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Help Fund my Robot Army!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects
If you’re a regular backer of Kickstarters, you’ve probably seen some unique crowdfunding projects in your time. But one thing all of those campaigns—boringly!—had in common was: They abided by the physical laws of the universe!
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! is an anthology of science fiction/fantasy stories told in the form of fictional crowdfunding project pitches, using the components (and restrictions) of the format to tell the story. This includes but is not limited to: Project Goals, Rewards, User Comments, Project Updates, FAQs, and more. The idea is to replicate the feel of reading a crowdfunding pitch, so that even though the projects may be preposterous in the real world, they will feel like authentic crowdfunding projects as much as possible.
So if what you’ve always been looking for in a Kickstarter—and couldn’t find—was a project that allowed you to SUMMON DEMONS, DEFY GRAVITY, WIELD MAGIC, or VIOLATE CAUSALITY, then HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects may be just the thing you’ve been looking for.
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! is an anthology of science fiction/fantasy stories told in the form of fictional crowdfunding project pitches, using the components (and restrictions) of the format to tell the story. This includes but is not limited to: Project Goals, Rewards, User Comments, Project Updates, FAQs, and more. The idea is to replicate the feel of reading a crowdfunding pitch, so that even though the projects may be preposterous in the real world, they will feel like authentic crowdfunding projects as much as possible.
So if what you’ve always been looking for in a Kickstarter—and couldn’t find—was a project that allowed you to SUMMON DEMONS, DEFY GRAVITY, WIELD MAGIC, or VIOLATE CAUSALITY, then HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects may be just the thing you’ve been looking for.
376 pages, Nook
First published June 30, 2014
34 people are currently reading
939 people want to read
About the author
John Joseph Adams
370 books980 followersJohn Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
December 20, 2024
rating solely for Carmen Maria Machado's "Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead" - now that i know that it was published in an entire anthology with the same premise, i'm sad this is the only story i came across (in Lightspeed Magazine!). i do love me a storytelling gimmick.
December 24, 2017
This was an interesting little short story. The concept was intriguing and I was shocked by the ending. The story was told through a GoFundMe Page which was such a unique way to tell a story, as Ursula is trying to raise money to reach her sister in the Land of the Dead. I think this could have been an interesting and unique novel if it was expanded. It was just so fast and I wanted more from it. I needed more information about the event and what lead to it.
August 25, 2018
I would give this 3.5 stars, if I could. It was an easy, entertaining read with an interesting premise (in the form of a Crowdfunding project like GoFundMe), and a little twist at the end that packs a punch.
November 2, 2017
there's more of an emotional punch in this little story than I thought! I love the relevance of a kickstarter campaign to get to the land of the dead too. highly recommend!
July 2, 2014
Writing a story in the form of a Kickstarter page is a genius idea to begin with, and that idea was Keffy R.M. Kehrli's. Putting together an entire anthology of such ideas was John Joseph Adams's genius idea, as well as crowdfunding it via Kickstarter because duh.
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects contains over thirty fictional Kickstarters of the SFF persuasion (you'll find nothing as adorably mundane as a grandmother making canes here). As in any themed anthology, the challenge is for each story to be fresh, embracing the theme while not being constrained by it. The book contains a fairly good mix of tones, topics, and narratives.
The majority of stories follow the traditional Kickstarter page design, which provides a familiar and intriguing structure. (Maurice Broaddus, however, cleverly sets "I Used to Love H.E.R." in 2005, pre-Kickstarter, but still follows the basic format.) As anyone who's visited a Kickstarter page knows, the most prominent and visible feature (next to the video, if there is one—and some writers do manage to incorporate the Kickstarter video into the text) is the set of three magic numbers: backers, funding, and days left. Thus, at the beginning of the story, you know the outcome of the Kickstarter. Did it fund? Did it overfund wildly? Was it canceled? Perhaps it's still ongoing. This information is relevant and important and influences how you read the rest of the story. For instance, in Mary Robinette Kowal's hilarious "Zero-G R&J," we know that the project is successful, so when it appears to hit a giant speed bump, we want to know how it recovers. After the numbers comes the pitch, the heart of the project: who is running it, what are they trying to do, and why are they trying to do it? Some of these pitches are almost like flash fiction in and of themselves, providing the creator's backstory. Carmen Maria Machado's "Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead" is a perfect example, as it saves the "why" until the very last sentence of the pitch, which makes a silly title not so silly anymore. Authors also play with the pledges, the FAQ, the Risks and Challenges, and especially the Updates and Comments, which is often where the real story happens, as these features allow a passage of time. I can't mention Updates without mentioning Vylar Kaftan and Shannon Pricket's wonderful "Updates," which playfully mocks Kickstarters seemingly obsessed with sending frequent, useless updates.
Some of the stories in the anthology might not be considered "stories." Even the titular tale, though very funny, doesn't really have a plot, per se. That's not a knock, however: Kat Howard's "Locally Grown, Organic" doesn't really have a plot either, but it's funny, satirical, politically relevant, and ultimately devastating. I loved seeing how many different ways authors used this format to tell stories. Many hide plot twists in the Updates and Comments; as the creator engages with the backers, someone from their past appears and reveals key backstory. Sometimes the Updates chronicle the success or failure of the project in an unexpected way. And with each new story, you never know what kind of story you're going to get: will it be funny, sad, or a bit of both? Jake Kerr's "A Memorial to the Patriots" made me tear up, and I didn't think a fictional Kickstarter could do that to me. It wasn't the last one to affect my emotions, though. Every story didn't grab me completely, and some left me scratching my head as to what the truth of the matter was, but because each story is so short, weaker pieces have far less negative impact. And even those had elements I liked, even if they didn't all come together; there was no story I disliked.
