Going Over to the Dark Side

So. I did a thing.

Some of you probably think I do nothing but watch movies, interspersed with reading the occasional book. But I am also still working on my own stuff. Like digging into the last Harlequin this week and remembering that a herd of sheep are arriving at the end of the scene. This means some light sheep research is in my future. Got to choose a good breed for Regency England and the London area.

Also, remembering that I didn’t come here to talk about sheep.

The thing I did, which I may need your help on, is that I put up a prelaunch page for a Kickstarter that will be going live in October, assuming anyone is interested in the project. I’ve been hinting around here about the book I was working on, alongside my Regencies, and am ready to spill tea.

It’s called YOU DON’T KNOW DRAC. At least initially, it will be indie published, mostly because I am too impatient to go the traditional route. The cover, and any additional art, will be done by a Canadian artist, Nyco Rudolph. If you check out the art for sale on his webpage, you will know why I chose him. He has a print for sale that is a version of the famous Vermeer, mashed up with a velociraptor. It’s called Clever Girl With a Pearl Earring.

I have to work with this guy.

But back to my book. It’s the story of a goth girl from New York, who is having a tough year that’s only getting worse. She’s out of a job. Her friends are out of patience. And now…

She’s dead.

Probably, at least. After an accident, she loses consciousness and when she wakes up, she’s not in a hospital. She’s in the middle of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and she’s Mina Murray.

(That’s the character that usually gets written as the reincarnated wife of Dracula. But who is NOT the reincarnated wife of Dracula. That was added by Dan Curtis, when he did a version of Dracula with Jack Palance in the 70’s. Curtis was the one who did Dark Shadows, which had the reincarnated wife plot, only the vampire was Barnabas Collins. And then Francis Ford Coppola did the Bram Stoker’s Dracula movie and used it. Except it wasn’t in the Dracula novel by Bram Stoker so THAT ISN’T BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA AT ALL!)

Pant, pant, pant.

As you can see, I get a little passionate about the subject of Dracula. I’ve read the book several times and may not have seen all the movies, but have seen a hell of a lot of the movies.

Unfortunately, my main character, Philomena Michicaulski, has not. She’s seen some of the movies. She went to bed in the middle of the last one, because it was on TV and it was late. But the thing is…

She hasn’t read the book.

This shouldn’t be a problem, right? Because everyone knows how Dracula ends.

Roughly.

And if what’s happening to her is a dream, it might not matter. But if it’s real, it would be really helpful to have Spark Notes, right now.

But, back to me.

I’m doing a Kickstarter with an early edition of the story, before it goes into some kind of wide release. For those of you unfamiliar with the platform, when a project goes live, you can pledge to support it. If it doesn’t meet the support goal (In my case, probably $1000) you are out nothing. If it does, you will receive whatever format you pledged for. The lowest level will be a $6 ebook download. The highest will be a deluxe hardcover with sprayed edges and a dust jacket. The price on that is to be determined, but probably around $50.

If I exceed the goal, I will be adding things like zoom meetings and more art, because half the fun of a Kickstarter is giving extra features to the people who are crowdfunding you.

But all that is in the future. Right now, I am in what is called the Pre-launch stage. I have a page here. If you are interested in following me. Go to the page and click on the link. I’ll keep you updated as I add art and information. You will be under no obligation to pledge later and it will cost you nothing now.

But when I go live with this kind of depends on whether I can get enough support for it to be successful. The book will come out somewhere, somehow, eventually. But if you want to see it first and speed things along by motivating the author, this is the best way to do it. I am already working on the sequel HOW I MET YOUR MUMMY and planning a third book, tentatively titled WHAT NOT TO WERE. I hope to turn this into a series.

And if none of this is your kind of book? No worries. We can still be friends. But I’d love it if you pass the information along to any friends who might enjoy it. I’m trying something different, for a change and trying to build an audience for a book before I release it. I am crap at marketing and some of my past projects have yet to be discovered by anyone.

And, as you may have guessed from previous posts here, no AI will be involved in this book or anything going forward. Trust me, a bot is not nearly weird enough to come up with some of the things I want to write.