A Function of Firepower: Schlock Mercenary Book 19

Funding Complete!
12 months ago – Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 06:23:26 PM

Greetings Backers!

We could deploy all manner of purple prose to express the depth of our gratitude for your support and our ongoing sense of wonder at your enthusiasm but it’s been a long week at the end of a long thirty-one days so for now we’ll just compress all of that into two words.

Thank you.

We do have some good news for all of you. Even though we were 5 backers short of the combined NCO and HESH goal, a generous donor made up the difference. So that Tagon's Toughs pin will be added to all NCO and HESH packages. 

Those of you not at those pledge levels can add the pin, additional Schlock books, or other items from our store when you fill out your surveys in a few weeks. If you have an item you want added to your store and we have it in our warehouse, we can get it into your package.  

What Happens Next

April 18 -27:  Sandra has a family road trip. Howard will rest over the weekend. Then he'll build the project spreadsheet for all the deliverables in this project. He will also focus on getting books sketched so we can deliver the last of the Mandatory Failure orders. 

April 28- June 10: We have more than a month of work time that is not interrupted by travel or scheduled events.  During that month we'll focus on the following

• Prioritize pins, coins, and patches so that we can minimize the impact of tariffs on that portion of the project. 
• Finish sending out any remaining packages for Mandatory Failure.
• Howard will be working on the bonus story for Function of Firepower. 
• Sandra will begin the bookkeeping tasks for BackerKit and backer surveys, and will make a plan for when to send those surveys to all of you.
• Sandra will write an update to let you know the status of all the things and to tell you further scheduling from there. The first update will happen the week of May 12-16. 
   

The List of Deliverables

Thank you for continuing to read! As a reward, here is a list of the deliverables for this project.

Core Items

• A Function of Firepower PDF
• A Function of Firepower perfect-bound glossy soft-cover
• A Function of Firepower sketch editions

Add-ons

• Full-color sketch cards
• Limited Edition “Ancient Earth” Print
• Coin: Not My Circus Not My Monkey
• Coin: Jumpstar Prime Lyceum
• Tough's Logo Pin
• Limited Edition Mission Patch

Exclusives

• HESH Coin, Series 3 (for HESH pledge level backers)
   

Digital Goodies

• Desktop + mobile wallpapers: FoF Cover Art, Ancient Earth, Illustrated Maxim 52.

Fun fact: writing this update is incredibly useful to us. It’s how we front-load the process of making the spreadsheet. So, yes. We just sent you our homework. When you’re grading it, please forgive the excessive use of bullet points.

Thank you again! Because of you we can keep making things, and thanks to you we have a nice queue of cool things to make.

—Howard and Sandra

The Final Stretch!
12 months ago – Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 09:53:54 AM

Greetings Backers

The funding period for the A FUNCTION OF FIREPOWER Kickstarter campaign will close in just three days! That’s this Friday at 2pm Eastern. After that point we won’t be able to accept new backers, but our existing backers (at any level) will be able adjust their pledges for add-ons. 

Howard lost a couple of weeks to chronic fatigue, but he’s back on his game this week and is scrambling to provide you as many “this is what it looks like” images as he can. Here, for instance, is the latest cut of the Maxim 52 print, which you unlocked last week. 

All backers will get a desktop and mobile background version of this, and will be able to acquire the print as an add-on. HESH backers will receive a print at no extra charge.

Howard is also working on the mission patch. It’s still very early, and the design may end up completely overhauled after the patch experts show us what it looks like when they try to render this design using threads. 

We have just three days left to unlock our final stretch goals:

• $125,000 Materiel upgrades: We’ll update Howard’s workplace accessibility suite. Previous materiel upgrade goals (like the zero-g chair and boom-mounted tablet) have allowed Howard to continue to work, literally making the current project possible.
• $135,000: Maxim 69, illustrated! Maxim 69 is this book’s namesake: “Sometimes rank is a function of firepower,” and Howard would love to illustrate it for you. Like the Maxim 52 illustration, the digital version will go out to everyone, and the print will be available as an add-on (and included at no extra charge for our HESH backers) 
• 650 NCO+HESH backers: “Retro” Tagon’s Toughs logo pin! The original Tagon’s Toughs logo pin debuted at San Diego Comic-Con in 2006. The updated design keeps the simple styling, but has a bit of gold trim for flair. If we unlock this (please please please!) it will be available to everyone as an add-on, and will be included at no additional charge for HESH backers.

