100% Funded in 12 days!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 02:04:01 AM

Wow. Just… wow! 

12 days – less than two weeks – and you took us to our goal. Fantastic. 

Tom, Nimue and I thank you for your wonderfully generous response to our modest little, first-time Kickstarter.

So that’s it then? Put our feet up and chill? OH NO! Not on your life! We have so much more to do. We have some splendid treats and exciting previews lined up for our backers, and some great stretch goals too.

Second Art Card Artist Announced!

In the last update, I revealed that our first stretch goal would be a set of quality A5 art cards by different artists, featuring their take on the main characters from the stories.

The first will be by Claire Peacey of Autumn Sky, and I can now reveal that the second will be by none other than Doctor Geof himself!

Probably the most well-known of UK steampunk comic book artists, his style is unique, his inspiration unfathomable and his artwork – quite simply superb and often downright hilarious.

Doctor Geof describes himself as a satire & historical fiction artist & comics creator. His work has been commissioned by organisations such as the Discovery Museum, Newcastle, Cutty Sark, London & Royal Museums Greenwich. He draws saucy female adventurers, goblins, cats in tanks and endangered kraken. He also creates many fake Victorian adverts and is responsible (allegedly) for the superhero (?) Fetishman – which is probably (definitely) not suitable for young children. 

He’s created a number of mad, public events such as the Milk First/Milk Last referendum and more recently the launch of the Queen Faketoria Trading Company.

If you haven’t heard of him, then there is an ink-coloured hole in your life - go check out his work at the Island of Doctor Geof. We'll be showing you Doctor Geof's art card as soon as we have the artwork in our excited little hands!

AND… Third Art Card Image Revealed!

We are still confirming the fourth artist for the set, but the third art card has been created by Gary Nicholls – the photographic artist behind the stunning Imaginarium project. ‘The Imaginarium’ tells an intricate, fantastical, dark but ultimately beautiful steampunk themed story through the unique medium of fine art images.

For us, he has imagined Lady Alison – the key character in The Oddatsea, and we can exclusively reveal below, the actual image that will feature on the art card. It portrays Lady Alison escaping(?) the temple complex of Angkor Wat. (Presumably, one of her earlier adventures!).

There’s lots more to come so please, keep spreading the word – let’s see if we can’t smash past that stretch goal!

Almost at goal - and there's more to come!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 02:01:48 AM

So here we are. At the time of writing, we are over 90% funded and we are humbled ladies and gentlemen, humbled by your response to our modest Kickstarter. But fortunately, we are not so humbled that we can’t line up some awesome stretch goals for you!

We have a number of stretch goals planned - so keep spreading the word – but here's our first...

If we hit £3,500, then backers who pledged for any printed reward, will receive a set of four A5, high quality, art cards featuring some of the best steampunk illustrators in the UK. Each with their unique style, they will be offering alternative versions of some of the characters in the books.

I’ll be talking about each of the four in the next few updates, but the first one we are announcing is by Claire Peacey of Autumn Sky. Claire is the master of the high-quality render and produces amazing book covers (if you are a self-publisher, I can heartily recommend her). In the UK you are most likely to have seen her work on the cover of the Asylum Steampunk Festival programme.

Claire will be giving us her take on Jason, one of the main characters in The Oddatsea, and I can’t wait to see what she imagines for us. Claire is working on it over the next few days, and I’ll be posting up her rendition as soon as it’s complete.

In the meantime, some of her stunning images are below.

Progress update
over 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 04, 2019 at 04:31:41 PM

Well, I think it's time for progress updates both on the campaign and on the project. 

Unless I get a lot of feedback clamouring for them, I'm not going to post a load of updates because as someone who has backed a fair few kickstarters, I think too many updates can get annoying!  On the other hand, an occasional update is reassuring – "we're still alive and we are on track" sorta thing is good. 

As far as the campaign is concerned we couldn't be happier with the progress so far – we have over 75% of our goal with 29 days still remaining. We are not sitting on our goggles though – this is typically the quiet time in a campaign, so anything you can do to get the word out amongst fellow fans, friends, families, random strangers in the street – all would be most appreciated!

Let's talk about the project. Tom has finished all the illustrations for New England Gothic and has only three more to go on The Oddatsea. These will be completed well before the campaign ends. The stories are all written and test page layouts and typography for the books has all been done. Again, I will get the artwork for the books finished before the end of the campaign. The printer is all briefed and lined up, and we have plans for shipping when we get there.

Nimue has already started writing the obituaries – included in the first 100 early bird pledges – which are turning out to be a lot of fun! You can find them on the Hopeless Vendetta website under the Births, Deaths, Marriages category.

Is it too early to talk about the awesome stretch goals we have planned if we exceed our target? Yeah, it probably is! But if we can get a few more pledges rolling in, then we can reveal our plans. I honestly can't wait to share them with you!

Finally, as a reward for reading this far – here's an exquisite detail from one of Tom's illustrations for New England Gothic. Now – what does it tell us?

Another glorious day!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 02:11:56 AM

Well it’s our last day at the wonderful Asylum Steampunk Festival and we woke up this morning to some amazing news - we’ve been pledged over £1000 over this weekend - that’s over a third of our target!

Tom, Nimue and I are overwhelmed by this truly heartwarming early support.

Here at the Asylum we have moved outside our marquee which was a trifle hot yesterday (British understatement!) and we in good company - alongside Accent UK - publishers of Western Noir and Time Bomb Comics - who are responsible for Flintlock and the Clockwork Cavalier.

In campaign news Nimue is so excited by the idea of killing off our backers - or rather writing a personalised Hopeless, Maine obituary for our Early Bird Pledges that’s she’s started already!

You can read the first obituary here: https://hopelessvendetta.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/bertram-fiddles-death-mystery/

More news on the project soon!

24 hours of pledges
over 4 years ago – Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 02:11:12 AM

Start of day two and we have reached a quarter of our target already! Fantastic. Thanks to everybody who has pledged so far.

Physically we have been launching at the Asylum Steampunk Festival - and it’s been a glorious weekend so far. Meeting fans old and new. We have a stall in the artists and authors marquee in the Castle.

I’ll be posting updates about the progress of the project and sharing some of Tom’s amazing artwork during next week, but for now we’ve been focussing on the launch and getting the word out - so please share the Kickstarter link with anyone you think might be interested.

Apparently it’s going to be up to 30 degrees (centigrade) in the Castle today - so another hot one!

Here are some photos before the hordes of steampunks start arriving!