The crowdfunding thread

[John]

Okay, now I'm really excited about Torment: Tides of Numenera. I have expressed some reservations because the team has nothing to show right now except for some concept art. That concern remains. However, quality creators tend to produce quality results, and Torment is doing its darnedest to wrangle up a hell of a creative team. Having passed $2.75M in pledges, Brian Mitsoda (best known for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is joining the team. That's great news.

But the thing that has me absolutely salivating is the reward waiting once Torment hits $3.25M in pledges. That's when Patrick Rothfuss, author of the stellar The Kingkiller Chronicle series, joins the writing team. If you have any trust in my taste, then read my review of Mr. Rothfuss's first two books and the get excited about Torment. Patrick Rothfuss stands with George R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman as one of the best of the modern fantasy writers. I adore not only his books but his blog, where he regularly communicates with his fans. I also appreciate that he set up the Worldbuilders charity, to which inXile (the company behind Torment) will be making a corporate donation.

I backed Torment at the $20 level. With Pat's involvement all but assured (you can be quite certain that Torment will pass $3.25M in pledges), I'm considering upping my pledge. Good things come from good people.

[John]

Kickstarter recommendation: Divinity: Original Sin

Category: Computer game
Pledge goal: $400,000
Current pledges: $944,282
Current backers: 19,541

Minimum pledge required to receive game: $28

Pledge deadline: Friday Apr 26, 12:10 pm ET
Status: FUNDED

Divinity: Original Sin website

Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter video pitch
Divinity: Original Sin editor demo

Rock, Paper, Shotgun Hands-On Divinity: Original Sin preview[/b]

Artist's Project Description: "Picture a modern version of a world not unlike that of Ultima VII, that can be explored either alone or with a friend, that sees you engage adversaries in tactical turn-based combat reminiscent of the great turn-based RPGs of the past. A world that is filled to the brim with choice and consequence situations, reactive NPCs, and a considerable amount of surprises. A world that captures the feeling of playing pen and paper RPGs with our friends. Then add the new stuff..." - Vision statement for Divinity: Original Sin

When making large-scale epic RPGs it often helps to summarise what you are trying to make in a couple of lines, just to ensure you don't lose focus during development. You can spend a lot of time trying to come up with these vision statements, but when we started making Divinity: Original Sin, it didn't take us long to come up with the one above. It's simply what we've always wanted to do. The only reason we haven't made this game before was that the following list never made it past the marketing departments of many a known publisher. Now that we are self-funding and self-publishing, we can get away with features like the following.

• Divinity: Original Sin is an Isometric cRPG.
• You can play in single player mode but also in cooperative multiplayer mode.
• It's a real epic CRPG so even in multiplayer, you're engaging in much more than just combat and item fever. A nifty cooperative dialog system, a highly reactive world, a deep character development system and plenty of choice and consequence situations see to that.
• You can create your own RPG adventures with our powerful RPG editor and share or play them with friends.
• Combat is very tactical. It is turn-based and features things like skill and spell combos, attacks of opportunity, action points and much more.
• Exploration is greatly rewarded.
• You can develop your character(s) to fit your playstyle using our classless skill and stats system.
• There are countless item interactions and item combinations waiting to be discovered.
• No Divinity game is complete without music composed by the brilliant Kirill Pokrovsky.

At the end of 2010, in no small part thanks to the success of the previous Divinity games, we finally earned sufficient money to start working on our brainchild on our own, and we decided to become a self-publishing studio.

Fast-forward two years (big RPGs take time to make). Today we are nearing the end of our development cycle and when we look at what we've created so far, we think that we have in our hands the best RPG Larian Studios has ever created. But, we also have the feeling that our job isn't done yet. The game systems we put in place have a lot of potential and because it took us quite some time to create them, we haven't been able to use them to their fullest yet.

That's why we're looking to increase the size of our development team. And because our budget is finite, we decided to come to Kickstarter to ask for your help.

