Collective Perk #1 (150$) - Virtual Get Out of Sacrifice Free Card coming soon!
Collective Perk #2 (300$) - Full color Levantine Fantasy illustration coming soon!
Collective Perk #3 (500$) - A video teaser for one of the stories
Collective Perk #4 (750$) - A short film in the world of Israeli Storyteller
Collective Perk #5 (1000$) - It's a surprise!
Hi!
My name is Uri and I am a fantasy writer and game designer
from Israel.
You can read about my work and publications here.
In my line of work, I have written a lot about other worlds,
but I am yet to write about my world. I am not talking about your world, or the
world on the News, or in the history books or that dude over there’s world. No.
I’m talking about my world. I’m talking about fantasy Israel.
So, what makes this book different from any other fantasy anthology out
there?
1) It’s Levantine Fantasy
Israel
is a beautiful and fascinating place. Merely looking out of a car window fills
you with four thousand years of wonder, magic, and horror. It is a country of
dark contradictions – a land of ancient history that hails to times before the
flood, and an all-too-fragile modern civilization. It is a land where you can
meet ghouls, golems, genies, talking animals, angels, lilin
and other wonderful beings. In short, it is a very cool place.
Besides, why should Greeks and Vikings have all the fun? The
Gods and Monsters of the Old Levant want to be heard too...
You can read more about it here.
2) It’s Real Fantasy
Yes, it’s an oxymoron. Allow me to explain. This is more
than just a fantasy story cycle one writes as he sits in
front of the computer, sipping tea and listening to bands you’ve probably never
heard of. This is a nice and accurate guide. These stories are not made
up, they are told by the land. I am merely translating them into words and
pictures. The land is generous, but it is also harsh – it does not tolerate lying
tell-tales, so I oblige it by truly listening to what it has to say.
More to the point, I only write about real
places that I really visited and which really inspired me.
You can see some cool places here.
The Storyteller must observe the tiniest details...
So, where does my money go?
Publishing costs money. There is editing,
art, layout, cover design and other boring technical stuff. More importantly, this
book is inspired by a real life adventure, and real adventuring costs real
money. Gas, food, entrance fees, protection money, blood money, coins tossed
down magic wells, sacrifices unto minor spirits and retired deities, that sort
of thing. This is more than just a book. This is an expedition, and, like all
expeditions, it depends on the patronage of good people.
The more we raise, the more awesome this book will be. It
will have more cool art, more fun addendums and more stories full of win!
I want to help this project, but don’t have money to spare right now. Can I
still help?
Certainly! I need the green gold to pay for editing, art,
layout and so forth, so contributions will be very welcome. But money is not everything
in life (presumably) – drawings, experiences, and even magic stories of your
own -- all are welcome!
Thank you for your help!
A note regarding the perks – each perk
includes all the previous perks. You don’t have to choose – the more you give,
the more you get!
Reviews by early readers:
Clinton Boomer, author of the Hole behind Midnight, writes:
"There are far too few original voices in fiction. A voice like Uri's – breathtakingly imaginative in flights of fancy, brutally rooted in the horror of the real and blindingly human in even the most alien of moments – may come along only once in a generation."
Torah Cottrill, former Managing Editor in Wizards of the Coast, writes:
"This collection of stories is truly out of the ordinary, a glimpse into the place where the magical and the mundane meet. Creatures of legend still live in the old places of modern Israel, so be warned: the stranger you encounter on the streets of Tel Aviv may be much more than she seems!"
Christine Forshner, blogger and reviewer, writes:
"The tales contained within are varied, and span the breadth of human existence. Some are short, some long, but all have something interesting to say about the people and surroundings. Within these pages you can see the perspective of creatures great and small, from the lives of toys and our four legged friends to the lives of gods and otherworldly beings. The fact that the author has visited these places makes it even more realistic in its bizarre fantasy."
Ty Johnston, author of Ghosts of the Asylum and Demon Chains, writes:
"Past and present, divine and demonic, sacrosanct and secular, all are brought together in this collection to breath life into the hidden world of Israel’s secrets. Here legends of old walk the streets and horrors best left forgotten raise their ugly heads to remind us of the thin veil separating our world from theirs. Uri creates all this not only with his words, but with the images he implants in the readers’ minds of the very land he himself has trod upon."
Scott Fitzgerald Gray, author of A Prayer for Dead Kings and Other Tales, writes:
"Uri Kurlianchik writes with the voice of a seasoned explorer and the imagination of a master fantasist, crafting wondrous travelogues like some bastard love-child of Lord Dunsany and Paul Theroux. Treading the fabled ground of myth and history, this extraordinary collection of unique tales weaves a tapestry of hope and sadness that literally cannot be put down."
