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Help Fund my Robot Army!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects
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If you’re a regular backer of Kickstarters, you’ve probably seen some unique crowdfunding projects in your time. But one thing all of those campaigns—boringly!—had in common was: They abided by the physical laws of the universe!
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! is an anthology of science fiction/fantasy stories told in the form of fictional crowdfunding project pitches, using ...more
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! is an anthology of science fiction/fantasy stories told in the form of fictional crowdfunding project pitches, using ...more
Nook, 376 pages
Published
October 1st 2014
by John Joseph Adams
(first published June 30th 2014)
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This was an interesting little short story. The concept was intriguing and I was shocked by the ending. The story was told through a GoFundMe Page which was such a unique way to tell a story, as Ursula is trying to raise money to reach her sister in the Land of the Dead. I think this could have been an interesting and unique novel if it was expanded. It was just so fast and I wanted more from it. I needed more information about the event and what lead to it.

there's more of an emotional punch in this little story than I thought! I love the relevance of a kickstarter campaign to get to the land of the dead too. highly recommend!
...more

Writing a story in the form of a Kickstarter page is a genius idea to begin with, and that idea was Keffy R.M. Kehrli's. Putting together an entire anthology of such ideas was John Joseph Adams's genius idea, as well as crowdfunding it via Kickstarter because duh.
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects contains over thirty fictional Kickstarters of the SFF persuasion (you'll find nothing as adorably mundane as a grandmother making canes here). As in any themed antho ...more
HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects contains over thirty fictional Kickstarters of the SFF persuasion (you'll find nothing as adorably mundane as a grandmother making canes here). As in any themed antho ...more

Fantastic short story written in the format of a crowd funding project. It had a lot more depth to it than I was expecting.
*This is part of the 2017 Short Story Advent Calendar put out by Hingston & Olsen.
*This is part of the 2017 Short Story Advent Calendar put out by Hingston & Olsen.

A collection of stories written as kickstarter style campaigns. The book is actually more fun and creative than it sounds with several of the stories making me laugh out loud and one or two evoking other feelings as well. The joke and concept wears a bit thin though and this might have been partly because of extra content from it exceeding its funding requirement but it did feel like there were more stories in the collection than there needed to be. Normally this would be a silly critisism of a
...more

"A Memorial to the Patriots" by Jake Kerr: Weird more than good. I was rather confused by the end
"I just read "For Entertainment Purposes Only" by Jeremiah Tolbert this afternoon and it of course made me smile, which was just what I wanted to happen. I have to say that the comments are brilliant.
"I want to be a Lioness" by Chuck Wendig: I quite liked this story. The comment section was used really effectively. It reminded me of "if you were a dinosaur my love".
"Liberty: Seeking Support For Writ ...more
"I just read "For Entertainment Purposes Only" by Jeremiah Tolbert this afternoon and it of course made me smile, which was just what I wanted to happen. I have to say that the comments are brilliant.
"I want to be a Lioness" by Chuck Wendig: I quite liked this story. The comment section was used really effectively. It reminded me of "if you were a dinosaur my love".
"Liberty: Seeking Support For Writ ...more

Many of the stories in this collection are very clever, many are funny, a few are poignant. However, the restrictions of the crowd sourcing format and subject matter makes them all seem slight and of a sameness. It's a little bit like having whipped cream for dinner. I suspect these stories would have done better mixed in a more heterogeneous anthology. The Seanan McGuire story did stand out though.
...more

There are a handful of five-star stories in this book. There are also several rather pedestrian and repetitive stories in this book. They're not all funny, though comedy is overwhelmingly the M.O. One of the best—maybe even the best—of the stories is not comedy at all.
Was definitely worth the 99¢ I paid. ...more
Was definitely worth the 99¢ I paid. ...more

That can't seriously be it, right? There has got to be more to this story. I think this had a super interesting plot and a lot of potential and could totally be a full-length novel! It has so much room to be developed, and I just really want a complete novelization of this short story. Please? Like, this has the potential to be really great! I just wish it was longer...
...more

This was a very clever short story and the twist was interesting but it wasn't really unique.
...more

Jun 24, 2015
Amy (Other Amy)
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
SFF short story lovers, approach it as haiku in story form
TL;DR version: Read the stories by Connolly, Cook, Williamson, Penn Romine, Sullivan, Levine, Broaddus, Wrigley, Bolander, and McGuire. SKIP the ones by Tolbert, Pratt, and Howard and your life will be better for it. For the rest, your mileage may vary depending on your own personal obsessions and expectations. Overall, though those ten stories that make the must read cut are well worth the $5 for this collection.
Full review: Short story is a difficult art. To paint a world and its characters an ...more
Full review: Short story is a difficult art. To paint a world and its characters an ...more

I LOVED this. Great concept, fun realization of said concept and a really high quality of work overall. Obviously every single anthology has ups and downs in terms of quality, but this one managed a (generally) consistent high that was really pleasing to me.
Favourite(s): Seanan McGuire's take on a halloween kickstarter was fun as hell, Mary Robinette Kowal's Romeo and Juliet in Space (with puppets) made me laugh hysterically and then force my fiance to read it so he could laugh hysterically too, ...more
Favourite(s): Seanan McGuire's take on a halloween kickstarter was fun as hell, Mary Robinette Kowal's Romeo and Juliet in Space (with puppets) made me laugh hysterically and then force my fiance to read it so he could laugh hysterically too, ...more