(Full disclosure: I paid to be Tuckerized in David Malki !'s story, so you can thank me for inventing life-sized Arena Tetris.)
I understand if you're skeptical of an entire anthology of Kickstarter stories, but I'll say this: as soon as I finished one, I couldn't wait to read the next one.
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects contains over thirty fictional Kickstarters of the SFF persuasion (you'll find nothing as adorably mundane as a grandmother making canes here). As in any themed anthology, the challenge is for each story to be fresh, embracing the theme while not being constrained by it. The book contains a fairly good mix of tones, topics, and narratives.
The majority of stories follow the traditional Kickstarter page design, which provides a familiar and intriguing structure. (Maurice Broaddus, however, cleverly sets "I Used to Love H.E.R." in 2005, pre-Kickstarter, but still follows the basic format.) As anyone who's visited a Kickstarter page knows, the most prominent and visible feature (next to the video, if there is one—and some writers do manage to incorporate the Kickstarter video into the text) is the set of three magic numbers: backers, funding, and days left. Thus, at the beginning of the story, you know the outcome of the Kickstarter. Did it fund? Did it overfund wildly? Was it canceled? Perhaps it's still ongoing. This information is relevant and important and influences how you read the rest of the story. For instance, in Mary Robinette Kowal's hilarious "Zero-G R&J," we know that the project is successful, so when it appears to hit a giant speed bump, we want to know how it recovers. After the numbers comes the pitch, the heart of the project: who is running it, what are they trying to do, and why are they trying to do it? Some of these pitches are almost like flash fiction in and of themselves, providing the creator's backstory. Carmen Maria Machado's "Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead" is a perfect example, as it saves the "why" until the very last sentence of the pitch, which makes a silly title not so silly anymore. Authors also play with the pledges, the FAQ, the Risks and Challenges, and especially the Updates and Comments, which is often where the real story happens, as these features allow a passage of time. I can't mention Updates without mentioning Vylar Kaftan and Shannon Pricket's wonderful "Updates," which playfully mocks Kickstarters seemingly obsessed with sending frequent, useless updates.
Some of the stories in the anthology might not be considered "stories." Even the titular tale, though very funny, doesn't really have a plot, per se. That's not a knock, however: Kat Howard's "Locally Grown, Organic" doesn't really have a plot either, but it's funny, satirical, politically relevant, and ultimately devastating. I loved seeing how many different ways authors used this format to tell stories. Many hide plot twists in the Updates and Comments; as the creator engages with the backers, someone from their past appears and reveals key backstory. Sometimes the Updates chronicle the success or failure of the project in an unexpected way. And with each new story, you never know what kind of story you're going to get: will it be funny, sad, or a bit of both? Jake Kerr's "A Memorial to the Patriots" made me tear up, and I didn't think a fictional Kickstarter could do that to me. It wasn't the last one to affect my emotions, though. Every story didn't grab me completely, and some left me scratching my head as to what the truth of the matter was, but because each story is so short, weaker pieces have far less negative impact. And even those had elements I liked, even if they didn't all come together; there was no story I disliked.
(Full disclosure: I paid to be Tuckerized in David Malki !'s story, so you can thank me for inventing life-sized Arena Tetris.)
I understand if you're skeptical of an entire anthology of Kickstarter stories, but I'll say this: as soon as I finished one, I couldn't wait to read the next one.
December 7, 2017
Fantastic short story written in the format of a crowd funding project. It had a lot more depth to it than I was expecting.
*This is part of the 2017 Short Story Advent Calendar put out by Hingston & Olsen.
*This is part of the 2017 Short Story Advent Calendar put out by Hingston & Olsen.
January 21, 2022
This rating is for “Zero G R&J” by Mary Robinette Kowal and “Bring About the Halloween Eternal” by Seanan McGuire
September 16, 2023
This was fun, but I slogged through some of them halfway in. Better to pick this up here and there for fun, not power through.
January 7, 2015
A collection of stories written as kickstarter style campaigns. The book is actually more fun and creative than it sounds with several of the stories making me laugh out loud and one or two evoking other feelings as well. The joke and concept wears a bit thin though and this might have been partly because of extra content from it exceeding its funding requirement but it did feel like there were more stories in the collection than there needed to be. Normally this would be a silly critisism of a collection as if you dont like a story or want there to be fewer just dont read them all but in this one where it was unclear which writers would and wouldnt be able to rise to the challenge of doing something funny, original or ideally both with the format it was hard to know which ones to read and which to skip.
The other problems are simply it is hard for the fictional to be more interesting than the real as crowdfunding is in its early stages of evolution. It is interesting and amusing to see some projects get huge amounts of funding (the potato salads of the world) and also to see how some projects engage or fail to engage with their potential backers - when all this is fictionalised it often ends up being less interesting. Also the format is very restrictive and often really good writers were only able to produce something bland that didnt stand out from the others.
