Why I Quit My Job: Project †3Dark

Yesterday, at roughly 9:30am, I quit my job.

It was a good job, in many respects. It paid decent wages. There was a great team of people there who I shared laughs with. I enjoyed my time there. But, unfortunately, I had come to a realisation, a reality I had to face, which was that I was being called by my true vocation: writing. That’s the thing. Something we must all bear in mind: there’s a difference between a career, a job and a vocation, a ‘calling’ we feel deep down, that drives us, that makes us who we are. It’s folly to ignore that calling.

This is me. I’m completely normal. Completely. Don’t worry about those things I wrote. Shhhh.

For a long time, I’d convinced myself I could go on doing the 40 hours a week and write here and there in between, but now I’ve realised it’s just not in me. Kudos to those who can do it; it’s impressive. But I need to give all of myself to the world of creativity. So, here I am, throwing caution to the wind. Melodramatic as it sounds, I really would rather die than give up on doing what I believe I was always meant to do.

It’s not just about writing my own work, however. That’s only one small thing. I’m a passionate reader and bibliophile. I’ve been following various authors for a number of years and wanted, for a long time, to bring their work to a wider audience. From this desire, †3Dark was born.

So, I’ve quit my job to work full time on a unique publishing venture, a dream I’ve had for a long time I finally feel could become reality.

So, what’s it all about? It’s about…

• Becoming part of a unique community including 14 awe-inspiring creatives
• Making the future of literary genre-fiction happen with your support
• Getting recognition for your contribution forever with †3Dark!
• Discovering the next big writers before the big publishers do
• Get writing coaching & editing from a real expert who can help you reach the next level

The aim is to release 13 unique never-before-seen short stories, monthly, in digital and paperback form, accompanied by custom artwork from Shawn Langley, and with cover artwork by Grand Failure.

A work-in-progress from Shawn Langley. To check out more of his awesome work, go to facebook.com/shawnlangleyart or subscribe to his Patreon patreon.com/shawnlangley

These editions will be beautifully produced, melding the visual and written elements, offering unique insight into our world. Each story will be edited and have a foreword written by me. The funding to pay all these amazing people, and keep me alive over the 13 months, will be secured via an ambitious kickstarter for £32,000! The kickstarter is coming in April, so please, mark that in your diary – it’s not an April fools!

The incredible writers we have lined up are:

Richard Thomas, Moira Katson, Veronica Nero, Christa Wojciechowski, Ross Jeffery, Andy Cashmore, Samuel Parr, Matthew Blackwell, Eden Royce, Tice Cin, Jamie Parry-Bruce, Tomek Dzido and Anthony Self

Many of these writers are personal heroes of mine, people who I’ve looked up to and never could have conceived working with, they were simply out of my stratosphere. It’s an honour to publish them and share their unique, and devastating, stories with you. I’ll be sharing more information about these writers and their staggering achievements over the next few weeks!

As part of the kickstarter campaign to launch 13Dark, Gamut magazine are offering a 1 year Gamut subscription as part of a special offer.  Featured in this image is a signed copy of The New Black plus some of the cool merch you can get from the Gamut store.

 

Thematically, their work will explore the sacred and profane, the holy and damned, the beatific and the demonic. If you want an idea of what kinds of stories will be on offer, think of the kind of subtle supernaturalism and religiosity of something like True Detective, or Craig Clevenger’s story ‘Act of Contrition’ from The New Black. There’s also going to be some radical science fiction in there. If you like fantasy, science fiction, horror, neo-noir (think Fight Club), southern gothic, you are going to love what we’re doing.

In addition to 13 beautiful editions of short fiction, †3Dark will provide opportunities to receive one-to-one writing coaching from me, limited edition signed copies of Dark Prophets Press titles (including a new novel by me), specially discounted subscriptions to Gamut Magazine, the prestigious neo-noir magazine created by Richard Thomas of Dark House Press, and much, much more!

Nekyia is Joseph’s next novel, a 720 page epic available for pre-order via the kickstarter. Cover art by Grand Failure.

There will be opportunities to get your hands on special book bundles as well as the 13 unique stories! 

Further information is coming, including more details about our incredible collaborations with the likes of STORGY magazine and Gamut, but this is just to give you a taster of the scope of this project and what’s on offer.

I hope this excites you: it certainly excites me. This is a chance to breathe life into something truly amazing. This is the start of a new path for me, but so much more than that on a grand scale: an opportunity to show that art, culture, literature – the stuff that makes us human – still matters and can still live in and uplift us.

The kickstarter doesn’t get going until April, but if you’re looking for something to do RIGHT NOW to help, I recommend you go an follow @project13dark where our creatives are congregating. Why not say hi? They’re all wonderful people and would love to hear from fans.

Well, that’s enough from me for now. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll embark on this journey with me. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

Adieu

@josephwordsmith