Fifty-five years ago, when I was just twelve, my eye was caught by a comic strip picture of an alien figure seated on a floating disc. That image sparked the germ of an idea in my mind. I traced the figure. The comic was eventually lost, but I kept that tracing. I never forgot it, nor the idea it had sparked. And as I grew into a man, the idea grew with me—into a scenario, then a story, and ultimately an epic.

As the years passed, I found a name for the alien: Marca. I found a name for his world: Selan. And as the story developed, it drew in many other things: the Tàitin Group of worlds, of which Marca’s Selan was a member, and the Padniemzan Union, a sprawling empire whose ruthless ruler sees the peaceful Selanese as a strange and terrible threat.

I have always seen Marca as the principal project of my writing career. Whatever the ups and downs of my life, I have never stopped drafting, compiling and collating material for this unique project. And now I’d like to share that story with you.

We plan to publish Marca in three compact volumes furnished with numerous illustrations. And to start with, there will be a limited-edition presentation pack containing all three books plus a larger-scale map of the Selanese world and a set of twelve full-colour postcards.

Marca is unique. There is no other story like it. It lives in its own world; it unfolds in its own time; it breathes in its own air. And it is all wholly removed from the familiar Earth of the here and now. It is a wildly mysterious tale, a magical and mystical tale, a tale told in another land, resonating to the lilt of unknown tongues and adorned with a wealth of colourful detail: a frozen cascade, a graven mountainside, a living flame held captive in a nightmare chamber, a blazing bolt of fire in the hands of a hesitant hero, a timeworn tower glinting gold in the sunset, rain and a rain-drenched runner glimpsed from the high window of a love-warmed morning, a tilted colonnade of summer sunbeams slanting across an ancient hallway, a phantom fall of fragile leaves around a dreamwalking seer, and much, much more.

All the work is done. We have teamed up with a first-class printer that delivers on time and to the high quality that we, and you, are entitled to expect. But it is costly to realize a complex project like this, and our resources are limited. We need your support to bring Marca’s unique story to everyone who wants to read it. So thank you for whatever you feel able to contribute.

Do not worry if we do not manage to reach our target. If you pledge money and we miss our target you will not be charged. But if we do reach our goal, all the funds we raise, including any that take us over our goal, will be invested in the production and distribution of the books.

£45.00 + shipping

Includes all three books 3 maps and 12 postcards.