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Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery

Created by Brackenbury Books

Two novellas, bound in one book. Mongol-inspired Sword & Sorcery. A claustrophobic, pressure-cooker siege, and a caravan striking out under an open desert sky. Orhan the Snow Leopard and Goatskin the nomad. Dariel Quiogue and Bryn Hammond.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

97% FUNDED, HARDCOVERS ALMOST GONE, and A SECRET MUSICAL GUEST!
about 2 months ago – Mon, Oct 14, 2024 at 09:00:31 AM



Not backed or shared us yet? We're close enough now that you could be the one to get us to 100%!

It would be amazing to fund soon and begin racing toward our first stretch goal - Spray Color Edges. When we get there we'll do a poll so that our backers can choose what color to paint the edges of Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery's pages.

FUN FACTS
  • If you'd like the hardcover edition, then you definitely want to grab it during the crowdfund. Ninety of the one hundred planned copies have already been claimed!

  • Oliver, our publisher, has had all three of his short story editing slots taken, but he can still look at one novella manuscript and there are still a few story critiques available with Bryn & Dariel.

  • This Friday at 7pm EST we'll be doing our final livestream and it features A SECRET MUSICAL GUEST. Yup, there'll be live music! It will play right here on the campaign page, at the top where the trailer sits.

ONE WEEK LEFT, 90% FUNDING, and HOW WOULD YOU DEFEND A CITY UNDER A SIEGE?
2 months ago – Sat, Oct 12, 2024 at 08:13:09 AM




DON'T FORGET


Big thanks to everyone who's backed and shared us. If you haven't already, please consider it. We're so close! 

85% Funded, 250 Backers, Bonus Story: UNLOCKED, and More!
2 months ago – Thu, Oct 03, 2024 at 01:22:55 PM

IN SHORT

  • You all just unlocked a bonus Orhan the Snow Leopard short story!: "The Shaman's Blood Price", a 7000 word tale that adds extra dimension to Dariel's novella, will now be added in digital formats to all backer's pledges.

  • The book has had some more press you can check out: Dariel was interviewed about his writing career at large on Liam's Lyceum - https://youtu.be/oUjnvmgohB4?si=ko5NTrXfKMIxb-vp

    He also chatted with the fine folks at the Infinite Library podcast, available here and all the usual places good podcasts can be found - https://youtu.be/mafXqSQYLFk?si=gYrqh_wd_FeUvdEi

  • Tonight at 7pm EST we're livestreaming a Double-Edged Short Story Panel Discussion, covering one Orhan story and one Goatskin story! You can watch it right here on our campaign page, where the trailer sits.

  • We've just hit...

IN DETAIL



So yes, having cleared 250 backers, all crowdfund backers, and only our crowdfund backers, will receive a bonus Orhan the Snow Leopard story by Dariel R.A. Quiogue, called "The Shaman's Blood Price", that ties loosely into WALLS OF SHIRA YULUN.

Next up? Bonus poetry related to WASTE FLOWERS as written by Bryn Hammond, should we hit 300 backers. With a little over two weeks in the campaign, this feels quite doable!



Word of the book continues to spread, with two more interviews (On Liam's Lyceum and Infinite Library) and hopefully more on the way. If you know anybody with a suitable blog, podcast, booktube channel, or any other venue that might be keen in chatting with us...well, honestly that's our job to take care of, but we really like the graphic we made with a "Press" hat on the smiling camel, so here we are.


MEANWHILE

TONIGHT

AT 7pm EST

Our publisher, Oliver, will be joined by Kevin Beckett (Just the Axe, Ma'am), Jay Wolf (Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes), and Kirk Johnson (The Obanaax) for a Double-Edged Short Story panel discussion. The two stories they'll be covering?

"Sister Chaos" by Bryn Hammond (New Edge Sword & Sorcery #1)
&
"The Demon of Tashi Tzang" by Dariel R.A. Quiogue (New Edge Sword & Sorcery #2)

You don't have to have read them to enjoy the chat, but there will be spoilers as we use these two stories to explore what makes the writing of these authors so damn good.

You can watch the stream on YouTube or on our campaign page.

THAT'S IT FOR NOW

Thanks again to you all for backing & sharing, we don't take it for granted!

REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS: People are talking about Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery!
3 months ago – Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 08:49:49 AM

Since the crowdfund launched we've been lucky enough to have the following coverage of our book:


If you know anybody who might like to interview our authors, review an advance copy of the novellas, or otherwise help spread the good word then please let us know!

Heck, we're only 16 backers away from unlocking a bonus Orhan story just for our backers...

50% funded, Author Interviews, How We're Printing the Book, and ONWARD TO 100%!
3 months ago – Sat, Sep 21, 2024 at 08:25:51 AM


IN SHORT

  • Yesterday afternoon we crossed the halfway mark. Thanks so much to you all for backing & sharing!

  • On Thursday we interviewed Dariel R.A. Quiogue and you can watch that on Youtube.

  • What characters, authors, or both would you like to see paired in a Double? Share your thoughts, and see other people's pairings, on our Community Tab.

  • DON'T FORGET: Backers aren't charged until the end of the campaign, and you won't be charged for shipping until about a month before fulfillment.

  • Did you know this book is being traditionally printed? Read "In Detail" for more on why, and how you benefit.


IN DETAIL

We actually hit 50% funding yesterday afternoon but dang, it's been so wild it took until now to write this update!

We've also done a banger of an interview with one of our authors, Dariel Quiogue, that covered things like his inspiration for Walls of Shira Yulun, his approach to balancing historical fact with the needs of his fiction, as well as which video game helps him write better battle scenes! You can watch it on Youtube, and look forward to an interview later next week with our other author, Bryn Hammond.

Thank you so much to everyone for backing & sharing. If you're seeing this and haven't backed yet, don't forget:
 
  • You aren't charged for the book until shortly after the campaign ends, on Oct 19th.

  • You aren't charged for shipping until about a month before fulfillment, so likely early 2025. That spreads the cost out nicely!

  • If you pledge for a physical format, you'll be getting a beautiful, traditionally printed book. Why's that matter? Well...

WHY IS DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD & SORCERY TRADITIONALLY PRINTED?


Like New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine (available at a discount in Add-Ons!), this book is traditionally printed.  We thought we'd swing at the higher funding goal this created because:

  • IT'S BETTER FOR A DOUBLE'S FORMAT: In terms of layout we can do whatever we want - with Amazon we'd be forced to stick a big, ugly ISBN bar code on one of the two covers! Imagine following the trail of the caravan on Waste Flowers' cover and then wham, bar code.

  • MORE OPTIONS: This is why the hardcovers have lay-flat stitch binding & bookmark ribbons, and we can do stretch goals like spray color edges or our full color, two page art insert by Sajan Rai. None of this would be possible with Amazon POD.

  • WE CAN PAY OUR AUTHORS BETTER: This gets a tad technical but....because royalties are a percentage of the profit on each book, it's better for everybody if we do trad print because once the print run is paid for, each book starts at 100% sticker cost before you start making deductions.

    Thus the author royalties are calculated from a higher net profit per book, putting more in their pocket! It also helps increase Brackenbury Books' odds of surviving to keep hiring authors & artists while making more great books for y'all to enjoy.

    With POD you're always starting making deductions at less than 100% because there is no print run to pay off - you're paying Amazon a chunk right off the bat for every copy's printing for all eternity.

So yes, the more we can do traditional printing the better!

Now let's charge...