Well, here we go, wayyyyy out of the comfort zone. Wizard’s Tower has launched its first Kickstarter project.
What does that mean? I means I get to publish a book that pays professional rates, and that means that Jo and Roz get to work with some top class authors. But we very much hope we’ll have some new and up-coming writers too, because we are looking for a specific mix of contributors.
Piracity is, in some ways, a follow-up to Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion. That is, it is a book that uses Bristol’s history and will feature local writers. It is not steampunk. As you must have guessed, it is about pirates. Arrr!
But, as I explain in the mortifyingly embarrassing video that I made for the Kickstarter campaign, you can’t write about pirates and Bristol without writing about the Caribbean, and therefore we are not just looking for local writers, we are looking for Caribbean writers too. We have three very good ones signed up, and we are hoping to get more.
The upshot of all this is that I will be saying Arrrr! rather a lot in the coming months. You will get heartily sick of That Hat, and of Aloysious the Squid. I may get fed up of rum. The campaign will run through the whole of November and may end up with something rather fun for locals. Can’t tell you about that one yet.
Along the way, to keep people interested, there will be updates. Karen Lord has promised me something about rum. Eugene Byrne will be writing about Bristol’s piratical history. And because we cannot ignore these things Dr. Olivette Otele will be writing about Bristol and the slave trade. If anyone else has a good idea for an update, do get in touch. If we raise enough money I may be able to pay to include them in the book.
Of course Halloween is right around the corner, which is one reason why we are launching now. You can guess what that means, can’t you. More about that later in the week.
In the meantime, please tell all of your friends. We do need to get this thing funded.
Only UK and the Caribbean? You know, there were lots of pirates on the Brazilian coast in the 1800s too… 😉
That, my friend, is why we are having an open submissions period. What I’m hoping for is one third Bristol, one third Caribbean and one third rest of the world as far as the crew goes.
How can I be a member writer of this? I have a full novel about pirates almost ready (the not ready part is that right now a 600 page new book with new evidence of Blackbeard has been published, and I have to read it to see if my facts still checks okay). I’m giving lectures about pirates of the Golden age, and I have sailed the only square rigger in the world with an authentic 18th century rig (The Eastindiaman Götheborg). Please tell me there is room!
There will be room if we fund. The plan is that we’ll have six places for open submission for writers from anywhere in the world. It may be quite competitive. We’ll announce details of how to submit once we are funded.
But if we don’t reach our funding goal then there won’t be a book.