I'm SO excited to introduce you to another writer/illustrator set you'll find in the pages of Love Letters. 

Cecilia Tan

Cecilia is kind of a badass. She doesn't just write sci-fi BDSM erotica (and lots of other erotic/romance fiction) she founded Circlet Press, a whole publishing house devoted to it. You might recognize some of her titles: Slow Surrender, The Prince’s Boy, Mind Games, The Hot Streak, White Flames, Edge Plays, Black Feathers, The Velderet, and Telepaths Don’t Need Safewords, as well as the Magic University series of paranormal erotic romances. My favourite accolade, though, is that Cecilia has the distinction of being perhaps the only writer to have erotic fiction published in both Penthouse and Ms. magazines.

Imagine my delight when this real-life erotic romance author expressed a fondness for Star Crossed??? I was flattered to say the least. 

When I invited Cecilia to contribute to Love Letters, she immediately sent over some interesting pitches that unfortunately overlapped with some other contributors' pairings. When I asked for more, she very hesitantly pitched something... a little darker. A little too real, maybe. In a dystopian way. 

If you like near-future sci-fi, intense power dynamics, and medical weirdness, you are going to love Fever. I certainly do. One thing I really like about it is that through carefully varied options, she really lets the players decide how kinky they want things to be. When I reached this part of the google doc we were working in: 

I’m pretty sure I let out a full-on cartoonish villainous laugh. Is there any higher praise?

HamletMachine

I have been into HamletMachine's work for years, ever since the early days of their sexy m/m space drama STARFIGHTER. It's one of those rare works of art that feels like it was made for me. I mean, I'm a BIG fan. I played the visual novel the day it came out. (And then I played it again.) 

HamletMachine's work contends with intense, complicated dynamics that are sometimes as unsettling as they are compelling. And it's always hot. I'm thrilled about her new ongoing project, MICKEY + JESSICA, a gritty butch/femme D/s romance that is sometimes about people reconciling with hidden and rejected parts of themselves - and is sometimes just about really hot sex. 

Her piece for Fever really captures the heavy, claustrophobic desperation that pervades the pairing. So much is conveyed in this single image. 

If you love this kinky intensity half as much as I do, please check out HM's work here and Cecilia Tan's here. 

Also: We are so close to $10k in pledges? Will we hit that amount today???? An astounding sum for our little book. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart :)

<3
Alex

This is the first post in a series of introductions, in which I excitedly gush about our handpicked team of talented writers and illustrators! So, first…

Kieron Gillen

Kieron and I met when he interviewed me for an issue of DIE, his angsty (positive connotation) meta-TTRPG comic about players trapped in their own co-created fantasy world. DIE has been a big hit with TTRPG players, but I was already compelled by his earlier The Wicked + The Divine, about gods incarnated as pop music stars. Kieron has also written for some pretty famous characters (Thor, Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men, Darth Vader(!)) so you can imagine I was a little starstruck when it turned out he (and his lovely wife!) had played and loved Star Crossed! 

I was hoping Kieron would bring some big super feelings to his pairing, and oh wow did he ever. Imagine a young mutant rebel and the robot built only to hunt and destroy them: A Love Most Uncanny.

Mye Bi

I had to pick someone to bring their artistic vision to this superpowered drama, and I gotta admit, it was fanart that got me. Mye Bi had been drawing some adorable Links, sexy Ganondorfs, and one of the cutest versions I’ve ever seen of my current fav ship, Hubert and Ferdinand from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. 

I actually looked at a lot of shipping fan art (more than I would in a normal day) when researching for Love Letters, because I wanted illustrators who could convey a complicated relationship in a single image. Mye nailed it - and turned out to be a delight to work with, too! Look at this!!!!

Thank you all for your support - the campaign is going wonderfully so far and I look forward to sharing more about our fabulous team. 

You can follow Kieron’s work here and Mye’s here!

<3
Alex

Me right now: 

THANK YOU, all you lovely backers!!! We're funded in less than 24 hours! You're making this adorable little book come to life!!!

It's wonderful to see so many folks get excited about a game centered around love and connection. It truly warms my heart and fills me with gratitude.

The whole team at Bully Pulpit Games is basking in gratitude too, but guess what? I’m grateful for them.

Steve Segedy has been putting a ridiculous amount of work into this project, especially in the last few weeks. He is the anchor of BPG, and without him the project would be totally adrift. Jason Morningstar has been wonderful to me throughout the development of Love Letters; I have sent him shoddy drafts and desperate “help me make this good!” messages and he is just the most gracious person to collaborate with.

Kristine Hassell and Lino Caputo are our marketing powerhouses; Lino has been churning out graphics like a machine while Kristine somehow wrangles the various social media channels (shifty things, in my experience). So happy to have them on our team <3

Working with Jess Fink is an absolute joy, agian. One of the highlights of putting Love Letters together was exchanging ideas and inspiration (see: pictures of figure skating outfits and girls with swords) back and forth as she turned my silliest dreams into beautiful artwork.

I also want to shout out my absolute champ of an editor, Meredith Katz! She and I worked together on ‘Til The Last Gasp last summer, and when we were done I knew I wanted to work with her again. They have a keen eye for consistency and flow, but as a writer of queer romance novels, they also brought a lot of cool ideas to the table. Pro Tip: an editor who can keep the instructions clear without losing its flavour (in Love Letters' case: sweet and spicy) is one you ought to keep.

Brennen Reece’s work speaks for itself; it is such a pleasure to know that I can deposit all that work into his capable hands and let him craft it (right now!) into a beautiful book. If you enjoyed the bright, cheerful, easy-to-navigate look of the original rulebook, you’ll appreciate Love Letters.

Thank you so, so much. If you’re half as delighted as I am about this, please consider sharing the project page with a friend! Word-of-mouth is more important than ever these days, when there is such a wealth of great TTRPG projects funding. Let’s keep this momentum going. 💖

<3
Alex

Rap duo Epic Levels have this thing called Mad Dungeon, where they have different guests come on their podcast and make a single room in a megadungeon. Ours ended up looking like this:

I think a romantic cook-off for the heart of a slug god should appeal to everyone, yeah?

I also end up talking about Star Crossed: Love Letters a bit, and the hosts had some really interesting questions about romance and player safety! Give it a listen, and let me know what you think! 

<3
Alex

PS: Halfway funded already???? Hehehe yay