Headless Shakespeare Press, the imprint run by Craig Hurd-McKenney, is currently crowdsourcing funds to publish their 2022 line-up. You can visit Kickstarter to back them.
With this Kickstarter, Hurd-McKenney is hoping to fund the publication of four different projects — three he’s written, along with one written and drawn by Rick Geary (A Treasury of Victorian Murder).
Smash Pages’ Alex Dueben spoke with Hurd-McKenney about his return to publishing a few years back. Since then, he’s published several chapters of Some Strange Disturbances, a supernatural Victorian story by Hurd-McKenney, Gervasio and Carlos Aon, as well as the final chapter of the Xeric Grant-funded The Brontes: Infernal Angria drawn by Geary.
Here’s a look at the four projects:
Some Strange Disturbances: The Demon Bride
by Craig Hurd-McKenney, Gervasio & Carlos Aon. Letters by Lucas Gattoni. Cover by Tyler Smith Owings. Edited by Shonell Bacon. Book Design by Keeli McCarthy. 100 pages. B&W.
Someone has plotted to destroy the psychics of London. Barely out of that battle, our intrepid heroes must journey to the English countryside to investigate who was behind it. And in so doing, they must stop a wedding…and the apocalypse. When long-buried secrets come into the light, when worlds collide and collapse, can they survive to see the dawn of the new century?!
STATION GRAND
by Craig Hurd-McKenney and Noah Bailey. Letters by Lucas Gattoni. Cover by Keni Thomas. Edited by Shonell Bacon. Book Design by Keeli McCarthy. 48 pages. B&W.
Dr. Michael Gregory is light years from earth, overseeing the terraformation of Venus. Michael is all alone, save for the Computer who keeps him company during the 272 day-long orbit from night to day around the Sun. And during this time, there is no contact with Mission Control. With his circadian rhythms disrupted by his extended stay in deep space, his insomnia peaks; reality as he knows it comes into question. As Michael struggles to finish his mission, what he thinks he knows will collide with the existential mysteries of the universe: Who am I? Why am I here? Am I alone? Why is this happening to me?
BLANCHE GOES TO SAN FRANCISCO
by Rick Geary. Edited by Craig Hurd-McKenney. Book Design by Keeli McCarthy. 32p of story and 4p of original pitch splash pages. B&W.
Geary’s plucky turn-of-the-century hero Blanche returns home to 1923 San Francisco after the Kansas funeral of her father. As she tries to get back to normal while still grieving, Blanche is drawn into the spiritualist Lady Evangeline’s circle. When Lady Evangeline channels Blanche’s father, Blanche once again finds herself at the crossroads of danger and history!
Featuring appearances by President Warren G. Harding, Dashiell Hammett and Harry Houdini.
ERNEST & IVA: 1918 Reflections on 2020
by Craig Hurd-McKenney and Sarah Hickey. Edited by Shonell Bacon. Book Design by Keeli McCarthy. 24 pages. B&W.
Starting in 2019, Hurd-McKenney began researching the story of his great grandfather, who died by suicide in 1957, as a way to hopefully understand his own depression. As more questions arise and more layers unfold, critical connections between Craig’s life in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 that killed his great grandmother become clear.
Rewards
The project offers several reward tiers; you can choose to just support one of the above books, or you cna get all four of them as PDFs for $25. Print copies of all four will run you $40. Other tiers offer some of Geary’s original art or the chance to be drawn into a story.
The Kickstarter project ends Nov. 4. You can visit the project page for more information.