Project Spotlight #2 – Laser Lace Letters by Haley Moore
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 22nd November 2012
>> Great Escapes | Volume 1 and other books
In the second of our crowd funding project spotlights, we take a look at Laser Lace Letters. Creator Haley Moore is raising funds through Kickstarter for her combined fiction and craft project.
“Laser Lace Letters is a series of tangible stories where you become a steampunk detective on the trail of a string of mysterious disappearances. At the heart of each story is a beautiful, laser cut cameo handmade in felt by artist Haley Moore.”
This project combines fictional stories with a novel method of presentation; letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, sketches and more. The addition of the hand crafted cameos and packaging gives the bundle a tangible quality. Haley is attempting to create an interactive experience out of a traditionally passive one; something that just isn’t seen in traditional publishing. That crowd funding it enables people to create things like this, which redefine genres and media, is perhaps one of its most powerful aspects.
You can make a basic pledge of $10 for a digital copy of all the letters or pledge more to get the physical letter bundles, cameos and other extras.
The cameos made from laser cut felt, are the most unique aspect of this project. Several have recently featured on charity marathon Desert Bus for Hope. In the Laser Lace project, there are seven core designs, more mini designs and custom options included in some rewards.
“I’m a craftsperson with an undying love of story, and a tendency to take my projects to ridiculous extremes of intricacy and depth. I can prototype and write and design forever, but I can’t make a project like Laser Lace on my own – and I definitely can’t make it without you.”
The stories themselves are an official spin off from transmedia steampunk project Clockwork Watch, which has so far spawned novels, comics, live events and more. The Laser Lace letters will expand and enhance the existing universe. And it also means that there’s a world of content to explore beyond the letters!
Given that The Great Escape has similar plans for Gabriel Cushing in the future, this transmedia approach to storytelling is something we are excited to see.
There’s only 5 days left to make your pledge and jump into this exciting steampunk experience, so make sure to visit Haley’s project page for all the details and loads of pictures.
Project Spotlight #1 – “Untitled” by Dom Williams on Crowd Funder
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 16th November 2012
Having recently delved into the world of crowdfunding via Kickstarter ourselves, we’ve come across lots of current projects that we think deserve peoples’ support. This is the first of a serious of spotlight posts on the projects we’ve found.
“Untitled” by Dom Williams
We actually met Dom Williams at the Cardiff Expo showcase the other week where he was showing off some of his beautiful artwork and comics.
Dom is currently raising funds for a new comic/picture book about a creature who goes on a journey to find new friends. It doesn’t have a title, in fact, it doesn’t have any words; it’s a story in pictures.
His art style is reminiscent of some Japanese animation, with bold shapes and colours and use of strong contrast. The black silhouette characters call to mind shadow theatre which also gives it a strong Asian feel.
Through Dom’s Crowd funder project you can pre-order a copy of the comic with a character sketch for just £10, or pledge more to get some cool extras. Check out Dom’s video for more details or visit his project page:
Crowd Funder – A short review
It was through Dom that we found out about Crowd Funder which is a UK based competitor to Kickstarter, run by the Innovation Centre at the University of Exeter. At first glance it seems to offer an almost identical service to Kickstarter but there are some differences worth noting.
As a backer, the ability to search for project by category and keyword and sort your results by various fields is far superior to Kickstarter’s system which is link based and doesn’t allow you to filter results to refine them.
Crowd Funder also limits a lot of features to registered members. I can’t decide yet whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. A lot of potential backers may be put off if they feel pressured into registering on the site just to see all the details and features, but it does offer project promoters the chance to tier access to their material if they so wish.
A quick scan of the projects approaching completion shows a lot are struggling to hit their targets. I think it’s likely the lack of reputation for the site itself (we’d not heard of it before) is one factor. Now that Kickstarter have opened up GBP based UK projects, Crowd Funder and fellow UK competitor Indigogo may find themselves hard pressed to continue attracting projects.
Great Escapes | Volume 1 – Kickstarter Project
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 11th November 2012
We’re currently running a Kickstarter project for
Great Escapes | Volume 1, our first illustrated anthology
of short stories, micro fiction and poetry.
This 160 page book will feature all the fiction from our first year along with brand new contributions, illustrations from artist Kat Wilson (Kat-in-the-attic) and a spectacular photograph by Jeff Waye for our cover art. In total there will be over 30 stories and poems by 18 different authors.
