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Here’s what’s keeping me super-busy this month… Can you believe it’s been 15 years since Magic University hit the (digital) shelves?

It feels like a different era of history. In 2010, Obama was president, the Kindle was still a newfangled thing, and Twitter still felt niche (at 40 million users). And the final Harry Potter book had come out only 3 years earlier, and the final movie was still to come…!

At the time I didn’t know that writing a trans-inclusive magic school book was going to become such a political statement. I mostly wanted to write a magic school series where we knew up front lots of the characters were queer and that would actually pay off a rivals-to-lovers trope/plot line. I wanted to write original fic that my fanfic-loving friends would love to read.

I didn’t include a trans mentor for my hero to spite J.K. Rowling. At the time she hadn’t yet voiced her anti-trans views. I included trans characters because trans people exist.

I also include some characters who change gender magically. While I wouldn’t call that “spite,” it did always feel like a missed opportunity to me (and many fanfic writers) that none of the many ways a wizard could change gender in the Harry Potter books (Polyjuice, animorphmagus, etc) are ever explored.

But here we are, in 2025, with JKR leading a brigade of anti-trans voices in the UK, and the USA devolving fast into a book-banning fascist nation trying to legislate trans people out of existence.

It’s why now seems the right time for me to produce a hardcover omnibus edition of Magic University. So I’m running a Kickstarter to do just that.

I launched last week and it took off like a rocket! The more people who back it, the fancier I can make the hardcover edition, too, so if I can nerd out about books for a minute: it’s already slated to have a really nifty fore-edge design on the pages, a Wibalin buckram binding, and a foil-stamped or debossed title on the cover. If the campaign continues to do well, well reach the custom designed endpapers goal next, and at $10,000 we can add a ribbon bookmark! (I really really want to get to the ribbon bookmark…!)

The link, if you want to read more about it or become a backer:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ceciliatan/magic-university-collectors-edition-hardcover-omnibus?ref=depv7q

(Mock-ups of the hardcover design and such below the cut…)

Mirrored from Cecilia Tan.

Here we go! It’s been two whole years since my last Kickstarter, there are over 200 more chapters of Daron’s Guitar Chronicles accrued since then, so it’s time to produce a new omnibus paperback! (And generally have some fun with producing nifty swag. I like T-shirts for fictional rock bands, what can I say…)

Daron’s Guitar Chronicles (in case you’re new around here…) is my long-running web fiction serial about coming out and coming of age in the 1980s. Daron is a guitarist trying to make it big in the music industry while coming to grips with his sexuality (he’s gay) and his complicated relationship to his art, public performance, and by the way his band’s lead singer. Ahem.

The full rundown of rewards and budget is detailed in the Kickstarter campaign of course, here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ceciliatan/darons-guitar-chronicles-third-omnibus

A short version of the link for sharing: http://kck.st/1RFanDN

You can support for as little as a dollar, for which you’ll get thanked in the book and your choice of any of the DGC ebooks. A bargain! And we’ve also got — in addition to the book itself — T-shirts, guitar picks, custom songs written for you, and much more.

More details below the cut!

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Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

Yes, it’s been two years since the last Daron’s Guitar Chronicles Kickstarter and it’s time for another. Daron’s Guitar Chronicles is my ongoing web fiction serial about a gay guitar player and his various life struggles with love, fame, music, internalized homophobia, family dynamics etc. in the 1980s.

In 2012 we did an omnibus collecting the first 200 chapters into a big-ass book, and now it’s time to do the next 200 chapters, basically. Click here to donate: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ceciliatan/darons-guitar-chronicles-second-omnibus-paperback

And here’s a short link to share! http://kck.st/R31kCx

Here’s the video I made for Kickstarter! (Under the cut, if it will embed properly…)

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

We did ti! We did it! You did it. MY KICKSTARTER IS FULLY FUNDED. I went off to work at my taekwondo school tonight at 5:30 only $63 short of the goal. By the time I got home at 7:30, one magical backer (number 101!) splurged to top it up! Wooooooo! THANK YOUUUUU!!!

There are seven days left in the campaign, so you have only a week to get your autographed printed copy of the Daron’s Guitar Chronicles omnibus book or other time-limited swag. (Deets as usual here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1458565937/darons-guitar-chronicles-omnibus-book)

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.

So a little over a week has passed on the Daron’s Guitar Chronicles Kickstarter, and it’s going great! We’ve been averaging about $100 per day, and at that pace we’ll just hit the target with maybe a day to spare? It’d be AWESOME if it sped up because I worry I don’t want to hit people over the head with it. But the one day I didn’t post, tweet, or Facebook about it was the one day donations were zero. So that seems to say I have to mention it every day to keep it going until we hit the target.

As of this writing we’ve raised $819 with $1,933 to go to make the $2,750 target. One thing I should point out is that if you’re waiting for your paycheck to clear before donating, your donation WON’T be charged until the last day of the campaign. Kickstarter waits to see if the target is successfully reached, and if it is, they charge everyone at once at the end. So you won’t be charged until May 22 at the earliest.

Here’s the link to the Kickstarter page, which has all the info on rewards (one of which is you just pre-order the paperback tome for $25) and where you pledge! http://kck.st/IlE7Bi Thanks! And remember, spreading the word and telling other people why you think the project is worthy of support helps, too!

Mirrored from blog.ceciliatan.com.