Hello!

I'm Tobias S. Buckell and I want to write short stories for you.

I'm the author of nine novels so far (that you know about!). I've been nominated for the Nebula, the Hugo, and I'm known for my near future eco-thriller Arctic Rising. I also took a turn on the NYT Bestseller list for my novel Halo: The Cole Protocol. I've been lucky enough to see 61+ short stories in professional print since I broke into publishing in 2000. I love writing them (see this one at Clarkesworld or this one at Lightspeed for examples). Born in the Caribbean, I've been working at bringing a new voice to science fiction since 2000 while trying to entertain the hell out of you at the same time.

Today I stand at something of a fork in the road. I've always split my time between freelancing work for half my income and writing for the other half. This smooths out the irregular income from writing so that I can make sure I'm taking care of my family responsibly. A major freelance gig just folded this January, and although I have some freelance possibilities, I've spent so much creativity on the freelancing over the last two years (it has slowed down my ability to keep up with the fiction) that I would like to try and take the risk of seeing if I can replace the freelancing with a Patreon and get to write more short stories.

What Am I Trying to Achieve?

I'm trying to find more time to write fiction. Currently I am aiming to:

rewrite a middle grade novel that an editor is waiting for;
write a new Fantasy novel (a departure for me, but I've spent the last six months making notes and testing paragraphs out of a new concept and direction for me that is an out of contract, on-spec passion project);
write more Xenowealth stories that readers ask for;
resist burnout from juggling two highly demanding creative careers and fold them into just one creative career, with your help

How Will Your Support Help?

I would be able to focus on writing fiction and nothing but writing fiction. Clarity of purpose, more time to research and to revise work, would all be benefits of this. I know I can do this for about $1,500/month as I've cut and slashed my already humble middle-of-the-country budget to the bone and kept $1,500/month of freelancing work. At $3,000/month, I would be able to walk away from any freelance work and keep my family budget balanced.

I live in a small rural town for low cost of living, walk everywhere, and only own a van with 235,000 miles on it for when I can't get somewhere on foot. I only travel if someone is covering the costs or I'm using points. Patreon would allow me to bridge the gaps between irregular novel income by writing short stories for supporters. I've been lucky that freelancing has let me pay down medical debts in the past and to set aside money from my fiction that lets me jump off into the dark and try this experiment.

What Do You Get?

All patrons at the $5 a month level and higher get a short story, which they can download to the device of their choice. This will happen once a month.

Want to be a patron for more than $5 a month? I have lots of cool options for people to participate and get interesting offers at higher levels. And for anyone who pitches in during the first month, there are all sorts of bonus rewards for hitting our goals as we move along!

But the lower amounts have a great payout as well. For just $1 a month you will be getting a weekly Monday email from me with creativity tips, writing advice, and details of interesting books I'm reading, and if the Patreon is over $750 a month total Patrons at this level get the year's stories collected in an eBook in December. For $2 a month you'll be in a pool to get details about what I'm writing, parts of books that are not available to the public yet and all sorts of sneak peek stuff. You'll also get a once-a-quarter story in your inbox.