Friends - 

5 years ago, you helped us bring Scheherazade's Facade to life. 4 years ago (my goodness, how time flies), I posted the final update, since all rewards had been fulfilled and the book was safely out into the wild. At that time, we all figured that was it, job well done, time to scatter.

But I've reactivated the old communications protocols one more time, to let you know about my new Kickstarter, currently in the works. I hope that you'll check it out, and even if it doesn't personally light your fire, maybe you can help spread the word.

Schoolbooks & Sorcery is a collection of 12 queer-inclusive YA urban fantasy stories, revolving around the themes of, what else, magic, school, and being a teenager in a weird, confusing time. We have a stellar lineup, including Seanan McGuire, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, E.C. Myers, Cheryl Rainfield, Emily Horner, and David Sklar (who you may remember from the amazing "Lady Marmalade's Special Place in Hell.") What do I mean by queer-inclusive? Well, the vast majority of these stories feature LGBTQ protagonists, living, loving, having adventures, dealing with normal everyday problems and solving extraordinary ones. Good stuff. No... awesome stuff. Seriously.

So come and take a look. Pledge if it sounds like something you'd enjoy, for yourself or even for a friend, or just spread the word however you see best. Otherwise, thanks for your support in the past, and be excellent to each other.

Dear Scheherazade's Facade Backers - 

I come to you, a year and three days after the conclusion of our Kickstarter campaign (how time flies!), to announce that, as far as I can tell, everything has been delivered and/or accounted for, or is on its way.

All ebook copies of the anthology and the bonus books have been sent out. All physical rewards have been mailed out. As I write this, all of the bookmarks I promised to ebook backers have likewise gone out into the mail and should be arriving at their destinations any day now. We've taken care of a few packages that went awry and came back to us for one reason or another.  

In short, it looks like this party is just about done, and we can all get on with our lives.

However, I know that even at this point, there are probably a few last details that need fixing.  Which is why I'm asking you to contact me if there are any problems.  If your physical books never arrived. If you were supposed to get ebook copies of anything and didn't. If you're owed a bookmark and it doesn't show up in a reasonable amount of time. (International backers, allow extra time of course.)  Please contact me so we can fix the problem.  Likewise, we'll keep an eye out for any letters of packages which find their way back to us, and do our best to rectify the situation.

Assuming all is well and everyone is happy and has gotten what they're owed... it's been a pleasure and an honor, and I thank you one last time for helping us to get this wonderful anthology out into the world. (Remember, if you really like it, nothing says love like a review or rating on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, your personal blog...or talk about it to your friends, enemies, neighbors, and random strangers. Even now, it would be nice to see some more sales and publicity...)

This is your humble host, signing off.  (Cue flag waving and anthem playing in the background, like in the days when television stations actually went off air for the night instead of switching to Big Bang Theory marathons and infomercials...)

Just a brief update.  Reports have come in, starting yesterday, that the first batch of trade paperbacks have begun to reach their new homes.  For that, all I can do is thank God, Coyote, The Circlet Office Team, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Feline Supervisory Committee.

It's been a long time coming, longest of all for Yours Truly, but we really are in the final stage of fulfillment, and the end is in sight. See?  There may have been a few twists, turns, delays and mishaps of chance along the way, but here we are.

I hope you enjoy your books when you get them.  I hope that whatever you find in these books resonates with you, makes you happy, makes you think.  

Here's what I do know: the first batch to go out was to American backers.  That's nothing against you lovely, lovely international backers, it was just how the order got structured at the office.  They've assured me that the rest of the books are slated to go out early next week.  Obviously, the shipping will take time depending on how they go out and how much the mail system likes you.  (My suggestion: make sacrifices to the Book Faeries.)

We'll do our very best to stay on top of things, so if you ordered the physical copy and it doesn't show in a reasonable time, please do get in touch so we can rectify sooner rather than later. (And I promise you, any address changes you sent me were promptly forward to the Circlet office for updating, even if I didn't remember to reply to you at the time.)

As always, I encourage you to leave comments, ratings, and reviews for Scheherazade's Facade online.  Especially on our Amazon listing, Barnes and Noble, Barnes and Noble Nook, and Goodreads. We could use the love and honest feedback.

