The wonderful if rhetorically awkward thing about Kickstarter is that, to give credit where credit is due, one must say thank you to everyone at every stage in the campaign, over and over and over again.
 
Thank you to everyone who pledged. To everyone who raised their pledges. (Some several times!) To everyone who found themselves in tight financial spots yet still made some sacrifice for this campaign because they wanted it to succeed.
 
Thank you to everyone who shared my tweets, Facebook posts and blog posts. To those who typed up shout-outs of their own, who wrote moving tributes about what Clockwork Phoenix means to them, who composed amusing poems urging others to help this campaign. Who passed out fliers at readings and conventions. Who took to email and to good old fashioned face-to-face chatter to suggest that people should give Clockwork Phoenix a look.
 
Thank you to the artists and authors who donated their time and works to become rewards and giveaway prizes. Thank you to the artists and authors who contributed to all the books and zine issues we offered as rewards, who went and above and beyond to help in many more ways than just being contributors.
 
Without all of you, I would not be able to proudly announce that Clockwork Phoenix 5 is now open to submissions, that it will pay 6 cents a word to writers, that when it is published in January it will sport that beautiful cover by Paula Arwen Owen.
 
I would not finally feel free to share that Anita and I have intended from the get-go to dedicate this book to our good friend Elizabeth Campbell, publisher of Antimatter Press, whom I met at a convention because she noticed, without having any idea who I was, that I was sitting at a table at a con with stacks of books from the original Clockwork Phoenix trilogy, and she adored those books. I bet she could not have predicted that she was going to be a prime mover in reviving the series from the ashes — and she absolutely was. Her support helped relaunch not just Clockwork Phoenix and my Mythic Delirium zine, but Mythic Delirium Books itself, and furthermore she took over publication of my story collection Unseaming and made that happen, too. And she’s an awesome person to know above all that.
 
I also feel free now to share another thing. Tuesday, when I got the news that Tanith Lee had died, I said Clockwork Phoenix 5 must be a tribute to her, as her contributions to the series were so important. So when this book comes out, it will have a double dedication, in honor of Elizabeth, in memory of Tanith.
 
Thanks, again and again, to all of you, for making that possible.
 
I owe all my backers an explanation of what the timeline will be for sending out surveys and collecting other information for the distribution of rewards and outstanding giveaway prizes. Frankly, I’m still sorting it all out. It’s worth your knowing that Kickstarter won’t be sending me any funds until the middle of June. But if you have any questions at all, please fire away at any time, through Kickstarter or by emailing me at mythicdelirium@gmail.com.
 
Once again: thank you, thank you, thank you!
 
#SFWApro