It now somewhat resembles a book, although it also has a bit of a My First Book Design look to it (one font was clearly not enough), but I figure I've got it out of my system now, and if you all will have enough patience for me to do another one, I promise I'll do better next round.

You'll notice that there are some blank pages toward the end of each WFC section. This is so that you can now begin to nag spacejack to create (black-and-white) illustrations to fill those blanks, and a (color) cover for the book as a whole (pretty please).

THE PLAN IS STILL to have Lulu turn this into a proper dead-tree publication that you can hold in your hands, but before that:

I wanted to give all the authors a chance to see their contributions in place and be able to make any comments before it's printed. Any typos, mistakes, editorial butchering that you see -- speak now or yada yada yada. I'm too lazy to write individual PMs this time around, so if you know someone who's got a story in the book then let them know (see the complete list of contributors). If you're in a proofreading mood and want to read stories other than your own and point out problems (or even if you didn't contribute), please do. (I'll be doing a full round of proofreading myself.) I may not make all design changes, but where it comes to the content of a story, I'll certainly defer to the author.

For feedback, you can post a comment to this diary, PM me, or email me at the address in my user info. The deadline is loosely defined -- you'll have no less than two weeks (that is, until at least January 15), but in reality you have until I get my act together again, though I suggest looking at it sooner rather than later, while you're thinking about it. If I don't hear from authors by January 21, I'll assume everything's OK as soon as I can get illustrations and work things out with Lulu. (If you want/need more time, just let me know by the above date.)

Then there's the question of price. The base price from Lulu the way it stands now is $9.25 plus shipping. Last time we talked price there was some debate about whether to charge the minimum for the book or add on a little extra, with proceeds going to hulver (and if so, how much -- IIRC Lulu takes 20% of all profit, then PayPal takes another slice). See the poll.

The final version will also be available digitally at no charge (although that's how the pieces were initially presented, there's something to be said for collecting them in one place, with somewhat coherent formatting, I suppose). There will definitely be a PDF, and possibly other formats if I can get a round tuit. Again, express preferences in the poll.

ANYWAY, NOW THAT I've gotten this much done at last ... hey, 2 plus 3 equals 5 -- when's WFC8?