Two novellas, bound in one book. Mongol-inspired Sword & Sorcery. A claustrophobic, pressure-cooker siege, and a caravan striking out under an open desert sky. Orhan the Snow Leopard and Goatskin the nomad. Dariel Quiogue and Bryn Hammond.
This campaign funds a pair of Mongol-inspired Sword & Sorcery novellas bound in a single book, called WALLS OF SHIRA YULUN and WASTE FLOWERS.
Our full wraparound cover design. Rotate the book 180 degrees to read the other novella!
A claustrophobic, pressure-cooker siege...
...and a caravan striking out under an open desert sky.
This traditionally printed book will hold approx. 70,000 words of fiction and two full page B&W illustrations, spread across the two novellas.Â
Both sides have a different full color cover illustration.
Available in…Â
Accessible Digital
Portable Mass-MarketPaperback  and
Luxurious Hardcover
The paperback will be perfect-bound, sized at 6.75in x 4.25in.
The hardcover is the same dimensions as the paperback, but uses lay-flat, sewn-stitch binding and has a bookmark ribbon.
A sewn-stitch bound, bookmark ribbon adorned issue of our magazine. Same binding, different format.
Book enhancement stretch goals include spray color edging and a two page full color art insert. Further details below.
When taken care of, our perfect-bound softcovers, and especially our lay-flat, saddle-stitched hardcovers, are beautiful objects which can be enjoyed for years to come!
SWORD & SORCERY INSPIRED BY THE TIMES OF GENGHIS KHAN
The era of Genghis Khan is rich with the central theme of Sword & Sorcery, Barbarism & Civilization...
...with all the conflicts and messy grey areas between them; of who even gets to be called "barbarian" or "civilized"; what even is a "border" and where are they drawn; who gets to decide?
All this happened in a time of incredible battles, cunning intrigues, and no shortage of myths to fuel the supernatural elements of a Sword & Sorcery story!
From this rich well of inspiration spring our two titanic tales:
These novellas are brought to you by the following talented creators...
Dariel is the creator of Orhan the Snow Leopard, and author of Walls of Shira Yulun. In 1977, Dariel R. A. Quiogue was exposed to Star Wars, Herodotus, Homer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard, and his brain has never been the same since. He now writes F&SF, flavored by his special fascination with what he calls 'Forgotten Asia' - from Araby to Xinjiang, from Siberia to Ceylon and beyond, there's relatively little English-language fiction set here compared to Japan and China.
Bryn is the creator of Goatskin, and author of Waste Flowers. Bryn’s first love was epic -- Beowulf, the Iliad -- and steppe epic has been her main enthusiasm for twenty years. Her Amgalant novels tell the less-heard story of Temujin before he became the great conqueror Genghis Khan, his beginnings as an outcast, his struggle to unite the peoples of the steppe. Her scholarly work includes Voices from the Twelfth-Century Steppe, on how to listen to the Secret History of the Mongols.
WASTE FLOWERS
Cover by Goran Gligović and interior illustration by Crom (Sample shown, not final art)
LEFT - WASTE FLOWERS by Goran Gligović, RIGHT - Sample by the artist known as Crom (Not final art).
WALLS OF SHIRA YULUN
Cover by Artyom Trakhanov and interior illustration by Gary McCluskey (Sample shown, not final art).
LEFT - WALLS OF SHIRA YULUN by Artyom Trakhanov, RIGHT - Sample by Gary McClusky (Not final art)
Most of the reward tiers are self-explanatory - digital, or print & digital, copies of the book. But maybe you're new to Backerkit?
HOW TO USE BACKERKIT Don't worry, it's easy to support us! Think of BK as Kickstarter, but BETTER.
1) CREATE AN ACCOUNT If you've ever supported a Kickstarter that used Backerkit for fulfillment then you should already have an account.
2) SELECT A PLEDGE LEVEL Explore the campaign and, if you'd like to support us, pick a tier! Â 3) INCLUDE ADD-ONS More items become unlocked as stretch goals are reached! You can add Add-ons to your existing pledge through the campaign. Â 4) CHECK OUT! Â 5) MANAGE YOUR PLEDGE If the campaign is successfully funded, you'll be prompted to fill in your shipping information. You'll also have another chance to select any Add-ons you might want. Â Â Don't forget to check out our FAQ for any questions you might have.
If we unlock this achievement then all physical copies of the book will have colored edges, akin to the books in this stack of classic paperbacks. Right now we're leaning towards purple, as that's what you get when mixing the blue overlay of Waste Flowers' cover and the red overlay of Walls' cover.
2) FULL COLOR TWO PAGE ART INSERT BY SAJAN RAI - $12,800
Dead center of the book, right between the two novellas, we'd love to place a full color two-page illustration by the supremely talented Sajan Rai!
Here are some samples of his work:
Four great samples of Sajan's work.
It would be the perfect break between stories, and would feature each novella's protagonists gazing across their respective fantasy Gobi deserts - across worlds - at each other.
3) INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING DISCOUNT - $16,400
Wanting to make life a little easier for backers living outside the United States, if we unlock this discount we'll be able to take $5 USD off shipping for Canadians, and $10 USD off shipping for everyone else.
All physical format backers will receive a crowdfund exclusive, two-sided bookmark featuring our cover art.
