March Grocery Fund Update
As I write this, the Grocery Fund for March sits at $69.63, pretty far short of its $300 goal. That's quite a drop off, considering that we reached the goal in both January and February, but there are a couple of reasons not to panic!
1) The Special People IndieGoGo campaign has been running this month (and will still be going next month), so I've been directing people's attention towards that quite a bit. Some funds that might have been used to buy things from the Store or left as donations have gone towards the fundraiser, instead, and that's great!
2) I'm not counting in-person sales/preorders of DISCOVERY towards the Grocery Fund until I receive payment for them. The books haven't arrived yet, but they should be hitting my doorstep in the next couple of days. Once I start putting them into people's hands and getting paid for them, those sales will get counted towards the Grocery Fund. They'll probably get counted towards April instead of March, though.
Thank you to everyone who has been chipping in, whether that's to the Grocery Fund or the Special People fundraiser. We're still only in the third month of this crazy ride, so there are plenty of good things to come, and lots of growth to go through!
Edit: As of March 30, some unanticipated generosity has pushed us much closer to the $300 goal. Hooray, and thank you!
DISCOVERY
Do you prefer to hold books in your hands and see them on your shelf, rather than reading them off a screen? I know I do!
Now's your chance to do exactly that with my newest print offering, DISCOVERY. This is the first quarterly Year of Stories print collection. It contains 13 stories and is about 200 pages long. Here's the blurb from the Store page:
The first three months of Tim Sevenhuysen's Year of Stories project are packed with real human characters making their way through fantastic challenges and strange worlds. From outer space to the high seas, from the far reaches of the future to an ancient kingdom torn by war, your journey will carry you to places of wonder and terror, hope and heartache, victory and defeat.
DISCOVERY contains 13 short stories, notably including Diana and the Animal, A Kingdom of White, Darla, Dragon Hunter, and Unsettled, as released on TimSevenhuysen.com between January and March 2012.
You can preorder your very own copy of DISCOVERY right now for $11.99. The proof is in the mail on its way to me right now, and I hope to officially release the book and start shipping people's orders by mid-March.
If you've been looking for a good way to contribute to the Grocery Fund, maybe this is the right option for you!
If you live in Victoria (or will be in Victoria at some point) and would prefer not to pay shipping, send me an email and let me know you'd like a copy, and we can work out arrangements for how to get the book in your hands. (That goes for friends and family, too!)
The number of preorders I get will affect how many I have printed in the first run, so please place your order sooner rather than later and help me save on the shipping. Thanks!
Flare Fiction: Volume 2
It's here! My latest chapbook, Flare Fiction: Volume 2, is now available in the Store, for whatever price you wish to pay.
Here's a little bit of information about the collection:
These stories are experiments, in a lot of ways. Can Imaginary Enemy get you to care about the plight of an imaginative young boy in less than a page and a half? Can A Brain Well-Watered encapsulate the creative process in only 315 words, and inspire you to go searching after your own fresh inspiration? Can A Long Story make you laugh the first time you read it, and sigh with pity the second? These are the kinds of challenges I set for myself as an author. You, as readers, are my audience, my targets, my judges, and often my inspirations.
As with my previous chapbooks, you can set your own price by adjusting the "quantity" of dollars and cents while you're ordering.
Flare Fiction 2 is also available to grab from Amazon for 99¢.
If you read and enjoy the collection, please head over to Amazon and leave a review! Reviews really help other people find my work, so your thoughts and comments are very much appreciated.
February Year of Stories Collection Now Available
I'm a little bit late in getting this out there, but you can now get your hands on the full February collection of the Year of Stories for just $2.99, which is 25% cheaper than buying each story individually, plus you get to read them all sooner!
The four February stories are as follows:
Darla, Dragon Hunter
My "friends" think I'm a paralegal. I amuse myself sometimes by wondering what they would say if they found out that a couple of times a month I exchange my pantsuit for camo gear and a high-tech sniper rifle and hunt dragons. They'd probably think I was joking. Fine by me.
Escape Velocity
I thought stasis would be like sleeping. I thought I’d simply close my eyes on Earth and when I opened them I'd be a hundred light-years away, with no memory of the intervening time or the immense distance I had travelled. I thought stasis would be an escape, but I've spent the absent infinity of our voyage through space exploring the inside of my own head, reliving every one of those moments, those days, those joys, those sorrows.
Captain Blackbird and the Mutineers
It's a beautiful day to be a pirate, as far as Captain Blackbird is concerned, but it seems his crew feels differently. They're sick of getting scurvy and going weeks without finding any treasure! When they take a stand and threaten mutiny, Captain Blackbird knows there's only one solution: it's time to go hunting for treasure in the treacherous caves of Gorgon Isle!
Jary's Got a Gun
On the morning Jary Tomlin finds the world's last remaining gun, he and his wife are having an argument in the kitchen. They're being evicted, and Jary can't imagine how life could possibly get much worse. Then he accidentally knocks a hole in the wall of the garage, and "worse" is exactly what he finds hidden inside.
Enjoy!
Year of Stories Week 5
Welcome to week 5 of the Year of Stories!
Free this week is Memoirs of the Model Agent: How I Rescued Mr. Dimbles. This 2,100-word science fiction action comedy is now available to read for free or to buy in the Store. Here's the synopsis:
You probably know me from the ad campaigns. I've been the face of the Chancellorate's Security Forces for two or three years, now. "The Model Agent," they call me. I've decided to share a few of the stories that haven't been told about me before. I'm not calling anyone a liar; I'm not here to "set the records straight." I just want to be represented on my own terms. I want to balance the scales a little, so you can see the bad with the good. Why don't I start near the beginning?
The highlighted Store release for this week is Darla, Dragon-Hunter. It's a 5,700-word sci-fi action story. Read it now for only $0.99! Here's a teaser:
My "friends" think I'm a paralegal. I amuse myself sometimes by wondering what they would say if they found out that a couple of times a month I exchange my pantsuit for camo gear and a high-tech sniper rifle and hunt dragons. They'd probably think I was joking. Fine by me.
To read previously released stories, check out the Year of Stories page.
Special People
Special People is serialized superhero fiction with a fistful of twists.
Special people have special problems.
BECOMING
The second quarter of the Year of Stories has arrived in print! BECOMING contains over 200 pages of great short stories for only $11.99. Order yours now.
DISCOVERY
Prefer the feel of paper to the look of a screen? DISCOVERY is the first quarterly Year of Stories print book. You get nearly 200 pages of exciting fiction for only $11.99! Grab your copy now.
Galloway’s Hunt
Galloway's Hunt is a novelette set in the world of Galloway's Voyage, my work-in-progress novel based on the same title character. Buy it now for only 99¢!
Losing Freight
Losing Freight is a serialized sci-fi novel where you get to vote on what happens next at the end of every page.