John says: Divine Divinity is a hidden CRPG gem. You could lose yourself in the game's depth like no game since the glory days of the Ultima series. A couple of follow-ups failed to recapture the original game's magic. Now Larian Studios returns to their original world, and this one looks very promising - much more so than the previous entries in the series.

While Divinity: Original Sin functions just fine as a single-player CRPG, it really shines as a co-op game designed for two. I'm particularly intrigued with the conversation system. Both players participate in an ongoing interaction, given that they're close enough to each other to hear the dialog and intervene. So rather than taking the party leader's final word, both members of the group get to weigh in on the outcome. If one don't agree with the other, the game looks at each character's persuasive abilities. The decision that wins is based on stats, the particular situation, and the the approach taken to persuade the party. The game remembers the nature of your decisions as personal traits, and this in turn affects the relation between the party members. Very innovative!

Sticking together with your partner is optional, so you can feel free to run off and explore on your own, make decisions on your own, keep loot for yourself, and deal with people how you see fit. In the event you hear your friend crying for help because he is being torn apart, turn by turn, you have the option to join him in turn-based combat. Indeed, it is possible for either player to be in turn-based combat while the other is exploring in real-time, and it is equally possible for both players to have their own turn-based fights at the same time. Surviving such a thing however, is a different story.

Divinity: Original Sin will also be shipping with a powerful editor that will allow you to not only create environments but easily script scenes and scenarios, and link them together to create grand adventures for you and your friends to play. The RPG editor features a world building tool, an item and equipment editor, a character editor, a dialog editor, and a very advanced (yet simple to use) story scripting tool. You can preview your changes immediately in the game, and import artwork as well as audio. There is even support to work with multiple people on the same story. The editor will be integrated with Steam Workshop to facilitate sharing your adventures with other players online, but you'll also be able to share your mods in other ways.

For your consideration: Given that Divinity: Original Sin is very much designed for two, and assuming you have interest in backing the project, may I suggest that members consider posting their interest here before backing the game on Kickstarter? By doing so, you can save yourself a few bucks. See, while the minimum pledge to get a copy of the game is $25, there is a $40 tier that gives you two copies of the game. By pairing together, you and a friend can get the game for $5 off. Not a bad deal if you were planning to go in anyway! And I must say, the game does look to be worth backing. Check out that Rock, Paper, Shotgun preview if you haven't already, and bask in those pretty screenshots. It's nice to see a Kickstarter project with something to show for itself!

[John]

Click here to see the final results for Torment: Tides of Numenera's Kickstarter campaign, which set a record for the #1 funded Kickstarter game project ever. With the team inXile has assembled, I'm expecting great things from this game. The only "downside" to all this success? Because they hit so many of their stretch goals, the team has already announced that they'll ship the game a little later than the originally intended December 2014 release date.

Meanwhile, Divinity: Original Sin's campaign, while not boasting Torment's gaudy numbers, is doing quite well. The folks at Larian Studios are over 90% of the way to their $400,000 funding goal. They have announced some exciting stretch goals that I'm afraid they won't reach, which is a terrible shame because this game, which is actually relatively close to completion, is shaping up very nicely indeed.

A recent update provides some greater details about how some of the game mechanics will work. Here's some explanation of how combat in single-player mode will be handled:

You switch to Roderick and, shopping around, realize he doesn't have enough gold to pay for his fish. So you try your hand at stealing. Lacking the necessary skills and talents for conducting successful theft, another shopper catches Roderick in the act and calls for the guards. Roderick is a bit short of temper and he's also on a mission to save Rivellon: there's no way he's going to put up with such foolery as going to jail, so he resists arrest and draws his sword.

Turn-based combat starts on the market, and several guards, as well as some market-goers that feel up to it, join the fight. Roderick has a high initiative, and in your first turn, you manage to conjure an earth elemental to even the odds a bit before any of the guards can even make their move. But there are a lot of guards...

