Lesbians in Space: Where No Man Has Gone Before and Lesbians in Space: The Sapphics Strike Back were our bestselling book campaigns. Now you can listen to these amazing Sapphic stories as we bring the audiobooks to life!
Space Wizard Science Fantasy is a queer science fiction and fantasy indie publishing company which opened its doors in 2021 to publishing outside authors.
For the past 4 years, we've run successful campaigns each June running between $10,000 and $20,000, funding 12 or more books releasing that year!
In 2024, we ran Lesbians in Space: Where No Man Has Gone Before in Booktopia, raising almost $11,000 for an anthology of 21 stories, including 4 by Hugo award nominated and winning authors. Then we did it again in 2025 with Lesbians in Space: The Sapphics Strike Back in Printopia, bringing in almost $12,000 for a second anthology with another of 20 stories!
Now we want to bring both these anthologies to audiobook, to make sure readers can enjoy in multiple formats, and to allow people unable to read the books to listen to them instead.
No true audiobook can be made without a narrator (and we don't support stealing narrator voices with AI around here), so we at Space Wizard asked several talented narrators if they'd be willing to bring their voice to these anthologies. We were fortunate one of our very top choices, Mary Robinette Kowal, was available for recording!
Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of The Spare Man,The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, and the Lady Astronaut Universe. She is part of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Tennessee with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Visit maryrobinettekowal.com
As a bonus, Mary Robinette contributed a short story for Lesbians in Space: Where No Man Has Gone Before, so you can listen to her narrate her own story, as well as that of 3 more Hugo award winning and nominated authors, as well as a bunch of really talented writers!
Past the base funding goal, we have some exciting extras for you, with the ultimate goal of recording the second anthology as well!
At $5,500, Heather Tracy will write a new short story and everyone gets a digital copy, distributed through Bookfunnel!
At $7,500, J.S. Fields will write a new short story and everyone gets a digital copy, distributed through Bookfunnel! At $9,500, Space Wizard will design a new charm (determined by poll): possibly a button, pin, or coin, and all physical backers get one! It will also be available as an addon. At $11,000, All physical backers will get the new charm, plus a Lesbians in Space sticker, pin, and keychain! At $13,500, We will have a surprise author write a new short story and everyone gets a digital copy, distributed through Bookfunnel! At $14,500, Mary Robinette will also record Lesbians in Space: The Sapphics Strike Back!
Do you love books? We do too. That's why Space Wizard strives to make exciting adventures across time and space. We have over 60 books currently released. If you're looking for more queer science fiction and fantasy, feel free to browse the Space Wizard websiteand read about any of them! If there's juuuust one more book you want, you can add it on when you pledge, in eBook or paperback format.
Not only that, but we have some awesome pins, keychains, and stickers, including both Lesbians in Space versions! (Our Lesbians in Space stickers have a rainbow holographic coating...)
Want to look over the available books? Here are the choices!
Simply choose your addon(s) when you pledge, in the pledge manager. If you picked a digital pledge level, you'll be asked for your address when choosing a physical addon.
Most of this campaign is for digital rewards, however if you also get a physical reward, here are some costs:
My shipping fees are from my experience in the last several campaigns. Note the above numbers are estimates. Shipping will be added when you fill out your survey form, and is based on your location. Generally, US shipping for one book will be about $7, three books will be about $9, and five books is around $11. See below for International shipping.
International Shipping: I will still attempt to ship internationally, but considering the U.S. political situation, it is possible shipping books overseas may become prohibitively expensive or even impossible to ship before rewards are sent. If this happens, I will handle any issues for international orders as I can, by issuing refunds, manually changing orders from physical to electronic, or dropshipping books rather than personalizing them.
The cost starts around $30 for one book, shipping to Canada, and $50 international. The price will go up for extra books by weight. For example, another 2 books will add around $5-10 in shipping. This is the cheapest I've been able to find it for, especially if you are getting multiple books. I'd recommend getting the eBooks, and then you can get as many as you want!
PAY OVER TIME: For this campaign, Backerkit's Pay Over Time feature is available. If your pledge is over $150, after you select a pledge and go to Checkout, you'll be given the option to pay 4 equal interest-free monthly installments of your pledge total over the course of 4 months.
If you select Pay Over Time, you acknowledge that:
You understand that your rewards will not qualify for shipment until you have paid in full. You understand that any partial payments made are not eligible for a refund. You understand that you will not be able to access the pledge manager survey until after you have paid in full.
Where's all the money going? Risks and challenges.
There are always risks and challenges with determining a budget for a campaign such as this, but I am a Professional Engineer by training, have spent the last 20 years in cost and benefit analysis, and now do data analysis for a living (along with publishing). I have accurately assessed costs for large projects in my work environment so I have a good understanding of how and where money is spent, and I have applied that knowledge to previous campaigns. See below for how the money from the campaign is used:
Even if you don't pledge, thanks for taking the time to read this through! We strive to deliver quality queer stories to you with a professional feel. We hope Space Wizard will continue to expand, giving making plenty of stories where everyone can see themselves.
