7 days to go!

That's right, there's only one week left to run on the Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath Kickstarter, so you'd better get those pledges in soon.

But in case you've just stumbled across this blog and you're wondering what Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath is all about, it's a collaboration between writer Jonathan Green (that's me), artist Tom Brown, and publisher Ian Whates.

To find out more, follow this link and check out the project video. But all you really need to know is that this is a unique project offering some fantastic rewards that needs your support!

Thank you (in anticipation).

Clemency Slaughter at EasterCon

Mr Ian Whates, the man behind NewCon Press, is currently taking part in the geek-fest that is EasterCon - or rather EightSquaredCon, in its current guise - up in Bradford for the Easter weekend.

 

He's busy promoting various projects - including the anthology he's edited, Solaris Rising 2, and his own short story collection, Growing Pains - and will also have some Clemency Slaughter postcards on the NewCon table.

So if you're up in Bradford for the weekend, why not pop along and say "Hello!" and then pledge your support to Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath?

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath - The Publisher's Tale

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath is due to be published by Steel Quill Books, a brand new imprint of NewCon Press, first founded and now run by Mr Ian Whates. (To find out more about the origins of NewCon Press, follow this link.)

This rather wonderful post appeared on Ian Whates' blog last week, all about Clemency Slaughter and Steel Quill Books. So, over to you, Ian...

Clemency Slaughter and the Quills of Steel

When Jonathan Green first approached me with the concept of Clemency Slaughter I was, to be frank, dubious. I mean, NewCon Press doesn’t do graphic novels.

Then I took a closer look at the proposal and all that changed. The story is a delight: cloaked in the innocence of childhood but inherently dark and sinister, like corruption working away insidiously at the heart of a bright and beautiful red apple, withering it from within. Also, of course, there is Tom Brown’s artwork. This, as much as anything, swung it for me. The images are so perfect, matching Jon’s text in every regard. To put it bluntly, I was bowled over, and knew immediately that if we could ever get the project off the ground we would be looking at something very special.

So, it seemed that NewCon Press might see their way clear to doing a graphic novel after all. Yet this remains some way distant from what we normally do, and I’m very keen to maintain a clear definition of what NewCon Press is all about… The solution? Launch a new imprint: one that still falls beneath the NewCon Press banner but remains a step removed. Steel Quill Books was born. I’d already been thinking about doing this with regard to a very different project (still on-going), so it would merely pre-empt existing plans.

 

That just left one problem: the up-front cost; both of the production and to cover the advances that Mr Green and Mr Brown would inevitably expect for their efforts. I organised a meeting with Jonathan in London, fully expecting to say, “I’d love to, but…” Which is when Jon sprang his surprise. “Kickstarter,” he said. “We’ll fund it via a Kickstarter.” What a brilliant idea!

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath

All credit to Jon, he’s carried the greatest load on this, setting up the website, producing the fabulous video (and if you haven’t watched that, you really should — it’s only two-and-a-half minutes), and promoting the project like mad. I’ve no idea whether we’ll hit target for the book, that’s up to the people who have read this blog and visited the site, but I sincerely hope we do. Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D’Eath will be a thing of great dark beauty, of that I’m certain. So… fingers crossed.

N is for NewCon

Pledge £80 or more to the Clemency Slaughter Kickstarter campaign, and you could receive one of five sets of five signed hardbacks from NewCon Press, worth over £100!

So don't delay - pledge today!

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath - Competition Time!

A while ago I threatened to run some sort of competition or other if (or more accurately when) I ended up with both 1,000 followers on Twitter and 1,000 friends on Facebook.

Well that magic number was exceeded a while ago now (as of writing I have 1,018 followers on Twitter and 1,030 Facebook friends) so I thought it was about time I made good on my promise.

Your Part of the Bargain

I want you to do all you can to promote the Kickstarter project I am currently running with the artist Tom Brown and publisher Ian Whates, Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath. I don't care how you do it - blog posts, social media campaigns, YouTube videos, get in mentioned in the press, on the radio, on TV! - just do whatever you can to get word out to the masses about this exciting adventure in publishing!

You have until the end of the month (11:59pm on Sunday 31 March) to enter - in other words ten days - and email me a link to whatever it is you've produced at info@jonathangreenauthor.com.

Be imaginative, be creative, be prolific, be persistent! But whatever you do, to be eligible for the big prize, you must let me know about it.

Our Part of the Bargain

The three of us (Jon, Tom and Ian) will decide who has mounted the most effective campaign and, as long as the project funds on 13 April, you will be invited to the grand London launch as our guest, with all that that entails (book, goodie bag, drinks reception, etc.) but without having to stump up £100 for the privilege yourself. (You must arrange and pay for your travel to London.)

And that's it!

So check out the Clemency Slaughter Kickstarter page, Facebook page, and blog, get thinking, and good luck!

B is for Book

Quite clearly... But imagine owning this book in particular!

If you are reading this blog post, then you have probably already backed the Clemency Slaughter Kickstarter, or you're thinking about supporting it, or you've followed a link from Twitter or Facebook, wondering what this Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath thing is.