At this moment, you could decide that Roderick needs help from Scarlett, and switch to Scarlett. You could guide her out of the black cove, accross the beach, over the hills and into Cyseal. Then when she would get close enough to the fight, she would automatically become part of combat.Or, you could switch to Scarlett to continue exploring the cave.

While you switch to Scarlett and control her, Roderick and his combat will still be "paused in his turn", awaiting your commands.

Let's keep Roderick stuck in time for a while, and just keep on exploring. As Scarlett ventures deeper into the cave, she stumbles upon a whole bunch of angry undead who attack you on sight.

This means that now we have a situation in which both Roderick and Scarlett are in different turn-based combat situations at different locations in the world. You can do these fights one after the other, or you can jump from fight to fight by just clicking on their avatar icons (or using shortcut keys).

And should you ever manage to get the enemies from both fights close enough to one another, then the two combats would merge into one big combat.

And here's more on how the game will handle disagreement in the player conversation system (which is shaping up as the most interesting aspect of Divinity: Original Sin):

After the fight, you both return to the ghost village in the cave, and notice a ghost who is talking to himself. When you talk to him, you discover that he's experiencing a dilemma. He asks you (a very fictive example in order not to introduce any spoilers) if you think it'd be okay if he tells a friend that his wife cheated on him, even if now the two of them seem to be doing just fine.

The problem is that his friend asked him about a suspicion he has, and now the ghost doesn't know what to do. You immediately pick Roderick's reply: the truth should be told, no matter the consequences! Your friend Helen disagrees and Scarlett picks: "Old wounds should not be opened and besides, it's up to the wife to tell his friend. If they are going to be ghosts for a long time, best not make their time together even more miserable."

In disagreement, the game lets both Scarlett and Roderick decide how they'll handle this discussion.

Scarlett for instance tries to REASON with Roderick whereas Roderick decides that he might give INTIMIDATION a go. Not only do the character's stats come in play, the context of the disagreement also plays in along. In this particular situation, reasoning works better, and Scarlett ends up winning the discussion. (In the background, the game rolled against strength, persuasion and intelligence stats to decide who would win, also taking into account the nature of the situation. The same system is used when talking to NPCs, and trying to change their minds: for instance, a certain NPC may not be easy to intimidate, but may very susceptible to CHARM.)

There are 18 days left in the Divinity: Original Sin funding campaign. Consider making a pledge!

[Mike Dunn]

Meanwhile, Divinity: Original Sin's campaign, while not boasting Torment's gaudy numbers, is doing quite well. The folks at Larian Studios are over 90% of the way to their $400,000 funding goal.

The goal has been hit.

I'm not biting (yet) having already kickstarted two other games, Torment and At the Gates, and also got Wasteland 2 with Torment. That's three games I will have trouble finding time to play. I don't need a fourth. Also, I own the original on GoG but had issues getting it to run.

But still.... it looks damn good...

[John]

Meanwhile, Divinity: Original Sin's campaign, while not boasting Torment's gaudy numbers, is doing quite well. The folks at Larian Studios are over 90% of the way to their $400,000 funding goal.

The goal has been hit.

I'm not biting (yet) having already kickstarted two other games, Torment and At the Gates, and also got Wasteland 2 with Torment. That's three games I will have trouble finding time to play. I don't need a fourth. Also, I own the original on GoG but had issues getting it to run.

But still.... it looks damn good...

Indeed, Divinity: Original Sin has hit its funding goal. The initial post has been updated. Now it's on to the exciting stretch goals! It's going to be tough, but if Larian can hit them and capitalize on their potential, I predict that Divinity: Original Sin could be the most exciting game released this year, period.

And it you're looking for a reason to back Divinity: Original Sin, consider that point: Unlike the other games that have been pitched here, Divinity: Original Sin is due out this year. Indeed, the game is nearly complete. This Kickstarter campaign is different than most. Larian isn't seeking the funds to build the game; they're seeking funds to make it even better. Even if this campaign failed, the game would still be released in October. Now that it's funded, we're being promised a bigger and better game, and things get really exciting as those stretch goals get knocked off.

