Eerie Ghosts and Vampires of the New Orleans French Quarter

NOT EVEN HURRICANES CAN KEEP THE BIG EASY DOWN!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 26, 2022 at 10:10:07 PM

Howdy, y’all!

I hope this update finds you happy, healthy, and enjoying life – wherever you happen to be.

As usual, I’ve got the Big Easy on the brain. Not just because Dan and I are slowly but surely completing several of the digital rewards promised during our spooky NOLA campaign, but also because this Monday, August 29, 2022, will mark the seventeenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s massive flooding of New Orleans, my beloved hometown.

Whether you live in southern Louisiana, have only visited once or twice, or have never stepped foot here, you’ve likely heard about the tragic death and destruction brought about by Hurricane Katrina – or, rather, the levee breaches produced by that fateful storm – on the morning of August 29, 2005.

In the nearly two decades that have passed since then, countless articles, books, documentaries, narrative films, and other media have chronicled and examined the causes, results, and aftermath of that historic event – so I won’t bore you with too many details. I’ll simply say that, while hurricanes have long plagued New Orleans – much of which lies below sea level – Katrina was an unprecedented storm, forever altering the city and her residents.

Striking the Gulf Coast midway through the annual hurricane season (which runs from June 1st to November 30th), Katrina ultimately killed more than 1,800 people and perhaps as many as 150,000 animals – thanks to drowning, injuries, trauma, and, in the case of many pets and strays, starvation. Besides such a terrible loss of life, the hurricane and subsequent flooding damaged more than one million housing units in the region, displaced more than a million people, and, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), resulted in more than $125 billion in total damages – making Katrina the costliest U.S. hurricane on record.

Unfortunately, the collective hardships didn’t end there. Thanks to Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath, many New Orleanians vacated the area, never to return, and those that remained were forced to grapple with increased crime as well as a citywide mental-health crisis.

Although Dan and I were living in the Los Angeles area at the time, even I suffered my own share of property loss – in the form of nearly all my memorabilia as well as all but one of my childhood homes. Of course, I recognize how lucky I am that I didn’t lose any of my loved ones to the tragedy as well.

Still, when I was finally able to return to my hometown, months after the history-making storm had dissipated, it certainly wasn’t easy seeing the gutted remains of my maternal grandmother’s house, a sanctuary during my younger years. And even now, nearly two decades later, I’m still haunted by the sight of several lonely dock posts in the murky, brackish water near Empire, Louisiana – all that was left behind when a tidal surge tore through my father’s old fishing camp.

But, while the region’s population has never returned to its pre-Katrina numbers, New Orleans and her environs have still managed to rise from the ashes – just as The City That Care Forgot has done many times over the past three centuries of her existence. True, numerous residents moved elsewhere, but many newcomers moved in, and though tourism, convention business, and film production were dampened by Katrina, much of those economic assets have since returned.

While some areas of the city remained in a decimated state for years, many of the hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions in the tourist-heavy neighborhoods – like the French Quarter, the Central Business District (CBD), the Garden District, and Uptown – reopened within a few months of the storm, and Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest both returned in 2006.

Apparently, not even Mother Nature can keep New Orleans down for long.

So, in commemoration of my hometown and her uncanny resilience, I plan to send out the ghost and vampire audio tours this Monday – and, hopefully, a couple other goodies as well.

By next week, Dan and I should have a better sense of the delivery timetable for all the remaining digital and print rewards. And once we’ve distributed all those items, I’ll finalize the day and time for each of my online tarot readings as well as our online author Q&A and watch party.

But, naturally, I’m always available if you have any questions or concerns. Just let me know by commenting on this update, sending me a message via Kickstarter, or dropping me a line at [email protected].

Thanks again for your interest and support! And remember to watch out for the dark side!

Sincerely,

Laura Martone

FIRST ROUND OF DIGITAL REWARDS SENT!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Aug 08, 2022 at 05:33:25 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

LOCKING SOME ORDERS EARLIER THAN PLANNED!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jul 29, 2022 at 09:17:47 PM

Happy Friday, y’all!

Hope you’ve had a stupendous week!

As for me and Dan, we’re both getting pretty excited about sharing the first round of digital rewards with our awesome backers. In fact, we’re hoping to upload several goodies to the BackerKit site by the end of July (that is, this Sunday, July 31). If all goes smoothly, these items will include:

• the digital wallpaper
• the NOLA glossary and pronunciation guide
• our eight published novels (for those who purchased any of them as add-ons)
• and the other 15 novels (including two of ours) that many backers earned as early-bird and/or second-week perks.

Now, to make the above items available to their designated backers, I’ll need to lock most of the final orders this weekend (preferably on Sunday morning). 

