Happy April!

If you’re not sure why Patreon has become so important to me, you can read all about that here.

Yeah. That was depressing, wasn’t it? So let me try to cheer you up with the rewards my Patrons will receive this month.

April 6 (for Patrons at $5 and above)

Pirate Penguins of Patagonia was a game proposal that I put together twice: once – as a simple treatment – around 1995, and again in 2001. That second time I made a demo, a trailer, a soundtrack CD, and a printed proposal.

I’m going to tell you its story, and then you can download a PDF of the proposal so you can see it for yourself.

April 13 (for Patrons at $15 and above)

Two print-resolution Celtic knotwork borders at greeting card size, with transparent areas inside the borders. If you have image editing software you can place your own picture or message inside the border.

(These are for personal use only.)

April 20 (for Patrons at $10 and above)

Of Vulcanis is a sort of Dunsanian short story I wrote (probably) in 1978. There was once a title illustration, but that’s lost: you can read the story here. though.

This one holds up surprisingly well.

April 27 (for Patrons at $1 and above)

Stalking Made Me Who I Am recalls an episode from my family history that might be illegal now, but I can’t regret that. Without a little stalking I would never have been born.

So, as usual, $15 patrons will see something every week while the rest will see one, two, or three updates. I hope you enjoy them!

Here we are in March. You can go back outside soon. If you’re not sure why Patreon has become so important to me, you can read all about that here. Yeah. That was depressing, wasn’t it? So let me try to cheer you up with the rewards my Patrons will receive this month.

March 6 (for Patrons at $5 and above)

Chapter 6 of the first draft for a sequel to Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom. This final chapter advances the plot – all the pieces are now in place – but this is the point where I set it aside, for reasons I explain in the notes.

March 13 (for Patrons at $15 and above)

Two print-resolution Celtic knotwork borders at greeting card size, with transparent areas inside the borders. If you have image editing software you can place your own picture or message inside the border. (These are for personal use only.)

March 20 (for Patrons at $10 and above)

Six scanned pages from The Well-Dressed Clairseach, a book of designs and techniques for decorating Celtic harps. I worked on this in 1986 but never completed it. Only a few pages have been seen before now.

March 27 (for Patrons at $1 and above)

Ten covers, dating from 1981 to 1985, for Runestaff – the sometimes monthly, sometimes bimonthly newsletter of the Barbarian Freehold Alliance. I was the Runestaff’s editor through most of those years, and I nearly always drew the covers. You’ll see a selection of the ones I like best. So, as usual, $15 patrons will see something every week while the rest will see one, two, or three updates. I hope you enjoy them!

In a time when I can expect any news I get to be bad news, the GoFundMe project to save my house has a little bit of the good kind. As I write this, donations stand at just over $2600; in the meantime I’ve finally received a check I was waiting for, and after paying my property taxes I figure I’ll be able to kick in $1000 more.

Taken together, that puts me at about 1/3 of the way to replacing the house and porch roofs, which will please my insurer and keep me in my house. Good news!

But the clock is ticking. If I’m not able to call the roofers around the first of March then I’ll be right back where I was.

What does this mean?

I’m glad I asked. This means that there are just a few more weeks left to come up with the other 2/3 of the cost. That’s about $8200.

So, yeah. That’s the bad news.

Although I hate to stand here on the corner with my cap in my hand, I’m still asking anyone who can to consider dropping something into the project.

Lots of little bits can go a long way: though I’ve had three donations of $500, the rest has come in smaller amounts. So anything is welcome.

And thanks!

Here we are in February. Have a good one!

If you’re not sure why Patreon has become so important to me, you can read all about that here.

Yeah. That was depressing, wasn’t it? So let me try to cheer you up with the rewards my Patrons will receive this month.

February 6 (for Patrons at $5 and above)

W. B. Yeats’ poem The Hosting of the Sidhe with my 1982 illustration for it, from Runestaff #5.

February 13 (for Patrons at $15 and above)

Two print-resolution Celtic knotwork borders at greeting card size, with transparent areas inside the borders. If you have image editing software you can place your own picture or message inside the border.

(These are for personal use only.)

February 20 (for Patrons at $10 and above)

The Chapter 5 first draft from my unfinished sequel to Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom. It’s probably my favorite of the six chapters I wrote.

Don’t tell the other chapters I said so.

February 27 (for Patrons at $1 and above)

The Big Mad Science in Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom examines the way Retropolis has dealt with its abundance of Mad Science. Is there a method behind the madness? Read and decide.

So, as always, $15 patrons will see something every week while the rest will see one, two, or three updates. I hope you enjoy them!

If you’ve been following along, you know that for the past ten years I’ve been trying to deal with the medical bills from my uninsured cancer treatments. Last year I finally crashed, though (so far) I have not burned.

So far.

When I wrote the post about my troubles I was waiting for some more bad news: my homeowners insurance company wanted to have a look at my house to decide whether they’d require me to make some repairs before they renewed my policy.

When that shoe finally dropped, it fell from a pretty great height. They won’t renew my policy unless I replace the house and porch roofs before my renewal date in mid-April.

That turns out to be an expensive operation – in the neighborhood of $11,300. The 100-year-old slate roof has to be removed. The porch roof, which is in very poor condition, needs to be stripped, with its framing repaired, before it’s roofed over.

If I lose the house insurance I’ll be in violation of my mortgage agreement. As soon as that happens, my mortgage lender will foreclose.

My Patreon supporters have helped me reach the point where I’m not facing doom every month. But that’s no help when it comes to an emergency on this scale.

So in a desperate act of desperate desperation I’ve started a project at GoFundMe. Unlike my Kickstarter and Patreon projects, I’m not proposing a deal here: I’m straight out asking for money to deal with something I can’t deal with on my own. I don’t like doing that. It’s just that at this point I have no choice. This is the new me, the panhandler.

The clock is ticking. If I can get past this major hurdle I’m hopeful that my low mortgage payment will continue to keep me going until March of 2020, when I’ll be able to draw on Social Security. But at the moment that month seems very far away.

So that’s my thing. If you’re inclined, and able, to help, I would sure appreciate it. I know it’s a big chunk of money (believe me, I know) but it’s just possible that when a lot of people each chip in a little money, those little bits can add up to a lot.