I’m not gonna lie — I am not a fan of crowdfunding an unknown creative project. Every time I see someone posting, “Hi, you don’t know me and I have no evidence of work ethic or talent, but please give me thousands of dollars to encourage me to be artistic,” I get a little rage-y on behalf of all those who do the work first.
It’s a bit different when it’s an established creative who has proven talent. I have contributed to crowdfunding projects by artists whose work I’ve enjoyed previously.
And it’s more different still when the crowdfunding is to enable 100% of the sales to go to a good cause, without having to first pay back production costs.
Mythic Indy is an anthology of shorts set in and about Indianapolis, spinning new legends and myths about our iconic landmarks and favorite points, including the famous House of Blue Lights, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, the vanished Market Square Arena, Holliday Park, Woodruff Place, and more. Some stories are fun, some creepy, some literary, all are new takes on the town. My short story “The Ruins” is included.
These stories were previously released only digitally, but now Mythic Indy will become a paperback to be sold to support children’s writing programs. I and the other writers involved don’t get a penny more out of this, it’s all to support the kids’ programs. So I feel a lot less skeezy about promoting the fundraising, because this is a proven product — you can already read the stories! — with a good reason for raising money in advance instead of waiting for profits.
You can find the fundraising page here. Perks for supporting range from autographed books to your face included as an illustration (presumably not as the villain, unless that’s really your thing). Thanks for reading!