Pangaea – The Anthology

[mabfan]

A few days ago, a Kickstarter project launched that I'm proud to be a part of. Author and editor Michael Jan Friedman came up with the idea of an alternate version of Earth in which the Pangaea supercontinent never broke up, and invited a bunch of writers to contribute stories to this world. I found myself intrigued by the notion and signed up immediately.

I'm delighted to be a part of this anthology. I'm in the company of many worthy writers, including Adam-Troy Castro, Russ Colchamiro, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Paul Kupperberg, Kelly Meding, Aaron Rosenberg, Lawrence M. Schoen, Geoffrey Thorne, Dayton Ward, and Kevin Dilmore.

Allow me to give you more details about the project. First let me quote directly from the Pangaea webpage and then I'll tell you a little bit about my own story further on - and the pledge rewards I've personally offered.

First the description:

At least four times in Earth’s history, the continents have come sliding together. Over millions of years, separate and distinct landmasses have crawled across the planet's surface on immense tectonic plates to form a single mass--a super-continent. Geologists have dubbed the most recent such formation Pangaea.

Of course, Pangaea broke up a long time ago, and because it did, mankind developed in drastically different climes and circumstances. But what if we twenty-first century types were living in one of the super-continental periods--those characterized by “lid tectonics” rather than “plate tectonics?” What would it be like if all of humanity was confined to a single landmass...and had been so confined for all of our recorded history?

That's the ever-so-tantalizing axis on which our Pangaea anthology turns.

It's an exciting and original idea, one that deserves the best world-building talent available. So to explore this world on your behalf, we've harnessed the word-smithing abilities of some of science fiction's most inventive writers.

Now, as to my story.

I can't give away too much, but I'm writing a story with the current working title "Beliefs and Challenges." It's actually a love story about two teenagers in an agrarian part of the world, and how world events affect their relationship and their religious beliefs, and finally leads one of the two to make a major, life-altering decision. As this is a shared-world anthology, my hope is that the other writers will decide to bring my characters into their own stories, like the writers who contributed to the Thieves' World stories or the Wild Card stories.

There are many levels at which you can pledge to support this project. For only $8 you can get the ebook. For $25 you can get a signed trade paperback as well. Or if you have $100 to contribute, you can be Tuckerized in my story, meaning that I will name one of my story's characters after you (as best as I can, given that this is an alternate world and our names will not be spelled the same way).

So please follow the link, take a look, and if you're so inclined, make a pledge to support Pangaea.

Thank you for reading.

Comments

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I'm a big Kickstarter supporter and generally speaking I'm There when it comes to anthologies published this way. I like this theme of this project and, given the current roster, I'm interested. My big question--and since I'm not a supporter yet, I can't ask it on the page, is why I'm seeing only--what?--one or two women in the roster. That actually makes me a little uncomfortable. Some of the guys in the current TOC are good friends (yourself included) and supremely gifted, but where are the women's voices? It's . . . discouraging.

I just wrote, via the Kickstarter page, to ask this very question. I realized that it bothered me enough that I had to ask. Since you're not the editor, you're not really in a position to effectively address the question.

[mortuus.livejournal.com]

scarlettina, have you by any chance been a backer for the Athena's Daughters anthologies? The publisher behind those (who I happen to be associated with, so I'm not really a disinterested party ;-)) has concerns like yours: lack of female voices in SF/F. Those anthologies included only stories by women and with women protagonists. The Kickstarters are over for those, but if you haven't already got them, they're available for purchase and worth a read, especially the 2nd volume (IMO, better quality than the first volume).

And with that, apologies to mabfan for hijacking his Kickstarter post! It sounds like a cool anthology and I can't wait to read it!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I think scarlettina has been aware of them. I was a backer of Women Destroy Science Fiction, myself. As it is, her concerns have not gone unnoticed.

[mortuus.livejournal.com]

Oooo, sweet. Backed.

It's a nicely designed Kickstarter, too.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[lisafeld.livejournal.com]

What a nifty idea!