Following TeleRead’s coverage of the Indiegogo fundraising campaign by Dark Regions Press to fund its illustrated shared world psychological horror anthology MADHOUSE, I’m glad to report that the project has cleared its base target and several stretch fundraising goals, raising $3962 in just the two days after our article ran. The project is now sitting pretty on $18,572 of funds raised by the cutoff time of 11:59pm PT, November 2nd, 2014, against its original target of $15,000.
The extra money secured three out of the four stretch goals for the project, with by artist Aaron Alfrey now due to fully illustrate ten chapters of MADHOUSE, since the $18,500 stretch goal for this has been cleared by just $72, as well as providing an illustration for each story. The additional story “Appetite,” from “New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Megan Hart,” was unlocked with the first stretch goal of $16,000.
The MADHOUSE Indiegogo campaign ran from September 23rd, 2014, so the total fundraising drive pushed past its basic target and most of its stretch goals within just five weeks. Of course, the runup to Halloween is perhaps just the best time for a little extra impetus in this genre, but that last-minute boost clearly helped a lot. If it hadn’t been for the final Halloween weekend, MADHOUSE might never have happened.
As it does happen, however, MADHOUSE is now due to appear in 2015 with backers expected to receive their goodie bags any time between March and May next year. Top-tier contributors who ponied up $200 or above will receive the full “The End is Nigh” package: “MADHOUSE Campaign-Exclusive Signed Hardcover, Trade Paperback, Ebook and Bookmark + Oversized poster (20 inches or longer on shortest side) of any artwork from MADHOUSE of your choosing signed by all authors, editors and artist Aeron Alfrey + Become a creature in the MADHOUSE: a photo of you or a loved one will be superimposed into one of the illustrations within MADHOUSE as a nightmarish creature + entire Dark Regions Digital catalog (over 40 ebooks!) + $50 in store credit on DarkRegions.com.”
For me, becoming a creature in the MADHOUSE has definitely got to be the key draw, but backers on any tier are likely to have plenty to enjoy. Well done, crazies, lunatics, and would-be inmates everywhere. Happy gibbering.
