Hi, folks! I hope you’re having a good weekend and getting to enjoy some of the Olympics.

We’re battening down for the final stretch.

There’s only 10 days left and we’ve still got a long way to go to reach our stretch goal of $8,000 that will let us pay the pro rate of 5 cents a word — which helps us make this book the best it can be, and lets us finally give our writers what they really deserve for their artistry and hard work. (We’re really, really close, though, to crossing the $6,500 goal that lets us bump the pay rate up to 4 cents a word, so here’s hoping.)

In addition to the signed, numbered and illustrated edition of Cherie Priest’s “The Immigrant” that we’re now offering exclusively through this Kickstarter, we’ve added three other rewards that I want to elaborate on.

First, Anita is offering to make special “book cases” for your favorite e-reader device, in which she’ll hollow out a book to custom specs (we’ll of course need the dimensions of your device, when the time comes, to do this properly) and then decorate the cover with the Clockwork Phoenix motif. Because these are time consuming projects, we’re offering five of these for the Kickstarter. The video should help give you an idea what they’ll be like. (The video also gives an update on the special pins she’s making, and some unofficial information on when we’ll open to submissions.)

Second, Anita and I are offering ten critiques of short stories to interested backers. Stories we’ve selected and edited previously have been picked for “Year’s Best” anthologies and been finalists for the Nebula Award, the Shirley Jackson Award and others. Again, these are time-consuming, and we plan to be thorough, so we’ve put a limit on how many we’ll do.

Third, we’ve added a “Bag of Books” level that lets you get all the paperback books we’re offering (including the Cherie Priest chapbook) in a custom decorated tote bag (we’ll let you select from Clockwork Phoenix-related designs.)

And that’s all for the moment. Thanks, all of you, for helping us make this happen. And stay tuned.