Introducing Maen Nhw Yma O Hyd
October is going to be busy. The editorial lists all of the events I will be attending during the month, but there is also the small matter of a Kickstarter campaign. It might seem rather foolish to try to run such a thing while I am on the road so much, but there is method to the madness. Kickstarter campaigns are all about momentum, and getting myself in front of audiences is a very good way to build that sort of momentum. That’s the theory, anyway.
But what is this campaign about? Well, it is about time that Wizard’s Tower produced a follow-up to Fight Like A Girl #2. We didn’t fancy doing a third volume, so we are doing something very Welsh instead. In particular we wanted to do something about communities coming together in the face of adversity, because frankly life in the UK is a bit shit right now, and in Wales it is worse because we always get the dregs of the economic barrel.
However, we are also an SF&F publisher, so we need to bring in something speculative. Maen Nhw Yma O Hyd (which means They Are Still Here) will therefore be a folklore anthology of contemporary fantasy stories. In each story there will be community resistance and resilience, but there will also be something, or someone, from Welsh history or legend who gets to help out.
That’s the plan anyway. But first we need some money. This time around I would really like to be able to offer close to professional rates for the stories, but there’s no way I can afford that without having guaranteed sales, hence the Kickstarter campaign.
The campaign will launch on October 2nd and will run for 5 weeks through until after World Fantasy. We have some excellent rewards on offer from the likes of Juliet McKenna, Kari Sperring, Claire Fayers and, of course, Roz & Jo, who will be editing the book. The cover is by Josh Arklin whose work I have been wanting to use for some time. He lives in Swansea, so the production team is very local.
The thing of most interest to you lot is going to be the updates. In order to drum up interest in the campaign I will be publishing regular short posts about something to do with Welsh history and folklore. Claire Fayers is going to be talking about giants. Gareth Powell has promised me something about The Mabinogion. Tej Turner has sent me some travelogues about prehistoric sites worth a visit. Jenny Hannaford will be doing a piece on Welsh mermaids. You get the idea. There will probably be quite a few from me too. I’ll be telling you about my favourite saint, about the monstrous afanc, and maybe even posting a story I wrote earlier this year.
As with any Kickstarter campaign, we will be very dependent on getting the message out. The pre-launch page is here, and we’ll be spreading the main page far and wide on Thursday. Your help to get the word out will be very much appreciated.