You can find out all about the book, including a list of the contents and contributors on our Books Page. There’s also a free epub sample of Shifting Sands for you to download for your ebook reader.
The Kickstarter project is a way for us to take pre-orders of the book in advance so we can use the money to fund the print run. Here’s a list of the rewards:
Pledge £3
Pre-order a copy of the ebook.
Pledge £7
Pre-order a copy of the print book.
Pledge £10 (Premium Package)
Pre-order a copy of the book with an additional ebook copy and three special edition art cards.
Pledge £20 (Ultimate Package)
Get everything in the Premium package plus a special thanks credit in the book itself and a signed, limited edition art print.
However, our “ultimate” package may not stay ultimate for long. Due to the great initial success of the project, we’re considering adding some stretch rewards in the £25-100 range with some exclusive extra rewards!
So head on over to our Kickstarter project page now, and make your pledge to help ensure this fantastic book happens.
“Escape” Micro Fiction vs Poetry Contest Winners Announced
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 22nd October 2012
Our “Escape” writing contest for micro fiction and poetry received a record 29 entries from 24 different writers. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who took part and helped make this the best and most exciting contest we have run so far.
The final score was:
Team Micro Fiction – 16
Team Poetry – 13
So we now declare Team Micro Fiction the winner of this battle of the short form literature! In recognition of this, the winners from the micro fiction category will be presented first. You can read the winning entries in this week’s fiction post: Micro Fiction Vol 2 : Escape. The winners from the poetry category are also now available to read in the new fiction post Three Poems of Escape.
Here are the winners:
Micro Fiction
1st Place
The Incident of the Crow through the Window, by Teagan Jackel
Congratulations, Teagan, your £5 prize will be on its way to you soon.
Runners Up
Laura Huntley, Andrew Campbell-Kearsey and Thomas D. Webster
Poetry
1st Place
Drive, by Rich Mather
Congratulations, Rich, your £5 prize will be on its way to you soon.
Runners Up
Rebecca J. Crompton and Cathy Bryant
Both winners and all the runners up will be offered the chance to appear in Great Escapes | Volume 2 (scheduled for Autumn 2013).
For more information about Great Escapes | Volume 1, scheduled for release January 2013, check out our books section.
Introducing Books from The Great Escape.
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 17th October 2012
Since we launched in 2011, we’ve shared a lot of great fiction on this site and now we’re expanding our fiction division to include books and ebooks for sale. You can find all the information about the books we have available on our new books page.
Later this month we’ll be formally announcing our first anthology, Great Escapes, volume 1, which will be available in both ebook and print form. You can find out a bit more about the anthology under Coming Soon on the books page.
You can download a free ebook version of Shifting Sands as a sample of the upcoming anthology.
Available to buy now in all major ebook formats is The Star Coin Prophecy, which is currently being released as a partwork on the site. If you can’t wait to find out what happens, this is your chance to get your hands on the full book before everyone else.
The Star Coin Prophecy
When local science reporter Ruth Anders gets invited to a national press conference for the Kepler project, she knows it’s going to be a memorable experience. But nothing could prepare her the extraordinary events that take place. Attacked by aliens from another world and zapped through time and space by a mysterious device, her only hope of getting home, and getting her quiet, safe life back, is explorer and archaeologist Neil Bell.
When the time comes though, will Ruth really want to go back to her old life?
The Star Coin Prophecy is a short adventure in a massive world. From a newly discovered planet light years away to dark jungles and mysterious ruins, it asks the question; what if the Mayans were right about the end of the world? And who’s going to stop it?
The Great Escape & Hellbound Media will be at BristolCon 2012!
Posted by Rich - 15th October 2012
The Great Escape and our partner comic book company Hellbound Media will be at BristolCon, the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Convention happening on Saturday the 20th of October at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel, near Bristol Temple Meads Station.
Chrissey Harrison (writer/director of Yarn, writer of The Star Coin Prophecy & The Diary of Joseph Mortimer), Rich Jeffery (Actor in Poo & The Man Who Married The Sea, writer/director of The End), Mark Adams (Writer/Director of Gabriel Cushing Versus The Zombie Vampires & Terror Of The Killer Carnivorous Coat, Co-writer of Faith Healers) and Matt Warner (Writer of Kiss Me Deadly & Mandy and The Monster) will all be there, and we have an entire wall in the Dealer Room devoted to our comic books, merch and other such things.