This is a perfect opportunity for anyone who has been shy about getting into Kickstarter because you're really at almost zero risk. Divinity: Original Sin is going to happen no matter what. The game is far enough into development that we have a good idea of what we're going to be getting. Best of all, you're supporting an independent studio made up of longtime, dedicated programers who really can use your support. Give 'em a hand, won't you?

[John]

There are now just 40 hours left in the Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter campaign, and I'm going to beat the drum one last time to encourage you guys to jump on the bandwagon. The campaign has already met its funding goal; now it's all about the stretch goals. The most exciting stretch goal - the conversion of the personality-devoid henchmen into companions with fully fleshed-out background, personal storylines, goals, and personalities - is triggered at $800,000, a target that we're only $65K away from at present. Triggering this stretch goal would be a huge boon for those who plan to play Divinity: Original Sin single-player, since it will breathe life into your AI companions. You can learn more about the companions stretch goal in Larian's latest update.

It's going to take a huge push, but if the campaign nets $215K over the next 40 hours - and stranger things have been known to happen in the Kickstarter world - Larian will add NPC schedules to the game. This means that instead of just standing in place and repeating the same action or dialogue over and over, NPCs will travel from place to place and react differently depending on the time of day and the weather conditions. Day/night cycles and weather conditions will impact monsters, too. Also, the changing weather and moon cycles will influence the different schools of magic. Like I said, it will be a tough goal to reach, but you can see why - that's a lot of complicated interactivity being promised!

Why else should you consider backing Divinity: Original Sin besides stretch goals? How about we focus on something that's guaranteed to be included with the game: a game editor that allows you to change features of the game or even make your own totally new adventures. Don't think you'd use it? Fair enough, but you can be sure that other gamers will be using this editor, which means that you're not going to be limited to the base Divinity: Original Sin game; you're going to have all kinds of mods and total conversions adding hours and hours of additional fun. Learn more about the game editor in the video included in this update.

Looking beyond the game itself, Larian Studios is just the kind of gaming operation that deserves funding. They're an independent with a proven track record. They come across as very affable fellows, and they are highly responsive to their fans. As an example, when some people complained about the chauvinistic design of the scantily clad female warrior gracing the cover of the original artwork for Divinity: Original Sin, they took heed and changed it. (NOTE: Ignore the "Prude Version" editorial by the maker of the linked picture. ) They have also been tireless in keeping people up to date and shown willingness to answer all kinds of questions, both softballs and hardballs. Speaking of which, you can get a great feel for the game by reading their latest Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything).

Divinity: Original Sin has been getting a lot of press lately. In this update, you'll find a YouTube video from Jesse Cox of One Moderately Funny Gamer. He spends an hour running through the game with Larian founder Swen Vincke. Jesse is notoriously hard to impress, but he came away from this interview mighty impressed with Divinity: Original Sin. There's also a Divinity: Original Sin AI preview video from Angry Joe of the Angry Joe Show, and a hands-on report from Jaime Dalzell of games.on.net.

So if you're thinking of backing, where should you jump in? The minimum pledge to receive a copy of the game is $28, but let me suggest that if there are two of you here who think you might like to play together, you consider backing at the $40 tier. That entitles you to two copies of the game; perfect for co-op role-playing. But there are a wealth of tiers for you to choose from; let me show them to you so that you can decide for yourself:

[John]

I mentioned how responsive the folks at Larian Studios have been during their Divinity: Original Sin Kickstarter campaign. As an example of that, consider yesterday's update on the companions stretch goal. Some people complained that the video included in the update didn't really clarify what companions would be all about. So Larian when and made a brand new video that does a much better job of explaining the difference between henchmen (who have only limited characterization and no personal storyline) and companions who have deep characterization and a full storyline, and will interact with you in dialogue). The video is included in this update.

