William C. Tracy is joining us today to talk about the Kickstarter he’s running, Space Wizard Science Fantasy Year 1. Here’s the description:
Space Wizard Science Fantasy is a new queer indie science fiction and fantasy publishing company, started by William C. Tracy. This year, it is putting out 12 new books, and funding them via Kickstarter. This means the books can start with the fantastic cover art already paid for and allows Space Wizard to provide great royalty rates for authors so they can generate even more great stories!
Books include:
Awry With Dandelions: J.S. Fields’ sapphic colony planet romance novelette.
One of Our Spaceships is Missing: Chris Gerrib’s gay, lesbian, ace, and bi military space opera.
The Mandroid Murders: Robin C.M. Duncan’s queer sci-fi action and mystery.
The Carborundum Conundrum: sequel to The Mandroid Murders.
Ardulum: a reprint of J.S. Fields’ 4-book Ardulum series, with new edits and covers.
Of Mycelium and Men #1 and #2: the first two books of William C. Tracy’s new trilogy of queer generational ships and fungal aliens.
Farther Reefs (sequel to Distant Gardens): a lesbian, ocean-themed anthology (lesbian pirates!).
The World of Juno: a secondary world anthology, creating the timeline of three new species.There’s even more in the Kickstarter. You can get anything from one eBook or paperback, to a full year’s subscription to the publishing house!
What’s William’s favorite bit?
William C. Tracy
Starting a publishing company:
This will sound sappy, but My Favorite Bit of this Kickstarter is all the authors. There are about eighteen authors contributing to the first year of Space Wizard, and they are doing such awesome work, I can’t wait for all their books to come out. And this is what I want from my queer little publishing house: a community of great authors who learn from each other and produce excellent LGBTQIA+ content worthy of being showcased alongside the big five publishers.
The industry is getting better at depicting queer content, but it’s still the sidebar to mainstream publishing, and often you find f/f or m/m stories relegated to the bins of awful covers and bad editing. That’s not even touching on books with ace character representation, or trans characters, or neopronouns. I’m trying to address that, as a publisher. I want to find people with really great ideas and queer characters, whose books don’t fit into the standard sci-fi or fantasy genres. I always loved those stories best growing up. Those are the science fantasies, the dreamscapes, the hopeful worlds where everyone can truly be equal. This is what science fiction and fantasy are about: pushing boundaries and imagining what could be.
And now the fun part. Because there are a lot of authors involved, and because…authors, there are some extra rewards going on. Three of the authors have promised songs and stories at certain levels of the Kickstarter:
First, J.S. Fields, author of the Ardulum series, has said they will read passages from their books for every $1000 the Kickstarter passes. We’ve already passed $6000, which means you can watch these two videos, where they drank two types of whiskey, explained scene inspirations, honked like a goose, dramatically re-enacted a choking, and had emotions.
Next up is N.L. Bates, who has graciously offered to let The Internet pick songs for her to play on the trombone, every $1000, starting at $4500. The first video, Kickstart my Heart by Mötley Crüe (of course) is here and there are more songs coming!
We also have Robin C.M. Duncan reading what is widely regarded as some of the worst poetry—that of William Topaz McGonagall. Check out his grimaces of pain here!
Yes, My Favorite Bit is the authors, and that’s why I originally set out to start this publishing company. Because I strive to uplift queer and marginalized voices that are currently not as prevalent in the SFF community. M/M, F/F, Poly, Bi, Pan, Trans, Ace, Neurodivergent, and other gender representation is growing in publishing, but not enough. I want to feature it.
So please check it out! You can get one single eBook or paperback of your choice, you can get a trilogy of books, all of my or J.S. Field’s catalog through Space Wizard, charms, decals, pins, and buttons, and even a subscription to Space Wizard. That means you get each book as it released, either emailed to you in eBook format, mailed in paperback, or both!
This Kickstarter is only the first step, and the more successful it is, the more chance there will be for a Space Wizard Science Fantasy Year 2, so please tell your friends!
LINKS:
Space Wizard Science Fantasy Year 1 is now live on Kickstarter!
BIO:
William C. Tracy writes and publishes queer science fiction and fantasy through his indie press Space Wizard Science Fantasy, which is open to submissions (spacewizardsciencefantasy.com).
He is an NC native and a lifelong fan of science fiction and fantasy. He has a master’s in mechanical engineering, and has both designed and operated heavy construction machinery. He has also trained in Wado-Ryu karate since 2003 and runs his own dojo in Raleigh NC. He is an avid video and board gamer, a beekeeper, a reader, and of course, a writer.
