And that's a wrap! The campaign closed out with $6,574 raised to fund Mary Robinette Kowal narrating Lesbians in Space: Where No Man Has Gone Before!
From our last poll, it's pretty clear people want the second Lesbians in Space anthology turned into an audiobook as well. I'm already starting to plan that one. Likely we'll have another campaign around September for Lesbians in Space: The Sapphics Strike Back!
What Happens Next:
• Card Processing: Backerkit will now begin charging cards. Please make sure your payment info is up to date to avoid any issues.
• Surveys: Backer surveys will go out as soon as I finish them up! I'll be putting the surveys together hopefully this weekend, and I'll try to get it out to you by the end of next week. If you missed anything in the campaign, you'll be able to add any extras, and confirm your shipping address.
We already have recording dates in May scheduled with Mary Robinette, and our hope is to get the final audiobook to you by the middle of June!
In the meantime, if you want more queer books, make sure to sign up for Space Wizard Year 5 Part 1, coming in June 2026! We'll have 8 new books for you, as well as some new hardcovers and more new tea flavors!
Just a quick update again to say: we have ONE DAY LEFT in this campaign! As I mentioned near the beginning, this was an experiment to see if a small press like Space Wizard can fund an audiobook campaign with a highly sought-after, professional narrator like Mary Robinette Kowal.
And you all delivered! There's a potential for us to run another audiobook campaign later this year, so what do you all think? Should we run another campaign? And if so, for what books? Check out the poll below. This was from earlier in the campaign, but we didn't get a lot of answers, so why not check it out again? I've also added the choice for Lesbians in Space: The Sapphics Strike Back, as it doesn't seem likely we'll be able to fund both anthologies with this one campaign.
And if you need some visual clues, here's a graphic of all the books we're considering for the campaigns. You can also find them all on our Space Wizard website. Simply click on "Audiobook" or "Not on Audio" in the "Filter by Book Type" up at the top. I just implemented this, so let me know if anything looks wrong!
Which Space Wizard books should come to audio?
I'll be back tomorrow for the final recap. Until then, vote in the poll!
So...busy day today! I was going to write an update how we funded this afternoon! Yay!
...except we just passed the first stretch goal at $5500!
That means you'll all get a new short story from Heather Tracy, featuring a neurodiverse main character docking at a space station...where hijinks ensue! You'll have to read to find out what happens!
Should we try to have it recorded by Mary Robinette as well? Answer in the poll at the bottom of this update!
Our next reward is a new short story from J.S. Fields at $7500. Can we make that one?
We're getting so close to the finish line on this one, and there's one week left in the campaign! But to entice you further, I've been hard at work with some new tea choices, specifically for two of the poll winners: Rooibos and Herbal.
So without further ado, may I present Fruits of the Gods and Kuhifadi Magic!
Fruits of the Gods: This tin comes with all four godfruits (dried) from the book: apple, orange, cherry, and mulberry. With the Rooibos base, it creates a fruity, complex pairing for an afternoon of reading! Goes with the my novel, Fruits of the Gods!
Kuhifadi Magic: This one is a truly unique tea, using kawakawa from New Zealand (which we tasted several times on our recent trip). It's quite hard to find in the U.S., but I was (finally) able to source some, and I'm really happy to show off this tea blend, which comes with some extra spices I've mixed in to make this one really magical! Goes with the anthology The World of Juno, produced by Daniel Eavenson!
If you're a tea-aholic like me, I've also put together an All-in Tea with books pledge where you get all five teas, along with the books they were inspired from!
I'm confident we'll fund this campaign, so it's time to look at the stretch goals! If we manage to hit $5,500, Heather Tracy has a great short story in mind that she wants to share with you. As always, if you're an author and need developmentalorcopyediting, we have options for both of those, each with pay-over time options, which spreads the cost out over 4 months.
Thanks again for supporting Space Wizard, and I'm eager to hear Mary Robinette Kowal's fantastic narration for this anthology! Please keep sharing with your friends and family!
Well, seems like people like tea! Currently the winners of the poll are Herbal, Rooibus, and Green tea. For the moment, I've added in our two other tea choices, paired with the book Tea Tale, by Kristina W. Kelly. You can get your own copy of the book in the campaign by choosing the "Any $20 Paperback" addon, along with these teas!
Foggy Iramont uses a black tea base, and Snowshroom Spice uses a Pu'erh base. While these teas aren't the winning ones in the polls, I have some more choices coming later this week! Keep an eye out for a tea paired with Fruits of the Gods, which will likely have a Rooibus base, and I am frantically trying to source an herbal tea that is really outstanding for one other option. Keep watching the campaign, and share with your tea-drinking friends!
If I can get these other two recipes ready in time, I'll be adding an all-in tea and books pledge level later this week as well...
We're so close to funding with 10 days left, and I'm really looking forward to Mary Robinette Kowal narrating this anthology, so please let your friends and family know about this campaign. A great way to do that is with our ALL eBooks option, where you get the audiobook, plus all 63 Space Wizard eBooks! We have a pay-over time option available for this tier, which spreads the cost out over 4 months.
Finally, crowdfunding is definitely a community effort, and I wanted to direct your attention to two other great campaigns going on at the same time.
The first is Trip Galey's The Fall of the House of Valenziaga. It’s Drag Race meets a gay Game of Thrones meets The Chronicles of Amber in this queer post-apocalyptic science-fantasy extravaganza, so definitely check this one out!
The second is another excellent anthology by the folks at Zombies Need Brains. This one is called WERE-2, and is full of stories with were-creatures, but NOT werewolves! There are already some amazing authors signed up to write stories, and I may submit one myself if I get a chance.
Thanks again for supporting Space Wizard, and let's push this campaign over 100%!
I'll have another update with more teas later this week!
