The Clockwork Phoenix 4 Kickstarter project has hit the first of its stretch goals. It’s less than $1400 away from the second stretch goal, with nine days to reach that target.

I can’t say anything in encouragement without it being kind of self-serving. The purpose of the stretch goals is to let Mike Allen (time_shark) pay the authors more money for their stories; if the project brings in $8000, he can pay five cents a word, which is the baseline professional rate. Since I intend to send him a story, I have a vested interest in seeing the project hit that target. But it’s broader than that, I promise you: the CP anthologies have been really good, and are the sort of thing for which authors in general deserve to be paid professional rates.

Mike has added a variety of new reward packages, so even if you’ve already pledged, you might want to check it out and see if there’s anything else you want. And if you haven’t, now is a dandy time to start.