Tipjar fiction project: ‘Queen of the Iron Sands’
Novelist Scott Lynch is posting weekly chapters of a serial pulp fiction project on his website. The story, Queen of the Iron Sands, is a rollicking adventure yarn in the vein of John Carter of Mars or Flash Gordon: a female aviator is transported to Mars by strange forces, and ends up fighting against a great and terrible tyranny.
Or so the blurb says. It’s only up to three chapters so far—and as each one ends with a cliffhanger, the end of chapter three is singularly frustrating. Still, it is excellent and worthwhile reading and I can’t wait for more to show up. The story is engagingly written in first-person, with keen attention to historical accuracy in the depiction of the part that happens on earth, and Violet has a voice that draws the reader right into her predicament.
Although Queen of the Iron Sands is not a “storyteller’s bowl” project, where donations are required to reach a certain level before additional posting can proceed, Lynch has put a PayPal “tip jar” on the site for people who wish to donate to support the project. Sadly, not everybody understands the idea of a tip jar. In his LiveJournal, Lynch has posted a response to one fan who sent him an angry letter for daring to “charge“ for the works displayed on his website. It seems that fan entitlement is alive and well.
Anyway, this is a great story—be sure and check it out. And if you enjoy it, consider dropping some virtual cash into the tip jar!
September 9th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Another one from Dave Freer, a Baen writer:
http://www.savethedragons.nu/
September 9th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Yes, igorsk, we covered that one already.