the Veneficas Americana series, which is M.K. Hobson’s effort to continue the series she started with The Native Star and The Hidden Goddess! I liked The Native Star quite a bit, so if you like steampunk with a heaping side helping of romance and magic, you might go check this out!

Third, if comics are more your thing, you might check out Whispers from the Void™, a project that came across my radar thanks to the Paranormal Mystery list I’m on.

And last but most assuredly not least, I’d like to give serious plugging love to Mine to Love, the Kickstarter by none other than Leannan Sidhe, a local musician who’s worked with (and performed with) my very own Dara! She’s working to get her second album out, and I’m here to tell y’all, girl can sing. She has an amazing sweet soprano voice, and so if you like music by oh, say, Loreena McKennitt, you cannot do wrong at all by checking out her work!

Anybody out there know of other awesome ongoing projects you’d like to promote? Link ’em up in the comments and spread the signalboosting love!

April 21, 2012 by Angela Korra'ti

Kickstarter update: Fifty percent has been reached!

Big news for the morning! We have achieved the fifty percent mark, and are now standing at 52 backers and $2,055 pledged! Huge, huge thanks and congratulations to backer Glenn who kicked us over the line, and on whose behalf a free PDF copy of the original edition of Faerie Blood will be given to Lexi! Many thanks as well to backer Shanti for assisting in Glenn’s pledge!

Which brings me to the next topic of this update post! On the project’s main page, I’ve added in a few FAQ’s that have come my way, including how to support if you don’t want to pay through Amazon (short form: “consider getting a friend or family member with an Amazon account to pledge on your behalf”), when you will actually be charged money (short form: “if and only if the project is fully funded by its deadline of May 16th”), and when the best time to support would be (short form: “sooner is better than later!”) Click over to the project for the full list of FAQ’s and my answers, and if you have further questions that I haven’t covered, please feel free to drop comments on this post or use Kickstarter’s provided link on the project page to send a question in.

And now then, let’s talk milestone incentives! Since rolling over the 2K mark and hitting 50 supporters worked so beautifully, I am prepared to offer further incentives to encourage you all to keep those pledges coming. First of all, as previously promised for the 2K milestone, it is time to give you Chapter 2 of both Faerie Blood and Bone Walker! Behold PDF links!

Faerie Blood Chapter 2

Bone Walker Chapter 2

Where do we go next from here? Glad you asked!

I will offer continued free ebook copies of the original Drollerie edition of Faerie Blood, and the next one will be handed out to backer #75!

At the $2,500 mark, I will automatically update the backer who pushes me over that line to the next highest reward tier!

At the $3,000 mark, I will post Chapter 3 of both books!

At the $3,500 mark, the backer who gets me there will also get one of the two limited edition print copies of the Drollerie edition of Faerie Blood, along with all other selected rewards!

We are halfway there, people, and the project’s first week isn’t even over yet. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your support! And remember, signalboosting has been scientifically proven to make you automatically 15 percent more awesome, so keep sharing the project link! Let’s see where we can get in week two!

April 21, 2012 by Angela Korra'ti

Quebecois Music

Tromper le Temps by Le Vent du Nord: A fangirly and footnoted album review!

How much do the gods of all music love me this month? This much: they have given unto me the shining present of the brand new Le Vent du Nord album, Tromper le Temps! Now, mind you, its official release date on CD is the 25th–but it’s shown up early on the iTunes and Amazon MP3 stores, and I could not resist the musical shininess. I will, however, also be buying the CD. Because this album? So awesome I am buying it twice! Now that I have it, though, I can present for you a review! And in honor of Le Vent du Nord’s native language, I now present to you the first paragraph of this review of this album, en français¹ ²!

Vous savez déjà, mes amis d’Internet, que j’ai une grande admiration³ pour Le Vent du Nord, le premier groupe à contester Great Big Sea pour mes affections! Il n’est donc pas surprenant que j’aime ce nouvel album. J’aime son esprit. J’aime ses souliers⁴. J’aime son énergie, son harmonie, et les histoires qui m’attendent dans les paroles. J’aime cet album tellement je vais l’acheter à deux reprises, sur iTunes et sur CD! Et je vous exhorte tous à l’acheter aussi, parce qu’il est beau et impressionnant!

(Okay, that’s about as much French as I can coherently manage in one blog post.⁵ The Too Long; Didn’t Read Because I Don’t Understand French version: buy this album, because it is a thing of beauty and the boys of Le Vent du Nord are awesome. Tell them I sent you!)

Full review, including song-by-song reactions, behind the fold!

April 21, 2012 by Angela Korra'ti