Recently Imaginator Press and I ran a short reader survey to gauge interest in a graphic novel adaptation of Ratha's Creature, Book 1 of the Named Series. The amount and enthusiasm of the response has encouraged us to move ahead with the idea.

To help fund printing and other costs, we've decided to use Kickstarter, which lets people pledge or subscribe to projects that they think are important or interesting. Kickstarter encourages participants to make videos that say why they want to do this, what it would accomplish, and how it would benefit others.

As many of you know, readers and fans have played an essential part in keeping the Ratha books alive, getting them back in print, encouraging me to continue the series, showing their love for the series with fan art, fan fiction, and in so many other ways that I can't list them all. Without fans, the series would have died. You kept it alive, you made it grow, and you gave me back my faith in it, enough to write Ratha's Courage (#5) which you have also taken to heart.

So, although Sheila and I will be making our own video clip saying why we want to do Ratha in graphic form, I'm inviting fans to join me in making this happen. Make a video clip saying why you'd want to see this go, whether it be personal enjoyment, inspiration, possible social impact (sympathy for wildlife, especially big cats), or any other reason. Do it any way you want. I've already been amazed by reader creativity and energy poured into fiction, and
traditional/digital art and some video.

We hope to make a dynamite promo video for Kickstarter by integrating fan-made footage into the stuff we shoot. If we use your clip, we'll credit you. Create your video, send us a link to view it, and we'll go from there. If we decide to include it, we'll ask for written permission via email if you are over 18. If you are younger, we'll ask for permission from your parents for any minor appearing in the finished video.

If we get more clips than we can use, we'll make a You-Tube playlist of the extras and post links to that as well (with the above permissions, of course) in order to acknowledge the talents of all who participate.

Use your digicam, computer webcam, or cellphone, and have fun! We'll be tweeting and blogging about the effort, so you'll get publicity as well.

Ratha-purrs to all,

Clare.

PS The photo is not a frame from a Miocene filming expedition, though I wish it was!

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