This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. W.M. Akers will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
A twenty-nine year-old clerk at a games store in the Appalachian hamlet of Jett Creek, Tennessee, Callie Myles lives for the weekly RPG sessions run by her beloved brother and gamesmaster, LB. Under his watchful eye, she and her friends wage war, harness magic, and battle evil. When the dice are rolling, they are heroes, and all of Callie’s anxieties slip away. The fun stops the night LB burns to death in a bizarre fire.
Asked by her friends to keep the weekly game alive, Callie does her best to set her grief aside. She puts on the monocle LB wore during sessions and finds herself sucked into a life-sized recreation of her brother’s game. Inhabiting the body of her beloved character, the legendary Arabeth, she thinks she has found the ultimate escape. Her paradise is spoiled when she discovers that something inside the game killed LB—and one of her fellow players was in on it.
To save herself, to avenge her brother, Callie Myles must pull on her armor and beat LB’s game from the inside out. If she gets killed along the way, well, at least she’s having a great time.
A fast-paced hybrid of mystery and adventure, CRITICAL HIT captures the breakneck joy of tabletop gaming, where life and death depend on the whims of a plastic die. It will be on Kickstarter from May 25 to June 25, and available on DriveThruFiction and Amazon after that.
Read an Excerpt
A Depression-era mechanic’s shop, LB’s studio was at the back of a sloping lot covered with garbage and twisted iron. It was just two rooms: an old forge on the first floor and a rat’s nest of papers and art supplies on the second. It was where he went, he said, when he needed to make art that was too personal to make at the college, or when he just wanted the world to leave him be.
All of it was on fire.
It was hard to see where the building had been. It was curling in on itself, like a paper bag in a campfire. The fire truck was halfway up the hill, spraying water on the house next door. The studio, they’d quit trying to save.
Doc’s car sat at the bottom of the hill, front doors open, engine running. I saw her, gray ponytail silhouetted by the flame, manning one of the jets. With what little strength I had left, I ran up the driveway. Matty leapt out of the truck’s cab, fireman’s coat still unbuttoned, and grabbed me by the shoulder.
“Is he inside?” I said.
“Get out of here.”
“God damn it, if he’s in there, we have to get him out!”
“It’s too hot. Nobody’s going near it.”
Matty rested his hand on my shoulder, and I tried to keep still. I wanted to push him, to charge inside, to look for LB, but that would have been against the rules.
We were watching together when my brother’s massive body exploded out of the window, wrapped in a cloak of flame.
LB screamed something. Maybe it was words, maybe it was just pain.
It stopped quick.
I didn’t flinch. I didn’t run to him. Even from behind the barricade, it was obvious he was dead.
About the Author:
W.M. Akers is a novelist, playwright, and game designer. He is the author of the mystery novels Westside and Westside Lights; the creator of the bestselling games Deadball: Baseball With Dice and Comrades: A Revolutionary RPG; and the curator of the history newsletter Strange Times. Born in Nashville, he spent a lucky thirteen years in New York before moving to Philadelphia in 2019. Learn more about his work at his website.
Information from the Dissolution: Volume One project page.
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Summary:
Exploring the questions of life after death, the realm of the supernatural, and how characters’ lives unexpectedly interweave.
Project Write-Up:
What is Dissolution?
What if there is another world, just beyond our own? It’s there, it’s footfalls are in sync with ours, but just slight enough that we fail to notice – and if we do, it’s a barely-perceptible scratching noise that makes our hair stand on end. A shadowy movement out of the corner of our eye. The smell of roses where there is no reason for them to exist. A heartbeat whose source cannot be traced by our human ears. A world we fail to notice – but most definitely notices us. Now, imagine the veil being lifted and that world revealed at last – would you cling to your sanity or feel it slip between your fingers?
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2012 saw a creative flowering of several projects in which I was involved as an illustrator. I decided that I needed to make time for Dissolution, which I first wrote as a 300+ page novel in 2005. I wanted to see it in color, in images, give the characters faces to go with their names, and above all, SHARE the story so that others could see it too. I established a website in September of 2012 where I could share comic pages (and random thoughts/recipes) weekly.
Can I see any samples of your work?