Tickets for the event will be £25 on the door, or £20 if you pre-order. You can find out more information on the event, as well as other attendees and panels at www.bristolcon.org
Gabriel Cushing vs the Zombie Vampires – Launch Event at Comic Guru in Cardiff (Sat 13th Oct, 10am)
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 11th October 2012
This Saturday, join the team from The Great Escape to celebrate the launch of Gabriel Cushing vs the Zombie Vampires, our new eight part web series.
We’ll be at Comic Guru (13 Wood Street, Cardiff) from 10am till closing time, and you might even catch some of us roaming the streets as Zombie Vampires.
There’ll also be opportunities to buy merchandise and watch the first episode.
Plus, Matt Warner from Hellbound Media will also be joining us and there will be a chance to get your hands on signed copies of their comics.
And, if you’re up for a challenge, anyone arrives at the event in costume will get a free set of Gabriel Cushing Character Postcards.
Jonathan Coulton CD Giveaway Winner
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 8th October 2012
Congratulations to Andrew Fisher, you’re our winner and your signed CD will be on it’s way to you soon.
We decided Andrew’s creative approach to the comment challenge deserved recognition. Thanks to everyone who took part, we hope you’ll stop by again to check out more content on the site.
Official Poster for Gabriel Cushing vs the Zombie Vampires!
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 2nd October 2012
Today we released the official poster for Gabriel Cushing versus the Zombie Vampires, our upcoming web series. The fantastic art work is courtesy of Neil McClements.
Win a signed copy of Jonathan Coulton’s “JoCo Looks Back”!
Posted by Chrissey Harrison - 28th September 2012
Musician, singer-songwriter and all-round internet superstar Jonathan Coulton, famous for such songs as ‘Code Monkey‘, ‘Re: Your Brains‘ and ‘Still Alive‘ from the ‘Portal’ video game, swung by our neck of the woods last weekend as part of his third UK tour (+Stockholm, Sweden). His laments about mad scientists who just want to be loved, a giant squid that crushes everything, and moons comforting their recently demoted planetary partners, speak to legions of geeks and nerds out there. Escapees Rich and Chrissey went along to the show at Bristol’s Colston Hall.
Since he last toured the UK over a year-and-a-half ago, he has released his latest album ‘Artificial Heart‘. Produced by They Might Be Giants‘ frontman John Flansburgh and featuring guest vocalists Suzanne Vega, John Rodderick and Sara Quin (of Tegan & Sara), this is his first proper studio album since he released ‘Smoking Monkey’ over 7 years ago. (It’s really good, you should go buy it).
As ‘JoCo’ explained at the start of his gig, this is technically his ‘new album tour’, even though the CD came out a year ago. With musical comedy duo Paul and Storm in tow, the concert was one for fans, with all his well-loved classics and popular tracks from the new album but no sneak peeks at upcoming releases this time. Having seen him perform on the Bristol leg of both his previous UK tours, there was a lot in this gig that we’d seen before, but in our opinion, very few of his songs get old; kind of like meeting up with an old friend to reminisce about the good old days.
There were a few interesting change-ups over previous years: no Skullcrusher Mountain this time but new songs ‘Sticking It To Myself‘ and ‘Good Morning Tucson‘ surely made up for it, and crowd pleasers ‘Re: Your Brains’ and ‘Shop Vac‘ went down well, as always.
The show wasn’t without its hiccups. A pause to fix a broken guitar string, ironically sustained during slower tempo number ‘Soft Rocked By Me‘, prompted an impromptu a-cappella rendition of Madness’ Baggy Trousers from Storm and an audience sing-a-long to Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ classic ‘Come On Eileen’ (Dexy’s were playing in the main Colston Hall venue that night). Novelty underwear was pressed into service as a bandage and there was the usual number of false starts, but the hiccups are all part of what makes the show so entertaining. Coupled with plenty of audience participation and interaction, the audience feel involved and leave feeling they’ve been part of something personal.
Whilst we were there, we got Jonathan Coulton to sign a copy of his Greatest Hits album ‘JoCo Looks Back‘ for you guys, and he gave us permission to give it away here!
With 20 tracks in total, including Code Monkey, I Feel Fantastic, Ikea, Skullcrusher Mountain, Chiron Beta Prime and First Of May, this is a great starter into the world of Jonathan Coulton.
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
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