Charles M. Ryan
CREATOR
3 months ago
Project Update: FUNDED! Thanks for Making This Happen!
Hello, everyone! Thanks to your support, my Booktopia campaign is funded. You’ve put me on the path to finishing the sequel to The Mason of New Orleans, giving both books a print version, and creating audiobooks for both of them. This project means so much to me personally; I’m truly touched by and grateful for your support.
If you do much crowdfunding, you know what’s next: stretch goals! (For those new to crowdfunding, this is where we look to increase funds over and above the goal, so we can further add to or improve the items being funded.) Ultimately, I’d like to upgrade the print versions of The Mason of New Orleans and The Angel of Ecbatana to a deluxe hardcover. But that’s probably too big a jump for our first goal. (We’ll need to get well north of 200 backers to make that happen.) So let’s start with an easier step.
Every pledge level currently includes at least one art print, with an illustration by my very talented daughter Olivia, depicting a character from these novels. Here are the six portraits. (Some of these haven’t been been revealed before now. This is the first time we’ve shown all six, and the first time we’ve shown how they all look together.)
As I write this, we’re a little shy of 75 backers. If we can make it to 100 backers, Liv will add a seventh character to the mix. And each pledge level will get an additional print! That means:
- Backers at The Reeve or The Journeyman levels will get two prints of their choice (instead of just one)
- Backers at The Ascetic will get four prints of their choice (instead of three)
- Backers at The Squire and The Patron will get all seven!
BUT CHARLES, WHO WILL THIS NEW ILLUSTRATION DEPICT?
The six existing portraits illustrate Martin and the most pivotal friends, protectors, love interests, and fellow-travelers in his 12th-Century adventure. Who should we illustrate next? That’s for you to decide!
I’m launching a poll in the campaign’s Community area. Hop in there and vote for your choice. Here are the contenders:
Gigot
“I, uh—appreciate—the help. You must think I am an idiot. The others—”
“Don’t be too upset about them. They’re just afraid of you.”
What? “Afraid of me? Why?”
“It’s not every day a man is born whole from nothingness.”
“I wasn’t born. Not just then, I mean.” I struggled for words. “I—I came here. From somewhere else.”
Gigot shrugged.
“I don’t think Stephan is afraid of me.”
Gigot glanced back through the holly bush, where the tarp had come down and was being rolled up next to a waiting mule. “If God or the Devil have put anything on earth that frightens Sieur Stephan, I have not yet seen it,” he responded.
“But you aren’t afraid of me?”
He turned back and looked me in the eye. His voice lowered. “You are also frightened.”
I nodded.
“I know what that’s like. I am also not of this place.”
My heart jumped. “Really?” I stammered. Had he been through this too? Were there others? Did they know what the hell had happened, or how to undo it? Could they find the way back, or form a support group or at least just show me the ropes? “Where—where are you from?”
He hesitated for just a second. It seemed like he was going to say something else, but then he answered, “Verdun.”
“Verdun.”
He nodded.
“Ah.”
Gigot is a retainer in Lady Madeleine’s household. Noblefolk in the time and place of this story don’t maintain standing armies, or even substantial bodies of guards—especially untitled nobility like Madeleine. But with her largish manor and half-finished castle, she has a couple of armsmen in her retinue, and Gigot is one of them. Of all the people Martin meets in his initial days in the 12th Century, Gigot is the first to show him genuine kindness.
Hugh
“Hugh,” Cyril said, greeting him. He set down his side of the chest, and I gladly did the same. The pads of my fingers were on fire. Cyril and Hugh shook hands, Hugh offering a big, lopsided grin. Then he glanced at me: Face first, then the bloody sleeve, and finally Madeleine’s crest at the center of my torso.
“This is Maitre Martin,” Cyril said. “He’s a mason.”
Maitre. Master? I thought of objecting to the whole thing, but decided it wasn’t the time. Besides, Hugh was giving me a nod of approval, and that was a better expression than I usually rated—though he looked a bit puzzled. “Ma Dame has brought a mason into her service?”
“It was something of—an accident,” Cyril replied. “A story for another time.”
“Well enough,” Hugh said. “Welcome, Martin. I’m Hugh.”
We shook hands.
“The bailiff,” Cyril added, by way of explanation.
“Ah,” I said. I’d ask someone what the heck a bailiff was later. In keeping with my only-look-like-an-idiot-in-front-of-one-person-at-a-time policy.
A bailiff, as Martin later learns, is the highest authority in a manor village—other than the knight or other landlord to whom the manor belongs. Sort of the local cop, if you will. Hugh is the bailiff of Bois de Haillot, Lady Madeleine’s manor, so Martin rubs elbows with him a number of times throughout The Mason of New Orleans.
Etien, Compte de Namur
I didn’t like Etien the moment I saw him. Maybe I was predisposed to it by this time; I don’t know. He looked like Mike Ditka—powerfully built, thick-necked, and with an obvious intolerance for nonsense. Even from here, even as he sat in casual conversation, it was like I could see the veins trying to force their way out of his forehead and neck. Like the Bears were down 28-10 in a playoff game. I don’t have anything against Mike Ditka; he’s probably a wonderful person. But this guy radiated the same sort of intensity and grit, and something about him made me certain he didn’t always use his powers for good.
Madeleine strode toward him, Stephan one step behind. Gaspard stood there for a second, but Cyril gave him a brief nudge. We followed. One of Etien’s buddies nodded our way, and the Count looked up, as if noticing our arrival for the first time.
“Lady Madeleine,” he said, straightening. “At long last.”
(If you've read the chicken carcass scene, this passage leads right into it.) Etien is the count of Namur, a region in what is now Belgium. He’s a vassal of Henri, Duke of Brabant, who in turn is a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor. Only it’s an interregnum when Martin arrives, so there is no Holy Roman Emperor—and Etien sees an opportunity to grab Madeleine’s castle. He’s the (or at least a) big-bad of this story, and Martin gets a much closer look at whether Etien uses his powers for good later in the book.…
Vote Now!
Those are our candidates! Who would you like to see illustrated? Jump over to this poll and cast your vote!
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