Samples? Heck, you can go see exactly what you’ll be getting! Well, the first half of it or so. Visit Dissolution, I update weekly with a new page! The printed version you are backing encompasses the first 48 pages of the story, far more than the website currently displays, but it’s all set and ready to go and you hopefully will be able to tell from what’s already available if it’s a story that piques your interest! There are also several pages shown below, at the bottom of this write-up. Warning: There IS some mature content (language, violence, nudity) in this story!
What is the money going to be used for?
I will print a run of at least 200 copies of Volume One – the first 48 pages of Dissolution. If I get more backers, I will print more copies! That may seem like a small amount, but I am excited to even start with that. In addition, funds will cover merchandise included in tier level rewards – t-shirts, stickers, mini-buttons, and art prints. If there is a little left over, it will be funneled into purchasing an artist’s booth at one of our local (or close-to-local) conventions (Shooting for one of the following: April 6-7, 2013 – Planet Comicon (in Kansas City); June 21-23, 2013 – Trek Expo ; or July ?? 2013 – Tokyo in Tulsa).
Why should I pay for it when it’s free online?
This is a savvy question, and one that I struggled with in creating this Kickstarter. It’s true, Dissolution is free and viewable online – there aren’t even any ads on the website. However, I can think of three reasons why you might choose to back this project in spite of that!
Dissolution: Volume One will cover the first 48 pages of the story.You will notice that there are nowhere near 48 pages on the site yet. This is because I’ve been building a backlog in preparation for this printing, and yet have kept my online updating to once-weekly. Backers will be WAY ahead of online readers when it comes to knowing what happens and where the story is going!!
By supporting this project, you are also supporting the continuation of the story in all its forms. Being able to print and market Dissolution is a dream come true – and it means that the website will be going strong for a long time in the future! A successful project here tells me that enough people are interested in the story and art that it is vital to continue.
You are an amazing person who likes to support authors and illustrators by purchasing their work. This can’t be overstated. People who choose to back art and literature in spite of it being available online are among my favorite people (along with Jacques Cousteau, Michio Kaku, Georgio Tsoukalos and Neil deGrasse Tyson – what a list to join!). Seriously though, it’s a big deal – your decision to back my project humbles me, and I thank you.
“But wait,” you may say. “I WILL be ahead of the story – but then I’ll have to wait SOOOOO long for the website to catch up!” Ah, but I’ve got you covered! If this Kickstarter is successful, I’m considering moving to faster updates – updates aiming for the reveal of the end of Volume One online (page 48) to correspond to the offer of Volume Two in the future. Backing this project will mean faster reveal of the storyline in TOTAL, for those online and in print. EVERYBODY wins! But especially you. Because you get to hang out with Kaku, deGrasse Tyson, Tsoukalos and Cousteau in my head.
Who are you?
Hi! My name is Indi Martin. I write, I illustrate, I don’t sleep as much as I should. I’ve been drawing and writing all of my life – I actually have several completed novels, but am generally too much of a perfectionist to be happy enough with them to shop them around. Though I’ve done a lot of illustrating for projects, I still consider myself amateur simply because I have never been paid – or paid much – to complete them. My largest and longest dream has always been to someday make a living – even a super-meager one – through my creative endeavors!
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I love to Geocache in my spare time (I’m “Starbuck2011” in the Tulsa Area Geocachers group!) and really bliss out when I find high terrain-high difficulty caches first! I don’t consider myself an “avid” hiker, but I’d love to be. I took some time out from life to hike the Appalachian Trail a few years ago and completed about 1000 miles of it – considering I had never actually camped out more than one night at a time prior to that, I’m glad the risk paid off and I grew to love it!
Do you have any of those nifty Stretch Goals?
I DO!!!!
$4,000: ALL BACKERS (no limit!) will receive a PDF File of the Novel-So-Far – see how the graphic novel differs from the actual written version, and read everything that didn’t make it in.
$5,000: Character cards! All backers above $15 will also receive trading cards of the characters that have been revealed so far – their profile and description, their connections and potential motives.
$6,000: TO BE REVEALED if we break $5k!
Explain these tier level rewards, would you?
I’d love to!
PDF Copy of Dissolution: Volume One – All backers at all levels receive this, and you don’t have to wait for everything else. I’ll send this to all backers’ emails as soon as funding is successful. This is a high-resolution digital copy of the first 48 pages of the story – and I’m so excited to share it with you!
