Welcome to the online home of Shields Up! Publishing. If you join this community of patrons, you too can be a Tactical Officer. (Because they’re the ones to raise the shields; it’s a Star Trek pun.) Thank you for coming to look at my page.I am a creator with a day job and a long history of writing fiction and tinkering with role playing games. I want the best for my wife and children. That means financing our enterprise with my work, and it also means keeping my own creative spark alive and burning.You can watch a short video that explains the process here. Look to the upper right of this page for the button " Become a Patron ." You can choose your level of investment, and you can make adjustments any time you like. I will collect your pledge once a month.I am writing serial fiction, which is collected into novels. I have completed two, and the third is almost done. Every two weeks by Sunday night I post a 5,000 word chapter in a serial novel (or the equivalent of a chapter.)John Harper wrote a tabletop role playing game called "Blades in the Dark." The game is set in the haunted city Doskvol, and the flavor is Gothic industrial fantasy noir with a focus on anti-hero scoundrels pulling heists and navigating faction power struggles.I have also been working on Axes and Anvils, a game about dwarves, as well as other RPG projects.You can find fiction, game design, and essays on creative work on this site.Self-publishing is relatively cheap, but it isn't free. This Patreon is one part of a multi-media strategy to develop my creative work into a source of revenue that can generate more financial flexibility than it absorbs. I am building up a body of work, honing my skills, and finding ways to promote my projects. The support expressed by backers, both conceptually and financially, supports this ongoing commitment. I buy ISBN numbers, art, graphic design, web subscriptions, and more to present my projects with the best polish I can, and my patrons are part of my ability to do so.Thank you for coming by to take a look. My patrons are incredible, standing by my work and watching these stories unfold. I hope you will join us; there is a lot more yet to tell.