We have until Friday to reach these goals. The very best way to get there is for more people to back the project, which means the best way for existing backers to get us there is to spread the word. 

But you’ve already done so much for us. We’re hesitant to ask for anything, really. The book at the heart of this project is fully funded, and you’ve made several very cool things possible.  

Thank you!
— Howard & Sandra Tayler

Tariffs and Shipping: Don’t Panic
12 months ago – Fri, Apr 11, 2025 at 11:21:36 AM

Greetings Backers,

This will run a bit long, because we need to explain some tariff-related things, but don’t worry. We’ll begin by invoking the spirit of Douglas Adams’ HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY: don’t panic! The news is not actually bad, and some of it is quite good. You are allowed to relax while you read. 

The tl;dr - the current tariffs do not apply to books. 

The tariffs will apply to coins, pins, and patches, but we have some strategies for managing the elevated costs. We expect to be able to fulfill this project without raising any of our prices.  PLEASE review the section on shipping costs. Your cost for shipping will be charged later when we’re ready to ship. We don’t want you to have sticker shock at that point.

Unrelated to tariffs, here’s some great news! We’ve cleared more stretch goals! We’re excited by this, and we will have things to show you on Monday.

That’s the summary. Let’s dig into the details.

Elephant in the Room: Tariffs

Books: As stated above, books are not subject to the recent US tariffs. The tariffs were enacted under the IEEPA (a law allowing the US President to enact tariffs unilaterally), and that law specifically exempts bound printed matter from tariffs. There are other tariffs that do apply to books, but we’ve been dealing with those for years.

It will probably take us several months to get final files ready for printing. That’s enough time for the tariff-related topology of the economic landscape to change. Maybe things will get better, maybe they’ll get worse. We believe we’re prepared for tariff tectonic shifts. We can pivot to printing in the United States. We’ve done this before. A LITTLE IMMORTALITY and PLANET MERCENARY were both printed domestically.

Frankly, we would love to be able to print everything closer to home, but our experience with US-based binderies has been underwhelming. Our trans-Pacific production team provides excellent service, a much larger selection of papers, coatings, and bindings, and outstanding quality control.

But if global political and economic circumstances force us to print in the USA, we can make it work. It will require much more time and energy on our part, but we know the shape of that problem and we’re confident that we’ll be able to deliver a top-notch book to you.

Coins, Pins, and Patches: We’ve worked with Signature Coins for a dozen years now. Their sales and design teams are in Florida, but their manufacturing is in China. All of these products will be subject to the current tariffs. There are much larger industries, entire economic sectors, affected in the same way, and as of this writing the best description of the situation is “churn.” 

Fortunately, we can afford to watch and wait. We’re very small players, and since this type of merchandise is not our core product, our livelihoods are not under immediate existential threat. Also, the turnaround time on coins, pins, and patches has always been quite fast compared to books, so we can wait quite a while before making final production decisions. We don’t know what the market will look like later this summer, but we’re pretty sure it will have changed. Bigger players with more at stake are stirring all the pots very vigorously right now. So much churn.

And that’s why, as of this writing, we cannot confidently select a supplier for our patches, pins, and coins. We can, however, promise you this: we will keep you informed. If we can’t deliver the coins and pins as described, we’ll make it up to you, either with the choice of alternative merchandise or a refund for that portion of your order.

We’ve worked with many different suppliers. We’ve found some people we really like working with, and who deliver things that we’re proud to put our names on. They’ve earned our trust, and we want to keep working with them in the future. But as much as we like them, we love you more. If we have to change in order to take care of you, we’ll change.

Important Reminder! Shipping Costs!

Remember, please, we are not building the shipping costs into pledges for this project. Shipping will be charged later. 

Please review the shipping costs! You will have a chance to review your shipping costs again, and adjust your order if necessary, when we send out surveys.

