The Last Kickstarter in Albion

The Last War in Albion will post on Saturday this week.

I’m pleased to announce that the Kickstarter for The Last War in Albion is now up and running right here.

I’ll start with the most important thing here: please spread the word. Really. If you would be so kind as to go to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, or whatever social media you use and tweet that link with some message about how you think it’s a really cool project, it will help massively. This sort of thing lives or dies by how well it’s promoted. Even if you have only a handful of followers, it adds up fast. So please. Spread the word.

OK – now for details.

This Kickstarter will back a couple of things – a book version of the first volume of The Last War in Albion, which will collect the seven existing chapters along with four more that will bring us to the edge of Watchmen. It’ll also fund the blog version of Book Two, which will cover Watchmen itself in an ambitiously elaborate format that explores the whole world around the comic, structured in careful and meticulous parallel to the comic itself. That’ll be the most madly ambitious thing I’ve ever written, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Finally, it’ll fund the oft mentioned Secret Doctor Who Project, which I’m serializing as I write it to Kickstarter backers. The first chapter is already available as a backer-exclusive update on the Kickstarter. I’m having a blast writing that, and I think it’s something pretty much everyone who reads this blog will enjoy. (And even if you don’t back the Kickstarter, don’t worry – the Doctor Who project will see the light of day in its own right. You’ll just get to see it sooner if you back.)

And that’s not counting the stretch goals – every $2500 over budget we go, I’ll commit to another volume of Last War in Albion being written and blogged. So if you like the project, this is an opportunity to make sure it has a good, long run.

But, of course, the real and important thing that the Kickstarter will do is let me keep doing what I do. As I often say, I love my job. I love writing what I do, I love interacting with all of you, I have a fantastic life, and I’m terribly lucky. But the bills maddeningly need paying, and that means that projects can’t just be fun – they have to earn some profit. A successful Kickstarter is what will allow me to keep blogging here, not just about British comics, but about other cool things and ideas I have. If you like this blog and want it to stick around with regularly updated free content, please consider heading over to the Kickstarter and tossing a few bucks at it. Last War in Albion is the marquee item on this Kickstarter, but the nature of a site like this is that all the different bits help support each other. Which is to say that getting Last War in Albion to where it’s self-sustaining and pays is also what means I have the ability to put other content out.

And even if you can’t afford to back the project, or if Last War in Albion isn’t quite your cup of tea, again, please, please, tell people this Kickstarter exists. Really – if even 10% of you Tweet or Facebook this Kickstarter, I’m going to comfortably make goal and then some, and that would be a big help.

Thanks so much. To everyone. Really. You’re a great set of readers, and it’s a pleasure to write for you.

Oh, and if you missed the announcement yesterday, the Chapter 7 Omnibus is available at Smashwords for the new reduced price of $1.99. To celebrate the awesome new cover by James Taylor (who also did the Kickstarter banner up above), I’ve also put out a Chapters 1-7 Omnibus, which is available at both Amazon (and Amazon UK) and Smashwords for $3.99, giving you yet more ways to support the project and my decadent eating dinner habit.