By Taylor Boyd
A Kickstarter to help fund the publication of Stuart local Scott Eustler’s poetic story, “An Equinox Tale,” will end Sunday, April 19 at 10:46 a.m.
As of Monday, April 13, the project has raised $15,545 of the $16,000 needed to publish the work.
In the Kickstarter video promoting the book, Eustler said the book is a story in rhyming verse that follows “Art Gardener, an inquisitive 17-year-old on a grand adventure which brings him much more than he bargained for, but in the end that which he most hoped for: the ability to help preserve nature and its infinite variety of plants, animals, and landscapes which are most important to him.”
Eustler said he was inspired to start the project about 15 years ago when he was on his way to work.
“It was about this time of year, pretty much right as we were making that transition from winter into spring. That time of year just energizes me and inspires me because things are waking up, and there’s this renewal that happens with all the flora and fauna, and I was feeling that,” he said.
As he was leaving Spirithaven, his family’s farm, Eustler said the story just started coming to him. He made some notes along the drive, and was able to decipher his handwriting later.
Years later when he got it to the point where he considered the project finished, and was willing to let someone read it, Eustler said the feedback he received was positive.
“It wasn’t people just trying to make me feel better about myself. It was people that I respected. So I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I need to try and do something with this.’
“What kind of occurred to me is the story is interesting and it conjures up an image, but it’s that classic case of a picture’s worth a thousand words, so I felt that it probably needed illustrations,” he said.
Eustler then texted Len Bell, an illustrator he had met at a Spirithaven living history event, to see if he was willing to create images for his work.
“He tells the story of when my text came in. Five minutes before the text, he had just told his wife that he was finished doing any kind of illustrations for anyone else, and that he wanted to work on his own book. When he got my text and a couple of verses from the book, he looked at his wife and said, ‘Oh well. I guess I’m doing illustrations for another book,’” Eustler said with a chuckle.
Eustler said Bell’s images were originally created in 18×24 watercolors. The book features 39 watercolor illustrations.
“His imagery is just phenomenal. I’ve had the images for probably about eight years. Again, this has been about a 15 year process, but every time I look at his images I see something new. He was really good at being able to capture the action that I was trying to portray in my prose, in my poems,” Eustler said.
While he initially thought of the project as something he could give to his grandchildren to entertain and potentially help them in the future, Eustler said he can now envision parents or grandparents sitting and reading the book to children.
“There are some lessons that are in the book. It’s not a preachy thing, but it hopefully will inspire people to try to get a connection with nature if they don’t have one, or to reconnect if they’ve gotten lost in some way. Maybe some way of helping kids to get off their devices and out of their bedroom and maybe out into the woods where actually reality is there as opposed to a virtual reality situation,” he said.
Eustler believes the book could be read in half-an-hour, but hopes it will take longer because of the imagery.
“I think you could spend a lot of time with each image. I’m hoping that it may be something that is not going to take too much of your time to actually go through and finish, but because of the images I’m hoping it’s something that people will want to revisit,” he said. “With each successive visit, my hope is that you find something new and get a little bit of the different experience every time it’s read.”
When he opened the Kickstarter campaign, Eustler said he did so in a way that many would consider to be a major error — launching it on a Friday.
“There’s things that you do and don’t do, and one rule of a Kickstarter campaign, or one unwritten rule, is don’t ever launch a Kickstarter campaign on a Friday. Launch it on a Monday because people are busy and they won’t pay attention on a weekend,” he said.
However, May 20, 2025 was an equinox.
“This story was inspired by an action that happens when the protagonist walks through a veil at the precise moment when there’s an exact amount of daylight and darkness in a day. So, for me, how could I not launch the book on an equinox,” Eustler said.
In addition to the initial goal of $16,000, Eustler also has stretch goals in his Kickstarter.
If his stretch goal of $20,000 is met, everyone who’s donated to the Kickstarter will receive a gift that’s given to Art Gardner in the book to help him spread the word and get the rekindling of connectedness with nature.
“If we get to this $20,000 then everyone will get a pendant with a fairy stone in it that came from Spirithaven, our farm. We find fairy stones on the property, so fairy stones figure into the story,” he said.
The second thing people will get is a packet of bee balm and maple seeds.
“This is a way of trying to get this connection and get some action in trying to help kids find something of value in something actual, in something natural,” he said.
For more information, go to www.kickstarter.com/projects/anequinoxtale/an-equinox-tale-a-keepsake-book-project?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=an%20equinox%20tale&total_hits=1.
