Jumping in at the top to say, check out the new addon to the campaign! This is Serene Chia'samazing design, and it's exclusively available in this campaign! So raise your lesbian flag high with this new t-shirt! It's available as an addon, so if you don't want any books (sad face) then pick the "keep an eye on things" pledge level for $1 and add Lesbians in Space to your order! (And when your friends ask why you're smiling, tell them about the campaign!)
Space Wizard Science Fantasy is a queer science fiction and fantasy indie publishing company started in 2016 to publish William C. Tracy's books. Ten books, six years, a pandemic, and quitting a day job later, the publishing company opened its doors to more authors. Our intent has always been to showcase quality science fiction and fantasy stories with queer characters, because they don't get enough exposure in the publishing world. You can hear William C. Tracy and Heather Tracy talk about the company and the fun things they do here!
- In 2022, the Space Wizard Science Fantasy Year 1 campaign raised nearly $18,000 to pay authors top rates, create amazing book covers, fund an audiobook recording, and publish 12 books between June 2022 and June 2023.
- In 2023, Year 2 raised over $18,000 for 12 more books released from June 2023 to June 2024 with more excellent covers, custom illustrations, and pro rates for our anthology writers! This year we added exclusive collector's hardbacks!
Space Wizard Year Three
We're incredibly excited about the third year of Space Wizard! In this campaign, you can get any of the included books, or pick your favorites, and get them in eBook or paperback format (signed by the authors)! You can also get a subscription to the Third Year of Space Wizard! We'll ship you each new book as it comes out, or send them to you in six-month increments, if you want to save some on shipping. Want to know what's coming next? The schedule is below, or you can visit the Space Wizard Coming Soon Page for full descriptions of all the books.
(Dates subject to change, especially for later releases)
We're at it again for Year 3, this time on Backerkit, with 12 more great books. This year we're adding more collector's hardbacks, and two new TTRPG systems!
What's already here
So what is currently available from Space Wizard? All the books you see below, and you can get any of these in this campaign too! Feel free to browse the Space Wizard websiteand read about any of them!
As a reader, you can get awesome things in this campaign like hardcovers, signed books, trilogies, queer stories, diverse stories (short and long), and even a subscription to Space Wizard! We'll send you all the new books or eBooks as they come out. You just have to sit back, read, and enjoy! There's also some cool buttons, pins, keychains, decals, and other swag...
For writers, Space Wizard prides (pun intended) itself on making sure our authors get great exposure and marketing for their books. A common problem for small presses is to overreach, and not deliver. That's why this campaign is running! Space Wizard aims to stay debt-free on initial releases, as well as giving great royalty rates, wholesale prices for authors to buy their books, up-to-date covers, and effective marketing for all of its books.
This campaign will pay for great covers for the upcoming books and pay authors semi-pro and pro rates for anthologies.
JULY 2024:Talio’s Codex - Ten years ago, the theft of his codex destroyed Talio Rossa’s career as a magistrate in the four cities. But when his ex-wife—finally willing to forgive finding him in bed with a man—presents him a long-shot legal case, he has the chance to get his career back on track. Enjoy an epic fantasy and legal thriller in a city of canals and holy magic, where a secret M/M relationship between a disgraced legal advocate and a member of an ostracized religious group may shake the foundations of the city, from author J. Alexander Cohen!
AUGUST 2024:Space Station X - Engineer Jax ran away to the farthest space station from Earth in the galaxy. It’s nothing more than a pitstop, frequented only by those looking to get away, and there she wanted to live in peace. It’s a mess, but it’s her Station. But when the grumpy engineer and the lovely head of station security run afoul of sounds in the walls, murderous passengers, and their own blossoming affections, Jax discovers there are some problems that can’t be fixed by swinging an absurdly large murder-wrench. Check out A.Z. Rozkillis' debut scifi tale!
