It will be available in… 

 A unique fantasy sub-genre known for short, episodic tales with historical inspiration and horror elements, of outsider protagonists with personal motivations, often facing dark and dangerous magic!
 

Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes infuses Sword & Sorcery, a Fantasy sub-genre of mighty thewed bodies, action-adventure, and supernatural weirdness, with greater spice and romance than you usually find, elements that pair so naturally with such archetypically underdressed characters.

Featuring a variety of partners and partnerships, this anthology is ideal for Romantasy fans seeking more action, S&S fans wanting more focus on relationships in their steel-swinging stories, and everybody seeking prose that will set their blood pumping!

Cover Art is by M.E. Morgan

Interior illustrations are by Trevor Ngwenya aka KUBO.

By backing this project you’ll not just get a book, you’ll… 

Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes is the first book from the same people who brought you New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine.

"Made with love for the classics, and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling." is the magazine's motto, and we're bringing that philosophy to this, our first book!

"We" being...BRACKENBURY BOOKS.

Funds raised beyond our stretch goal will be used to help get this company up and running properly, including commissioning a logo based on our owner's adorable smooth fox terrier, Polly!

Most of the reward tiers are self-explanatory - digital, or print & digital, copies of the anthology. But maybe you're new to Backerkit?

HOW TO USE BACKERKIT
Don't worry, it's easy to support us! Think of BK as Kickstarter, but BETTER.

1) CREATE AN ACCOUNT
If you've ever supported a Kickstarter that used Backerkit for fulfillment then you should already have an account.

2) SELECT A PLEDGE LEVEL
Explore the campaign and, if you'd like to support us, pick a tier!
 
 3) INCLUDE ADD-ONS
More items become unlocked as stretch goals are reached! You can add Add-ons to your existing pledge through the campaign.
 
 4) CHECK OUT!
 
 5) MANAGE YOUR PLEDGE
If the campaign is successfully funded, you'll be prompted to fill in your shipping information. You'll also have another chance to select any Add-ons you might want.
 
 Don't forget to check out our FAQ for any questions you might have.

You're also welcome to start a discussion in the Community Section. 

At a base funding level, this crowdfunding campaign pays for the publication of Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes. Additional money raised will be used to improve the book, and make it more accessible to international readers!
 

Instead of one illustration for the whole book, each of our six stories will get their own full page B&W illustration by Trevor Ngwenya!

This stretch goal covers reducing shipping costs for all backers outside the United States: $5 USD off for Canadian backers, and $10 USD off for anyone outside of North America.

All funds beyond this will go toward helping Brackenbury Books invest in our next book, and beyond!

All physical format backers will receive a bookmark featuring the custom designed logotype of Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes!

Backing the campaign in the first 48 hours earns you a bookmark featuring the warrior couple from our front cover, and if you've supported us in the past then we'll reward your return with a bookmark featuring the rogue-ish meet-cute on our back cover.

If you miss the first 48-hour window, or are a new backer, then fret not! These bookmarks are also available for purchase as Add-Ons.

If we get at least 200 backers, then all crowdfund backers, and only our crowdfund backers, will receive a bonus 6,000 word story by the publisher, Oliver Brackenbury, called "Pagan Poetry".

Written in the spirit of this anthology, Pagan Poetry takes you to a frozen wasteland where jealousy burning bright blinds two powerful women from seeing the ideal solution to their conflict. Luckily a wandering bard & hunter, Litlöstá, has arrived to help.

The story will be provided in PDF and ePub formats.

If we get at least 300 backers, then all crowdfund backers, and only our crowdfund backers, will receive a bonus story by editor Jay Wolf, credited to their authorial pseudonym, called "By Thieves-Light".

Two thieves angle to outsmart one another and steal a valuable rarity--but find a different treasure instead. Will Ilwyn or Vencario get what he truly wants? 

An adventure fantasy m/m romance that answers the question 'what if "Ill-Met in Lankhmar" was a meet-cute?' with light improvisational bondage and a twist on the classic sex-pollen trope, "By Thieves-Light" is loosely inspired by our back cover Illustration.

The story will be provided in PDF and ePub formats.

Want something a little extra with your copy of the anthology? You've got options!

EXTRA SOFTCOVERS & HARDCOVERS
Want a copy of the book for a friend? No problem! You don't have to make a second pledge, you can just add more copies to the pledge you're already making.

ISSUES OF NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY MAGAZINE

We offer special discounts on issues of the magazine exclusively during crowdfunds, making this the ideal time to explore a wide array of authors and artists - every story has original B&W illustrations.

Issue one even features a story with Bryn Hammond's characters who appear in the anthology!

BOOKMARKS
Those of you who miss the first 48 hours, or are backing us for the first time, can still pick up the other two bookmarks we're making exclusively for this crowdfund.

Over on the community tab...

Please take note of the estimated shipping charges, and understand shipping charges may change between the crowdfund and fulfillment.

During the fulfillment process, BackerKit will calculate any shipping that may be required when you fill out your delivery address.

Shipping costs will not be assessed and billed until then! You are only being charged for your pledge amount at this time. We hope this helps to keep the cost of shipping down due to current fluctuations in domestic and international shipping costs.

Brackenbury Books, BackerKit, and our fulfillment partners are not responsible for any VAT, duty, or customs charges any packages may incur.

BackerKit surveys will be sent once all books involved in this campaign arrive at our fulfillment partner. Our current estimate for shipping is Winter 2024. Estimates are not guarantees!

We'll not be starting from scratch once the campaign funds: All six stories have been written, and as of this campaign launching, are in the editing stage.

Thanks to everything we’ve learned publishing the first five issues of our magazine, New Edge Sword & Sorcery, we're confident about producing this much simpler project in a timely manner, and at the high level of quality our readers have come to expect. 
 
This is our third crowdfunding campaign. We successfully funded & fulfilled our first, funded and are on schedule to fulfill our second, and our chief editor has successfully crowdfunded a webseries in the past, something which also requires collaboration between a large team of creatives while keeping within budget and on schedule.
 
To further mitigate risk we’ve brought on a crowdfunding & fulfillment professional, Sara McHenry (https://www.saramchenry.com), who did excellent work for us last year. Since 2013, she’s helped her clients raise over $3.5 million in crowdfunding money for their creative projects. Her specialties include setting budgets and timelines, structuring reward tiers, working with vendors, shipping logistics, and motivating the unmotivated creator.
 
Should any challenges arise with things we have no control over, such as supply chain issues, our backers will receive timely, detailed updates on the situation.