What she finds waiting for her sounds like something out of a dream. Hidden doors, mysterious voices, a subterranean warren of secrets... and an offer of a position, if she had the courage to accept it.
This is the premise for the new narrative YouTube channel that I'm launching with Alice Liddell called The A.L.I.C.E. Files... and if you haven't subscribed yet, I'd like to take a moment to ask you to do so. If you're still on the fence, though, keep reading, because there's more where this came from!
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| Seriously, though... every subscriber makes a big difference at this point! |
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!
What Are You Going To See On This Channel?
As a small spoiler for folks who aren't all-in on the project just yet, our protagonist finds herself joining the mysterious Carroll Institute as a Witness Cataloger. The organization has discovered ways to access parallel dimensions, and her job is to witness the reports submitted by agents who have gone through the Rabbit Hole, and found themselves Somewhere Else.
In material terms, that means that viewers are going to get a couple of different kinds of content right off the jump. The first few episodes (which are already done and ready to go up on schedule) are going to give you the backstory of "Alice" and how she joins the Institute. There will also be other meta-episodes that expand on the story of the Institute, its doings, and those who can be found caught in the tangled web it's woven. But as Alice begins viewing and cataloging reports, viewers will get separate audio dramas that take place in a variety of other settings. Some of these will be short stories by yours truly, and will be taken from previously published books like my collection The Rejects. Others may be public domain works, such as the original Alice in Wonderland (read in chapters), as well as works by Lovecraft and other authors.
My hope is that this format will provide an ongoing story for the Institute that develops a little more with every video that goes out, but viewers will also get to explore various settings and works by different authors, brought to life from one week to another.
And while this is pretty bold, as far as concepts go, we aren't going to be able to make it go without your help.
What We Need From You (As An Audience Member)
This is a brand new channel, and the trailer episode doesn't even debut until the 17th. As such, I don't want to overpromise what we can deliver. However, with that said, we have material for at least the first 10 or so episodes, and it's possible we'll get between 15 and 20 videos in before we really start sweating and hitting crunch time.
With that said, if this looks like the sort of project you want to get behind, then we definitely need your help. Because, as I've said before on this very blog, YouTube requires a channel to have 1,000 subscribers, and 4,000 hours of watch time in a single year before that channel gets monetized. Now, this isn't impossible, but it is very definitely going to be a serious uphill battle.
So if you want to help, take a few minutes out of your day today to do the following:
- Subscribe to The A.L.I.C.E. Files, and hit the bell to make sure you never miss our updates.
- Watch our videos when they start releasing, and share them on your own social media pages
- Leave comments of 7 words or more on our videos, and upvote the ones you like to please the algorithm!
If we can get at least 1,000 people to do those things over the next few months, well, we'll have our monetization on lock from YouTube, and once that happens we'll be able to expand to do even more (and more ambitious) things! At the moment we've got plans for expanding our cast, for providing merch for upcoming plotlines, and even for convention appearances... but all of that is going to depend on you all!
Right now we're only asking for folks to do free things that will help us get established. So please, if you've got a few minutes, consider helping us reach some early milestones!
Some Other Channels You Should Also Check Out
While the A.L.I.C.E. Files is still 6 days away from our debut video, I do want to suggest some other channels I and Alice Liddell have done work on before so you can get a good idea of the kinds of things we've done, and whether you think our new endeavor is going to be up your alley. I highly recommend subscribing to the following channels, as well, as there's plenty of content to go around!
#1: Azukail Games
Azukail Games is a location that's hosted a lot of my work, and there are dozens upon dozens of audio dramas of mine over there. While many of them are stand-alone tales, others are small series of vignettes that make up larger, interconnected stories. Anyway, I highly recommend checking it out and giving it a listen!
#2: Alice The Author
Alice The Author is Alice Liddell's channel where she talks about being an author, shares behind-the-scenes information about the profession, and of course where she does readings of her own work! Scroll through her channel, and if you really like some of her stories (or even her novels) we may be able to do an episode or two about them on The A.L.I.C.E. Files!
#3: A Vox in The Void
Whether you're a fan of dark scifi, dark fantasy, or just gripping fiction, A Vox in The Void is a channel you shouldn't miss. I've penned several stories for the channel over the years (including the one linked above, which also feature's Alice's voice), and I highly recommend folks go through the archive!
#4: Altered State Adventures
Another channel full of dark fiction and shadowy scifi, Altered State Adventures has featured fiction from myself, and voice work from Alice (in particular the story linked above). I highly recommend going through their backlog, and help them get just a little bit bigger this year!
Support The Literary Mercenary
If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!
- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)
And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!
Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!
Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!
That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!
And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.
If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!
