The Kickstarter campaign for Shapers of Worlds Volume IV for the fourth annual anthology featuring some of the top writers of science fiction and fantasy working today, all of whom were guests on my Aurora Award-winning podcast, The Worldshapers, succeeded, topping out at $15,504 (the goal was $12,000). That means the book is a go!
Shapers of Worlds Volume IV will feature new fiction from David Boop, Michaelbrent Collings, Roy M. Griffis, Sarah A. Hoyt, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Noah Lemelson, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Edward M. Lerner, David Liss, Gail Z. Martin, Joshua Palmatier, Richard Paolinelli, Jean-Louis Trudel, James van Pelt, Garon Whited, and Edward Willett, plus reprints by James Kennedy, R.S. Mellette, and Lavie Tidhar. Among those authors are several international bestsellers, as well as winners and nominees for every major science fiction and fantasy literary award.
While the goal was reached, the campaign fell a bit short of the $17,000 stretch goal to have the anthology illustrated, with a new black-and-white drawing for each story from Calgary, Alberta artist Wendi Nordell, who has illustrated numerous books for regional publishers including Edward Willett’s science-fiction and fantasy poetry collection, I Tumble Through the Diamond Dust.
The anthology WILL be illustrated, but to what degree depends on the success of a secondary supplemental crowdsourcing campaign running through the end of May, over on Crowdfundr.
This campaign has fewer but more focused backers’ rewards, and unlike a Kickstarter campaign, it’s not all-or-nothing: every dollar raised will go toward ensuring more full-page illustrations for the anthology.
Check out the campaign and donate here!
Thank you for your support!
