“Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you get burned.” This is the theme of the new anthology, Loved & Lost, collecting 9 stories about imperfect romance, now funding on Kickstarter.
I’m going to assume that since you’re reading this here on this site you’ve heard of the Broken Frontier Anthology and its amazing line up of talent that we successfully funded on Kickstarter just last year. But what you might not know is that I was already working on an anthology called Loved & Lost, which I put on hold in order focus my energy on the BFA.
It was certainly the right decision and an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, but once I finished the fulfillment and short book tour this summer, I couldn’t wait to refocus my energy on finishing my previous project.
Loved & Lost collect 9 stories about navigating through the treacherous waters of modern romance and discovering that not all relationships work out the way you expect. I wrote all 9 stories myself and worked with a different artist or art team for each one.
It’s true that this anthology doesn’t have the big names leading the way like on the BFA, but I hand picked these up-and-coming artists for a reason. Not only are they very talented but their skill set matches each of these stories to a ‘T’.
And my goal was to really take different approaches to modern romance and explore the pitfalls that cause relationships to fail. There are stories about meeting online, on vacations or at a sporting event and about different kinds of people from soldiers, techies to artists. I won’t commit to saying all these relationships fall apart, but expectations are certainly shattered as the characters learn to deal with their new reality.
I can’t wait for people to see more of this project and that begins with the Kickstarter campaign. There are some great opportunities to grab either the digital or print version of the book, as well as additional prints, art, and a limited bookplate signed by the creative team.
And I did something a little different with the prints this time around. Beyond getting some great artists like Leila del Duca (Shutter) & Toby Cypress (Omega Men), I also pair their illustrations with classic love poems. We laid the text right in there with the art and the result was very interesting. I’m going to make sure I print these at the highest quality I can.
So there you have it, a brand new anthology that I’m really proud of. If you happened to back the Broken Frontier Anthology, I can promise that this one will be done with the same level of care. And if you didn’t, we’re actually offering a reward in this campaign where you can get both the BFA and Loved & Lost together, and that is a nice collection.
