Sally Slick: Centurion Of The Century
Way back in 2012, while we were between visas and unemployable, Evil Hat lived up to the "Evil" part of their title and started a KickStarter that I had no hope of resisting. Their goal was to release a trilogy of novels based in the Spirit of the Century universe, following the adventures of the Century Club, a team of heroes that have been, quite literally, born to protect the 20th century. The books were to be true pulp action, inspired by the pulp novels of the early 1900's.
I threw in my money, and watched in joyous horror as the number in the corner went up and up, far beyond anyone's expectations! More and more novels, from more and more incredible authors were added to the line-up, and the final tally leveled out at seven books! For the princely sum of $10 that I could scrape together at the time, I got everything in digital format!
Later, after I was blissfully back at work, Evil Hat tried their hands at another crowd funded project. This time, they sought to update their Fate System, the engine upon which Spirit of the Century and later Dreden Files, was built. They chose to call the new system Fate Core, and the KickStarter was set at a lowly $3,000 asking price.
Which it managed in minutes.
I was lucky enough to get in early enough to nab one of the elusive limited Pledge Levels. As the Stretch Goals piled up, so too did my pledge, slowly rising as I sought to get more and more physical content.
And then, late in the run, Evil Hat announced a new novel as part of the Fate Core campaign!
Sally Slick and the Steel Syndicate was to be a young adult novel based before the events of the Spirit of the Century role-playing games and the previously funded novels, set around 1914, when Sally is just discovering the wider world, and the world is just about to discover her!
I was delighted! Not only was I in love with the idea of more material from the universe, but I had recently discovered the Young Adult genre of novels, and found them a wonderful, refreshing change of pace from the heavy, all-too-often dark and depressing, plain old adult novels I usually read.
I've been reading all the Spirit of the Century books as they've been released to the KickStarter Backers, and enjoying them all. Each one is crafted with love of the characters and the era. Each is packed with thrilling adventures and daring escapes. Each is a joy to read, and as soon as I finish one, I can't wait to read the next.
With that in mind, having been following the development of this whole thing from the start, it gives me great pleasure to be a part of this official world reveal!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you the wonderful art of Dani Kaulaki that will adorn the cover of Carrie Harris's Sally Slick and the Steel Syndicate! Take it home, Dani!
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