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Maya Angelou said “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”; Donald Trump has shown us who he is over and over—and what he has shown us, unquestioningly, repeatedly, is that he is a person not fit to lead. I could discuss at length the reasons why that’s the case, but his crimes, heinous policies, and repugnant views are hardly a secret. Despite this, he’s going to be our president once again—and we’re going to have to lean on each other if we’re going to make it through this. 

Fiction is a powerful tool for helping us contextualize the world around us—and can be especially helpful when the world makes little sense and people are anxious about what the future might hold. 

Protest 2025 will be an anthology of speculative fiction stories that will show us how we can triumph over tyranny. In those stories, we can explore the many possibilities that the future might hold, which can provide us with a road map for how we can get through these terrifying times… and maybe a little hope as well.

I will challenge the authors to imagine nightmarish, near-future scenarios—not just during the upcoming presidential administration, but beyond as well—both to serve as a warning flare, to remind us of the resiliency of the American spirit, and that tyrants can be toppled.

I’m John Joseph Adams, the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and the New York Times bestselling editor of more than forty anthologies, such as Wastelands, Brave New Worlds, and Out There Screaming (with Jordan Peele).

I’m also editor (and publisher) of the Hugo Award-winning magazine Lightspeed and publisher of its sister-magazine Nightmare. I’m a winner of the Hugo (twice), Stoker, Locus, and British Fantasy awards, and I’ve been a World Fantasy Award l̶o̶s̶e̶r̶  finalist ten times.

In addition to my work in short fiction, I’m the co-creator of The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, and, for five years, I edited the John Joseph Adams Books imprint for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

When Trump got elected the first time, Random House published my anthology with Victor LaValle called A People’s Future of the United States which was a direct response to Trumpism. I’d have gone that route again, but I wanted to get this book out into the world sooner than would have been possible with traditional publishing. I also wanted to be able to make the book donate proceeds to progressive charities.

Once the project funds, I will do an open call for submissions (meaning any writer can submit a story, as opposed to an “invite-only” anthology), so which authors will appear in the book is yet to be determined. However, when we reach the specified stretch goals laid out below, stories by some of the leading lights of the genre will be added to the book.

The conservative organization, The Heritage Foundation, wrote a 900 page playbook for the next administration called Project 2025. It’s a horrifying roadmap of the ways that the country can be wrecked for generations to come. Trump has repeatedly denied any association with Project 2025, but many of his policy positions are extremely similar to those in Project 2025. Also, after the election Trump ally Matt Walsh gleefully announced (and was then echoed by Steve Bannon) “Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda. Lol.” So, Protest 2025 is riffing off that, which seemed apropos, and also “project” conveniently is only two letters different than “protest.”

The base version of the book will be around 115,000 words, which is about 300 pages in trade paperback and around 20 stories. If we reach our various stretch goals, the size of the book will increase as additional content is added. 

Once all of the items described in the What We Need section below are paid for by the crowdfunding, we will donate 100% of the proceeds to a progressive charity or charities—or to progressive/liberal political candidates who seem like they might be able to save us from Trumpism.

I haven’t fully determined where precisely the donations will go, but my thinking is to organizations such as the ACLU, RAINN, the Trevor Project, Color of Change, and similar organizations. I plan to listen to feedback from backers of the project to determine what the best use of the donations would be.

Here’s a breakdown of our funding goals:

• $30,000 to pay the authors and the editor (me). Based on the length of the base version of the book, I’ll offer the writers 13 cents a word.
• $20,000 for production and fulfillment for the anthology, IndieGogo fees and other fees associated with the project. It might end up being less than that, but I can’t be more precise with that number until I can see how successful the project is. And if Trump tariffs come into play, it might skew everything in unpredictable ways, because a lot of book printing happens outside North America. (This was a huge problem in Trump’s first term, though we also had COVID at its height.) Anything leftover would be donated as described above.
• For the authors we gain by reaching the $75K, $125K, and $175K stretch goals, I will offer them a premium fee of $2000 for their stories; the rest of that stretch goal tier’s funding will go toward any additional fulfillment costs necessitated by the increased book size (likely only necessary if we hit several stretch goals) and then whatever remains would be donated as described above.

We intentionally only have a few perks listed, because this is a crowdfunding project specifically for Protest 2025 and we wanted to leave those options front and center. However, there are many additional perks available as add-ons once you choose your initial perk. So, rather than creating many different combo packages, we left it so that you can choose from the wide array of options during check-out if you want to support the project beyond just buying the anthology.

When we reach any of the following fundraising milestones, we will add a story by a notable/popular/famous/award-winning author. Each author will not be unveiled until the stretch goal is unlocked, but—so you can feel confident the stretch goals will be worthwhile—I would note that in my career I’ve published original stories by most of the leading lights of the science fiction/fantasy/horror genres.

Any risk involved in this project is extremely minimal. I’ve been a short fiction editor for 23+ years and a publisher for 14+. Lightspeed has published 174 issues since it launched and never had a late or missed issue. My anthologies have either always been turned in on time or turned in with only minor extensions. (Since anthology editing involves securing stories from many writers, inevitably some folks aren’t able to meet the original deadline, necessitating deadline extensions.) I’ve done several crowdfunding projects before, including very large ones such as the “Destroy” series on Kickstarter, and the rewards for all of them were delivered on time. The biggest risk is that I die unexpectedly or I draw the ire of Trump and his cronies and then somehow mysteriously disappear never to be heard from again. That said, my wife, Christie Yant, is also an editor, and she could finish the project in my stead if I were unable.

Even if you can’t contribute, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help:

• Spreading the word about the campaign would help a ton.
• Getting involved in any kind of progressive/liberal movement would be amazing.
• To quote On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder: “Do not obey in advance.” If they want to take your rights away, don’t let them go without a fight.

While you’re here, sign up for my newsletter! Robot Wizard Zombie Crit! is my new newsletter, which will bring you updates about my anthologies and other projects, including my magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare. Plus, you’ll get my thoughts about books, short stories, TV and film, roleplaying games, and related subjects. Subscribers will receive Robot Wizard Zombie Crit! Stories: Volume One as a free reward for subscribing. The newsletter launches January 2025.

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