A belated "we funded and it's over!" update here - my day job is exhausting and I wanted to wait until I was feeling a bit more rested to sit down, take this in, and say thank you.
I'm incredibly excited to get the chance to make this book and I'm very grateful to all 367 of you who have supported this project and made it possible. Not only is the book going to exist but my partner and I are going to have a really nice contribution to our honeymoon fund as a result of overfunding, and we're both very grateful.
My editor returned the manuscript to me earlier this week. Over the next week or so I'm going to be going through his edits, accepting and rejecting (mostly accepting) changes, and doing any rewrites that we need. It will go back to him for a second pass, and then I'll have a final manuscript and will be able to start layout in earnest. When I have a "text complete" manuscript I'll share the plain text version with you so that you can see the full game before it gets turned into a book.
Generally it takes about two weeks for Backerkit to deliver funds to me. I don't know if I'll have finished layout by the time that happens, but I'm aiming to get it done as close to that date as possible so that when the money lands I can immediately send the books to the printers and start getting things manufactured. Printing generally takes two weeks, too, and then I'll be able to start posting things!
I'll update you along the way. Thanks again for your support!
I decided early on that I wasn't going to include any stretch goals in this project. The book is written and I wanted to be able to just give it to my editor and get it printed without any messing about. But Little Miss Scope Creep is always present in the back of my head, and tinkering with things is in my blood.
I ran a session of In The Library With The Wrench for some friends last night, and for the first time one of the suspects died during play. And this raised an interesting question - what happens when that happens? Suspects getting killed and multiple bodies stacking up over the course of the story is a massive trope in this sorts of mysteries, and right now the game doesn't account for it.
So I'm going to fix that. I'm not tying this to any specific funding goal, because I'm not convinced that people actually back campaigns to unlock stretch goals. I'm just going to make the book slightly bigger by introducing rules for playing ghosts, and writing a handful of ghost playbooks. I think there will be six of them.
It's the second day of the campaign, and I'm absolutely delighted with how this has started. Being fully funded early on is such a massive relief, and it means I get to enjoy making the book over the next few weeks rather than stressing over whether it's actually going to happen. Thank you so much for being here.
Somebody on Bluesky yesterday pointed out - correctly! - that the figure on the cover of the book is holding a dagger, not a wrench. When I was asked why this is the case my flippant answer was "for the engagement", but the real answer is that I hadn't been able to find any public domain art in this style that contains a wrench.
I'm really happy with the cover, but last night I decided to go hunting to see if I could actually find a wrench among the pulp covers. And, what do you know, I managed to locate one.
The cover of Mechanical Package Magazine
And so, with a little bit of tinkering in Photoshop, I've replaced the dagger on the cover with a wrench. I have strong opinions about which of these two covers I prefer, but I want to hear from you - which one do we go with?
Two covers of the same book, one with a dagger and one with a wrench
I've attached a poll to this update so you can share your opinion. Let me know your thoughts!
I'm very happy to be able to say that IN THE LIBRARY WITH THE WRENCH is fully funded! We snuck over the line in the first hour, and I'm absolutely delighted.
Now that I know the book is happening I'll be giving Ste the go-ahead to start editing the manuscript. We fully anticipate that this will be done before the campaign ends in two weeks, which will mean I'll be able to start doing layout and getting the book ready to go as soon as physically possible.
I'll keep you updated over the course of the campaign, and will be sharing some fun details about the book as we go - things like sneak peeks at the playbooks that aren't in the ashcan, bits of cool public domain art I've found while doing layout, and more.
Thanks so much for joining me on this journey. I'm really excited to make this book come to life!