SEPTEMBER 2024:Fiery Deeps Anthology - The fourth book in the lesbian SFF romance Worlds Apart Anthologies, which originally started as a way to beat the pandemic. Distant Gardens has a theme of strange or dangerous plants, Farther Reefs has a theme of pirates, mermaids, and other sea creatures, Lofty Mountains has a theme of lesbians in flight and cozy mountain tales, and Fiery Deeps, releasing in this campaign, has ten new stories, all about fire, technology and sapphic power! The Fiery Deeps anthology will contain stories by: William C. Tracy,J.S. Fields, Robin C.M. Duncan, Sara Codair, N.L. Bates, Rosiee Thor, Maya Gittelman, Heather Tracy, N. Romaine White, and Dee Lyle!
OCTOBER 2024:Empress of Dust - Harvard, a young man with tremors, and his team of scavengers finds there's more to the giant crab monsters roaming the deserts than they thought. When the biggest mistake of Harvard’s life separates him from his crew, he must learn the secrets of the desert beasts in order to survive the dangers of the dusts. Returning to Bastion with a surprising ally, Harvard is forced to choose between saving his crew or allying with the “monsters” who rescued him, in this post-apocalyptic fantasy by Alex Kingsley.
NOVEMBER 2024:Physical Magic - The start of William C. Tracy's new progression fantasy series The Shifting Lands, featuring martial arts-based magic and fast moving continents in a world powered by the gods. Follow a young woman with one arm, Silluka, and her brother, whose magic is failing, as they escape two islands colliding. Pushed into a journey by an elder of the village who is not who she seems, an octopus-like technological wizard who worships eldritch gods, and her brother’s failing abilities, Silluka must learn the scope of the world outside her village. She must learn Physical Magic. You can read the first draft on Royal Road right now! (Note: the below image is a character study for the final)
NOVEMBER 2024:Foxfire in the Snow& Ocean of Fireflies Duology - J.S. Fields is re-releasing their epic renaissance fantasy Foxfire in the Snow along with the new second book, Ocean of Fireflies. Born the heir of a master woodcutter in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, nonbinary Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place. To save the country of Sorpsi, Sorin must define their place between magic and alchemy or risk losing Sorpsi to rising industrialization and a dark magic that will destroy Sorin’s chance to choose their own future.
JANUARY 2025:Tavern Tale - Kristina Kelly's debut novella gives us the story of a lusty barmaid and a magic adept, Divine, whose key to accessing her magic well was stolen by a servant of the Goddess of Condemnation and an enemy. Their side quest may end up being the main quest! Tavern Tale is a cozy fantasy romance with many D&D elements!
FEBRUARY 2025:Station in the Sky - The followup scifi novella to Peace in the Sky from Year 2 by Caye Marsh. An immortal operative, Donna, grieves for the daughter she lost as she adjusts to slow life on the Station in the Sky. But she quickly finds all is not as serene as she thinks. Donna must solve her own murder, track down the one who’s changing their history, and find her place in the world!
MARCH 2025:The Traveler’s Magic - The sequel to C.J. Hosack's epic YA adventure, The Slayer's Magic. Continue Ryn and Zo's adventures with the ancestral library as Ryn searches for her parents in a world where magic is dictated by bloodline!
APRIL 2025:How To Operate Your Body: The Arms - The next book in William C. Tracy's nonfiction series on body mechanics, flexibility, and stretching. This time the focus is on the arms, upper body strength and flexibility, and how to move around with less pain. It's the manual for your body that life doesn't give you!
MAY 2025:Only a Chapter - Heather Tracy, Space Wizard's expert copy editor, releases her debut scifi romance about a woman in two alternate worlds, where the result of a single phone call will change her life. The same event cascades into two completely different lives, even though the touchstones of each are the same. Discover two ways a woman's life could go, and who she might love, when different catastrophic events intervene!
JUNE 2025:Ardulum: The Silence of Fate (working title)- The much-awaited next book in the Ardulum saga, by J.S. Fields! What makes a god? Friends old and new, from our dimension and others, team up to take down the no-longer-mythical planet of Ardulum. Constrained by a galaxy now devoid of cellulose, Emn and Guard Four fight to save their version of Atalant. But with Atalant and Ardulum inexorably linked and the fabric of space-time thinning, options grow limited. The key to controlling the planet is in understanding its power source, but understanding may not lead to Atalant’s, or the galaxy’s, salvation.
