What the money is actually for
Aura-36 is one person, a lot of evenings, and a stack of running costs that do not care how many people are reading. Hosting, the domain, the audio tools, the art tools, the generation credits that put five hundred and sixty-one tracks on the Radio. That is the whole budget. There is no team.
Support here does one thing: it keeps the next book coming, and it keeps the whole thing free for everyone who cannot chip in. If you are choosing between supporting this and literally anything else in your life, choose the other thing. The books will still be here, and they will still be free.
Five ways aboard
On the Manifest
The name-on-the-wall tier. You are not buying anything you could not already read for free — you are keeping the lights on, and I am telling you what is happening behind them.
- Your name on the Manifest — the supporter roll on this site, if you want it listed
- The build log: what I am writing, what broke, what is going up next
- Chapters and side stories a few days before they go public
- Supporters-only posts on the making of the thing
The Sound Deck
Everything in Tier One, plus the whole music library as actual files. The Radio streams it. This tier hands you the folder.
- Everything in On the Manifest
- The full music library as downloadable MP3s — every station, 457 files in all
- The alternate takes: the second cut of every session, which the Radio never plays
- Chemical Reaction, which is not on the public Radio at all
- New tracks land in the folder as they are made
- Cover art and station artwork at full size
The Work Order
Everything in The Sound Deck, and your request goes to the top of the pile. The Request Desk is free and it is staying free — this buys the queue, not the door.
- Everything in The Sound Deck
- Your Request Desk entry gets written next, not eventually
- You see it before it goes public
- Told when it lands and where it went
- One standing order at a time, so it actually gets done
Crew Quarters
Everything above, and a conversation. This is the small room — a direct line to me, capped at ten because I answer everyone in here myself.
- Everything in The Work Order
- A direct line to me — the world, the plan, the machinery, the parts that did not work
- Read drafts before anyone else does
- Named in the acknowledgements of the next book out
- Ten people, on purpose
The Long Build
One slot. Pick the book you most want to be inside, and I write a new story that pulls back to that time and that corner of the planet — with you in it.
- Everything in Crew Quarters
- A new story built with you, set beside the book you choose
- A character built to your input, written into the series
- Two rounds of revision on every draft
- Your name in the acknowledgements and on the story’s page
- Published free on this site like everything else
Not open yet — check back soon.
Straight answers
Is anything on this site going behind a paywall? No. Not a chapter, not a codex entry, not the Atlas, not the Radio. Whatever is free today stays free.
How is the music made? Written, prompted, sorted and mixed by me using AI music tools, then filed by hand into the fourteen stations. The same goes for a lot of the artwork. I would rather say that plainly here than have you find out later.
Do I have to support to be part of this? No. The Discord is free, the Request Desk is free, and reading is free. Supporting is a thing you can do, not a thing you should feel you owe.
What happens if I cancel? Your access to the supporter posts ends at the end of the billing month. Anything you have already downloaded is yours to keep.