The story that launched the collection is quite good and is worth reading here or in Lightspeed and there are some good stories in here but often they failed to be as funny or meaningful as they wanted to be. I do not see the fault with the editor here - he managed to get a diverse and potentially interesting range of writers to work on the concept and equally they did a solid and sometimes very effective job of writing the stories - ultimately though the concept was not enough to hold together and entertain fully over the course of the book.
Still an easy read and if you like humor, crowdfunding and are less fussy than I am you might get some fun out of this.
The other problems are simply it is hard for the fictional to be more interesting than the real as crowdfunding is in its early stages of evolution. It is interesting and amusing to see some projects get huge amounts of funding (the potato salads of the world) and also to see how some projects engage or fail to engage with their potential backers - when all this is fictionalised it often ends up being less interesting. Also the format is very restrictive and often really good writers were only able to produce something bland that didnt stand out from the others.
The story that launched the collection is quite good and is worth reading here or in Lightspeed and there are some good stories in here but often they failed to be as funny or meaningful as they wanted to be. I do not see the fault with the editor here - he managed to get a diverse and potentially interesting range of writers to work on the concept and equally they did a solid and sometimes very effective job of writing the stories - ultimately though the concept was not enough to hold together and entertain fully over the course of the book.
Still an easy read and if you like humor, crowdfunding and are less fussy than I am you might get some fun out of this.
reading-collection
August 19, 2015"A Memorial to the Patriots" by Jake Kerr: Weird more than good. I was rather confused by the end
"I just read "For Entertainment Purposes Only" by Jeremiah Tolbert this afternoon and it of course made me smile, which was just what I wanted to happen. I have to say that the comments are brilliant.
"I want to be a Lioness" by Chuck Wendig: I quite liked this story. The comment section was used really effectively. It reminded me of "if you were a dinosaur my love".
"Liberty: Seeking Support For Writ of Habeas Corpus For a Non-human Being" by Samuel Peralta: This story made me go read Alex + Ada or watch Ægte Mennesker again. It is not a new concept, but it does question what we will turn our blind eye
"Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One!" by Harry Connolly: This was a truly silly story but also a quite entertaining one about Tacos and about wanting to be right. Once again the comment section has been used to great effect.
"I just read "For Entertainment Purposes Only" by Jeremiah Tolbert this afternoon and it of course made me smile, which was just what I wanted to happen. I have to say that the comments are brilliant.
"I want to be a Lioness" by Chuck Wendig: I quite liked this story. The comment section was used really effectively. It reminded me of "if you were a dinosaur my love".
"Liberty: Seeking Support For Writ of Habeas Corpus For a Non-human Being" by Samuel Peralta: This story made me go read Alex + Ada or watch Ægte Mennesker again. It is not a new concept, but it does question what we will turn our blind eye
"Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One!" by Harry Connolly: This was a truly silly story but also a quite entertaining one about Tacos and about wanting to be right. Once again the comment section has been used to great effect.
March 29, 2018
Many of the stories in this collection are very clever, many are funny, a few are poignant. However, the restrictions of the crowd sourcing format and subject matter makes them all seem slight and of a sameness. It's a little bit like having whipped cream for dinner. I suspect these stories would have done better mixed in a more heterogeneous anthology. The Seanan McGuire story did stand out though.
January 5, 2018
That can't seriously be it, right? There has got to be more to this story. I think this had a super interesting plot and a lot of potential and could totally be a full-length novel! It has so much room to be developed, and I just really want a complete novelization of this short story. Please? Like, this has the potential to be really great! I just wish it was longer...
July 13, 2017
Un breve comentario en Not a Review: http://goo.gl/ZWCvxa
November 24, 2017
This was a very clever short story and the twist was interesting but it wasn't really unique.
November 28, 2017
WOAH HOLY HECKIN PLOT TWIST MY FRIENDS
March 18, 2016
TL;DR version: Read the stories by Connolly, Cook, Williamson, Penn Romine, Sullivan, Levine, Broaddus, Wrigley, Bolander, and McGuire. SKIP the ones by Tolbert, Pratt, and Howard and your life will be better for it. For the rest, your mileage may vary depending on your own personal obsessions and expectations. Overall, though those ten stories that make the must read cut are well worth the $5 for this collection.
Full review: Short story is a difficult art. To paint a world and its characters and deliver the actual story in just a few pages is, to me at least, perhaps the height of the storyteller's art. The trick in this anthology is to restrain the form of the story to a Kickstarter proposal (along with comments from the denizens of the Internet and updates from the creator as appropriate. (Some of the proposals are only proposals and some are fully funded with updates from their aftermath.) This is like haiku, the required form either pushing the authors to achieve more with less. Of course, like bad haiku, when these stories fail, they all run together into a blur with nothing to distinguish them. This is made more noticeable by the fact that the form seems to have suggested a number of very similar themes to the authors.
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! by Keffy R.M. Kehrli★★★☆☆. This is the story that sparked the anthology, so the innovation here is the form itself. (I bumped it up a star.) Otherwise, meh.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY by Jeremiah Tolbert★☆☆☆☆ Story about avoiding spoilers contains a major spoiler for the movie Serenity. Ironic! NO actually. Annoying. Don't read this one. (Even if you've seen Serenity, the story is pure meh.)