If you want to increase your pledge now to cover some of these costs in a single payment, you may do that, but please be aware that these are estimates. 

COST FOR 1 BOOK (2 lb package)          
US Shipping                   $9-15
International Shipping        $25-40
        
Additional cost per pound        
US                     $3-5
International         $10-15
        
Yes, we know the international shipping costs are high. We’ve tried to bring them down, but we haven’t been able to. Please make your decisions based on what you can afford.

A Brief Note Regarding Political Commentary

We have strong feelings and plenty of hot takes about current events, and we suspect you do too. In the course of this update we’ve sought the cooler take of a more measured, perhaps even neutral tone, and we hope you can be similarly restrained in our comments section. There are other, better places for that sort of discourse. 

Here is the one salient shred of punditry appropriate for inclusion in this update: we want to be able to do things that make you happy, and we strive to do it without making anybody else unhappy. It can be difficult to accomplish this when everything around us is on fire, but we are people who do difficult things. While, naturally, striving to not be difficult people.

Your support makes it possible. Your voices remind us that it’s worth doing.

Thank you,

-Howard and Sandra Tayler

Not My Circus Not My Monkeys by Lar DeSouza
about 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 02, 2025 at 04:14:38 PM

You all did it! Thank you for helping us reach the goal where we get to pay our artists more!  As promised, here is Lar DeSouza's version of Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys!

Thank you for backing our project! We've got lots more cool stretch goals ahead.

Howard and Sandra Tayler

New Stretch Goals and A Bit of Lar
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 09:59:58 AM

Greetings Backers!

We’ve hit $95k, which means we’ve unlocked both the special HESH coin and the Ancient Earth print. Both the Ancient Earth print and the HESH coin will be automatically included in all HESH level pledges. For everyone else, you can add the Ancient Earth print to your order now. It is going to be very cool. We’re letting Howard go full science nerd.

Note: this Ancient Earth art is available to everyone as a desktop background (in 1080p, 4k, and mobile aspects ratios!) free of charge.  

As soon as we hit $100k we have a glorious and delightful piece of art for you. It is Lar DeSouza’s non-coin version of “Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys.” We’re excited for you to see it, and we’re extra-excited to figure out how exactly we’re going to deploy it.

We’re also closing in on 1500 backers which will unlock the Maxim 52 print. Howard already has a picture in mind for this maxim ("The army you’ve got is never the army you want"), and we’ll show you sketches as he makes progress. HESH backers will receive this print with their rewards, and everyone else will be able to order it as an add-on. A digital download will be available to all backers at no additional charge.

New Stretch Goals 

$110,000: Jumpstar Prime Lyceum (JPL) coin:  Like the ship coins of previous projects, this die-struck brass token of awesomeness will be available as an add-on, and included at no charge for HESH and NCO backers.

$125,000: Materiel Upgrades: In previous projects we’ve used the materiel upgrades goal to provide accessibility and productivity tools for Howard. We’re still musing on the specifics, but this time around we want to spread the benefits a bit further. Howard loves to cook, so this might mean some remodeling to the kitchen. Or maybe we’ll reach even further than that and install a Little Free Library in our yard. Whatever we decide, we’ll tell you about it with words and pictures and enthusiasm.

650 backers at HESH + NCO combined: If enough backers pledge at the HESH or NCO levels, we’ll make a 1.5 inch enamel pin featuring the Tagon’s Toughs logo. This pin will be automatically included at no additional charge in the NCO and HESH pledge levels, and will be available as a $10 add-on for everyone else. As of this writing we’re about 150 backers away from this point.

Your support is amazing, and fills us with gratitude. If you’re reading this, you’ve already done your part, and we thank you for it. But you might be wondering how you can help us reach our stretch goals. 

Well, at this point the best help you can provide is by making noise. Spread the word. Make sure all of your Schlock-loving friends know about the project. Perhaps you have friends who still need to be introduced to Schlock Mercenary. You might consider joining us on the “Hypernode Connect” Discord server, where like-minded friends and fans stand ready to assist. [INVITE LINK]

Thank you! Your support means everything to us. 

Howard & Sandra Tayler