A nonprofit group wants to build a Museum of Science Fiction in Washington, DC, and they're looking to raise funds for a preview location. Plus, you can fund a journal devoted to linguistics, a Blade Runner zine, a new horror comic by Ben Templesmith, or a pen that lets you draw conductive circuits.
Top image from Ben Templesmith's The Squidder.
Museum of Science Fiction: Preview Location
Greg Viggiano and his team are developing a Museum of Science Fiction (MSF), with an eye toward "covering the history of the genre across the arts and providing a narrative on its relationship to the real world." Their first step is to is to set up a preview museum where they can display their exhibits to the public and receive feedback while growing the museum, and that's where the crowdfunding comes in. There is a list of pledged artifacts on the IndieGoGo campaign page, and you can learn more about the museum and the team at the MSF website. They are offering various rewards at various levels including mugs, t-shirts, and copies of the museum's original planning document. [via The Mary Sue]
Ignite the Schwa Fire
Do you have a lust for linguistics? Schwa Fire aims to be the This American Life of language stories, telling deeply reported stories about the way we communicate through a digital publication. Here are a few of the stories the team is working on:
• A text story about the grad student who is searching out little-known, half-disappeared writing systems in archives in India and trying to get them their own Unicode encoding.
• A text story about how lexicographers are actually hired (and what this says about dictionaries and the English language).
• A text story about how language politics in the American heartland transformed a tiny translation-by-telephone service into a $300 million company.
• An audio story about a family who learned Russian before adopting two Russian children, which reveals the linguistic dimensions of the adoption world. (All of the audio stories will be transcribed for accessibility.)
• An audio story about a doll that’s programmed to speak in multiple minority languages of Africa.
•An audio story about people in certain jobs who use their voices, not their muscles or guns, to control others.
For a $12 pledge, backers will receive the first three issues of Schwa Fire and a postcard of the logo. [via Boing Boing]
Skinjobs: A Blade Runner Zine!
The replicant-filled future of Blade Runner gets an illustrated revisit in a fanzine collecting the work of 25 artists in a risographed booklet. For a $5 pledge, backers will receive a PDF of the zine; the physical version is available for a $13 pledge.
THE SQUIDDER: An Original Graphic Novel by Ben Templesmith
Veteran comic book illustrator Ben Templesmith has a flair for horror, and his upcoming graphic novel The Squidder promises to be heavy on the Lovecraftian elements and black humor. The book centers on an old soldier living in an alien, post-apocalyptic world. The hardcover volume is on offer for a $30 pledge, and there are t-shirts and prints available at various levels.
Circuit Scribe: Draw Circuits Instantly
The Circuit Scribe is a rollerball pen filled with a conductive silver ink that makes building circuits as easy as drawing a line. Kids can learn about circuits and switches through simple projects, and adults can find the joys of doodling circuits into existence. The Circuit Scribe itself is available for a $20 pledge and the basic kit is available for a $30 pledge. [via Boing Boing]