ZERO G R&J by Mary Robinette Kowal ★★★☆☆ The story is the battle to get Romeo and Juliet (in space! with puppets!) funded. I was so ready to call this two stars, but it actually did make me laugh.
A MEMORIAL TO THE PATRIOTS by Jake Kerr ★★★☆☆ There is the germ of a really good story here, but the constraints of the form got to this one. I never really had that "Aha!" moment that made clear what actually happened, and the confusion wasn't necessarily good. But, fog of war, and all that. USA post terror attack with a funding drive that may or may not be related.
I WANT TO BE A LIONESS by Chuck Wendig ★★★★☆ A mother, her revenge, and the aftermath.
LIBERTY:SEEKING SUPPORT FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS FOR A NON-HUMAN BEING by Samuel Peralta ★★★★★. It is a little heavy handed on the last line, but this is the first story in the anthology that spoke poetry to me. An android needs help.
HELP SUMMON THE MOST HOLY FOLDED ONE! by Harry Connolly ★★★★☆. Cthulhu via taco truck. Fun.
FULFILL MY DESTINY - AND SAVE THE WORLD! by Matt Forbeck ★★☆☆☆ The first of three timetravel stories herein. Meh.
LARPING THE APOCALYPSE 2: THE NANO-PLAGUE by Tim Pratt ★☆☆☆☆. Revenge of the geeks, apocalypse style. Annoying due to failed attempt to grapple with sexism in the gamer community.
FUND TAPHOGNOSIS INDUSTRIES by Tobias S. Buckell ★★★☆☆ Successfully funded virtual mind upload and its aftermath. (I almost forgot about it as soon as I read it, but rereading it it was fine. YMMV.)
CATASSASSINS! by Veronica Belmont ★★★☆☆ See title. Kind of meh, but even more that the taco truck story succeeds in suggesting people ought to be careful what they fund, for their own personal safety.
FINDER OF LOST THINGS by Monte Cook ★★★★★ Now here is a geek story done right. Charming, touching, and beautiful.
PRIMA NOCTA DETECTIVE AGENCY NEEDS YOU by Genevieve Valentine ★☆☆☆☆ I actually had to reread this one to remember it and the reread did not help. The first of three vampire related fund drives.
SO JUICY TRANSFORMING STRIPS by Matt Williamson ★★★★☆ What the hell was that? I still don't even know. Medical issues following worldwide environmental crisis? Some kind of zombie story? Just read this.
THE SPIRIT OF MARS: FUND A SACRED JOURNEY TO THE RED PLANET by Andrew Penn Romine ★★★★☆ Another WTH? story, this time on a pilgrimage to Mars. Shaky on the take off, great on the end.
FLASHED FORWARD by Bradley Beaulieu ★★★★☆ Beautiful time travel story.
HELP ME FOLLOW MY SISTER INTO THE LAND OF THE DEAD by Carmen Maria Machado ★★★★★ See title. Maybe the best story in the anthology. Well worth the read.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR by Michael J Sullivan ★★★★★ Awesome continuation of The Monkey's Paw.
A PRACTICAL MECHANISM FOR OVERCOMING THE DIRECTIONALITY OF TEMPORAL FLOW by David D. Levine ★★★★★ The aftermath of a successfully funded time travel project. The story depends on the shifting details of the fund drive (which first seem like typos) to unfold the story. Very nicely done.
LIFE-SIZED ARENA TETRIS! by David Malki ! ★★☆☆☆ More geek angst, but pointless this time.
ZIPPERS by Derek Van Gorder ★★☆☆☆ Mind control via Internet, with kitten pictures, but otherwise meh.
I USED TO LOVE H.E.R. by Maurice Broaddus ★★★★★ Frankenstein from the perspective of a black lesbian scientist. Set in 2005, prior to Kickstarter, so it plays out in the newspaper. Loved. Gut punch of an ending, though.
LOCALLY GROWN, ORGANIC by Kat Howard ★☆☆☆☆ If I could give this negative stars I would. Elitist, sexist attempt to recreate A Modest Proposal. Stick with Swift.
LET'S KEEP BURT GRIMSBY'S HEAD FROZEN! by Heather Lindsley ★★☆☆☆ Pointless. And I hate Disney most days, so that's not the issue.
JEROME 3.0 by Jason Gurley ★★★☆☆ Second "bring back a dead love" story in the collection. Doesn't work nearly as well. But it does also deal with the subject of Internet fame, also not with great impact, but it does OK. (I'm rounding up out of pity, I guess. Broaddus is a hard act to follow.)
HELP ME DESTROY CANNES! by Jonathan L. Howard ★★☆☆☆ Destroying Cannes maybe sounds like fun, but super meh story.
SAVE THE PHOTOPHOBIC HEMOGLOBIVORES WITH THE SANGUINE RESERVE! by Mur Lafferty ★★☆☆☆ Vampires manipulating folks, as they do. Meh.
NOSFERATU, BRUTUS? by Scott Sigler ★★★☆☆ Why are vampires so hard to do in this format? Destroying the sparkly ones sounds great to me, so this should have been a lot of fun, but the project fails to fund so we don't get any aftermath. The writing is solid. I'm rounding up. I may check out Sigler's books.
UPDATES by Vylar Kaftan and Shannon Prickett ★★☆☆☆ The stupid of the masses is a popular theme in this collection, but this is giant meh.
YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley ★★★★☆ Second space journey, better stupid of the masses. I kind of though meh when I first read it, but it has grown on me.
MECHANICAL ANIMALS by Brooke Bolander ★★★★★ I can't classify this one without spoiling it. Being able to deliver this kind of characterization in this short of a story is a kind of magic I wish I could do. Read it.
KISMET(TM) by Daniel H. Wilson ★★☆☆☆ Augmented consciousness. The project is funded, but no updates follow. (Don't you just hate that?) Meh.
BRING ABOUT THE HALLOWEEN ETERNAL!!! by Seanan McGuire ★★★★☆ (Full disclosure, I bought this anthology to feed my addiction to McGuire's short stories.) Best "summon our own destruction" story in the collection, but none of the weight I love this author for to be found here. Still, pure sugar and fun with a side of end of the world, as befits Halloween.
**Original review written 8/8/15, edited 8/12/15 to add, you know, the actual rating, since no stars is not what I was going for here.**
Full review: Short story is a difficult art. To paint a world and its characters and deliver the actual story in just a few pages is, to me at least, perhaps the height of the storyteller's art. The trick in this anthology is to restrain the form of the story to a Kickstarter proposal (along with comments from the denizens of the Internet and updates from the creator as appropriate. (Some of the proposals are only proposals and some are fully funded with updates from their aftermath.) This is like haiku, the required form either pushing the authors to achieve more with less. Of course, like bad haiku, when these stories fail, they all run together into a blur with nothing to distinguish them. This is made more noticeable by the fact that the form seems to have suggested a number of very similar themes to the authors.
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! by Keffy R.M. Kehrli★★★☆☆. This is the story that sparked the anthology, so the innovation here is the form itself. (I bumped it up a star.) Otherwise, meh.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY by Jeremiah Tolbert★☆☆☆☆ Story about avoiding spoilers contains a major spoiler for the movie Serenity. Ironic! NO actually. Annoying. Don't read this one. (Even if you've seen Serenity, the story is pure meh.)
ZERO G R&J by Mary Robinette Kowal ★★★☆☆ The story is the battle to get Romeo and Juliet (in space! with puppets!) funded. I was so ready to call this two stars, but it actually did make me laugh.
A MEMORIAL TO THE PATRIOTS by Jake Kerr ★★★☆☆ There is the germ of a really good story here, but the constraints of the form got to this one. I never really had that "Aha!" moment that made clear what actually happened, and the confusion wasn't necessarily good. But, fog of war, and all that. USA post terror attack with a funding drive that may or may not be related.
I WANT TO BE A LIONESS by Chuck Wendig ★★★★☆ A mother, her revenge, and the aftermath.
LIBERTY:SEEKING SUPPORT FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS FOR A NON-HUMAN BEING by Samuel Peralta ★★★★★. It is a little heavy handed on the last line, but this is the first story in the anthology that spoke poetry to me. An android needs help.
HELP SUMMON THE MOST HOLY FOLDED ONE! by Harry Connolly ★★★★☆. Cthulhu via taco truck. Fun.
FULFILL MY DESTINY - AND SAVE THE WORLD! by Matt Forbeck ★★☆☆☆ The first of three timetravel stories herein. Meh.
LARPING THE APOCALYPSE 2: THE NANO-PLAGUE by Tim Pratt ★☆☆☆☆. Revenge of the geeks, apocalypse style. Annoying due to failed attempt to grapple with sexism in the gamer community.
FUND TAPHOGNOSIS INDUSTRIES by Tobias S. Buckell ★★★☆☆ Successfully funded virtual mind upload and its aftermath. (I almost forgot about it as soon as I read it, but rereading it it was fine. YMMV.)
CATASSASSINS! by Veronica Belmont ★★★☆☆ See title. Kind of meh, but even more that the taco truck story succeeds in suggesting people ought to be careful what they fund, for their own personal safety.
FINDER OF LOST THINGS by Monte Cook ★★★★★ Now here is a geek story done right. Charming, touching, and beautiful.
PRIMA NOCTA DETECTIVE AGENCY NEEDS YOU by Genevieve Valentine ★☆☆☆☆ I actually had to reread this one to remember it and the reread did not help. The first of three vampire related fund drives.
SO JUICY TRANSFORMING STRIPS by Matt Williamson ★★★★☆ What the hell was that? I still don't even know. Medical issues following worldwide environmental crisis? Some kind of zombie story? Just read this.
THE SPIRIT OF MARS: FUND A SACRED JOURNEY TO THE RED PLANET by Andrew Penn Romine ★★★★☆ Another WTH? story, this time on a pilgrimage to Mars. Shaky on the take off, great on the end.
FLASHED FORWARD by Bradley Beaulieu ★★★★☆ Beautiful time travel story.
HELP ME FOLLOW MY SISTER INTO THE LAND OF THE DEAD by Carmen Maria Machado ★★★★★ See title. Maybe the best story in the anthology. Well worth the read.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR by Michael J Sullivan ★★★★★ Awesome continuation of The Monkey's Paw.
A PRACTICAL MECHANISM FOR OVERCOMING THE DIRECTIONALITY OF TEMPORAL FLOW by David D. Levine ★★★★★ The aftermath of a successfully funded time travel project. The story depends on the shifting details of the fund drive (which first seem like typos) to unfold the story. Very nicely done.
