POSTCARDS FROM IMPOSSIBLE WORLDS // The Shortest Story
Created by Peter Chiykowski
A book of 88 stunning micro-stories written as postcards from strange worlds and alternate lives, featuring the voice of Cecil Baldwin
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Book printing + animated video #1 + guest-of-the-month line-up + stretch goals
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 03:07:02 AM
Hi everyone! I have a few exciting printing updates to share!
Printing update!
It's with great excitement I share the news that the book is printing! I am hoping to have the first copies in hand by Fan Expo weekend, although they may arrive just after.
First animated video
Also, the first animated story video from the $32,500 stretch goal is ready! Mathias Semmann, my talented graphic designer friend who put together the Kickstarter video, was excited to get started and produced this over the weekend.
I'm thrilled to announce the first three guest-of-the-month authors who will be writing stories for shorteststory.com.
James Stevenson is the talented short story writer and poet behind Write With Lightning. He posted a new geek-themed haiku to Twitter every day for a year, and has had his poems and short stories published in a wide variety of journals and anthologies.
Kat Kruger is Chief Wordsmith at Steampunk Unicorn Studio. With over ten years’ experience writing in the entertainment and gaming industries the studio offers a wide gamut of storytelling, workshop, and publishing services.
Kari Maaren is a writer, cartoonist, musician, and academic whose first novel, Weave a Circle Round, was published by Tor Books in 2017. She has a completed webcomic, West of Bathurst, and an active one, It Never Rains. She is fond of time travel.
Stretch goals
We've also unlocked some other stretch goals, including additional "guest of the month" authors and monthly writing prompts culminating in a writing contest.
I am going to post either a photo or a word/phrase as a monthly writing prompt and encourage people to write their own micro-stories. Everyone is free to participate and you don't need to have backed the Kickstarter to take part. I'll be highlighting and sharing my favourites!
At the end of 6 months I'm going to host a writing contest where writers can respond to a new prompt and also send in up to 3 of their previous prompted pieces for consideration. I'll have a small panel of judges who will read the stories without any identifying tags as to author and we'll pick a winner and two runner-ups to receive publication and payment.
The book is printing early + canvas frame prints + stretch goals PART 2
over 5 years ago
– Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 07:59:33 AM
Hi everyone! There's quite a bit of good news to share, so I'll get right into it!
We are ahead of schedule!
The book is going to print early! Every printing stretch goal has been unlocked, every guest author has sent in their story and Cecil Baldwin just sent me all his audio files on Friday, so THIS IS HAPPENING!
I exported an almost-final version of the book on Saturday night, and it has already been reviewed by the proofreaders. This evening I'll be exporting the all-but-final version, which will go through 2 more proofreaders with fresh eyes. On Wednesday I'll do a final review and export the final files for the printer.
If all goes well, we should have books in time for pick up at Fan Expo in Toronto at the end of the month. I might even try to schedule a little book launch shindig in September. More on this to come!
Canvas frame prints
I'm still looking into viable sourcing for this, but it looks like I might be able to add canvas-on-wooden-frame wall prints to the rewards. I should be able to set it up so you can request any story you want for your wall art, but I'd love to know which stories you would most like to have on your wall!
If I can find a good source for these, I am also going to have version available with just the story (no black sections above and below the story).
New stretch goals
Last part of the update! We are less than $500 from finishing our final stretch goal! I have sat down and hammered out a new set of stretch goals for the last 2 weeks of the campaign, including:
animated text videos of narrated stories (in the style of the Kickstarter video)
additional high-res wallpapers for backers receiving the wallpaper reward
hosting monthly story prompts and juried postcard story-writing contests with publication and payment for the winners (this will be open to the public and backing the Kickstarter is not necessary to enter)
Take a look!
Stretch goals + welcome Dread Singles + Gen Con + early stories
over 5 years ago
– Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 06:56:31 AM
Hi everyone! I just wanted to quickly share a few updates on the campaign!
Stretch goals ahoy!
First off, holy heck, we are smashing through stretch goals like it's nobody's business. We passed $20,000 last night and we keep going strong. When I first launched the page, I didn't have a stretch goals graphic because I didn't think we'd need it. I just had a plain text list of goals under $20,000.
Now I'm going to have to make serious plans for if we blow past $30,000.
For now, you'll get to enjoy better paper, a month of bonus Wednesday stories, 3 guest-of-the-month stories (authors to be announced soon), French flaps on the book and a full 13 stories narrated by Cecil Baldwin.
Next up: we'll upgrade from 3 to 6 guest-of-the-month stories!
Welcome Dread Singles
One of my all-time favourite Twitter accounts is Dread Singles, a dark Lovecraftian take on social media written and run by Jordan Shriveley, and I'm so thrilled to welcome him as a guest author in the book. I'd reached out shortly before the launching the campaign and he was able to confirm his availability this week. I couldn't be happier!
I'm probably not going to be at Gen Con
I've been advertising on Twitter that I would be at Gen Con this weekend, but I will probably sending a friend to run my table in my stead.
Just as the campaign was coming together and launching, I was also running around like a madman as my senior rescue basset hound's health took a turn for the worse. Some of the campaign planning happened from the library by the emergency vet while my dog was being looked at by specialists.
Last week confirmed that he's got a nasty terminal cancer and started palliative care. Gen Con is one of my favourite shows, and I get to do it in the company of some of my favourite artists, but I just can't stand the thought of being away from my little dude for 6 days. He is 14, and a total champ and my best friend and the reason I wrote the "Rescue Dog" story, and I am probably going to be getting time in with him while I can.
I'm waiting until Monday to cancel my flight, and the booth with be open for business for my webcomic Rock Paper Cynic either way (booth 2129), but I wanted to give you the heads up and to explain why I've been slow with the project updates.]
Next Thursday's story early
Here's one of next week's stories available early for you as a thank you! It's one of the longest stories I've put into postcard format, but I think it does a lot with the extra word count.
My 30 best stories in one album + ALL VOICE ACTOR GOALS UNLOCKED!
almost 6 years ago
– Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 06:51:48 AM
Hey everyone!
Lots of exciting news today!
First up, I just put together 30 of my best stories in an album on imgur, and I would LOVE if you could upvote or share the link with someone you think would enjoy it.
Next, we just passed $14,500, which means we have unlocked all 13 stories narrated by Cecil Baldwin.
I had Cecil's voice in my head as I was writing so many of these weird, dark, oddball stories, and to have him narrate so you can hear them EXACTLY the way I imagine them--that's a privilege so few authors get.
Thank you for this gift!
Our next stretch goal is one I'm super passionate about. At $16,500, I will start up a "guest of the month" series on The Shortest Story where I can commission a postcard story from emerging and established writers and make sure they actually get paid for their work.
Thank you so much for all you're doing to help make this project all it can be.
PS: Just because this update is so long, here's that imgur link again.
Stretch goals and add-ons!
almost 6 years ago
– Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 05:35:46 AM
Hi everyone! It's been a busy few days--so much so that we smashed through 3 stretch goals in the time it took me to put together a graphic for them!
A lot of you asked me about add-ons, and I've set them up! Basically, you click the "Manage My Pledge" button and add an amount to your pledge to cover the cost for add-ons.
