We’re six days into the Kickstarter campaign for “SLEEPY HOLLOW, 1998” and we’re very close to funding, at 88% of the way. No, I’m not refreshing the page every 90 seconds, not one bit. So if you haven't backed the campaign yet, wouldn't now be a great time?

​Previously, I wrote about reluctantly agreeing to appear in the campaign’s Kickstarter video. One thing that kept me going through it was knowing that I could load the background with little easter eggs, shout-outs to friends, and various nerdy knick-knacks.

But do you know what's better than putting easter eggs into things? It's EXPLAINING those easter eggs!

Let's break them down.

​"Red Light Properties: Unfinished Business" by Dan Goldman​

Dan is not just a good friend and compatriot, he's a visionary writer and artist. Red Light Properties is his day-glo Florida horror comedy, about a schlubby psychic and an ambitious realtor who exorcise haunted houses and undercut the real-estate market at the same time.

You haven't seen a world like this before. Check it out - and Dan's other works - at his personal studio, Kinjin Storylab.

A mask from Sleep No More. With lipstick marks from Hecate.

There was before seeing Sleep No More, and after. I first saw it in the fall of 2012 and, like many others, it has informed a lot of my thinking about immsersive ever since.

Hiding behind my head, a stack of my 2020 book, Novel Advice. No matter what else I do, I keep coming back to retellings of classic stories.

Two Chandrilian chalices from the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser (it wasn't a hotel!!). After the Halcyon was decommissioned, the glassware started showing up at Galaxy's Edge, and we jumped on the chance to snag a pair. Inside, you'll see piles of New Republic credits, perfect for playing a few hands of Coruscant Shift sabacc.

Actual mixtapes from the 90s. Years ago, I rebuilt some of these on a now defunct website called 8Tracks. I might need to make another attempt using a more modern platform. In the meantime, some memories of the Napalm Cornflake - 1992 mix. (Update: Napalm Cornflake on Spotify)

The "spot" mix was given to me by a friend in graduate school in North Carolina sometime in the mid-90s, and was named after Data's cat.

This tape was my introduction to Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Camper van Beethoven, and Cop Shoot Cop - artists that ended up on heavy rotation for many years afterwards.

(Update: spot mix on Spotify)

​"Camp Calamity" from Hunt A Killer - I was a writer on this play-at-home murder mystery. The experience taught me a lot, and many of those lessons inform SLEEPY HOLLOW, 1998.

A camtono. One of the best easter-eggs-that-became-a real-thing.

A lion maquette from the production of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001), which, if you've ever talked to me for more than ten minutes, you know is a huge part of my origin story.

​A Creator's Guide to Transmedia Storytelling by Andrea Phillips​

My friend Andrea Phillips literally wrote the book on how to do transmedia. And though it came out some time ago, I haven't seen a better guide. Andrea is a wonderful writer in any medium, but her most impressive accompishment is being condemned by NASA for the ARG she wrote for the movie 2012.

Literary joke coasters: Drinkula, Moby Drink, The Pour of the Worlds, THe Old Man and the Tea. Get yours here.

"Before Fanfiction" by Alexandra Edwards.

Alex - or I should say Doctor Edwards - was the Transmedia Editor on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, where was invaluable in helping me to build and run the interactive architecture of the show. Later, she was the Transmedia Producer on Welcome To Sanditon and Emma Approved. But all of that was a mere distraction from getting her doctorate and expanding the reaches of research into fan studies.

​"Infinite Right Answers" by Mister & Mischief​

Zines, they're not just from the nineties! This is from Mister & Mischief - better known as the amazing immersive creators Andy and Jeff Crocker. And it's a burst of inspiration for anybody who's ever struggled with doubt when trying to make something, a mini-festo on creativity, and simply a lot of fun - just like Andy and Jeff are themselves.

Thanks for taking a tour through the clutter of my mind. You should see all of the stuff that didn't make it into the shot. Or really, you shouldn't.

But please do click on the links and check out the work of my amazing friends. You won't be sorry.