Kickstarter

As we tip the line from May into June, I wanted to send out a general update to all of you wonderful backer-type people.  There's not much new to report, because everything being done at this point is minor-league detail stuff and behind-the-scenes, but I know I get antsy when it gets quiet for too long (I start meowing at the cats, just for the sake of conversation...) so here we are.

Thanks to you, almost everyone involved in the project has been paid.  I say almost because I know exactly who's rushed to the bank to cash their check, and who hasn't.  I suspect they're considering framing it instead, as a testament to the Day This Project Succeeded.  (Dear Author: Take a picture of the check and frame that instead.  Cash it! Cash it I say!)  The important thing is that my authors and my cover art/design team have been paid for their hard work and talent.  I bought an extra-large bottle of aspirin. I once again sleep at nights.  Mostly.  When the cat isn't shoving me off the pillow.  

I've been in regular communication with Circlet Press.  I even went up to their offices in the Boston area back in April and talked about how awesome this experience has been.  Their lovely yet tyrannical Managing Editor threatened me until I promised to deliver the manuscript on time.  Cecilia Tan, the publisher, called me a decent human being.  And then she announced that Scheherazade's Facade would be the lead title in their new Gressive Press imprint, which, in their words, "publishes sex-positive science fiction/fantasy outside the binary, which celebrates genderqueer, genderbent, transgender, polygender, bisexual, bigendered, and other identities outside the boxes set by mainstream understandings of gender and sexuality."

That's right.  Now we're the lead title in a brand-new imprint designed to do exactly what this anthology set out to do in the first place. No pressure, right?  I'm honored and thrilled. (And yes, writers, they're open to submissions, you can drop by and check it out.)

So what's next? Oh, the usual. Finish writing an introduction that doesn't suck. Make sure all the stories are edited and up to date. Proofread. Proofread again. Make sure I have all the author bios and I don't have to make anything up for anyone. Send in to Circlet. Get it back with a fresh set of edits and typos to fix. Cry. Send to authors for their corrections. Send back to Circlet. Finish marketing copy and plan. Drink heavily. Have existential midlife crisis when I realize how much work this is. Crisis resolved when I realize the hardest part is long behind me. Hope no one realizes I'm stalling for time while I get a new passport and flee to Antigua. Wikipedia Antigua. Realize it's a silly plan. ? Profit. 

I'm sorry, friends. I haven't taken anything seriously since I got marr- my wife says I didn't take that seriously either.  

Okay. Situation normal. Anthology progressing nicely. All stories in hand, manuscript approximately 95% ready for submission to the publishers. Projected release date according to publisher: September 1. Status of editor: pleased. Backer surveys to collect addresses and relevant information: coming as soon as I knock out this week's deadlines. Be kind to one another.