Well, in a nutshell, it's a book, written by Jonathan Green (me) and fully illustrated by Tom Brown (the artist behind the Professor Elemental comic and the creator of Hopeless, Maine), due to be published by Steel Quill Books, a new imprint of NewCon Press.

At first it appears to be a children's book, but in reality it is something much darker and more adult. Children of all ages will enjoy its mix of macabre humour and beautiful illustration - and you can become the proud owner of one (as long as the project funds) if you pledge £12 or more here.

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath - The Artist's Tale

Tom Brown (the masterful artist behind the beautiful illustrations in Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath) posted this on his DeviantArt page the other day...


Nimue and I attended Weekend at the Asylum last year in Lincoln. (One of the best steampunk events I have ever been a guest at!) One of the high points was meeting a splendid bloke by the name of Jonathan Green (he was at a table near ours). Being new to the English steampunk scene, I was not yet aware of exactly who this was I was chatting with so very casually. (Likewise Robert Rankin... but that's another story. As well I didn't know who he was at the time or I would have been far less articulate!)

Right... back to our story. Talked with the esteemed Mr Green, showed him some of the art and generally schmoozed. The second time I visited his table (he was very approachable and flawlessly polite, all the things a gentleman of letters should be!) I looked down at the books stacked before him and realised that this was a widely published and prolific writer. Before leaving I purchased from him the first three books in Pax Britannia: Ulysses Quicksilver series. I had a feeling that this would be a portentous meeting (and so, as it turned out, it was).

After we recovered from the weekend, I began reading Pax Britannia. Dead. Freaking. Brilliant. (Don't take my word for it, Google it. Read a few reviews.) I started stalking Mr Green (in a gentlemanly and platonic sort of way, naturally). He is everywhere and he has done everything (and very, very well indeed). I contacted him and praised Pax Britannia, and asked if he might be interested in working on something together. As it happened, he was!

He pitched two projects to me within the hour, and I picked, what would later become Clemency Slaughter. Within a day... it was written! (And unsurprisingly, sinister, stylish and deucedly clever.) I provided some drawings, a sample illustration and a finished cover. We then (OK, Jon really; he is better with the words and knows more publishers on this side of the pond) started sending queries off to large, posh publishers. The replies came back, that though THEY (the editors) loved it, they were pretty sure that YOU would not be ready for such a book, as it does not fit tidily into a pre-established category.

At last, Jon contacted Ian Whates at NewCon Press. Ian was very interested and wanted to see the book published (still does!) but had not done a graphic novel style book before, and the book would have to be run through Kickstarter, with NewCon to publish at successful completion of the Kickstarter campaign.

Here, now, we get to the good part. This campaign is taking place... at this very moment! There are lots of incentives (including signed copies of Hopeless, Maine and Pax Britannia. The chance to attend a posh London book launch, original art from me, and cunning skull-ish jewellery (based on one of the designs I did for the art from the book).

You can be a part of this! Pre-order the book, and help unleash Clemency Slaughter on an unsuspecting world! Art for the project is in my gallery, and the Kickstarter campaign (including wonderful footage of Jon in a creepy London cemetery) can be found here.

Hope to see you at the launch or hear from you soon!

Love and dark unnamed things,

Tom

The Big Push

Today - 13th March 2013 - marks the beginning of the Big Push for the Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath Kickstarter.

Artist Tom Brown, publisher Ian Whates, and myself, want to bring you the tale of Miss Clemency Slaughter, her ill-fated family, and the legacy of Lord Daedalus Drummond D'Eath that awaits whoever is lucky (or unlucky) enough to inherit in the end. But we can only accomplish this task with your support, via Kickstarter.

We have a host of wonderful rewards on offer, including original artwork, invitations to a launch party, signed books, and bespoke jewellery. Bids start at only £2 and there's even going to be a digital version of this macabre picture book, as long as we achieve our funding goal of £7,500.

So now it's up to you. Please 'Like' our Facebook page, pledge your support via the Kickstarter page, and then tell all your friends via the medium of social media - and not just today, but every day! That's how we'll draw in the new backers we'll need to make this project happen.

We have until 1.00pm (1300 hours) on the 13th April to achieve our goal, or Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath may never see the light of day at all...

Welcome to Steel Quill Books!

I am very pleased to be able to announce that Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath will be published through Newcon Press's new imprint Steel Quill Books - just so long as the Kickstarter project funds.

In other news, I've been busy putting together the Kickstarter video, which features more of Tom Brown's gorgeous gothic artwork.

Postcards from the Edge

Or, more precisely, Vistaprint. I shall be taking these to the Sci-Fi Weekender to help promote our forthcoming project and Newcon Press may well have some at EasterCon too.

If you're visiting North Wales next week, do stop by my stand, pick up a postcard, and pledge your support!

Coming soon...

 

'Like' the Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath Facebook page and show your support for one of the most unusual graphic novel projects of 2013.

And you know what they say about the number 13...