As I said before I’ve been writing more fiction recently. It’s a creative itch that’s been fun to scratch and actually has become a sort of mediation for me, taking me out of the mindset I’ve been in where writing has to have a point, an argument that’s made that needs to clearly convey a very specific bit of information of point of view. It’s similar to how my former boss Mike Manuel recently described drawing, as a way to let the mind blank out on the world by focusing on something very specific and outside the world I usually live in.

patreon-logo-e1495085041531I’ve published a bit of short fiction here and have a novel that’s being written on a bunch of legal pads that are sitting on my desk, but there was something I wanted to do that was different. That’s why I started a Patreon page.

A year or so ago I had the idea for an alternate society where your societal status is literal currency. It’s not just like our world where your social strata largely defines who you are and what opportunities you have access to. Instead of being something intangible (though still very real), in the world of Status that standing is very literal currency. It’s the key to unlock everything, from what schools you go to to what doctors you can see to where you’re allowed to shop. Status has been codified and assigned and defines who you are and what you can do in a concrete way.

One of the things, though, is that I’ve been interested in this world and the characters that live in it but haven’t been able to crack the connective tissue. So a bigger story that would form the basis of a novel has eluded me. Instead I’ve just found smaller stories – vignettes, really – that I’ve been wanting to tell.

That’s the story I’m going to publish on Patreon.

My plan right now is to publish new vignettes every week. As support increases I might increase that, but that’s a bridge I’ll jump off when I come to it.

If you have the means and are interested in reading more from the world of Status, consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters today. It would mean a ton to me. I’m excited to finally get these stories out of my head and into the world, especially if it’s something people signal a financial willingness to support and see more of.