So I passed out a few business cards at WorldCon and the word has slowly been leaking out but here’s the offical announcement…
Crudrat is coming!
OK, so we hope Crudrat is coming.
We’ve begun a Kickstarter for a full cast audiobook of my pet YA sci-fi project chronicling a tough young woman in space.
Crudrat may be familiar to you as the formerly-referred-to-on-this-blog as Girl Ass Kicks Everything In Space. I posted about it in the project files for a while there, a few years ago. So, I’m hoping you are now rife with questions.
Many of your questions are answered in the most awesome video for the kickstarter. But below are a few in detail for those of you who prefer to read.
1. Why did you write this book?
When I was a young reader I felt that the barrier to entry for a female to read sci-fi was too high. I couldn’t identify with the main characters or the style of writing. I picked up Fantasy fast because of authors like Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce but it took me much longer to learn to love science fiction (despite being a science geek) because I felt I had nothing in common with the main characters. I waited for someone to write this book. Someone with a strong female voice. And then gave up and wrote it myself.
2. Why aren’t you writing our next Parasol book instead?
Crudrat was finished years ago, don’t worry it’s not distracting me. Right now I’m working hard to complete the Finishing School series so I can turn my attention to the Parasol Protectorate Abroad books. Everything is on schedule. Trust me, I am genuinely typing as fast as I can without burning out. Sometimes a girl needs a breather.
3. Why an Audiobook?
I happen to adore audiobooks and am an avowed podcast addict. I consume most of my day to day information via podcasts these days. I think the narrative voice in Crudrat favors audio. Most of my books do. You see I grew up without a television listening to books on tape. I read at least one draft of every book I write out load. For me audio is an intimate part of the author’s medium.
4. Why the kickstarter?
Because of #2. This book is very dear to me and so different from my Parasol Protectorate universe, Crudrat gave me an opportunity to stretch my writing muscles in different ways but I can’t take the time to produce this book myself. Publishers aren’t interested in it but I happen to love it. So does Dan of Artistic Whispers Productions. He offered to whisk it away into a full cast audio. However, I want Dan and the talent to be compensated for their time, hence the kickstarter. This is a way for me to pass the project over to someone I trust, so that I can continue writing and make my deadlines for you.
5. What should I expect from Crudrat?
A fantastically smart, capable, and independent outcast wreaking havoc on a space station in order to save a big fuzzy alien. I’m melding such desperate elements as child labor in the UK cotton mills of the industrial revolution, caste systems of Ancient India, and little known cultural aspects of the Wari of Highland Peru. Oh and lots of Parkour. And blue hair.
Crudrat is nothing like the Parasol Protectorate or the Finishing School series except that it takes a smart young woman and places her in extraordinary circumstances. It’s not steampunk and it’s not a comedy of manners. Yes there’s the expected witty quips, it is me after all, but adrenaline is high and murmel’s are screaming, so there isn’t much time to sit and sip tea.
6. A little more please?
My best friend and I came up with the science behind the space station and space travel of Crudrat when we were in high school and the universe has been percolating in my brain for nearly 20 years.
If you are (or were) a young woman who dislikes science fiction, who isn’t inclined to read it, and who never understood the appeal, I wrote this book for you.
7. But I want to read your books, not listen to them.
One of the kickstarter rewards is a limited edition publication of the book, and another includes an ebook version. And if the kickstarter does well and people seem to like the book who knows… a publisher could take interest. Or I could build some time into my schedule to type set it and put it out there myself (always remembering that you need your Parasol Protectorate fix).
* Gail from the future says: this has changed as of 2022!
If you want more about Crudrat go ahead and poke about the website. There’s a lot there about the project and the universe. You can sign up for the newsletter if you’d like to stay abreast of the latest information. As I said, I have passed off production and such to Dan, so you’ll get an occasional blog here, but mostly it’s in his capable hands. You can ask him any questions you would like.
Or, if you’d prefer you can leave a question bellow and I will . . . eventually . . . formulate another blog post on the subject. I’m awful slow to respond to things these days, for which I apologize, remember those deadlines we talked about?
GAIL’S DAILY DOSE
Your Moment of Parasol . . .
Your Infusion of Cute . . .
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| via Brian Kesinger’s Tea Girls FB |
Your Tisane of Smart . . .
I wrote Crudrat a while ago, before Parkour was everywhere, but in line with that please enjoy this YouTube: Assassin’s Creed Meets Parkour
Your Writerly Tinctures . . .
Pornokitch on what is science fiction?
Book News:
Go, find out more on the Kickstarter.
Also here’s Dan and Kitty talking about making that fantastic kickstarter video via podcast on The Next Ten Thousand Hours, Ep 02.
Quote of the Day:
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”
~ E. M. Forster
Tags: Audiobook, CRUDRAT, Tinkered Stars