Collector's Hardbacks - Choose from five great collections of stories: THESE STORIES ARE AVAILABLE AS ADDONS! IF YOU ONLY WANT A HARDBACK, SELECT THE "Keeping an eye on things!" PLEDGE LEVEL FOR $1 AND ADD YOUR HARDBACK!
AUGUST 2024: The Audacity Omnibus by Carmen Loup is a humorous sci-fi trilogy, about a human abducted from Earth, a draft dodger, and a goddess of chaos. If you like Douglas Adams, you'll like this! ONLY available in omnibus format! Contains The Audacity, The Audacity 2: Time Warp, The Audacity 3: Be Kind, Rewind, plus the short story Bite.
To pledge for just this volume, select the "keeping an eye on things!" pledge level for $1 and add The Audacity as an addon (650 page option).
AUGUST 2024:The Biomass Conflux by William C. Tracy. A hard sci-fi series about a generational fleet trying to build a colony on a planet entirely covered by sentient fungus. However, the colonists are not aware the fungus is sentient, at first. Plus, the fungus has its own point of view in the story! Contains Of Mycelium and Men, To a Fungus Unknown, and The Spores of Wrath, plus the novella Down Among the Mushrooms!
To pledge for just this volume, select the "keeping an eye on things!" pledge level for $1 and add The Biomass Conflux as an addon (650 page option).
AVAILABLE:The Dissolution Cycle and Tales of the Dissolutionverse are science fantasy space operas by William C. Tracy, using music-based magic. The Dissolution Cycle contains an epic trilogy, where a young man must learn to use magic while dealing with voids of energy threatening the homeworlds. Tales of the Dissolutionverse contains 10 short stories and novellas from the same universe with music-based magic as The Dissolution Cycle, from action and adventure, politics and intrigue, a Sherlock Holmesian murder mystery, a Jules Verne-style adventure, and slices of life from around the ten homeworlds!
To pledge for just these volumes, select the "keeping an eye on things!" pledge level for $1 and add The Dissolution Cycle (1000 page option) or Tales of the Dissolutionverse (650 page option) as an addon.
AVAILABLE:Ardulum: Origins is J.S. Fields' space opera. It concerns Emn, a powerful engineered being who might just be a god, and Neek, an outcast who has rejected her religion. The story develops over a full trilogy, revealing more of the charted systems, cellulose-based technology, and gods who may not be as divine as expected. The omnibus contains all that, plus all the new short stories in the re-released books, plus all of the content of Tales from Ardulum together in one beautifully bound book!
To pledge for just this volume, select the "keeping an eye on things!" pledge level for $1 and add Ardulum: Origins as an addon (650 page option).
This year, Space Wizard is branching out with not one, but two different custom tabletop RPGs for your enjoyment! These both use custom systems, each based on a series published by Space Wizard. You can nab an electronic or physical manual for yourself and even play a single session or 6-session campaign with the designers!
COMING END OF 2024: Creatures of Ruin TTRPG - Centuries in the future, the Earth has been shattered by an environmental disaster known as the Great Tremors. Human cities sunk into the fractured ground, killing off nearly the entire race. The final human city, Bastion, is on the coast of the Infinite Ocean. One side faces the sea, and the other faces the endless wasteland, the dusts, where the monsters roam.
The land has been overtaken by crab monsters known as desertwalkers. Desertwalkers range in size and shape, but they’re massive, carnivorous, and equipped with claws. No one dares go beyond the city walls of Bastion, except the scavengers, who dig in the dusts in hopes of recovering ancient technology that they can sell. The scavengers must learn to live amongst the desertwalkers, and in doing so they must learn to either fight them, or coexist.
Play as human scavenger, using a d6 system, OR as four different kinds of desertwalker, using a d20 system, and choose a path of peace or destruction. Scavenge materials, protect your territory, and learn about your fellow desert-dwellers in Alex Kingsley's Creatures of Ruin TTRPG based on the world of Empress of Dust!
