The books arrived today! I went to the local UPS distribution center this evening and picked up the box. (Photo attached)

We’ll be packaging up the SiMF books this weekend and sending them out first thing next week. They’ll probably start arriving at the closer destinations by this time next week. Those of you who ordered signed copies, bear in mind that we still have to send some books around to all the authors before they get sent on to you, so it’ll take longer. But it’ll be worth it!

Thanks everyone for your patience!

At about 5 pm today I received a phone call from a representative at Createspace. This was kind of surprising in and of itself, since Createspace doesn't make a phone number readily available - most communication has to go through email.

The woman who called (I believe she said her name was Selina) told me that she was putting through an immediate reorder for the 80 books that were damaged/lost. They would be printed right away and shipped overnight delivery. She estimated that they should be in our hands no later than early next week. She even said that if I had any further problems I should "feel free to call us back".

Obviously this is a huge relief for us. The best USPS was able to offer was the address of their mail recovery center in Atlanta, where I was offered to write (not email or phone... I'd have to use a stamp to communicate with them!) and see if the missing books had been sent there, and claim them. Huge, huge props to Createspace for their friendly, efficient and no-hassle response.

We'll keep everyone updated on the status of the replacement books. Thank you everyone for your comments and offers of support!

Here is the message I just sent to our printer:

On Oct. 16 you replied to my problem (Case #[removed], about order #[removed]) claiming that USPS' website said my order was delivered on October 4. This was not true; it said ESTIMATED DELIVERY DATE 10/4, but still not delivered as of the 16th.

I called USPS, they started an investigation. I then got a voicemail on Monday 19/18 saying my package would be delivered that day.

What I received was a 7-inch chunk of cardboard with your shipping label on it, which says "received without content". And a generic printed apology which apparently expects me to just accept that I won't be receiving my 80 books for which I paid $[removed]. Books which, I might add, my customers have paid for and have been waiting almost a month for at this point.

I will be contacting USPS but I expect you to do your part to make good on this order as well. As far as I'm concerned, I haven't received the books which I paid you for in good faith and I expect the situation to be rectified.

So there you have it. USPS apparently lost and/or destroyed the Science in My Fiction books. I will be reading them the riot act as well, but USPS' track record in these situations is absolutely abysmal. They have no accountability at all.

One way or another, we'll get books to the people who ordered them. Unfortunately it might mean paying for replacements out of our own pockets, which would pretty well screw us. I'll keep everyone updated on the status.

I apologize profusely for the unexpected delay.

The winners of the Science in My Fiction contest have been announced!
Go here to see the announcement!

We are so close - so close to the $1000 threshold! With just five days left to the Kickstarter we need just $56 to get there!

As we promised earlier, if we reach $1000 or more, we will commission original artwork to accompany each of the winning stories in the print and digital editions. So even those of you who've already pledged can improve the final version you'll get, just by spreading the word!

You'll also be helping put copies of the book in the best possible places: Libraries. We've already reached the point where we'll be donating 3 copies of the book to various libraries (or reading programs), and for every additional $50 we'll donate another! And those who pledged will get to recommend and vote on where the books go!

Please call up a loved one, email a friend, stop a stranger on the street, and tell them to make a pledge. Don't wait until Memorial Day weekend when everyone's gone! You can count the days left on one hand!

In case you're not on Twitter, or missed our mad excited tweeting last night: WE MADE IT! The Crossed Genres "Science in My Fiction" contest reached 100% of our goal last night!

Thank you so much to everyone who's pledged so far. We were confident from the beginning that we'd make it, but it's a huge worry behind us now that we're there, and we can concentrate on having the contest results turn out brilliantly.

Of course, there are still 18 days left to the pledge drive! And the more pledges we get the better each copy will be! We know we'll never get anywhere near these guys (and we say kudos to them, we were one of their earlier supporters), we'd love to reach the point where we can add artwork to the print copies! If you'd like to see the final versions even more impressive, please keep spreading the word. And thanks again to everyone who's supported the contest so far!

We're thrilled to announce that artist Julie Dillon has agreed to create artwork for the cover of the print edition of the Science in My Fiction contest winners!

Julie provided the artwork for the cover of Crossed Genres' special LGBTQ issue which was released in November:

Julie's done work for Wizards of the Coast, Paizo Publishing, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Fantasy Flight Games, and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, amongst others. She was my first choice to do the cover for the SiMF contest and I'm ecstatic she has time and is enthusiastic about it.

Remember, the print edition won't be made unless we make our pledge goal! As of this writing we're just $65 shy of our goal. Please help spread the word and push us over the top! Thanks!

With 25 days left, we stand at $644 out of $750, or roughly 86%. That's excellent, and we're very confident we can make it the rest of the way! However, we've been at $644 for a full week now, and we're getting nervous.

And besides, we don't just want to barely reach our goal but sail past it! We want lots of people, TONS of people, to read these stories, which we know are going to be remarkable. We've been thinking since the beginning that we'd sweeten the benefits of pledging if we pass our goal, so in the hopes of encouraging people to spread the word and contribute:

1) For every $50 we reach above our initial goal, we will donate a print copy of the winners to a library, charity or reading program. Everyone who pledges (or has already pledged) will get to recommend a place for the donation(s) AND will have a vote when picking the final recipients!

2) If we reach at least $1000 total, we will commission black-and-white artwork for each of the 3 winning stories, that will go in the print and digital versions but not online – in other words, people who pledge will be the only ones who get to see them!

Please help us spread the word and encourage others to pledge! We have to reach our goal for any print copies to be made!

25 days and counting. Thanks to everyone who's blogged, linked, tweeted or pledged so far!