Even before Crone Girls Press embarked on our very first crowdfunding adventure, we wanted to create a press and publishing projects that give people a chance to get involved with the process. We’ve hosted open calls, share fun memes and stories in our Facebook group, and generally try to be as open and welcoming to everyone who enjoys reading and writing our brand of quiet horror.
But how, we thought, can we translate that into something fun for the people who are backing the Dark Spores Kickstarter?
Mushroom Party, Y’all!
On Friday, we hosted our very first Backer Party for all the generous people who have contributed to the Dark Spores Kickstarter.
We opened with a fantastic mushroom cocktail experience, hosted by sommelier Chantal Tseng. Chantal walked us through the steps to making her delicious Shiitake Sunset by the Salt Sea cocktail, a recipe that she created just for our party! We’ll be sharing the recipe with all of our backers. If you haven’t pledged (yet!) there is still time to sign up and check out the fabulous concoction.
Cover Reveal
We wanted to make this a fun event for our Kickstarter backers, but how can you show appreciation to the authors and patrons who are making this anthology happen? By sharing an exclusive first look at our cover reveal!
Lynne Hansen took some time off her road trip adventures through the Southwest to hop on the party Zoom and share her latest creation–the cover for Dark Spores: Stories We Tell After Midnight 4!
Lynne shared her process for creating the collage that became that amazing, gorgeous mushroom skull gracing the cover. We love Lynne, and we adore her talent and creativity. Wouldn’t you want to pick up this volume and turn the page, just to see what might be growing in the darkness inside?
Welcome to the Party, Pal!
Crone Girls prizes collaboration and good vibes–it’s one of the reasons we focus on anthology projects. Without authors who are open to participating, it’s hard to engage and share these sorts of events. We are very lucky that many of our invited authors showed up to support the event!
We heard readings from Randee Dawn, Teel James Glenn, and Rick Claypool. Candace Nola shared some of her journey into the horror world, her writing, and her work with Uncomfortably Dark.
In addition to sharing his most recent short story, The Fungus People, Rick also shared some of his most recent fungus foraging finds (try saying that three times fast!) They all looked quite delicious. Rick did warn part attendees about foraging for mushrooms, especially given the proliferation of websites and apps that rely on AI to identify species of mushroom.
“Don’t eat anything because an app told you,” said Rick, which we think is good advice for mushrooms and plants in general!
Don’t leave without your door prizes!
Any good party is going to have fun games! We decided to play trivia, and asked two questions of our attendees.
What is the name of the mushroom featured in the author announcement for Gabino Iglesias?
D., one of our backers, got this one correct! It is the death cap mushroom, also known as Amanita phalloides. For the correct answer, D. won a copy of our most recent dark fiction anthology (also with a forest theme!), Tangle & Fen, as well as a handwoven bookmark, custom created for this Kickstarter.
Our final trivia question of the night centered around a mushroom that we at Crone Girls absolutely adore.
What is the name of the mushroom that bleeds ink when it spreads its spores–kind of like our writers?
V., another backer, got this right, jumping into the chat to answer first. It is the ink cap mushroom, or Coprinopsis atramentaria. For the right answer, V. will received one of our not-yet-announced Super Backer rewards. This will include all of the publications available in our other reward tiers (the digital and paperback copies of Dark Spores, plus the full CGP digital bundle, plus the digital author trading cards), along with a tote bag with an exclusive mushroom horror design, a custom T-shirt, mushroom chocolate, a custom-designed handwoven bookmark, and a few other trinkets and swag we’ll have available.
Bummer, I missed the party!
No worries!
First, once you back the Kickstarter, you will have access to all the previous backer-only updates, which will include the mushroom cocktail recipe (once Rachel gets a chance in the midst of end-of-school-year plus StokerCon Weekend happy-crazy times.) So, if you haven’t pledged, you have time.
But not too much time, so go check it out.
Second, we are planning another party! This one will take place June 14. Once again, all of our authors and patrons will be invited. We’ll have another Chantal Tseng cocktail, more readings by the authors involved, and we’ll host a Q&A with editors Carol Gyzander and Rachel A. Brune to talk about the open call for submissions.
As a reminder, the open call will only happen if we fund successfully, so if you would like to see that happen, please share the campaign far and wide!
Finally, thank you to all of the party attendees. We are grateful to our amazing community–our authors, our patrons, our readers, and those who support us any way they can. You are the best!
cronegirlspress.com 