This is such a great update to write, you have no idea how happy I am to write it!

SHIPPING UPDATE
The pallets of books have arrived at White Squirrel, and they are shipping out books very soon(maybe even this week)!

I have put every Special Edition (that filled out their survey) into the mail! I hand-packed every single one of these orders and it was really wonderful to see familiar names on the shipping labels.

I wanted to send you a picture of the final PILE OF PACKAGES, but I'd have to redact so many visible addresses, so here is my assistant in her new USPS raincoat instead (it was a rainy day the day we shipped).

(When I say things like "your package was packed by me or my assistant," I also have a human assistant; your packages are not covered in dog hair.)

All orders are now locked for fulfillment, but if you want additional copies of the book, they will be available after all the crowdfunding copies have been fulfilled. Copies of the Special Edition will also be available in my store after fulfillment, but due to some significant manufacturing errors of the book boxes which are basically impossible for me to reorder right now for both logistical and financial reasons, the edition is actually smaller than intended(there will only be about 150 copies of the full Special Edition after fulfillment, for a special edition of about 500 copies). The manufacturing errors really lower my margins on this project, but that's okay (it's not like...extremely okay, but I'll deal).

Next, I'm building custom altars for the highest level backers. These take several days each, and are hand-carved(I can't sustain carving for 8 hours a day, obviously).

SHIPPING
I accidentally overcharged for shipping. Shipping costs HAVE gone up*, but especially at the Special Edition level, you were charged too much! I'm trying to figure out if I can batch process refunds...but it sounds like I have to do that manually so please be patient with me (I'll try to do them all in the next month)! If you backed at the book level in the United States, you'll get a refund in the $5-8 range, and Special Edition backers will get refunded around $10.

International backers were all undercharged - it cost me an average of $50 to send a Special Edition package internationally. I am sorry, international shipping really is difficult and costs a lot.

*and all other costs...let me tell ya', it is really not a good time to be making physically manufactured objects.

SURVEY STRAGGLERS
After fulfillment is complete, I will be doing a check about every month for backers who have newly filled out their backer surveys. White Squirrel checks semi-regularly too. At the end of the year, I will likely bring fulfillment to a close and cancel all remaining orders (with refunds, if relevant). Remaining copies of the book will still be available via my store and any distro that carries it!
 

It's just me, there is actually no assembly line. I did miss getting the print order in before the Lunar New Year print factory break(my fault!) but it is in now(it is technically still Chinese New Year).

That said, the special editions are being assembled at my woodshop right now! I am personally assembling every single one of them! They look so nice, I am so excited. Also the gold foiled book boxes have been sitting in my studio space for years(they were the first thing I designed) and I am so excited to be ushering them outwards.

A reminder - if you got the special edition(or the very fancy edition), you are getting multiple shipments! I am shipping the special edition components; my fulfillment partners will be shipping the books.

Do you want to see some pictures?

The first batch of shipments go out next Monday(If you live in California and your shipping charge went through, and you ordered the special edition, you're in the first batch! Sorry to other states, it was easier to segment by state and almost 20% of the special edition orders came from CA.)

I really love doing this, especially at a time where being an artist(and especially being a non-binary, queer, immigrant artist of color) feels like a very tenuous way to exist. Putting these together reminds me that there are people in the world who value the work of human hands(that are paid a not-high, but reasonable, wage), and making art slowly and with specificity. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for letting me make art for you.