LIFE-SIZED ARENA TETRIS! by David Malki ! ★★☆☆☆ More geek angst, but pointless this time.
ZIPPERS by Derek Van Gorder ★★☆☆☆ Mind control via Internet, with kitten pictures, but otherwise meh.
I USED TO LOVE H.E.R. by Maurice Broaddus ★★★★★ Frankenstein from the perspective of a black lesbian scientist. Set in 2005, prior to Kickstarter, so it plays out in the newspaper. Loved. Gut punch of an ending, though.
LOCALLY GROWN, ORGANIC by Kat Howard ★☆☆☆☆ If I could give this negative stars I would. Elitist, sexist attempt to recreate A Modest Proposal. Stick with Swift.
LET'S KEEP BURT GRIMSBY'S HEAD FROZEN! by Heather Lindsley ★★☆☆☆ Pointless. And I hate Disney most days, so that's not the issue.
JEROME 3.0 by Jason Gurley ★★★☆☆ Second "bring back a dead love" story in the collection. Doesn't work nearly as well. But it does also deal with the subject of Internet fame, also not with great impact, but it does OK. (I'm rounding up out of pity, I guess. Broaddus is a hard act to follow.)
HELP ME DESTROY CANNES! by Jonathan L. Howard ★★☆☆☆ Destroying Cannes maybe sounds like fun, but super meh story.
SAVE THE PHOTOPHOBIC HEMOGLOBIVORES WITH THE SANGUINE RESERVE! by Mur Lafferty ★★☆☆☆ Vampires manipulating folks, as they do. Meh.
NOSFERATU, BRUTUS? by Scott Sigler ★★★☆☆ Why are vampires so hard to do in this format? Destroying the sparkly ones sounds great to me, so this should have been a lot of fun, but the project fails to fund so we don't get any aftermath. The writing is solid. I'm rounding up. I may check out Sigler's books.
UPDATES by Vylar Kaftan and Shannon Prickett ★★☆☆☆ The stupid of the masses is a popular theme in this collection, but this is giant meh.
YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley ★★★★☆ Second space journey, better stupid of the masses. I kind of though meh when I first read it, but it has grown on me.
MECHANICAL ANIMALS by Brooke Bolander ★★★★★ I can't classify this one without spoiling it. Being able to deliver this kind of characterization in this short of a story is a kind of magic I wish I could do. Read it.
KISMET(TM) by Daniel H. Wilson ★★☆☆☆ Augmented consciousness. The project is funded, but no updates follow. (Don't you just hate that?) Meh.
BRING ABOUT THE HALLOWEEN ETERNAL!!! by Seanan McGuire ★★★★☆ (Full disclosure, I bought this anthology to feed my addiction to McGuire's short stories.) Best "summon our own destruction" story in the collection, but none of the weight I love this author for to be found here. Still, pure sugar and fun with a side of end of the world, as befits Halloween.
**Original review written 8/8/15, edited 8/12/15 to add, you know, the actual rating, since no stars is not what I was going for here.**
March 14, 2023
2 stars
Took me over a year to read this collection, so that about sums it up. It was a cool idea to have a bunch of short Sci-fi stories each in the format of a kickstarter campaign. I enjoyed seeing how each author used various crowd-funding components to tell their stories. Sometimes the real story was in the perks or even the comments! Points for ingenuity, but…
Most stories just weren’t that great. I actually liked maybe 20-30% of the stories. Major bummer. Give it a chance if you want something weird to spice up your TBR, otherwise skip it.
5.0 —One of the best I've ever read. Will be burned into my brain. Couldn't care less about weaknesses (if any). Would recommend to everyone and their mother.
4.5 —Loved this read. Will remember it fondly. Few weaknesses. Would recommend to anyone.
4.0 —Enjoyed this read. Will remember it fondly. Minor weaknesses. Would recommend to fans of the genre.
3.5 —Somewhat enjoyed this read. Might be memorable. Notable weaknesses. Would recommend to fans of the genre.
3.0 —Somewhat enjoyed this read. Not very memorable. Notable weaknesses. Would recommend to people who like similar books.
2.5 —Neutral or Underwhelming read. Not very memorable. Significant weaknesses. Would recommend to people who like similar books.
▌2.0 —Underwhelming or unenjoyable read. Not very memorable or memorable for the wrong reasons. Significant weaknesses. Might recommend to people who like similar books.
1.5 —Unenjoyable read. Not very memorable or memorable for bad reasons. Major weaknesses. Probably wouldn't recommend.
1.0 —I wish I never wasted minutes of my life on this trash. I would go out of my way to convince others not to read it.
Took me over a year to read this collection, so that about sums it up. It was a cool idea to have a bunch of short Sci-fi stories each in the format of a kickstarter campaign. I enjoyed seeing how each author used various crowd-funding components to tell their stories. Sometimes the real story was in the perks or even the comments! Points for ingenuity, but…
Most stories just weren’t that great. I actually liked maybe 20-30% of the stories. Major bummer. Give it a chance if you want something weird to spice up your TBR, otherwise skip it.
5.0 —One of the best I've ever read. Will be burned into my brain. Couldn't care less about weaknesses (if any). Would recommend to everyone and their mother.