(And yes, I welcome and encourage all honest reviews about the quality, content, and style of the anthology. If the stories rock, say so. If they suck, say so.  If you would recommend this book to your best friend or your worst enemy, do so.  If you have a complaint about the delivery or fulfillment, or if something goes wrong or missing, take that up with me or Circlet directly.  Amazon and B&N have nothing to do with shipping backer rewards, that's a joint effort between Circlet and myself, depending on what aspect of the project you're looking at.) 

Now then, I still have a few details to handle, and more people to nag, so I'll close out without further ado.  

You'll have to forgive me, friends.  I'm mostly out of jokes this time around. Last week was rough for yours truly.

I literally just got an email from Circlet Press.  They say that several dozen backer copies for Scheherazade went out today via the US Postal Service, priority mail, which means that they'll start arrival as early as Wednesday.  

It turns out that they didn't have enough copies on hand to send everything out right away. More are schedule to arrive Thursday, and the shipping will be finished this coming weekend.

I don't know whose copies have thus been fulfilled, or if it was done by region, backer level, alphabetical, or random luck of the draw. This is one of those things I have no control over.  All I can say is that copies ARE going out.  Some are in the mail.  The rest will go in the mail next weekend. Everyone will be fulfilled.

I apologize for the delays and lengthy time between the end of the Kickstarter campaign and the final delivery of the trade paperbacks.  I've learned a lot from this experience, and next time around I'll be able to better estimate a more accurate delivery date.  I made an overly optimistic rookie mistake in calculating how long everything would take, and the results understandably frustrated many of you.  I hope, however, that you'll stick with me for this last tiny bit while the books get sent out. 

I know I also owe the digital backers their bookmarks, and there's a few ebooks that need to go out to the highest level backers.  I fell behind, and got sidetracked by that thing we called life.  I'll get those out as soon as possible as well.

If anyone's truly dissatisfied, please contact me directly via Kickstarter and I'll do what I can to rectify the matter.  I don't have many options available, but I do have some things I can do.  Just remember, I won't know you're unhappy until you tell me. I promise, I don't bite, and I -am- committed to making sure everyone gets their product.  

So... remember to tip your waiter, don't forget your jacket, and drive safe out there?  And thank you one and all for letting me live this long?  And I really hope you enjoy your books?

Yeah.  I'll try to bring the funny next time. :)

And so, my friends, we tip-toe towards the end of 2012, a year which has been quite interesting by most standards.  After all, this is the year that we launched a Kickstarter, succeeded awesomely, and brought the little anthology that could to life.  

So here's the official update, with everything I know at this moment.

The trade paperback of Scheherazade's Facade has officially gone on sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and possibly other places.  Books always seem to show up on these places far sooner than we expect. Go figure.  But rest assured, you, our loyal backers, have not been forgotten.  Not at all.  I promise. The Circlet offices are closed until Monday, January 7th, so that the lovely people who inhabit those offices, and the cats who supervise them, can get some much-needed holiday rest and work on their own projects and get 15 minutes of exercise in the yard each day. It's in their contract; after this, they don't get a vacation until sometime in July.  If they're good.

As soon as those offices open on the 7th, and they recapture whichever of the office slaves might have made a break for freedom, the backer copies will go out. So please, allow a few days after the 7th, just in case the office slave (okay, she's actually the Managing Editor, and she's a speedy one) eludes us for a while.  But those trade paperbacks WILL go out, and you WILL get them, and I WILL stop waking up in a cold sweat wondering if my loyal backers finally snapped and came to collect their books from my flesh and blood.

(For what it's worth, there's supposedly a package of books coming my way, and UPS seems to be holding it hostage, and I'm -this- close to getting 2 grifters, a tech guy,a getaway driver, a Chinese acrobat, a pickpocket, and a disgruntled millionaire to help me storm the UPS facility and claim it...)

Where was I?  Oh yes.  It's been a long, strange trip, and we've been making a lot of it up as we go along, but as Coyote is my witness, it's almost over.  Once again, I thank all of you for your support and patience. 

Happy holidays, one and all!