"Sitting Bull's Voice" is a documentary project over on Kickstarter.  The goal is to preserve some of the history relating to a famous Native American leader and his descendants.  

I'm really excited to see this project.  The topic is a personal favorite; I love studying tribal history.  Also, I think that crowdfunding is a great match for Native American culture because the tribes are so community-oriented.  I'm also pleased to see someone using this business model to preserve aspects of the past, such as oral tradition, that are easily lost and not well respected by the mainstream.

You can help by making a donation and/or boosting the signal.

The Arkh Project is building a video game featuring queer people and people of color as characters and designers. It has met the first funding goal for character design and is extending that campaign goal to keep the momentum going. JOB CREATOR!

This is a credible threat to the whitewashed gaming industry. Consequently someone complained about the campaign being discriminatory because it aimed to hire queer people and people of color. I find it very frustrating when advantaged people try to butt in to the very few places that are focused on less advantaged people.

If you are similarly displeased by this attack on job creation in the queer/chromatic community, consider protesting with a donation and/or signal boost for the Arkh Project. Let's make it clear that hiring project-relevant experts, and putting jobs into areas where people often can't find jobs, is a GOOD thing.

While hunting for resources for this weekend's Crowdfunding Creative Jam with its "Disabled Characters" theme, I stumbled across a splendid new crowdfunding project. "Hellwatch" by Larime Taylor is a supernatural horror novella series, initially crowdfunded through Kickstarter. The structure resembles that of a television series, which is a cool approach for serial fiction. The first episode can be downloaded free; the next two, funded by the Kickstarter project, will appear in January and February. More are planned.

What makes this awesome? The characters. I fell in love with them just from the descriptions, and tracked down the story based on that. They are Ester Vasquez, a hacker-come-demon hunter in a wheelchair; and Sammy Lutui, her live-in care provider and assistant demon hunter. Ester's ancestors came from Chile and Sammy is Samoan. Sammy is also gay. Together they kick much ass. They have guns and knives and metaphysical science. Illustrations are in the article, and they are vividly evocative. Accurate characterization is guaranteed on account of the author/artist being in a wheelchair (with a more severe version of Ester's condition) and living with other disabled folks.

I really enjoyed the pilot episode. It's a bit slow to start, as the first couple pages of the story introduce the characters and a lot of background information. (You know how the first few minutes of a pilot go.) Once the conflict is introduced -- a demon possessing a young boy -- both the pacing and the tension pick up considerably. The author makes good use of the novella length, laying out a vigorous double-peaked plot with a major confrontation first in Mexico and then again at home. The description is detailed and gripping. I particularly admire the rendition of demonic entities: ruthless, suave, devastating, atavistic, and generally creeptastic. The hairs on the back of my neck gave them a standing ovation. Highly recommended.

So, go read the scary story with the awesome heroes. See the nifty art. If you can spare it, send a donation -- details for that are on the art FAQ page.

 Mary Anne Mohanraj has posted a Kickstarter project to fund her new book, Demimonde.  This is a single-author collection of erotic science fiction, featuring mostly characters of color.  If you appreciate chromatic fiction, check it out -- I've met the author and attended some of her panels, she can handle.