FIRST 48 HOUR BACKERS
Pledge for a physical format in the first 48 hours of the campaign and you'll receive a custom sticker bookplate signed by both our authors.
Like this, but with their handwritten signatures on the lines above their printed names.
RETURN BACKERS
All return backers will receive a pair of battle-axe logo stickers, one design for each side to place over a printed black & white logo inside the book!Â
LEFT - Walls of Shira Yulun design. RIGHT - Waste Flowers design.
UNIQUE BACKERS
The First Backer will receive a behind-the-scenes one page document by Dariel Quiogue about his experience writing Walls of Shira Yulun.
The Top Backer, meaning the backer who is most active in our Community tab, will receive a behind-the-scenes one page document by Bryn Hammond about her experience writing Waste Flowers.
UNLOCKABLEDIGITAL BONUS STORY: "THE SHAMAN'S BLOOD PRICE" by Dariel R.A. Quiogue (UNLOCKED!)
If we get at least 250 backers, then all crowdfund backers, and only our crowdfund backers, will receive a bonus Orhan the Snow Leopard story by Dariel R.A. Quiogue, called "The Shaman's Blood Price", that ties loosely into WALLS OF SHIRA YULUN.
The story will be provided in PDF and ePub formats.
UNLOCKABLEDIGITAL BONUS POETRY: "FOUR MONGOL POEMS" by Bryn Hammond (UNLOCKED!)
If we get at least 300 backers, then all crowdfund backers, and only our crowdfund backers, will receive a bonus set of four poems, by Bryn Hammond, called "Four Mongol Poems", that loosely tie in to WASTE FLOWERS.
The poems will be provided in PDF and ePub formats.
ADD-ONS
ISSUES OF NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY MAGAZINE
Issues feature stories, articles, reviews, and interviews. Sword & Sorcery cocktail recipes, even!
We offer special discounts on issues of our magazine exclusively during crowdfunds, making this the ideal time to explore a wide array of authors and artists - every story has original B&W illustrations.
LEFT - Orhan the Snow Leopard as illustrated by Goran Gligović in NESS #4. RIGHT - Sister Chaos and Goatskin as illustrated by Dan Rempel in NESS #1.
Across our first five issues you'll get to enjoy three Orhan the Snow Leopard stories by Dariel R.A. Quiogue and two Goatskin stories by Bryn Hammond.
RAINBOW METAL BATTLE-AXE PINS
Every pin's coloring is unique.
These 1.5 inch pins of the New Edge Sword & sorcery battle-axe are made with soft enamel using anodized rainbow plating on a zinc alloy base metal.
The rainbow effect is randomized, making each pin unique!
EXTRA SOFTCOVERS & HARDCOVERS Want a copy of the book for a friend? No problem! You don't have to make a second pledge, you can just add more copies to the pledge you're already making.
BOOKPLATES &STICKERS Those of you who miss the first 48 hours, or are backing us for the first time, can still pick up the signed bookplate and/or pair of stickers we're making exclusively for this crowdfund.
Please take note of the estimated shipping charges, and understand shipping charges may change between the crowdfund and fulfillment.
Softcover Shipping Estimates
Hardcover Shipping Estimates
+$1 for an additional paperback or hardcover, such as in the All Formats tier. May be more with further additional copies.
During the fulfillment process, BackerKit will calculate any shipping that may be required when you fill out your delivery address.
Shipping costs will not be assessed and billed until then! You are only being charged for your pledge amount at this time. We hope this helps to keep the cost of shipping down due to current fluctuations in domestic and international shipping costs.
Brackenbury Books, BackerKit, and our fulfillment partners are not responsible for any VAT, duty, or customs charges any packages may incur.
BackerKit surveys will be sent once all books involved in this campaign arrive at our fulfillment partner. Our current estimate for shipping is Q1 (Jan-March) 2025. Estimates are not guarantees!
Don't forget, if we make our International Shipping Discount stretch goal, then all orders from Canada will get $5 USD off their shipping, and all orders outside North America (”International”) will get $10 USD off their shipping!
We'll not be starting from scratch once the campaign funds: Both novellas have been written, then edited through multiple drafts and, as of this campaign launching, are almost ready for final proofreading.The interior illustrations won't take long and, as you can see, the cover art is finished!
Thanks to everything we’ve learned publishing the first five issues of our magazine, New Edge Sword & Sorcery, we're confident about producing this much simpler project in a timely manner, and at the high level of quality our readers have come to expect.
This is our fourth crowdfunding campaign. We successfully funded & fulfilled our first, funded and are on track to fulfill our second & third, and our editor has successfully crowdfunded a high-budget webseries in the past, something which also requires collaboration between a large team of creatives while keeping within budget and on schedule.
To further mitigate risk we’ve brought on a crowdfunding & fulfillment professional, Sara McHenry (https://www.saramchenry.com), who did excellent work for us last year. Since 2013, she’s helped her clients raise over $3.5 million in crowdfunding money for their creative projects. Her specialties include setting budgets and timelines, structuring reward tiers, working with vendors, shipping logistics, and motivating the unmotivated creator.
Should any challenges arise with things we have no control over, such as supply chain issues, our backers will receive timely, detailed updates on the situation.