COMING END OF 2024: The Dissolutionverse TTRPG - The Dissolutionverse is an intergalactic society of ten homeworlds connected by music-based magic instead of spaceflight. People step from world to world, but only through portals created by one of the maji, those few who can hear the Symphony underlying the universe. When a majus changes the notes of the Symphony, reality changes with it.
Maji are important to the economy of the ten species, which places them high in the government of the ten homeworlds. That government is located in the Nether, an immense hollow crystal the size of a planet to which all the homeworlds connect by portal. As with every civilization where there are those with more, there are always those with less. The Dissolutionverse focuses on exploring the conflict between the maji and common people, and between those with and those without.
As a majus, you have the ability to change reality itself, at the cost of the notes of your soul. But you have less time to hone your other skills. Recommended for players who want to be creative on the spur of the moment with a limited pool of magic.
As a non-majus, you have a variety of useful skills and hobbies that give you advantages whether adventuring, fighting, researching, or just relaxing. Recommended for players who want more hands-on tools to affect the world, and who want to keep a lower profile, in-game.
Your group may be called on to search out interesting artifacts, find new creatures, rescue people or even investigate them. There may be conflict between the maji and everyone else, as well as conflict between the ten species of the assembly as they each tend to their own agendas while trying to create a better whole for the Great Assembly of Species.
Investigate strange worlds and create custom spells with music-based magic in the TTRPG set in William C. Tracy's Dissolutionverse series. Play as one of eleven species, craft spells from your imagination, and use d8 dice in press-your-luck rolls to succeed at challenges! Includes crafting mechanics and no character death (though other things might happen...)
Space Wizard Science Fantasy is a labor of love, seeking to uplift those voices who are not heard as clearly as they should be. We also seek to pay people their worth, and this campaign will help make that happen. The base funding goal will be used to pay for book cover costs, as well as to pay semi-pro and pro rates for those authors in the new Fiery Deeps anthology.
At $14,000, The first stretch goal will be to pay all our writers full pro rates!
At $15,000, The Fiery Deeps anthology will get 5 illustrations for select stories, courtesy of the talented Katie Cordy, who drew all the illustrations for Distant Gardens,Farther Reefs, and Lofty Mountains.
At $18,000, We will be able to set aside funds to help pay our new copy editor, Courtney Brooks!
At $20,000, The Dissolutionverse RPG and the Creatures of Ruin RPG will both get new illustrations!
At $23,000, We will be able to pay the amazing narrator Lynn Norris to record this year's anthology, Fiery Deeps! At $27,000, We will be also get Lynn to narrate last year's anthology, Lofty Mountains!
Do you love books? We do too. That's why Space Wizard strives to make exciting adventures across time and space. If there's juuuust one more book you want, you can add it on when you pledge in eBook or paperback format.
Want to show your love? What's better than a pin, button, or keychain with Space Wizard on it! Maybe some stickers and decals for your laptops, cars, bottles, windows, or wherever you want?
We have some fantastic swag from Geek Girl Stuff!
Simply choose your addon(s) when you pledge, in the pledge manager. If you picked a digital reward, you'll be asked for your address when choosing a physical addon.
My shipping fees are from my experience in the last five campaigns. Note the above numbers are estimates. Shipping will be added when you fill out your survey form, and is based on your location. Generally, US shipping for one book will be about $7, three books will be about $9, and five books is around $11. See below for International shipping.
Subscription Box:
To keep shipping costs manageable, the next year's worth of Space Wizard books will be sent in two to three boxes, approximately every four to six months. This brings shipping costs for all the books down to around $25. If you want to get each book as it's released, just pick the "multiple shipment option" addon for the US. Then each book will be sent individually, and the total shipping will be around $90. This covers shipping you twelve boxes over the course of the next year, each one containing a new adventure (and probably some cool swag as well...).
International Shipping:
Yep. It's expensive. The cost starts around $30 for one book, shipping to Canada, and $50 international. The price will go up for extra books by weight. For example, another 2 books will add around $5-10 in shipping. This is the cheapest I've been able to find it for, especially if you are getting multiple books. I'd recommend getting the eBooks, and then you can get as many as you want!