4.5 —Loved this read. Will remember it fondly. Few weaknesses. Would recommend to anyone.
4.0 —Enjoyed this read. Will remember it fondly. Minor weaknesses. Would recommend to fans of the genre.
3.5 —Somewhat enjoyed this read. Might be memorable. Notable weaknesses. Would recommend to fans of the genre.
3.0 —Somewhat enjoyed this read. Not very memorable. Notable weaknesses. Would recommend to people who like similar books.
2.5 —Neutral or Underwhelming read. Not very memorable. Significant weaknesses. Would recommend to people who like similar books.
▌2.0 —Underwhelming or unenjoyable read. Not very memorable or memorable for the wrong reasons. Significant weaknesses. Might recommend to people who like similar books.
1.5 —Unenjoyable read. Not very memorable or memorable for bad reasons. Major weaknesses. Probably wouldn't recommend.
1.0 —I wish I never wasted minutes of my life on this trash. I would go out of my way to convince others not to read it.
February 8, 2017
Básicamente escogí este libro porque el titulo me llamó la atención y no me he arrepentido.
He tenido malas experiencias con otras antologías porque los relatos eran muy diferentes en términos de estilo y a veces calidad. Aquí no pasa. Los relatos están formateados como si estuviéramos leyendo un proyecto de crowdfunding y los autores utilizan los diferentes elementos para contar sus historias, eso hace que los cambios de estilo no sean muy grandes. Me parece un concepto muy interesante el limitar las opciones del escritor a la hora de contar la historia y lo mejor de todo es que muchas de las historias funcionan bien precisamente gracias al formato.
De lo que nos encontramos dentro hay temática muy variada pero se puede agrupar en cuatro categorías: factor wtf; devuélveme a mi amado/a; dominemos el mundo y distopía cientifico-empresarial.
A continuación listo algunas de mis favoritas:
- FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY de Jeremiah Tolbert
- A MEMORIAL TO THE PATRIOTS de Jake Kerr
- HELP SUMMON THE MOST HOLY FOLDED ONE! de Harry Connolly
- FLASHED FORWARD de Bradley Beaulieu
- HELP ME FOLLOW MY SISTER INTO THE LAND OF THE DEAD de Carmen Maria Machado
- BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR de Michael J. Sullivan
- LET’S KEEP BURT GRIMSBY’S HEAD FROZEN! de Heather Lindsley
- HELP ME DESTROY CANNES! de Jonathan L. Howard
- MECHANICAL ANIMALS de Brooke Bolander
He tenido malas experiencias con otras antologías porque los relatos eran muy diferentes en términos de estilo y a veces calidad. Aquí no pasa. Los relatos están formateados como si estuviéramos leyendo un proyecto de crowdfunding y los autores utilizan los diferentes elementos para contar sus historias, eso hace que los cambios de estilo no sean muy grandes. Me parece un concepto muy interesante el limitar las opciones del escritor a la hora de contar la historia y lo mejor de todo es que muchas de las historias funcionan bien precisamente gracias al formato.
De lo que nos encontramos dentro hay temática muy variada pero se puede agrupar en cuatro categorías: factor wtf; devuélveme a mi amado/a; dominemos el mundo y distopía cientifico-empresarial.
A continuación listo algunas de mis favoritas:
- FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY de Jeremiah Tolbert
- A MEMORIAL TO THE PATRIOTS de Jake Kerr
- HELP SUMMON THE MOST HOLY FOLDED ONE! de Harry Connolly
- FLASHED FORWARD de Bradley Beaulieu
- HELP ME FOLLOW MY SISTER INTO THE LAND OF THE DEAD de Carmen Maria Machado
- BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR de Michael J. Sullivan
- LET’S KEEP BURT GRIMSBY’S HEAD FROZEN! de Heather Lindsley
- HELP ME DESTROY CANNES! de Jonathan L. Howard
- MECHANICAL ANIMALS de Brooke Bolander
February 17, 2018
I LOVED this. Great concept, fun realization of said concept and a really high quality of work overall. Obviously every single anthology has ups and downs in terms of quality, but this one managed a (generally) consistent high that was really pleasing to me.
Favourite(s): Seanan McGuire's take on a halloween kickstarter was fun as hell, Mary Robinette Kowal's Romeo and Juliet in Space (with puppets) made me laugh hysterically and then force my fiance to read it so he could laugh hysterically too, Genevieve Valentine's take on a noir/urban fantasy detective was pitch perfect and Carmen Maria Machado's story about separated sisters made me ugly sob in the best possible way.
Least favourite(s): The title story was fun but one of the wobblier ones, and while Samuel Peralta's story was good it's a concept that's been done (far better) before and also didn't really seem to get the brief.
Overall, though? This was EPIC and I absolutely devoured it. Definitely worth a go!
Favourite(s): Seanan McGuire's take on a halloween kickstarter was fun as hell, Mary Robinette Kowal's Romeo and Juliet in Space (with puppets) made me laugh hysterically and then force my fiance to read it so he could laugh hysterically too, Genevieve Valentine's take on a noir/urban fantasy detective was pitch perfect and Carmen Maria Machado's story about separated sisters made me ugly sob in the best possible way.
Least favourite(s): The title story was fun but one of the wobblier ones, and while Samuel Peralta's story was good it's a concept that's been done (far better) before and also didn't really seem to get the brief.
