Fundraisers

Projects I’m Supporting, Part Nine

Posted on by midwestbsfa

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It’s Black History Month…excuse us, Black FUTURES Month…and what better time to run down the list of projects I’ve supported over the last couple of months.

04fb500da54cd680c839fca1ea394ec6_originalRet:CON
Written by Robert Jeffrey (DC Comic Writers Workshop, DC New Talent Workshop, Route 3), illustrated by Jordi Perez (Top Cow’s Grand Theft Astro) and colored by Paris Alleyne (IDW, Boom! Studios, Lion’s Forge), RET:CON is the story of an agency formed to stop reality from falling into entropy in a time when artificial intelligence governs the remains of a world ravaged by violent temporal ruptures. Agent ‘4 am’ is a part of RET:CON’s elite unit, the Slingshotters, whose mission is to breach the time stream to repair the future. The comic’s Kickstarter runs through March 15.

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The Haunting of Tram Car 015 
Set in the same universe as his short story, “A Dead Djinn in Cairo,” P. Djeli Clark’s novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015 focuses on a possessed tram car that’s being investigated  by the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. The book is currently available for pre-order and drops this month.

 

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StrangeLore
A horrific crisis forces 19-year-old Brandon Hanks to leave Chicago, and live with his grandmother in the sleepy town of Marion, South Carolina, where he meets Jackson Garrett, a supernatural being who’s running from a dark and deadly past. This comic was created by Viktor Kerney, one half of the Megasheen podcast, which discusses geek news from a gay black male perspective. Viktor successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign for volume 1 of StrangeLore and is currently working on volume 2.

What projects are you supporting this month? 

Take the #CowboyBebopChallenge and Buy a Concert Ticket for a Local Student!

Posted on by midwestbsfa

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Ten years ago this month, back when I was a full-time magazine editor, I had the pleasure of witnessing the birth of a dream in real time.

I’d spent several months in late 2007/early 2008 shadowing a local teacher named Betsey Zenk and her autistic student Latron Dodd. Latron didn’t read, write or talk but he had perfect pitch. Betsey used her music therapy background to connect with him through music. Shortly before winter break, she taught Latron some chords on a piano. When he returned, he was playing parts of “Moonlight Sonata.” Betsey was amazed. Through music, she began to see something come alive in Latron and she wanted to nurture that spark. Read More