If you do want to order physical books, especially for the subscription box options, I've set the shipping to send you the books after they are all released, which will cut down shipping to about 1/6th the cost (around $85-$110)! However, you'll get them as late as July 2024, after the latest publish date, depending on which ones you choose. If you DO want them shipped to you as they come out, just select the the "multiple shipment option" addon for your region.
Where's all the money going? Risks and challenges.
These projects will be published, at a base level, even if the campaign is not funded. This campaign is to help realize the full potential of this indie publishing company to start out each book without any debt so the authors can see immediate returns on their hard work.
Books will be published, around one a month, so as a backer, you can expect to see an electronic copy of the book a few weeks before it's released. If you backed the physical version as well it will be delivered around the release date (if you picked the multiple shipment option) or otherwise once all books you've backed are released. The Year 3 subscription will be delivered in 2-3 shipments throughout the year.
There are always risks and challenges with determining a budget for a campaign such as this, but I am a Professional Engineer by training, have spent the last 20 years in cost and benefit analysis, and now do data analysis for a living (along with publishing). I have accurately assessed costs for large projects in my work environment so I have a good understanding of how and where money is spent, and I have applied that knowledge to five previous campaigns in August/September 2017, July/August 2018, April 2020, June 2022, and June 2023. See below for how the money from the campaign is used:
Even if you don't pledge, thanks for taking the time to read this through! We strive to deliver quality queer stories to you with a professional feel. We hope Space Wizard will continue to expand, giving making plenty of stories where everyone can see themselves.
So what authors are included in the third year of Space Wizard? You've seen them in the video (and if you haven't, give it a watch), but check out the full list of names below!
William C. Tracy writes and publishes queer science fiction and fantasy through his indie press Space Wizard Science Fantasy, which he owns, operates, and acts as developmental editor for. Works include: The Dissolutionverse, Distant Gardens, Farther Reefs, Lofty Mountains, Fiery Deeps, The World of Juno, The Biomass Conflux Trilogy, How to Operate Your Body: The Legs, How to Operate Your Body: The Arms, Fruits of the Gods, Physical Magic, The Dissolutionverse RPG.
J.S. Fields is a scientist who has spent too much time around organic solvents. They enjoy roller derby, woodturning, making chainmail by hand, and cultivating fungi in the backs of minivans. They live in the Pacific Northwest with their wife, kid, and Flemish giant rabbit. Works include The Ardulum series, Foxfire in the Snow, Distant Gardens, Farther Reefs, Lofty Mountains, Fiery Deeps, The Rosewood Penny, Awry with Dandelions, Ocean of Fireflies.
J. Alexander Cohen always wanted to write. He loved the Peanuts comics where Snoopy would tap out stories on his typewriter, defying physics sitting perched atop his doghouse. From the age of 14 he took writing seriously and spent my evenings on Dad’s Selectric in the basement, followed by his home computer. He started writing seriously again after major surgery in 2020. Works include Talio's Codex,Bear Like Me, The Lavender Tavern Podcast.
A.Z. Rozkillis builds spaceships in her day job. She teaches about spaceships on the side. And now she apparently writes about spaceships in her spare time. Where she finds the spare time is still a mystery. Having been raised on a steady diet of classic science fiction and horror—consumed mostly through the staircase railing after bedtime while her father was asleep on the couch—A.Z. has always maintained a love for space travel and the unknown. This has largely fueled her career in aerospace engineering but originally fueled a passion for writing science fiction stories when she was very young. After a long quantity of months cooped up inside, A.Z. finally returned to her storytelling origins. A.Z. lives in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US with her wife and son, their dogs, several thousand honeybees, and way too many Legos. Her debut work is Space Station X.
Alex Kingsley (they/them) is a writer, comedian, and game designer. They are a cofounder of Strong Branch Productions, where they write and direct the Audioverse-Finalist sci-fi comedy podcast The Stench of Adventure. They’ve been a voice actor for various other podcasts, including Whisperling and Spirit Box Radio. Works include Empress of the Sands, Creatures of Ruin RPG, The Strange Garden and Other Weird Tales, Unplanned Obsolescence.
