Our campaign is now complete. You can order That Distant Fire at the Black Eye Books website at www.blackeye.ca
The story of That Distant Fire was published online, two pages a week, over the past year for free. The book is complete and ready to print. All we need is your support to bring it to life!
Vera and Paul hold enviable jobs at Pinkerton-Bei, a military engineering firm specializing in surveillance technologies. When Paul is fired but Vera asked to stay on, they choose to leave for the rural town where Paul grew up and move in with his father, Ben, his sister, Hazel, and Hazel’s actvist girlfriend, Diana, at the now defunct family farm. Jobs are in short supply in the area, and Vera and Paul hope to help the floundering community get back on its feet while completing their secret project — a handheld MRI-like “Device”.
Meanwhile, Diana begins to lead a strike against Queeny Agriculture, who owns and operates all the regional farms. Vera falls more and more under Diana’s influence, and the strike becomes increasingly violent as corporatized police forces and strike breakers bring the community to heel. Vera and Paul race against the clock to escape the powers moving in on them. Facing violence and unrest, they struggle to keep their labor movement from tearing itself apart, and the technology they’ve built from being turned against the community they are struggling to protect.
That Distant Fire will be printed for a September release as a 166 page, full-colour, 5.85 x 8.75, trade paperback, and is also offered as a limited edition hardcover edition.
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Illustrator Curt Merlo envisioned what That Distant Fire would look like as a 5-issue mini series. In addition to appearing in the collection, you can own those alternate universe covers plus the trade paperback cover artwork as part of this set of six 4x6 postcards. Available at The Rebel and The Revolutionary pledge levels!
Own one of Curt Merlo's stunning originals from That Distant Fire. Add-on an signed original 9x12 inked page on bristol board from Chapter 1 for $175, or a signed piece of 9x12 production art on sketchbook paper from Chapters 2-5 for $100. Artwork selection will occur at the end of the campaign, and pages will ship separately from the artist.
 |  | Inked Art Page Sample | Production Art Sample |
 |  | Writer J.R. Hughto: J.R. Hughto works in creative marketing by day, leading award-winning campaigns for some of your favorite movies and streaming TV shows. By night, he carves out time to tell his own stories. J.R.’s film Diamond on Vinyl premiered at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival to critical acclaim from The Hollywood Reporter, Fangoria, and others, and was awarded Best Director and Best Ensemble at the 2013 Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles as well as Best Feature Drama at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival. | Illustrator Curt Merlo: Curt Merlo is an editorial illustrator by day, visually interpreting the latest news and stories for publications all around the world. By night, he is locked in his studio creating and self-publishing books. That Distant Fire is his 7th book in total, his first graphic novel, and a dream project for Curt. Follow his process and progress at curtmerlo.com or @curtmerlo on all the platforms. |
About Black Eye Books:
From 1993–1998, Black Eye Books published such notable cartoonists as Jay Stephens (The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales), Nick Craine (Dance Me Outside), Jason Lutes (Jar of Fools, Berlin), Tom Hart (The Sands), Jeremy Eaton (World of Trouble), Matt Madden (Black Candy), James Kochalka (Quit Your Job), Ed Brubaker (Lowlife), Brian Biggs (Dear Julia), and New Zealand's Dylan Horrocks (Pickle, Hicksville).
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Have a question that's not answered below? Reach out via the 'contact campaign' link at the top of the page (below the social media icon bar) and let us know how we can help!
1. How do I edit or cancel my pledge?
Please click 'Contact Campaign' on the main page and your request will be taken care of. Right not it's not possible to manage your pledges yourself, but it is on the roadmap for an update to Fundrazr in the future.
2. When will I be charged?
On campaigns with an 'all or nothing' goal (like this one), your pledge will be collected once the campaign is successfully funded and complete. On campaigns that are marked as 'keep it all', funds will be collected immediately at the time of your pledge.
3. I'm in the EU. Do you collect VAT? Will there be import fees?
Fundrazr doesn't have the ability to collect VAT. If you're pledging from the European Union, please visit go.blackeye.ca/etsy and send a message with your desired rewards and a custom order will be built for you, VAT will be collected at the time of purchase and you will avoid costly import fees.
4. I'm in the EU and already made a pledge here, will I be billed twice?
Don't worry. Your pledge won't be collected here. You'll receive a message about paying via Etsy for your rewards. The good news is your pledge will count towards stretch goals and our total raised!
5. How will my copy ship?
Books are shipped flat in protective stayflat mailers. Shipment will be via Canada Post within Canada, USPS in the USA, and either via APC or PostNL internationally. Canadian, US, EU and most international destinations will also be fully traceable with a tracking number provided via email when shipment occurs.
6. I selected local pickup, how does that work?
When your rewards are ready, you'll be alerted by email to come pick them up at the Black Eye Books studio. We're in the east end of Toronto near the Chester TTC station. If at the time of pickup, you cannot come get your reward, we can arrange to ship your reward to you.
7. Do you have retailer tiers available?
Rather than have set tiers for retailers, we prefer to offer retailers the opportunity to order custom quantities via our retail portal. If you've signed up for our portal already, once our project is fully funded, preorder copies will be available there. For access to our retailer portal sign up at: www.blackeye.ca/retailer-signup or click on 'contact campaign' to get in touch.
8. I've selected a tier with original artwork, do I get to select which artwork I want?
Once pledges have been collected, all backers with artwork will be given access to the gallery where they will be able to select their artwork. Information about when the gallery goes live will be provided ahead of time.
9. Don't see all your contributions?
If you weren't signed in to Crowdfundr when you made a contribution, it won't appear in Your contributions.
To show a missing contribution:
- In your email inbox, find the confirmation email from FundRazr for the contribution.
- In the email, locate and click the edit link for the contribution.
- Make sure that you are signed in to FundRazr.
- Update your contribution details.
- Save your changes.
The missing contribution will then appear in Your contributions.
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