The Man Who Married Himself: stories & raised-ink art prints

Wait, what?
almost 4 years ago – Mon, May 09, 2022 at 02:06:58 PM

Wow! I was going to do an update saying that we're already close to the £1,500 stretch goal, but we've sailed right past it! Thank you all so much for your support! My heart has grown three sizes this day.

That means there are now SEVEN stunning raised-ink illustrations to choose from if you're getting any art prints. You can see all seven on the main campaign page. Remember, you can always change your pledge to add art prints now or at the end of the campaign.

Here's the newly added illustration. It's for my story "The Unintended Consequences of Driverless Cars", which I wrote while I was working in stakeholder relations for the taxi and private hire trade in London. My job included running a Twitter feed to publish regulatory information and help drivers with licensing queries. That was right at the peak of Uber’s rowdy disruption of the industry. I have a huge amount of respect for taxi drivers, but their behaviour on social media was often execrable, and I wrote this story as a gently teasing revenge.

The next stretch goal (the final one I'd planned) will be to make an 8th illustration available to select as a raised-ink art print. Keep an eye on a future project update, where I'll ask you to vote for your favourite!

There are now SIX illustrations to choose from for the raised-ink art prints, and we're already close to the BIGGEST stretch goal - thank you!
almost 4 years ago – Mon, May 02, 2022 at 05:33:38 AM

I cannot tell you how grateful and excited I am about your support for this campaign. We've sailed through the second stretch goal - which means there are now six illustrations to choose from for the raised-ink art prints. If there's a new illustration you like, you can always adjust your pledge to include a print of it.

And we're already so close to the biggest stretch goal: At £1000 (UK money) every single copy of the book will include two additional stories. I've been wanting to publish a collection of my stories for so many years, and reaching this goal will mean I can make it exactly as I had hoped. So, THANK YOU for helping me make my dream come true!

I admire authors who can publish a new collection of stories every couple of years, but that's not what this is - this is bigger than that. It's a Greatest Hits. A highlight reel from twenty years of writing. Each story has a piece of my soul poured into it. Each story is deeply meaningful to me, and many of them have had a surprising life of their own as other people have translated them, adapted them into short films, used them in speech competitions, taught them in schools, and made them their own.

Your support allows me to self-publish this book, which means I can do things I wouldn't otherwise have been able to. For example, after each story in the book, I've written a brief reflection on what inspired the story, where it's been published and what effect it had, and why I love it.

Stories like how I was inspired to write Death by Scrabble:

I used to play high-stakes Scrabble with my girlfriend at university. We had a list of dares – if our combined score at the end of the game was low the loser would have to do an easy dare like doing everyone’s washing up; but if our combined score was high the loser had to do something severe. One particular game, I lost, and that's why I have a Scrabble-tiles tattoo. Decades later we’re married with two kids, so that worked.

Oh, and check it out - Kickstarter have selected this as a "Project We Love"!

First stretch goal met - another illustration to choose from!
almost 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 23, 2022 at 10:52:20 AM

Thank you all SO MUCH for supporting this campaign. I'm thrilled that we've already met the first stretch goal! On the main page, I've added another illustration that you'll be able to choose from if you're pledging to receive any raised-ink art prints.

The next stretch goal is £750 of funding - if we hit that target, I'll add the illustration below as another option for the raised-ink art prints. The set-up cost for thermographic (raised-ink) printing is huge - only if I'm printing a decent number of these does the per-print cost come down. Hence why I'm excited about these stretch goals, because each one we pass will allow me to print more images.

The illustration below is for my story Killing Mildred, which I wrote when I was working in a care home, to try and make sense of my feelings of guilt the first time I ever saw a dead person.

This collection more or less alternates between funny and serious stories, and I've counted Killing Mildred as a serious story, even though it has moments of comedy. I often find that comedy can be disarming - if you're laughing, you're wide open - meaning that the story's emotional core hits harder when it comes.

Yvette Gilbert's wonderful illustration for this very personal story is an absolute delight. I'm so impressed at the little details - the characterful face, the gothic chair, the shelf full of ominous memento mori, the framed photos which are mentioned in the story. I love it!

So, please keep sharing this campaign to help reach more stretch goals!

Funded in 6 hours!
almost 4 years ago – Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 06:15:18 AM

Dear Early Backers,

Thank you so much for your support - we've reached the funding goal already! I've poured my heart and soul into this book, and I'm over the moon that it will get printed.

In fact, we're well on the way to the first stretch goal. If this project reaches £500 in funding, I will add another illustration to choose from for the raised-ink art prints.

This illustration is for my story "Culture Sculptor", which is a noir detective story set in 1990s Los Angeles, about a washed up private investigator that stumbles on an epic conspiracy to murder celebrities in their prime.

So, please spread the word and let's get more backers on board!

All the best,

Charlie Fish