The extra information about companions is particularly timely since this stretch goal has now been triggered. So this is no longer theoretical; companions with full backgrounds and dialogue options will be included in the game! Again, this is going to be a real boost to people playing in single-player mode, but it's also going to be a lot of fun for co-op gamers. Will you guys cooperate with your new companions, or will you treat them like dirt and foil all their goals? The choice is yours!

Also in the update I linked to above is another video showing off the game editor. This time, it's showing the possibilities of art asset creation. I may not use the thing, but darn if it doesn't look cool!

I also mentioned that the Larian developers have a good sense of humor. They haven't been afraid to poke fun at their own mistakes and foibles. To prove that point, they created a second update today with a video showing off some of their most hilarious bugs that cropped up during development of Divinity: Original Sin. The video also shows the Larians goofing up during the creation of previous update videos, as well as user-created Larian-related gags. It's always good to keep a sense of humor, and these guys seem to be able to do that.

I have been doing my best to pitch Divinity: Original Sin to you, but if you're still not convinced, maybe a good word from another source will get you to pitch in. Kotaku, one of the most trusted names in the game journalism business, provides Ten Reasons Why Divinity: Original Sin Deserves My Money (and your money, too). Kotaku's Mike Fahey says,

It's not about the action, as pleasing as it was, as much as it is the freedom to perform that action. This is a cooperative multiplayer role-playing game where the 'cooperative' bits aren't mandatory. Like the pen-and-paper RPGs that spawned the genre, I don't have to either love or hate my party — should they need a reminder of my power, I'm free to give it.

Of Fahey's list of ten reasons, here are my favorite two:

3. It's Free-Roaming. It's Also Turn-Based.

The world is your oyster in Divinity: Original Sin, unless the oyster is aggressive, in which case your world becomes a turn-based battle that you'll probably die in, because oysters are bastards. The game allows players to roam freely about the land, chatting with NPCs, stumbling upon quests, and harvesting items to use in the ridiculously extensive crafting system. When you come across a battle, however, the action goes turn-based. Portraits appear on the side of the screen depicting turn order. Position and sound tactics are incredibly important, as is knowing when to run away and leave your fellow player stuck in battle.

That's right, though multiple players are playing at once, one can be in battle while the other is just wandering about. How does this work without tearing a gaping hole in the time-space continuum? ...

5. I Can Officially Argue With My Party

Original Sin features the party-based dialog promised by games like Star Wars: The Old Republic, only so much more satisfying. Here's how it works. Sir Vincke [Swen Vincke, Larian founder] ... and I wandered upon a clam (I guess it was a clam) trapped in a net, who promised to give us information in exchange for its freedom. After receiving its intel, I was given the choice to leave the creature trapped or free it. I wanted to leave it. Vincke wanted to free it. I attempted to use intimidation to get my way. He used his charms. I lost, but I vowed revenge. That's how a simple conversation can blossom into a full-out friend battle.

Seriously, this game is going to be awesome. And if you still need convincing of that fact, why not check out Larian's third update today, which includes a two-hour video showing Swen Vincke from Larian Studios and Jim Sterling of Destructoid playing the latest build of Divinity: Original Sin.

Check it out, and then pledge while you still can! You now have 16 hours left to back Divinity: Original Sin. The big goal we're shooting for now is $1,000,000 in total funding. As I said yesterday, NPC schedules, day/night cycles and weather conditions that impact monsters characters and monsters, and changing weather and moon cycles that influence magic schools will all be added to the game if the $1M barrier is breached. And this goal is looking more plausible all the time. The campaign has added $90,000 in pledges over the last 24 hours, and pledges tend to pick up in the last 24 hours of a campaign. Kickstarter pledges currently stand at $823,735, but that doesn't count the $30,000 donated via PayPal. Add that in and we need less than $150,000 to trigger the last stretch goal. Every dollar will count... won't you add yours?

[Mike Dunn]

All right three hours left, and my resolve to not go in on the new Divinity is crumbling. How do I know this? Because for a second it occurred to me that the Kickstarter was over and I'd missed it -- and I was disappointed. But I haven't missed it.