Printed Copy of Dissolution: Volume One – This will be a 48 page full-color perfect-bound comic book printed on 60# high-bright pages with a 80# glossy full-color cover. I will cry tears of joy when I first hold one in my hand, no lie. But I promise I won’t send you the tear-stained copy. Unless maybe you want it. Weirdo.
Signed Print Copy of Dissolution: Volume One – Exactly what it sounds like!
Sketch-Cover Variant Copy of Dissolution: Volume One – These are limited (only 25 available), and have a slightly longer fulfillment date. This is because I will hand-draw and hand-ink each cover myself. You will have a one-of-a-kind (not even one of 25, because every one will be different!) item, and I will work tirelessly to fulfill these on time. As I mentioned, I don’t sleep as much as I should. ^_~
Mini-Buttons – 1.5 inch buttons with a cool Dissolution splatter-logo
Stickers – 4.5 x 3 inch tri-color vinyl stickers so you can sport your Dissolution swag anywhere that you can stick a sticker!
Art Prints – 9×12 inch matte print of the Dissolution cover
Custom Art Prints – Whatever you want, I will pencil, ink, and color, then send to you in a lovely 9×12 inch matte print!
Tier Level Rewards:
Pledge $1 or more
0 backers
Pay what YOU think it’s worth! Backers at this tier receive a PDF copy of all 48 pages in Volume One! You’ve backed my project and I am eternally grateful!
Estimated delivery: Mar 2013
Pledge $6 or more
0 backers
PDF copy + sweet Dissolution sticker! Swag on!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013
Add $3 to ship outside the US
Pledge $12 or more
0 backers
Enjoy a PDF + print copy of Volume One! I will also send you a personal thank-you email and list you as a backer on my website!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013
Add $5 to ship outside the US
Pledge $18 or more
0 backers
PDF copy + print copy of Volume One + awesome mini-button + sticker! Show off your Dissolution swag! I will also send you a personal thank-you email and list you as a backer on my website!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013
Add $6 to ship outside the US
Pledge $25 or more
0 backers
PDF copy + SIGNED copy of Volume One + mini-button + sticker, and a personal thank-you email! You’ll be listed as a SILVER backer on my website!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013
Add $6 to ship outside the US
Pledge $50 or more
0 backers
PDF copy + a SIGNED copy of Volume One + awesome T-Shirt + mini-button + sticker + a personal letter from me thanking you for your support! AND you’ll be listed as a GOLD backer on my website! WHEW!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013
Add $10 to ship outside the US
Pledge $75 or more
0 backers
PDF copy + a SIGNED copy of Volume One + awesome T-Shirt + mini-button + sticker + 9×12 matte art print + a personal letter from me thanking you for your support! AND you’ll be listed as a GOLD backer on my website!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013
Add $10 to ship outside the US
Pledge $125 or more
0 backers Limited (25 of 25 left)
PDF copy + SKETCH COVER VARIANT of Volume One + standard print copy + sweet T-Shirt + mini-button + sticker + 9×12 matte art print + personal letter from me thanking you for your support! AND you’ll be listed as a PLATINUM backer on my website!
Estimated delivery: Jun 2013
Add $10 to ship outside the US
Pledge $250 or more
0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)
PDF copy + signed print copy of Volume One + sweet T-Shirt + mini-button + sticker + CUSTOM REQUEST 9×12 FULL COLOR matte print of whatever you request! + a personal letter from me thanking you for your support! AND you’ll be listed as a SUPER DOUBLE UNOBTANIUM backer on my website! (Fulfillment on all pieces except the custom art will be completed separately in May 2013).
I’m very happy to say the risk on this project is very small. I ensured that ALL 48 pages were ready to go before I launched this project – ditto the merchandise designs for t-shirts, stickers, buttons, and cover! So, the only risk for delays is that which might arise from receiving shipment from Ka-Blam (who have been very awesome in responding to my queries about their printing!) and the vendors printing the merchandise.
I’ve worked very hard to get to this point, and I am not about to ruin this first impression by failing to deliver to my backers! In fact, it is possible you may receive your shipments a few weeks ahead of schedule, but as printing and shipments are not ENTIRELY within my control, I played it safe and set the estimated delivery dates to months that I felt very comfortable promising.
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn’t help, you can ask the project creator directly.
