So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m still playing the “belated” game, which is why I’m only now getting to the official post declaring that our newest anthology, Clockwork Phoenix 5, is available everywhere — though, to be fair, numerous shouts resounded via more ephemeral social media outlets on the April 5 launch date, and the launch reading that day was a smash success. More about that anon.
 
First, links to all the places you can find Clockwork Phoenix 5 can be found here. (Including a new Google Play edition! More about that in the coming days.)
 
Second (Part A), in addition to the starred review from Publishers Weekly, the book’s launch was heralded by a sweet review from Faren Miller of Locus:
 

“The arrangement is superb. This anthology of 20 stories can resemble a symphony of themes and variations in a wide range of keys, or a tapestry whose elements form patterns of imagery and meaning that shift and offer new insights throughout the book.”

 
And a wonderful metaphor-rich endorsement from well-known book blogger Andrea Johnson, a.k.a. Little Red Reviewer:
 

“And then there is that secret restaurant . . . It is perfection on a plate! And you feel better about yourself and your life and the world every time you go there. Clockwork Phoenix is the name of this restaurant, and Mike Allen is the restaurateur. One sublime dish after another, and yet I still have my favorites that I keep coming back to.”

 
Second (Part B), an interview Andrea conducted with me about Clockwork Phoenix 5 and other incarnations of my career appeared on launch day at SF Signal, and can be read here.
 

 
Third, the Clockwork Phoenix 5 launch the evening of April 5, went better than I could ever have expected. More than 90 people came to the NYRSF Reading in Brooklyn, which apparently set an attendance record — the largest crowd they’ve had since a special reception held 12 years ago for Susanna Clarke (and thus the second largest in the 25-and-some-year history of the series). It was so successful it even took the organizers by (happy) surprise.
 
The people who came out got to see one hell of a show. Rob Cameron (his blog entry on the event here), Shveta Thakrar, Barbara Krasnoff, Sonya Taaffe (her LiveJournal entry here), A.C. Wise and the team of C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez all gave terrific readings. From my perspective as a dabbler in amateur theater, there’s nothing quite as electrifying as a packed room that’s paying rapt attention to everything happening on stage, and wow, did we have that. It was even more remarkable what a crowd-pleasing event this was when you consider how complex and poetic all of these stories are.
 
I’m thrilled too that our cover artist, Paula Arwen Owen, made it out, and got to share in the autograph signing and the delicious apple cake that NYRSF organizer Jim Freund acquired for the contributors.
 

 
The reading was livestreamed, and can still be watched in its entirety here: http://livestream.com/accounts/12973202/events/5083616/videos/118332564
 
A whole album of photos from the event has appeared on Facebook, and can be viewed by clicking this link.
 
Also, a kind of half review/half report about the reading appeared on File 770 the next day: http://file770.com/?p=28343
 
This was definitely the most glorious “rise from the ashes” in the history of the series. My thanks to Jim Freund for thinking it up, to Shveta Thakrar, C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez for making it possible for me to get to the launch and back (and, especially to Shveta, for many other kindnesses besides), to all the readers for the distance they traveled and the terrific jobs they did, and to everyone who came out to watch and listen.
 
#SFWApro