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We wanted to let you know about a really interesting-looking project going on Kickstarter right. In this project, we’ve got an anthology coming together from the folks behind Grimdark Magazine, entitled The King Must Fall.
Now, for those not familiar, you might be wondering what Grimdark is, exactly. Think of it this way – just as we’ve seen movies (particularly superhero movies) take a darker, “grittier” turn, there’s a genre of books (it seems to cross fantasy and scifi) that has gone to a grimmer, darker view of the worlds they’re set in. Ergo, grimdark.
Sure, it’s not for everyone, and it’s something I stumbled into with Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, and it’s something that just appealed to me. Sure, I couldn’t handle reading JUST this style, but it’s a nice change of pace. And if you’ve got an anthology, well, then you’ve got a variety of authors giving you bite-sized chunks of this type of story, easy to consume in a sitting. So, what does The King Must Fall get you? Here’s what they’re saying:
The King Must Fall is a dark fantasy anthology featuring 14+ authors writing about rogues, assassins, mages, blackguards, and warriors on quests to kill their kings, rulers, and leaders. We’ll be offering ebook, hardcover, numbered signed edition hardcovers, and a leatherbound signed lettered edition.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thekingmustfall/the-king-must-fall/description
These are the authors they’ve got lined up already:
- Bradley P. Beaulieu (The Song of the Shattered Sands, The Lays of Anuskaya)
- Kameron Hurley (The God’s War Trilogy, Worldbreaker Saga)
- Michael R Fletcher (Manifest Delusions, Black Stone Heart)
- Anna Smith Spark (Empires of Dust)
- Shawn Speakman (The Annwn Cycles, Unfettered)
- Daniel Polansky (Low Town, Those Above)
- Devin Madson (The Reborn Empire)
- Adrian Tchaikovsky (Shadows of the Apt, Children of Time)
- Anthony Ryan (Raven’s Shadow, The Draconis Memoria)
- Lee Murray (Into the Mist, Hounds of the Underworld)
- Jeremy Szal (The Common)
- Justin Call (The Silent Gods)
- Trudi Canavan (The Black Magician, Age of the Five)
- Peter Orullian (The Vault of Heaven, The Astonishing)
With a few more in there as stretch goals:
- Anna Stephens (Godblind, The Songs of the Drowned)
- Alex Marshall (The Crimson Empire)
- Deborah A. Wolf (The Dragon’s Legacy, Split Feather)
- Luke Scull (The Grim Company)
- Matthew Ward (Legacy trilogy)
I can’t say as I’ve read a number of these writers, but it still seems like a solid group here, and a good way to get introduced to a new author as well. You can get in on the campaign for $10 to net an ebook version of the anthology, or $15 to get another set of anthologies as well (details on the campaign page). If you’re a hard-cover collector, then the $45 pledge is where it’s at. At this time, they’ve beaten their funding goal, but still plenty of stretch goals to hit. Check it out – and back it, if you like – before things close out on July 15, 2021. campaign page / grimdarkmagazine.com
