Kaiju Rising: An Interview With Nick Sharps From Ragnarok Publications

The other day here at Girls of Geek we brought you the story of the Kickstarter campaign for Kaiju Rising:  Age of Monsters, an awesome anthology featuring some incredible artists and writers.  We promised you more coverage and today is that day as we have had the distinct honor to sit down and speak with Nick Sharps, one of the partners from Kaiju Rising's publication company; Ragnarok Publications. 

But before we get to the interview we wanted to update all of you and congratulate all of those involved over the fact that Kaiju Rising has achieved every single Kickstarter goal thanks to all of you all out there.  This is an incredible achievement and that makes this interview almost celebratory in nature now.  So without further ado, here is our interview with Nick Sharps.  

Girls of Geek:  What was the first Kaiju monster that truly captivated you?
Nick Sharps:  You know, that title belongs to my all time favorite kaiju - Destoroyah. I watched a lot of Godzilla movies as a kid but the one that remains the most vivid in my memory is Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. I love that it has multiple forms. I love that it looks like a kaiju that would ransack Hell, sending demons fleeing in terror.


Girls of Geek:  What led to the creation of Kaiju Rising?  
Nick Sharps:  After having watched Pacific Rim in theaters for the third time (in 3D of course) I was at work, bussing tables and day dreaming as I was wont to do, when I thought - how cool would it be to write a kaiju story! So I worked out the basic plot as I was scraping pizza crust into the garbage. But then I ran into another problem - I don't yet have the patience or persistence to write a full length novel. A short story is about as much as I can handle. So I figured that I'd need an outlet, some sort of giant monster anthology I could submit to. But where was I going to find a giant monster anthology with open subs? So that's when it hit me - I'll make my own! I suggested the idea to Joe Martin in a half-joking manner and the rest, as they say, is history.


Girls of Geek:   What does it to mean to you to see this Kickstarter campaign be this successful?
Nick Sharps:  It is incredibly fulfilling to get the type of response we've gotten for this project. I had faith that a kaiju anthology would sell but I've been wrong before. It has been so totally freaking awesome to watch the money pour in and witness the support of the genre community. Hell, I thought it was wicked sweet discussing the project in private, but to be able to do it through all these blogs and in return receive all this love - it's heart warming. It has given me hope for humanity...hope I intend to squash beneath the foot of some colossal beasts from space (or Hell, or where ever).


Girls of Geek:  Did you have any idea that fans would respond to this campaign with such passion and dedication?  After all, Kaiju Rising has not only been funded but hit every single stretch goal.
Nick Sharps:  As I mentioned before, I had faith that we could fund this project. I believed that with the talent we had on hand and the theme we had worked up, it would fill a necessary niche in the market. I wasn't entirely sure how far past 100% funded we would go. We set up all these cool stretch goals as incentives - stretch goals that I wanted to meet, not only as Project Creator but as a backer myself - but I wasn't sure if we'd be able to hit them all. When you think about it, $15,500 is a lot of money. Yet with 60+ hours to go in the campaign we managed to reach our final stretch goal - an original piece of art by Bob Eggelton, inspired by KAIJU RISING. Our backers should be proud of the tremendous accomplishment they have achieved!


Girls of Geek:  What was it like for you when you heard back from so many great authors and artists when they agreed to take part in this anthology? 
Nick Sharps:  You know how it is when you KNOW you're right but having someone confirm it makes it that much sweeter? That's what it was like when we started to hear back from our authors and artists. I can't even begin to explain the level of excitement we saw in those responses. We have some hardcore kaiju groupies on our lineup - a lot of our authors helped to shape what this anthology would eventually become. And the authors we invited but couldn't make time for the project? They were largely bummed out they couldn't hit the deadline. And our artists? Gosh. They have been great support, especially Robert Elrod with his promotional kaiju sketches. Backers have seen some of the cool art Robert and Chuck Lukacs are capable of - but until they crack open KAIJU RISING: Age of Monsters, they haven't seen nothin' yet!


Girls of Geek:  What are you looking forward to the most about seeing this anthology come to life? 
Nick Sharps:   I'm excited to see the full package. We have been dealing with this anthology in bits and pieces for the last three months. I have read some of the stories. I have seen the work of our artists. I'm ready to see it all put together. I know it's going to make one stunning anthology. But even more than that I'm excited to see the reaction from our backers. I'm eager for their feedback. I believe we've assembled a quality product but my opinion doesn't matter - there's does. I want to see pictures of our backers with their books, pictures of them with their plushies, and I want to see reviews for all these wonderful stories. I'm stoked for launch.


Girls of Geek:  What does it mean to you to have so much passion surrounding this project from both fans and the writers and artists? 
Nick Sharps: The passion is really what drives KAIJU RISING: Age of Monsters. Without it, what do we have? Some pages with some words and a couple sketches. Passion is what it's all about. You can read it in every line of every story, you can see it depicted in the pen strokes of the art, and you can count it in the funding of our backers. Say one thing for the KR:AoM community, say it's passionate. And yes, that was totally a Bloody Nine reference (hey, if any of you know Joe Abercrombie we'd love to get him in on a sequel...)


Girls of Geek:  What's next for Ragnarok Publications after this? 
Nick Sharps:  What's next for Ragnarok Publications? The short answer: work. The long answer: lots and lots of work. Joe, Tim, and I have our work cut out for us preparing this product to ship. We've got editing to do, ordering, shipping...loads of stuff. But you know what? It's a labor of love. We wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't so damn fun, if we didn't believe in it. With the success of KAIJU RISING: Age of Monsters there has been talk of a sequel sometime down the line, we'll just have to see how successful it is when it is delivered into our reader's hands. There are some other cool projects brewing in the back rooms of Ragnarok Publications. I would encourage readers to check out Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu by Mercedes M. Yardley. It's the first novella published by Ragnark Publications and I've heard great things about it. I'd also suggest following us on Twitter and Facebook for updates and news!


For more information please check in with Ragnarok Publications here: 

Website: http://www.ragnarokpub.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RagnarokPublications

Twitter:  @RagnarokPub

For more information on "Kaiju Rising:  Age of Monsters" head here: 

https://www.facebook.com/kaijurising

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1089607742/kaiju-rising-age-of-monsters-anthology 

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