Sep 08, 2018
Simon
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
anthologies,
unclassified
What a fantastic collection of "stories"!
This book has a very specific target audience - namely those who have at least some experience with crowdfunding (especially Kickstarter). Those who do not will probably not "get" the format of the stories, or they will at least not work too well for them. However, if you are part of the target audience, then GO READ THIS BOOK! Especially if you have backed a dozen or more crowdfunding projects. It is THAT GOOD.
There are hilarious, weird, disturbing, and ...more
This book has a very specific target audience - namely those who have at least some experience with crowdfunding (especially Kickstarter). Those who do not will probably not "get" the format of the stories, or they will at least not work too well for them. However, if you are part of the target audience, then GO READ THIS BOOK! Especially if you have backed a dozen or more crowdfunding projects. It is THAT GOOD.
There are hilarious, weird, disturbing, and ...more

Though the premise is cute about half way through it begins to wear thin and become a bit monotonous which is probably why they tried to throw some of the bigger authors and better stories (Scott Sigler) into the second half. I seem to always find anthologies a bit of a mixed bag and almost all of the ideas here arent bad but the premise does grate after awhile.

This was my "on my phone" book. I only read it if I was stuck someplace with out anything to do (waiting rooms, trains, etc.). Tons of short little stories, an awesome way or writing them. Many were very funny, some bitter sweet, some horrific. Great collection all around.
...more

This rating is only for the story "Help Me Folllow My Sister into the Land of the Dead" by Carmen Maria Machado because that's the only one I've read
...more

Mar 03, 2015
Bruce Gargoyle
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
adult-fiction,
adventure,
old-folks,
other-worlds,
detectives,
anthropomorphic-animals,
bizarre,
creepy,
loss,
personal-vices
Ten Second Synopsis:
A collection of funny, serious, creepy, crawly and cheeky stories based on imaginary kick starter projects.
There are 33 stories in this anthology and the majority of them are written by accomplished (to a greater or lesser degree) authors in the sci-fi/spec fiction realm. Every single one of them follows the format of a Kickstarter crowdfunding pitch and while some others who have reviewed this collection on Goodreads mentioned that this format quickly got stale for them, I d ...more
A collection of funny, serious, creepy, crawly and cheeky stories based on imaginary kick starter projects.
There are 33 stories in this anthology and the majority of them are written by accomplished (to a greater or lesser degree) authors in the sci-fi/spec fiction realm. Every single one of them follows the format of a Kickstarter crowdfunding pitch and while some others who have reviewed this collection on Goodreads mentioned that this format quickly got stale for them, I d ...more

This mixed-bag of an anthology would honestly get a 3.5 from me, if I could give a half star. Real shame, too, considering this project assembled some world class writers to a simple theme -- make up a wild or fantastic kickstarter.
First, the good. Some of the writers really embraced the Kickstarter story format -- a weird hybrid of epistolary stories and internet culture -- and made some really unique experiences. Here are some of my personal favorites:
"I WANT TO BE A LIONESS" -- I really, real ...more
First, the good. Some of the writers really embraced the Kickstarter story format -- a weird hybrid of epistolary stories and internet culture -- and made some really unique experiences. Here are some of my personal favorites:
"I WANT TO BE A LIONESS" -- I really, real ...more

I don't usually read anthologies. The main reason is when I do grab them it's because there is one, maybe two, authors participating who I know/like. I end up enjoying their stories (maybe) and hating the rest, closing the book at the end feeling a tad cheated.
I feared this book would be no different. I picked it up because Chuck Wendig used his mind powers and convinced me to try it. Once I owned it, however, I noted that not only had he participated, but other writers I like - Mur Lafferty (Sh ...more
I feared this book would be no different. I picked it up because Chuck Wendig used his mind powers and convinced me to try it. Once I owned it, however, I noted that not only had he participated, but other writers I like - Mur Lafferty (Sh ...more

I think there was a point last year where I decided that I should be seeking out more short fiction, which unfortunately got turned by my mind into "pick up any book that has more than one author and some cheap gimmick."
The gimmick here is that each story is a kickstarter campaign, with a pitch, pledge rewards and comment sections to tell a tale. There's a few urban fantasy but mostly near-future SF. I started breaking down stories into a few categories: the Frankenstein story ("What could possi ...more
The gimmick here is that each story is a kickstarter campaign, with a pitch, pledge rewards and comment sections to tell a tale. There's a few urban fantasy but mostly near-future SF. I started breaking down stories into a few categories: the Frankenstein story ("What could possi ...more

This is a collection of short stories about people trying to get others to help them with a variety of science-fictional projects, from the titular robot army to the first writ of habeus corpus for a synthetic being to sending Mary Robinette Kowal and David Tennant into space long enough that they can perform _Romeo and Juliet_ with puppets. The gimmick here is that each of these stories is written in the form of a Kickstarter pitch. In his introduction, Adams says that the title piece came his
...more
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John Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisti
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