Dark Dominions: An Anthology Preview and a Kickstarter

UPDATE: UNFORTUNATELY SINCE THIS WAS POSTED THE KICKSTARTER PROJECT WAS CANCELLED. 

Today I have something a bit different, a look at an upcoming fantasy anthology and its Kickstarter project. Enjoy.

A Fantasy Anthology.

Assassins. Knights. Crooks. And Villainous Heroes.

Fantasy storytelling at its best. Rich with 18 new and original tales by emerging and award-winning fantasy authors alike including MORGAN WRIGHT, DAVID COLLINS, NICOLE SCARANO, JAMES STEVENS, LUCY SPOONER, LIONEL RAY GREEN, JESSICA MARIE BAUMGARTNER, and JOSHUA ROBERTSON, these stories bring us tales of fear, courage, love and sacrifice in worlds of death and tyranny.

Pave the way for indomitable male and female characters. Principled assassins, gifted orphans of fire-wielding warrior bloodlines, high priestesses in possession of magical ink, and sisters born of blood, war and cruelty.

Lies. Hidden secrets. Truths to be unravelled.

Join us in worlds where a forest is marked by death, both for those who enter and those who survive it. Where a warrior as old as time is resurrected to not only fight the darkest of foes but also to come to terms with whom she has now become. Where a prime assassin who has never missed a mark begins a dance with his most elusive target yet, a mysterious and alluring witch. Where an elf knight is able to influence real-life events through magical tapestries. And where a young princess encounters danger and deception amid a border war where defeat means the end of her freedom and the ruin of her kingdom.

Welcome to Dark Dominions

About the Project

1. Summary - What is Dark Dominions?

Dark Dominions is one of the first Fantasy short story anthologies in support of gender equality. Nine male and nine female authors present new and original tales of fiction featuring strong male and female characters. You’ll find no “damsels-in-distress” within its pages. Rather, Dark Dominions takes its readers on journeys of magic, self- discovery, war, love and betrayal in worlds concocted by the imagination of incredibly talented writers including Mike Jansen, Morgan Wright, Michael Mitchell Jr., Nicole Scarano, Joshua Robertson, Kristin Clarke and David Collins.
This anthology will be WriterWriter’s first official step into publishing with an epic collection of fantasy short stories from emerging and award-winning writers alike.
By backing their Kickstarter campaign you will not only be supporting one of the first anthologies in support of gender equality but you will be rewarded for your pledge by any number of special rewards available including: early release copies, limited edition copies, Kickstarter exclusive bookmarks, limited edition bookmarks, book acknowledgements, and a backers-only forum where backers will be directly involved with the creative process, converse with the creators and contributors and be the only ones to get “a-behind-the- scenes” in the making of Dark Dominions.


2. Why Gender Equality?

Because this is something they’re passionate about. In publishing, the idea remains that women can’t write as well as men, especially not male-dominated fields such as fantasy or science-fiction.
The Founders of WriterWriter want to prove them wrong.
How they’re going to do that:

- 50% of their authors will be male and 50% of their authors will be female.

- Both genders will be treated equally and paid equally (no preferential treatment).

- The anthology will feature both strong male and strong female characters.

- The Founders of WriterWriter (writer-writer.com) themselves are male and female, and both consider each other equals. As an extra, Morgan (the female founder) advocates for the “working woman” and some of our other female authors represent the “career mother”. We often hear people use these terms in a derogatory way, as if it’s wrong for a woman to strive for a successful career. This is a traditional bias that still remains and they want to discard that. They believe a woman can have both a family and a successful career. You never hear people say things like this about men. As such, it shouldn’t be said at all.


3. Stretch Goals- What are they and what will these achieve?

Kickstarter stretch goals are goals you reach beyond your target goal, meaning that if one has a goal of say $8000 but they reach $9000 instead, the extra $1000 will go towards completing specific stretch goals.

These are the stretch goals for Dark Dominions:

• Pay Raise for all contributors

• Extra illustrations (means an image for each story in the anthology)

• Extra Stories (one stretch goal for every 2 unlocked stories- means an even bigger an anthology)

• Audiobook

• Small Print Run (200-500 copies)

• Translations (in 4 languages- Spanish, Dutch, French and German)


4. Publishing the Anthology

If there are no unforeseen delays, these are the current publishing dates they have in mind.

- Preorder: September 9

- Official Launch when the book becomes available in ebook, paperback and hardback: November 5


5. Key Dates

Kickstarter Launch Date: March 1, 2019

Kickstarter End Date: April 2, 2019


6. Featured Authors

Women:

- Morgan Wright

- Nicole Scarano

- L. Spooner

- Toni Adwell

- Jessica Marie Baumgartner

- Sherry Leclerc

- Kristin Clarke

- (Two Women Still Undecided)


Men:

- David Collins

- Lionel Ray Green

- Cal P. Logan

- Michael Mitchell Junior

- James Stevens

- Mike Jansen

- Kevin Potter

- Darren Edden

- Joshua Robertson


7. Book Illustrations by

- Mike Cook (also our Cover Artist)

- Inya Serban

- Michael Mitchell

- Lara Calleja

Check out the Kickstarter Project

What Is WriterWriter?

WriterWriter was launched in September 2018, born through the friendship of two like-minded writers who wanted to offer more to the writing community than what was currently available.
And the thing WriterWriter is most known for is its writing competitions with no limits, allowing multiple submissions to other publications so writers aren’t bound by the metaphorical chains of time (raising their chances of gaining publication faster), allowing simultaneous submissions to increase writers’ chances of winning.
Morgan Wright and David Collins teamed up to create a platform to share writer’s works- publishing short stories on their website, offering advice and inspiration for aspiring authors, offering unlimited opportunities for author interviews and book promotions and provide regular writing competitions to keep writers writing.
WriterWriter is most active on Twitter as @byWriterWriter.