The stories of the fifteen best ships in Coast Guard history, told with humor, history, and pictures of ships wearing hats. Follow the Coast Guard as it fights pirates, sinks subs, and explores new continents. Watch our cutters save lives, catch spies, and change the world. This is not the Coast Guard you know (assuming you know it at all)!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
DC Area Folks: You're Invited to a Special Event!
about 1 month ago
– Sat, Oct 12, 2024 at 07:48:45 AM
I'd be honored to have the people who made this happen there to celebrate with me. I'll be there to talk about the book and sign copies after. The best part is, if you let me know you're coming, I can have your rewards available for pickup at the event!
COINS!
about 1 month ago
– Fri, Oct 11, 2024 at 04:54:35 PM
Hi, everyone!
An update: after a few technical issues, some last-minute address corrections, and a few storm-related delays, your books are here, getting signed and prepped to ship. But that's not all. I want to tell you about the ever-coveted challenge coins.
First, some bad news
When I first made this Kickstarter, I promised two types of coins, one of Bear made specifically for this project, and also the "Do you just stand there and guard the coast all day?" coins that I made along with my first book. These coins were always super popular, but unfortunately, the company that made them, Northwest Territorial Mint, merged with another company and the original dies were destroyed. This means I can't make more of those coins.
Second, the good news (which makes the bad news into great news)!
I was about to contact Ranger Coin (the successor to NTM) and ask them to recreate the original die when I realized that challenge coin technology has come a long way since 2015, and there's a lot of new options that weren't available last time. On top of that, while I liked my original coins, I always thought they were imperfect. That brown sand never looked right, for one, and the "Warning: Coast!" sign was hard to read against the yellow lacquer. I thought to myself: why not just make a better, cooler, more unique coin?
So I did.
Ta-da! My new challenge coin, just over 2" in diameter, cut in the shape of my Coastie character's head, with my most famous scene on the back. The sand is sandblasted metal with clear lacquer, and the palm tree is semi-transparent lacquer to give the illusion of bark. The Coastie's body is UV-printed onto the coin to make it look super accurate. They even used the actual fonts from my comic, which is a detail I really appreciate. I absolutely love them! It's definitely something that will stand out on your coin shelf/coin rack/pog collection.
But what about the Bear coin?
So what really surprised me when I went to make the Bear coin was the question I got from the rep at Ranger Coin about it: "That's the one that sank, right?"
I was blown away. She actually knew the story of the original Bear, a boat even many Coasties don't know about. She was a big fan of the Coast Guard, and a big fan of Coast Guard history. She was excited to be helping with a project like this, and I was excited to have her help, especially since the story of Bear is what made me want to write this book. And she and her team made me a truly awesome coin:
Semi-transparent lacquer in the water and sky to make the ocean shimmer and the clouds have depth, a UV-printed ship that shows all of Bear's fine details, the exact, woodcut font I wanted in the banner and on the rim, and - just for fun - a glitter iceberg. I think this is one of the best-looking coins I've ever seen (I'm biased, but it's true). I only ordered a handful of extras beyond what I needed for you folks, but after seeing them, I may have to order some more.
Anyway, I've got a busy weekend ahead of me as I sign books and print labels. As always, thank you!
-Brian
P.S., if you have any alibis related to your shipping address, this is your last chance to tell me!
Books are printing!
2 months ago
– Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 10:16:02 AM
BOOKS.
After all this time, it's finally happening! Your books are printing and will soon be on their way to me in one uncomfortably-large delivery. After that, I sign and ship them to you along with your other rewards. I'll keep you posted once they get here.
THE BOOK IS LIVE!
As of today, the book is officially on sale, and is available on Amazon (in hardback and Kindle versions), on Bookshop.org, and directly from IngramSpark (where you can get a limited-time discount of $15 off the cover price).
LAST CALL FOR ADDRESS UPDATES.
You should have received a survey from Kickstarter to allow you to update your address. If you haven't filled it out already, please do so as soon as possible. Those of you who ordered add-ons from BackerKit may have also seen a separate survey from them. If you did, please take a look at that one as well, though it should have already pulled your most-recent address from Kickstarter.
BACKERKIT ADD-ONS.
If you ordered add-ons through BackerKit after the Kickstarter closed, such as additional books or coins, please also make sure your payment method is up-to-date in your BackerKit profile. You should have seen an update from them about it this week, but if not, you can find the BackerKit page here.
I think that's it for now. Tell your friends! Here's a QR code you can use to share it:
How to Update Your Shipping Address
3 months ago
– Mon, Aug 12, 2024 at 10:52:00 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
THE BOOK
4 months ago
– Sun, Jul 28, 2024 at 09:00:22 PM
It's been a long road. Way longer than I intended. But I'm finally proud to show you the actual, physical book. And can I just say? It's gorgeous.
But let me show you my favorite part.
One of the reasons I wanted to resize the book was so I could add a book jacket. It's a cool feature that in my mind makes everyone take it more seriously - but that's not all. On the outside is Eagle sailing through a hurricane (which, as you'll read, she actually did). But when you pull off the jacket...
You'll see Eagle sailing home after the storm. It's one of my favorite images.
Alright, on to the real stuff
I have a lot to do in the next month an a half. I set the launch date for September 18th, which is the date the book will officially be available for purchase (by people who aren't you). Next week, I'll make an official announcement about the launch and (once I work out a few technical difficulties) share a new pre-order link. I'll share it here, too, but you'll also see it on my Instagram and Facebook pages (I'm @clawofknowledge on both).
In the meantime, I'm gathering everything I need to ship you your books and rewards once they're printed. My place is starting to get cramped as I stock up on things like packing tape and boxes, and before long I'll have to cram in several dozen cartons of books as well. My plan is to start shipping in September. I also have a few surprises to share with you as we get closer, but I'll let those remain a mystery for now.
One last time, let me just say thank you. Without your support and encouragement, this quirky book of cartoons and cutter stories never would have happened. I truly believe this is something that will show Coasties and non-Coasties alike just how much our Service has accomplished in the last 234 years, at every corner of the globe. Not only that, I think it's something with the power to change how we see ourselves as a Service. Or failing that, just make us laugh really hard.
