Fiona O'Connor and Lorna Moore are the so-called Welcome Committee of the city, ‘civil servants’ dismissively known as the “Travel Agency”. Basically, they are the first contact for vampiric visitors during carnival. Nothing to write home about, their role is to keep the tourist census, handout leaflets with schedules and invitations to private parties, maps with locations for cemeteries with daytime resting and, of course, hunting areas … all the "exciting" tasks and chores you would love to spend the rest of your non-life doing.
Despite the thrill of leafleting and post-it writing the job does come with the occasional bout of danger.
Dealing with visitor indiscretions, like; vampires that reveal themselves to humans taking advantage of the Anne Rice fad, accidental homicides due to uncontrollable bloodlust, unauthorized conversion of humans into the undead, all of which are a big no-no without the permission of his Excellence Jerome Alarie, Duque and Master of New Orleans – Anything and everything that defies the Duque’s authority or shines a light on vampiric society must be dealt with immediately or sought for a higher authority to intervene before they get out of hand.
It’s during one of these out-of-the-office chores where our story begins, chasing a freshly turned young man covered in blood through the French quarter.
The procedure? Simple. Capture him, interrogate him, find the culprit, and hand them both over to the Duque for … a chat, so he can act accordingly with what his ego decides at that precise moment. It usually ends badly. And once it's done, paperwork... So much paperwork recording the incident, just in case of retaliation, though in the end, the reports are of little use when the retaliation comes from a bunch of ‘non-conformists’, rebels protesting at the Duque’s authoritarian government with gunpowder. This year being the fortieth anniversary of the death of the last and beloved leader the non-conformists really want to make their position loud and clear.
It’s not going to take long for the committee to realize that something that should have been routine is anything but. A lethal turn when a vampire hunter is discovered in the heart of the New Orleans police department; Detective Trevor Brennan, a name connected with a series of undead disappearances a few years ago.
Lorna and Fiona are starting to realize that they don’t know the Big Easy as well as they think they do. As they untangle the threads, they will discover a tapestry of lies, conspiracies, and ancient bad blood that will do everything it can to rob them of their non-lives and destroy the society they call home.
In a race against time, Lorna and Fiona are going to have to deal with this mess in their own unique way as something huge makes its moves in the shadows of New Orleans, culminating during Mardi Gras just a few short weeks away.
Who says a civil servant’s life is dull.
CHARACTER DESIGN
FORECAST OF DEVELOPMENT AND CONDITIONS OF THE CAMPAIGN:
GENERAL
We know the kind of effort it takes to do a good job, and both the author and Spaceman Project are prepared. We love this medium and we want to take it to another level where the readers, authors, and booksellers are the protagonists. It is because of that that we have taken the small details into account and adjusted the fundraising goal for what we’re offering.
This is an all-or-nothing campaign model. In order for the project to become a reality, we need to reach 100% of the goal. The length of the campaign will last 30 days but can be extended by 7 more days if the project reaches 75% of its goal before the end of the month. As the publisher, Spaceman Project, can make contributions to the campaign to boost or complete the goal at its own discretion. As is customary, an announcement will be made public if this happens.
COSTS INCLUDED IN THE CAMPAIGN
Author / Cost to create
Platform / Creation, management, and Crowdfunding collection management.
Publishing / Editorial advisory, quality control, translations, graphic design, pre-production, printing, delivery of rewards to backers, and bookstore distribution.
DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE
Author / 15-18 months after the end of the campaign. *
Editing / 3 months of editing after the author’s final delivery.
Printing / 5 to 10 weeks for printing.
Deliveries / it will take between 2 and 6 weeks after the books have been received to be sent to the backers.
*Spaceman Project is not responsible for delays in the creation as this is the author’s commitment to the backers. In the case that the work is not finished, the author is directly responsible for refunding the backers.
All illustrations presented in this campaign are provisional and are subject to change once the goal has been reached, and work on the project commences. This is only applicable to the cover images for the most part, not to the story, the format of the work, nor the rewards being offered. Obviously, we are presenting a work that is in progress and under development. Creativity has no limits and we are confident that we will not stop improving, and as such, we have made a commitment to quality with our readers.
While the project is being created, the authors are responsible for issuing updates and keeping the backers informed. Once the materials have been delivered to Spaceman, the publisher will be in charge of informing the backers about each of the next steps (Editing/ Production/ Warehouse arrival/ shipment of packages).