If you haven’t yet had a chance to complete your survey, please don’t fret. As promised, I’m still planning to lock all remaining orders by Friday, August 12, which will give you two more weeks to send in your responses and updates.

I just don’t want to penalize the folks who have already completed their surveys by forcing them to wait another two weeks for the official fulfillment phase to begin.

To be fair, I’d initially intended to send out the BackerKit surveys by the end of June, which would’ve allowed me and Dan a full month to await the responses and prepare the July deliverables. Unfortunately, though, thanks to the perfect storm of family obligations and my insufferable perfectionism, I didn’t quite meet my own deadline. (Sorry again about that.)

Luckily, though, many of our wonderful backers have made up for my inadvertent delay by promptly responding to our surveys and finalizing their orders. In fact, since dispatching all 102 invites earlier this week, we’ve received 77 responses – roughly 74% of our backer pool.

Hence, to keep our campaign promises for the July deliverables, we’d like to lock most of the orders this weekend and send out the first round of rewards shortly thereafter.

So, if you haven’t yet answered your survey questions, finalized your order, and paid for any outstanding charges (such as failed pledges or international shipping fees), please do so as soon as you can. The more backers that complete the survey phase, the more rewards I can deliver on Sunday!

Of course, if you need more time, please feel free to take it. I promise I won’t lock any open orders until Friday, August 12, as originally promised. I’m just eager to deliver our digital rewards sooner rather than later.

Naturally, though, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me via Kickstarter, leave a comment below this post, or send an email to [email protected].

Thanks, as always, for your support! Hope you have a terrific weekend!

Sincerely,

Laura Martone

ALL BACKER SURVEYS ARE ON THEIR WAY!
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 25, 2022 at 08:52:39 PM

Well, I learned a very valuable lesson from my last update: It’s best not to compose and send messages from your cellphone in the wee hours of morning, or else, you might accidentally duplicate a paragraph.

Apparently, even perfectionists like me need proper sleep. Who knew?! ;-)

Anyway, sorry about the goof. I hope it didn’t confuse you (or anyone else).

Okay, back to our spooky NOLA project. Once BackerKit approved our surveys on Friday evening, I emailed out a dozen smoke tests (one randomly sent survey for each active pledge level). These twelve backer surveys merely comprised the initial round – a way of ensuring that everything is clear and accurate before sending out the rest.

True, testing the waters on a Friday night wasn’t my smartest move ever, as emails tend to get “lost” on the weekends.

But that said, as of this afternoon, we’ve received eight of the twelve test surveys. We’re only missing those from the $1 (NOLA GOODIES), $45 (GHOST PACK), $100 (TAROT READING), and No Reward levels. If you received one of these test surveys, please complete it as soon as possible.

In the meantime, though, I decided to take a chance and, assuming all is indeed well with the remaining surveys, dispatched the rest just a little while ago.

So, please keep an eye on your email inbox and fill out your survey (which includes several pledge questions as well as your detailed invoice) as soon as you can. The sooner I receive all final orders, the sooner I can start sending out rewards.

Of course, if you don’t receive your survey in a few hours, take a look in your spam folder – and if you still don’t see it, promptly let me know.

Naturally, if you have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to message me via Kickstarter or leave a comment below this post.

I’ll be in touch soon with more info. Thanks again for your interest and support!

Sincerely,

Laura Martone

P.S. If you’re looking for another paranormal Kickstarter project, be sure to check out my colleague Gina Danna’s campaign, which celebrates the ten-year anniversary of Her Eternal Rogue, a Regency romance featuring an alluring English lady and a cocky vampire-pirate. If you’re as curious as I am about this enticing story, please help Gina reach her funding goal – and beyond!

SMOKE-TEST SURVEYS HAVE BEEN SENT OUT!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 11:41:19 PM

Howdy, y’all!

I have some delightful news! Dan and I have finally completed the post-campaign surveys for our spooky NOLA project. Yahoo!

Besides giving you the opportunity to share any feedback with us, these surveys will allow you to finalize your order (including any add-on items, international shipping fees, etc.). Then, as soon as we receive all responses (hopefully by Friday, August 12, 2022), we’ll be able to lock down all orders and start the fulfillment process in earnest.

Now, please don’t panic if you have yet to receive your survey. Per BackerKit’s guidelines, creators must first initiate a smoke test before sending out all surveys. Essentially, this is BackerKit’s way of uncovering any potential issues or mistakes in the surveys prior to dispatching them to all backers.

In compliance, I performed the smoke test last night – which means that BackerKit randomly emailed out a dozen sample surveys (one representing each active pledge level). If you received one, please complete it as soon as possible – and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Once I’m sure that everything is good to go, I will send out all surveys – probably by Monday morning.

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks again for your support!

Much gratitude always,

Laura Martone