On Thursday, my Borg Like Me project achieved the trifecta of Kickstarter staff love. I had already been chosen as a Publishing page Staff Pick and for a coveted front page Staff Pick of the Day (last Thursday). And then came the KS big brass ring: coverage in the “Projects We Love” mailing they do each week, where they choose three projects and explain why they think you should support them. The response was immediate and intense. The KS pledge alert on my phone started chiming seemingly every few minutes. I even got a $500 pledge! So exciting. As a result of this latest spike, I am now sitting just shy of $11,000 (72% funded), very close to my base goal and that much closer to my desired stretch of $30K.
New Pledge Levels
I’ve added two new pledge levels and replenished another:
The Eros Part – The subtitle of my book is “& Other Tales of Art, Eros, and Embedded Systems.” These four words neatly bundle my main life and professional concerns: (Art) all forms of creative expression, (Eros) explorations of love and the sensual world, and (Embedded Systems) science and technology. The book will have articles about my coming of age, falling in love with my late wife, and several breathless odes to women and divine beauty. But over the course of my career, I’ve published a number of articles (and written many unpublished pieces) that more deeply explore love and sex. I was not comfortable putting this material in the book, but I felt like I couldn’t accurately draw a map of of my journey over the past three decades and not cover this territory — at least to make it available to those who are interested. So, for an $85 pledge, in addition to the print and digital editions, you will also get a digital bundle (edited, introduced, designed like the rest of the book) of at least five pieces (likely more), both previously published and new material, that more unguardedly explore “the Eros Part.” Decidedly NSFW.
Gar’s Magazine Collectors Pack #3 – The pledge bundles of magazines that I wrote/edited for have been popular. Since I only have a limited number of copies, they sell out quickly. The latest bundle, for a $90 pledge, includes the 24-page Beyond Cyberpunk! comic I did with Mark Frauenfelder, issues 8 & 9 of Mondo 2000, and issues 9, 12, 13 of print bOING bOING. This is a particularly special bundle because it includes the extremely rare 1992 bOING bOING #9. This was a flip cover issue with BB’s Mondo 2000 spoof as one half of the magazine. It’s also the issue in which I announced that my art+tech zine, Going Going, was ceasing publication, but would live on as a column in bOING bOING. The cover for this issue was illustrated by Danny Hellman and he’s going to be contributing to Borg Like Me (if we reach the $30K Artists/Illustrators stretch goal). Below you can see the covers and a silly piece I did (as my alter ego Garnet Baldwyn).
Beyond Cyberpunk! Collectors Pack – This weekend, I found ten additional copies of Beyond Cyberpunk! in my attic, so I have re-opened that $150 pledge level. These are the last ten copies likely in the world, so get one while you can.
BTW: For people who are new to Kickstarter, you can change your pledge level at any time. You can add the amount to your pledge to include additional items you want (just increase you pledge by that amount) or you can up-convert to a higher pledge level simply by selecting that level under the Manage Your Pledge button. After the campaign is over, you’ll get a form from me where you make explicit what you want for the amount you pledged. Let me know if you have questions. I know that a number of my backers are first-time Kickstarter users.
mONDO-mONDO
Here are the flip covers for issue 09 of bOING bOING, which was our Mondo 2000 spoof issue. mONDO-mONDO boasts articles by R.U. Delirious, Garnet Baldwyg, St. Lewd, Mycheal Dymergy, Das Guten Morgan, and more.
The covers are followed by Garnet Baldwyg’s “Street Drek” column on Virtual Neural Jacks (they’re dangerous as hell, they don’t do anything, but they sure look cool). I love the way Mark Frauenfelder aped Mondo 2000s design and I love the little “m&m” dingbat at the end of the articles, a clever combo of the bOING bOING end-article cartoon bomb and Mondo’s “M2” dingbat. It’s the little things.
I have 8 copies of this issue available in Magazine Collector’s Pack #3.
Mind Bone: Gareth Branwyn's Blog 