Kristina Kelly: Since childhood, writing stories on her mother’s typewriter or trying to catalog her own books like a library, Kristina has been in love with storytelling. Her undergraduate pursuits focused on Psychology, Music, and Computer Science. With trumpet as her main instrument and a connection to nature, Kristina often works music and visual landscapes into her writings. Works include Tavern Tale, The Lady's Crownbearer, Trials of the Innermost.
Caye Marsh is a former biologist writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy. She cherishes the unbroken quiet of wild places and the true dark of night, so please keep it down and remember to extinguish all outdoor lights. Works include Peace in the Sky,Station in the Sky.
C.J. Hosack grew up in Southern California loving fantasy and science fiction. She is married to her husband of thirty plus years, has four children and seven grandchildren. Adopted at eight months old, she recently found her birth parents. She has a Master’s Degree in Public History from Southern New Hampshire University, and if she’s not writing, you can generally find her quilting, costuming, or traveling to spend time with those she loves. C.J. is currently two and a half books into writing her YA fantasy series about adoption and hereditary magic. She’s a wannabe dress historian and follows many similar accounts. Works include The World of Juno, The Slayer's Magic, The Traveler's Magic.
Heather Tracy is a travel agent by day and a masked copy editor by night. She's found hundreds of typos, comma splices, and other grammatical nitpicks for Space Wizard Science Fantasy since before 2016. With over 30 titles copy edited, this year she turns her hand to her first published short story and novel, including a story in Fiery Deeps, and Only a Chapter.
Carmen Loup is a non-binary humorologist, illustrator of "Tarot in Space", and author of "The Audacity" space opera novel and comic series. They've been writing seriously since 2007 and funnily since 2015. Loup's work is inspired by Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Ram Dass, and Alan Watts. Works include Lofty Mountains, The Audacity Omnibus and series.
The Fiery Deeps anthology will contain stories by:
William C. Tracy,J.S. Fields, and Heather Tracy (profiles above) as well as: Robin C.M. Duncan (Distant Gardens, Farther Reefs, Lofty Mountains, Fiery Deeps, The World of Juno, The Quirk & Moth series) Sara Codair (The Evanstar Chronicles, Earth Reclaimed, Life Minus Me, Distant Gardens, Farther Reefs, Lofty Mountains, Fiery Deeps, Junk Junction)
N.L. Bates (Distant Gardens, Farther Reefs, Lofty Mountains, Fiery Deeps, The World of Juno)
Rosiee Thor (Tarnished Are the Stars, Fire Becomes Her, Life is Strange: Steph's Story, Being Ace Anthology, Lofty Mountains, Fiery Deeps) Maya Gittelman (Lofty Mountains, Fiery Deeps, Night of the Living Queers anthology)
N. Romaine White (Fiery Deeps) Dee Lyle (Fiery Deeps)
Finally, we have some incredibly talented artists also contributing to the campaign!
Katie Cordy is responsible for all the illustrations in the anthologies, as well as the covers for Foxfire in the Snow and Ocean of Fireflies!
Serene Chia is creating the cover for Physical Magic! Abra Milsaps is creating the cover for Only a Chapter! MoorBooks is our excellent cover designer for the rest of the books!
Thanks also go to our esteemed copy editors! Until now, Heather Tracy has been the only one copy editing all the books releasing from Space Wizard. This year, we're adding our good friend Courtney Brooks to the copy editing pool, to help get through all those books a little faster! And since we now have some more copy editing expenses, You'll see one of our stretch goals is to help pay our new copy editor!
That's seventeen authors and thirteen books this campaign is helping to fund, and chances are you've heard at least one of those names. Please spread the word, and I hope to see you all next year!
Start your Space Wizard adventure with a free book and pin when you pledge in the first 48 hours!
Extra special bonus! J.S. Fields has graciously offered to gift first edition copies of the Ardulum series to backers in the first 48 hours! These books are no longer in print, and have a different cover from the Ardulum books published through Space Wizard. Get your collector's version by backing early!
If you've read books from us before or backed our Year 1 or Year 2 campaign, then many thanks! Take a look around at the new books coming out this year! If you haven't heard of us before...