So.... does anyone want to the split the $40 tier that gets us each a copy of the game?

The KS expires at noon today EST.

[John]

All right three hours left, and my resolve to not go in on the new Divinity is crumbling. How do I know this? Because for a second it occurred to me that the Kickstarter was over and I'd missed it -- and I was disappointed. But I haven't missed it.

So.... does anyone want to the split the $40 tier that gets us each a copy of the game?

The KS expires at noon today EST.

I'll let you in on a little secret... I have ordered two copies of Divinity: Original Sin. I'm intending to give one away as part of a contest upon the game's release. I just know this is a game that a lot of PEBA members will dig; I think it's just the whole hesitancy over Kickstarter that's holding people back.

I really encourage someone to team up with Mike. For $20, you'll get a copy of the game, ready to play come release this November. You can play it co-op with Mike or another friend, or you can play solo with your AI companions. I'm quite confident that you'll get more than $20 worth of value from the game, especially given that users will be making new content with the included game editor.

Mike, if your backing depends on finding a partner and nobody here will step up, I'll match your $20 to get you on board. I really believe in this project, so it's no biggie to me.

[John]

As we enter the final two hours of the Divinity: Original Sin, Larian is hosting a live broadcast and chat at TwitchTV. They're showing off gameplay, answering questions, watching the updated pledge numbers ($907,000 through Kickstarter at the moment, more through PayPal), and generally having a good time. Stop by, watch the proceedings, and then pledge!

[Mike Dunn]

Mike, if your backing depends on finding a partner and nobody here will step up, I'll match your $20 to get you on board. I really believe in this project, so it's no biggie to me.

That's very generous of you, but I will probably just do the $28 for a single copy. No need for you to buy it three times!

[Mike Dunn]

Divinity ended up $5,000 short of the final $1M stretch goal that included NPC schedules. The lead guy on the livestream said they'll still do the NPC schedules.

I did buy in at $40 so I will have an extra copy. If someone is interested, let me know.

[John]

Divinity ended up $5,000 short of the final $1M stretch goal that included NPC schedules. The lead guy on the livestream said they'll still do the NPC schedules.

That's right! The Kickstarter campaign itself raised $944,282 and the team received about $50,000 through donations from other sources, leaving them about $5,000 shy of the final stretch goal. Nevertheless, Swen announced that the final stretch goal - which adds NPC schedules, and day/night and weather cycles that affects characters, monsters, and magic - will be added to the game. So congratulations, Larian, for meeting all your goals! And congratulations to everyone who supported the campaign... we've got a heck of a game to look forward to.

I did buy in at $40 so I will have an extra copy. If someone is interested, let me know.

I upped my pledge to $65 today, and I too have an extra copy of the game, which I will be doling out to one lucky PEBA member as part of a contest to be held later this year. Actually, I've done this with a couple Kickstarter campaigns now, so if you don't win one game, you may just win another. Hey, even if you aren't interested in the game, you probably know someone who is... you can always re-gift.

[John]

Kickstarter recommendation: The Necromancer's House

[/url]

Category: Fiction novel
Pledge goal: $18,500
Current pledges: $19,210
Current backers: 205

Minimum pledge required to receive The Necromancer's House: $45
Minimum pledge required to receive a Buehlman novel: $20

Pledge deadline: Monday July 15, 2:11 pm ET
Status: FUNDED

Buehlman’s lyrical prose vividly captures a landscape made familiar by William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor.

Christopher Buehlman's website

The Necromancer's House video novel reading by Christopher Buehlman[/b]

By combining modern horror dynamics with a convincing medieval setting, Christopher Buehlman secures his status among today's leading dark fantasy authors.

Artist's Project Description:

“You think you got away with something, don’t you? But your time has run out. We know where you are. And we are coming.”
The man on the screen says this in Russian.
“Who are you?”
The man smiles, but it’s not a pleasant smile.
The image freezes.
The celluloid burns exactly where his mouth is, burns in the nearly flat U of his smile. His eyes burn, too.
The man fades, leaving the burning smiley face smoldering on the screen.
“Oh Christ,” Andrew says.
The television catches fire.

