This campaign funds a Sword & Sorcery novel by David C. Smith, Sometime Lofty Towers.
Cover art by Saša Đurđević
This traditionally printed book will hold approx. 63,000 words of fiction, an in-depth interview with the author about writing the book, and one full page B&W illustration.
The book is written, edited, and raring to go! The crowdfund is for compensating the creatives involved, and covering production costs like printing & shipping.
Available in…
Accessible Digital and
Portable Mass-MarketPaperback
The paperback will be perfect-bound, sized at 6.75in x 4.12in.
Book enhancement stretch goals include spray color edging and hand-drawn drop caps. Further details below.
When taken care of, our perfect-bound softcovers are beautiful objects which can be enjoyed for years to come!
And you'll want that, because this is a tale of how...
SOMETIME LOFTY TOWERS is a Sword & Sorcery tale of raging against frontier injustice, of struggling with the bondage of bone-deep grudges...
...of seeking peace while swinging gore-soaked steel.
As if Clint Eastwood's character from Unforgiven carried a sword, Hanlin is an educated & intelligent warrior of some years.
When Hanlin was young he fought for the wealthy, pushing their "civilization" deeper into frontier lands that could make them wealthier still...if not for the "barbarians" who'd lived there for generations. Hailing from lands far North, Hanlin stands apart from both, alone.
Twenty years later Hanlin is living a quieter, if unfulfilling life...when an old comrade tries to recruit him into a new war to push the frontier ever further at the expense of its Indigenous peoples.
Feeling obligation to those peoples he'd once fought, thirsting for revenge against another he'd soldiered alongside lo those many years ago, and ultimately wondering if this could all open a door to a life where he is finally, truly at peace, Hanlin heads back to the frontier that made him who he is—to see who he'll become.
"My sentiments are with...the underdogs or those with a wider perspective who are undone by bullies."
David was first published in 1971 and has entertained generations of Fantasy fans with characters like Red Sonja and his own original creations such as the mighty Oron; he's as much a veteran of Sword & Sorcery storytelling as Hanlin is of solving problems with steel!
Saša Đurđević & Carlos Vera Marquez
LEFT: Saša Đurđević, RIGHT: A sample by Carlos Vera Marquez - not final art.
Saša has already drawn our gorgeous cover, while Carlos will draw an original B&W full page illustration to be placed right before page one, welcoming you into the story.
Professional Short Story Editing by Oliver Brackenbury (and the book!) - Three Backer Limit
Our publisher & editor will do a developmental editing pass on your short story of up to 6,000 words, and a follow-up call to discuss the notes he gives you. Oliver Brackenbury has worked with many professional authors, including Michael Moorcock, Harry Turtledove, Molly Tanzer, and even David C. Smith himself!
You'll also receive the digital & paperback editions of the book.
Artist Carlos Vera Marquez, working from photo reference you provide, will assign your features to a character in the book's full page frontispiece illustration!
You'll also receive the digital & paperback editions of the book.
In the classic S&S paperback style, the edges of the books pages will be painted a single, vibrant color.
Backers will get to choose which color in a special poll!
2) CUSTOM CALLIGRAPHY DROP CAP INITIALS ($8,700)
Each chapter's first letter, known as an "Initial", will be hand drawn by Ellis at Prologue Type, a professional calligrapher, as "drop caps" aka one bigger, fancier letter.
They will be rendered in the UNCIAL font style.
3) INTL SHIPPING DISCOUNT ($10,450)
This stretch goal covers reducing shipping costs for all backers outside the United States: $5 USD off for Canadian backers, and $10 USD off for anyone outside of North America.
ALL BACKERS will have David C. Smith sign their copy of the book!
FIRST 48 HOUR BACKERS will receive a 4x6 inch postcard featuring the unobstructed cover art.
The back is formatted to comply with USPS standards. You can actually mail this sucker!
RETURNING BACKERS will receive a double-sided bookmark featuring the cover art and a quote from the book.
ADD-ONS
New Edge Sword & Sorcery: Sold at a crowdfund-exclusive discount, issues 1, 2, 3, and 4 of New Edge Sword & Sorcery are available in digital and softcover formats.
Issue 2 features a story by David C. Smith himself!
Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery: Two S&S novellas paired in one paperback! The physical format features gorgeous purple spray edges.
RAINBOW METAL BATTLE-AXE PIN: 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!
Please take note of the estimated shipping charges, and understand shipping charges may change between the crowdfund and fulfillment.
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.
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!
TIMELINE
Our goal is to ship in "Q4 2025", so either October, November, or if things move slowly perhaps December.
Given the book is otherwise finished and will be ready for the printers as soon as the interior at is done, and that the printers themselves are located in the same state as our fulfillment center, we feel very confident about achieving this goal.
Thanks to everything we learned publishing our past books and magazine issues, we're confident about producing issues Sometime Lofty Towers in a timely manner, and at the high level of quality our readers have come to expect.
We've successfully funded five campaigns across two crowdfunding platforms, with our first three fulfilled and the other two on track to be fulfilled later this year. Our editor & publisher has also successfully crowdfunded a webseries in the past, another project which 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 with our previous issues. 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.
