Press Proofs Are Here!

This morning a complete, fully assembled press proof of the deck arrived from the printers! After I peeled myself off of the ceiling I spent the early afternoon snapping photos, weeding out the "winner" photos from the "losers" . . . and now I'm ready to share some of them with you!

Face front, True Believers!

 The printers are now just waiting for my written approval of the proof. That will go in tomorrow's mail, they will receive it on Friday. I've been told that it will take just three business days after they receive it for them to finish the job!

This means that the 300-copy run of the deck could be done and in my hands by the end of next week!

The Kickstarter Campaign ends on Friday! The deck has been fully funded, but there are still plenty of decks available. To get yours at the pre-publication price, consider pre-ordering through Kickatsrter. 

 More details as I get them! In the meantime, enjoy the photos. Sorry about the yellowy lightbulb cast in some of them... I wish you could see the proof and hold it in your hands. I think you'd agree that it's very danged neat. Again my thanks goes out to you for all of your wonderful support and encouragement! This could never have happened without you. I'm so grateful for all of you!

Finally, I took a few shots that show the finished deck side-by-side with some other familiar (and favorite) decks, so you could get a better sense of the size and heft:

... with the Centennial Edition of Waite / Smith.

... with the Swiss IJJ.

... with the Cosmic Tarot.

... with the Sacred Rose.

... and the Victorian Romantic.

  

... I have a confession. I love all the decks that have come out of Prague's Baba Studio, especially their Victorian Romantic (above). From the beginning it has been my secret desire to make something that could hold its own against their wonderful decks... and maybe even give them a run for their money. What do you think? Am I on the right track?

Blessings!

-- Freder
www.ducksoup.me

Deeper Into the Circus

I hope this doesn't upset anyone... but I've decided to do a second book around the deck, a nonfiction book more closely tied to the deck itself. I didn't know when I launched the Kickstarter Project that I'd consider doing such a book! I literally just started working on it during the past week and a half.

The Circus Tarot Book: A Companion to Tarot of the Zirkus Magi

This book will NOT attempt to teach anyone about the Tarot! This book will NOT, for the most part, offer card meanings in the conventional sense. I do NOTconsider myself qualified to write that kind of a book; and anyway there are plenty of those out there written by good folks who know their subject.

What I am good at, though, is making cultural connections, gathering references, tying completely different things together in a way that might surprise... someone.

Some of the designs in this deck feature specific people (or parts of them!) and have specific stories behind them. Other cards contain elements from my past. Circus history flows through nearly all of them. This book will be my personal mind-journey through the cards of this deck. In the sections that I've drafted so far, the topics wander where I let them, and I find myself writing as much about film and books and toys and the history behind them and how it all fits together, as I do about the cards themselves. Somehow it all ties back to what the card is telling me. So... in a way the card meanings just MIGHT come through... but not in the way you're used to seeing in Little White Books.

Perhaps some of the cards will lead me off into fictional territory. Anything's possible.

I wouldn't call this book "a meditation;" it's too messy. Kind of "naturally scruffy" like myself.

I don't know exactly when it will be ready. I don't know exactly how long it will be -- the word count could be anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000. I don't know what it will retail out at. I DO know that it will be 5.5" wide by 8.5" inches tall, and that every card in the Major Arcana will get its own section and will be printed on a full page by itself in full color on white paper, and that it will look nice, and that it will stay in print only until the full deck comes out sometime next year; then I'll retire it until I get an expanded version out featuring all the cards.

I did think about adding it on to the Kickstarter campaign as an extra reward or combination of rewards, but there are still too many unanswered questions. So -- I just thought I'd let you know that it's coming. With any luck it will be ready around the first of the year. 

Thanks very much for your interest and support. 

-- Freder
www.ducksoup.me

Final Days!

The Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the printing of The Tarot of The Zirkus Magi has entered its final week online. Thanks to you, the project has been successfully funded and the deck will be published. There are still plenty of copies remaining, but only a few days to get them at the pre-publication price! Visit the project here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1911920092/tarot-of-the-zirkus-magi