Andrew Ranulf Blankenship is a handsome, stylish nonconformist with wry wit, a classic Mustang, and a massive library. He is also a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock, able to speak with the dead through film. His house is a maze of sorcerous booby traps and escape tunnels, as yours might be if you were sitting on a treasury of Russian magic stolen from the Soviet Union thirty years ago.

Andrew has long known that magic was a brutal game requiring blood sacrifice and a willingness to confront death, but his many years of peace and comfort have left him soft, more concerned with maintaining false youth than with seeing to his own defense. Now a monster straight from the pages of Russian folklore is coming for him, and frost and death are coming with her.

Actor Giles Davies as The Necromancer

John says: After recommending a string of computer game projects, I'm moving into the literary world for my next recommendation. Christopher Buehlman spent over 20 years touring Renaissance festivals across the country, entertaining people with his popular show Christophe the Insultor, Verbal Mercenary. Later in life he has branched out into writing plays, poetry, and novels. Christopher is the author of two well-received novels: Those Across the River (which has been optioned for a feature film) and Between Two Fires. The Necromancer's House will be his third novel.

My sister met Christopher during his Renaissance fair work. Through her, Christopher became a PEBA baseball website follower in 2009, which is how I first got to know him. As a fan of both baseball and creative writing, our website was a natural for him. Life has gotten very busy for Christopher as his writing career takes off and he hasn't been able to follow our action for some time, but we have remained in touch. I could not be more thrilled for Christopher's success: it couldn't happen to a nicer person.

Christopher's novels are best described as "dark fantasy." When I say "dark," you must understand that I mean it. Kirkus Reviews calls Between Two Fires (which sports an outstanding 4.5-star rating on Amazon and a 4.08 rating on Goodreads) "Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales... Buehlman... doesn't scrimp on earthy horror and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors" while calling Christopher "an author to watch." Those who shy away from the violent and horrific may not take to his work. For someone like me, though, Christopher's dark tales inspire dreams of fantastical clashes between mighty forces of good and evil.

Why should you contribute to the Kickstarter campaign of a book that is already going to be traditionally published? You would think that with all the excellent reviews his previous work has received, Christopher would be on easy street. If only it were that easy for authors! "Discovery" is the bane of every professional writer. You may have written the greatest novel the world has ever known... or would know, if anybody was actually aware of it. So how does an author break out? One of the most traditional ways is through PR campaigns conducted by the publisher. These campaigns include live readings, appearances, signings, and interviews through a variety of different media. As Christopher explains: "Partnering Booksparks with Penguin's in-house publicity will double or treble the reach of The Necromancer's House, allow me to participate in more interviews, write more articles, appear at more readings and give this book a real chance to break through into national prominence. $13,200 of the funds generated here will go directly to Booksparks Publicity. A portion of the remainder will be used for fulfillment of rewards and to pay Amazon and Kickstarter their well-earned fees for hosting this campaign."

I believe that Christopher has a chance to really break out on the national scene. It's not every day that you get a chance to say that you played a part in the emergence of a recognized author. This is your chance. Even just a $3 pledge will help. Or up your pledge to at least $20 and get a copy of one of Christopher's books. Me, I've shelled out for a signed first-edition hardcover. I believe in the man, I'm happy to support his work, and maybe, just maybe, that signed copy will be worth a little something some day.

[John]

By the skin of its teeth, The Necromancer's House meets its funding goal. Congratulations to Chris! Now he's going to be able to afford a campaign to publicize his new book, which hits stores this October 1. You can pre-order a copy from Amazon and check out early reviews from Goodreads. Me, I'm looking forward to receiving my signed first edition copy of Between Two Fires, a perk for backing Chris's campaign. I'll be reading a library-borrowed copy of the book while this baby sits untouched on my bookshelf.