With six minutes to go, our Kickstarter campaign for Pangaea II hit its mark. By October, backers will have the book in their hands (or, you know, in their reading devices).
Why is this important? Because science fiction needs to survive, and it needs to do so in written form. Sci fi movies are great. TV shows too. Believe me, I love ’em as much as the next guy. But they’re telling a story on a clock. And they’re subject to the tyranny of budget restrictions. And they’re produced by studios who usually err on the side of caution in all things. Which is why some things are better said in print. The problem, as we’ve seen in recent years, is that booksellers are under pressure. I hope we agree that there’s nothing like browsing in a bookstore. And if you’re a writer, there’s nothing like seeing your latest title on the shelf. But if bookstores–or at least many of them–go away, I don’t want books to go away too. I want them to be around forever because I like reading them and I like writing them. That’s why the Kickstarter success of Pangaea II is important. Because it allows 15 science fiction writers to reach out to readers with their stories, without any reliance on traditional publishers or bookstores (and, by the way, to share equally in the revenues after expenses). It blazes a trail for others to follow. It gives courage to the next science fiction writer or anthologist, who might otherwise have looked around at the traditional publishing landscape and despaired. Pangaea II is hardly the only worthwhile anthology that’s ever sprung from crowd funding. There are others looking to hit their mark right now. Take a moment and check them out. Give them some love. We’re in this together, readers and writers. As I’ve said before, that’s where the magic happens. That’s the relationship we need to preserve at all costs. I’m proud of Pangaea II. I’m proud of the stories my colleagues are even now starting to write. But most of all, I think, I’m proud of you for making it happen.Tag Archives: Pangaea
Crazy 8 will be at Farpoint
Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, and Aaron Rosenberg will be attending Farpoint in Timonnium, Maryland over President’s Day Weekend. Russ Colchamiro and Paul Kupperberg are unable to attend this year, staying home to keep writing (or so they tell us).
Friday evening at 10 will be the usual author’s book event so you can get your shopping done early, collecting autographs along the way.
Our panel will be Saturday at 4 where we will discuss our plans for 2016, starting with the current Kickstarter campaign for Pangaea II.
Meantime, here is a handy guide where to find us during the show:
Kathleen David
Fantastical Shows and Where To Watch Them
Friday, 5:00 PM
How’s Twelve Doing?
Saturday, NOON
Peter David
Saturday 10:00 AM
Readings: Peter David, Jennifer Povey, Joseph Berenato
Saturday 11:00 AM
Aliens: Beyond Pointy Ears & Bumpy Heads
Saturday 3:00 PM
Pangaea II: The Rise of Dominjaron Kickstarter Campaign Launches
A Kickstarter campaign was launched on January 24 and runs through February 25. Rewards for the $8000 goal run from prints of the cover by South American artist Caio Cacao to tuckerizations.
“This time we’re digging even deeper into the history of our fictional supercontinent,” said editor Michael Jan Friedman, “and we’re doing it with the help of four new writers–Ron Marz, Ilsa J. Bick, Kirsten Beyer, and Marie Lillian Vibbert. Ron will be a welcome name to pretty much anyone who reads comics, Ilsa’s a master of dark fantasy, Kirsten’s one of the top writers in the Star Trek book publishing program, and Marie is a rising star in the field of science fiction. I couldn’t be more pleased to let them loose among the civilizations we’ve established on Pangaea and see what kinds of stories they come up with.”
Michael A. Bustein Talks Writing The World Together
By Michael A. Burstein
Michael sent me a copy of the Pangaea “bible,” which is the document that describes what the shared world is like. I read through it, searching for a hook that would tie into my own interests.
I was particularly intrigued by his description of a land called Wymerin and chose to set my story there:
“These people are like the Amish in that they remain as isolated as they can from the rest of the world, adhering to what outsiders think are antiquated values. They embrace technology only to the extent that they must in order to compete, seeing machines as a necessary evil.”
As I wrote my story, I found it a difficult process. Michael helped me by advising me that I could make up my own details about the Wymerin society and culture. He would edit my story accordingly to make sure it fit into his general view of the world. Thus was my creativity freed, and I was able to tell my story.
One Continent … and the Hearts of Murder
So I went in the opposite direction.
My tale, “The Kites of Alogornae”, is small. It is, for the most part, a two-character play, consisting of two men forced together by circumstance, crossing the great continent, with a particular mission in mind.
In theory these traveling companions are on the same side, but in reality … well … it’s fair to say that at least one of them, if not both, have murder in their hearts.
Will there be deaths in this tale? I won’t say. But I can tell you that my inspiration came from the thoughts of trekking a long way on foot, during the days of continental discourse, and the roles that two otherwise unknown men might play during this divide.
Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore are on “The Ardent” in Pangaea
By Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore
When Mike Friedman first told us about the Pangaea concept, there were a myriad of things that could have grabbed our attention. Stories set within societies of humans that developed on a theoretical supercontinent never separated by geodynamic processes? Okay, we’re listening. Characters of humans descended from Neanderthal as well as Cro-Magnon ancestors who live contemporarily? Yep, still got us. Plot lines driven in a culture shaped by technology roughly equivalent to that on 1980s Earth?
Okay, we’re totally in.
Mike asked us to create our story as a link between his, which begins the anthology, and Peter David’s, which concludes it. Since the baton we needed to pass was a clue in a criminal investigation, we knew it had to be a buddy-cop story evoking our favorite such tales from the ’80s. Most especially, we took a new look at Alien Nation, the single-season TV series inspired by the feature film of the same name. The relationship between that show’s main characters, human police detective Matthew Sikes and his Tenctonese partner, George Francisco, provided more than a bit of inspiration for the “odd couple” pairing of our buddy cop characters. Our guys work together despite their disparate backgrounds, navigating the various culture clashes between Pangaea’s Sachi and Fojoa sects, and it’s this relationship that’s at the heart of our tale.