Overall, though? This was EPIC and I absolutely devoured it. Definitely worth a go!
December 3, 2018
What a fantastic collection of "stories"!
This book has a very specific target audience - namely those who have at least some experience with crowdfunding (especially Kickstarter). Those who do not will probably not "get" the format of the stories, or they will at least not work too well for them. However, if you are part of the target audience, then GO READ THIS BOOK! Especially if you have backed a dozen or more crowdfunding projects. It is THAT GOOD.
There are hilarious, weird, disturbing, and really sad stories in here. The title makes it seem like it being a funny book, and the stories meant to be funny really are. But don't expect them all to be (not even most). All of them are very well-crafted, though, and either really entertaining or thought-provoking.
My two favourites:
- Teenage Vamplague™
- Update, the Kickstarter Like No Other
What are you waiting for - GO READ IT!
This book has a very specific target audience - namely those who have at least some experience with crowdfunding (especially Kickstarter). Those who do not will probably not "get" the format of the stories, or they will at least not work too well for them. However, if you are part of the target audience, then GO READ THIS BOOK! Especially if you have backed a dozen or more crowdfunding projects. It is THAT GOOD.
There are hilarious, weird, disturbing, and really sad stories in here. The title makes it seem like it being a funny book, and the stories meant to be funny really are. But don't expect them all to be (not even most). All of them are very well-crafted, though, and either really entertaining or thought-provoking.
My two favourites:
- Teenage Vamplague™
- Update, the Kickstarter Like No Other
What are you waiting for - GO READ IT!
August 2, 2022
So for some reason when I got this I start it was a collection of real Kickstarter projects so I was disappointed when I read the first few and it wasn't actual projects, just made up ones. I ended up putting the book down for like five years because it took me a while to realize that it was a short story anthology written as Kickstarters. Duh. Not sure why I couldn't figure that out earlier.
Anyway, once I realized that I really enjoyed a lot of the stories. The only gripe I had is that similar stories were grouped together (brain/consciousness transfer stories, time travel stories) which made the book feel repetitive at points. However, most of the stories were great with some strong stand outs - in particular, I loved Carmen Maria Machado's (though I also loved her book In the Dream House so it's not shocking I liked other works by her).
Anyway, once I realized that I really enjoyed a lot of the stories. The only gripe I had is that similar stories were grouped together (brain/consciousness transfer stories, time travel stories) which made the book feel repetitive at points. However, most of the stories were great with some strong stand outs - in particular, I loved Carmen Maria Machado's (though I also loved her book In the Dream House so it's not shocking I liked other works by her).
May 25, 2021
Nunca había leído algo en formato kickstarter, aspecto que hace muy interesante y ágil la lectura. Como toda compilación de cuentos hay algunos que me gustaron más que otros, unos que siento aprovecharon muy bien el formato, otros que no me gustaron y algunos que ya se me olvidaron porque lo sentí muy meh. Aun así creo que este libro es una gran oportunidad para abrir nuestra perspectiva sobre las diferentes dinámicas de escritura que habitan en el mundo digital.
June 7, 2023
I expected the stories in this collection to be mostly worth a chuckle or two, worth reading once but ultimately forgettable - which some of them were. But there were quite a few that used the "crowdfunding" format masterfully and packed a real emotional punch (or were just extremely creepy dystopias - I do have a weakness for those.) All in all, despite a few duds, I would absolutely recommend this anthology.
October 21, 2017
Though the premise is cute about half way through it begins to wear thin and become a bit monotonous which is probably why they tried to throw some of the bigger authors and better stories (Scott Sigler) into the second half. I seem to always find anthologies a bit of a mixed bag and almost all of the ideas here arent bad but the premise does grate after awhile.
November 27, 2017
This was my "on my phone" book. I only read it if I was stuck someplace with out anything to do (waiting rooms, trains, etc.). Tons of short little stories, an awesome way or writing them. Many were very funny, some bitter sweet, some horrific. Great collection all around.
April 6, 2018
Some were fun but after the first few the novelty wears off.
I liked many of the stories. Some were quirky, others played with the format in creative ways. After a few, though, it began to feel repetitive.
I liked many of the stories. Some were quirky, others played with the format in creative ways. After a few, though, it began to feel repetitive.
February 27, 2021
This was a fun, fairly quick read. Some worked better as stories than others, but that was part of the challenge of this book. Others just read like amusing kickstarters, which also had their own appeal.
May 25, 2023
I found this by looking up Seanan McGuire who has a story in the collection and I was not disappointed. In the book or her story.
This is a great concept and I love it. It gets full stars because even with a few here and there that were just alright, the entire concept and the stories I did love made up for them. More books need to come up with creative ideas like this.
This is a great concept and I love it. It gets full stars because even with a few here and there that were just alright, the entire concept and the stories I did love made up for them. More books need to come up with creative ideas like this.
March 11, 2018
So Juicy Transforming Strips is the b.e.s.t story! Hilarious and flabbergasting. Some others I liked: LARPing, Halloween, Taphognosis, Mechanical Animals, YOLO.
August 13, 2019
I love the idea of using Kickstarter to back an anthology of fictional Kickstarter project. Some stories were really, really good. It felt a bit repetitive in the end though.
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