Galaxy Class Bad Astronomy Newsletter readers: I got yer meteorites.

Dear Galaxy Class BAN subscribers:

It’s been a minute since SYFY Wire let me go, I announced it on my newsletter, and then had all of you swoop in to cushion my landing. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it and how much it means to me and my family.

And oh my, was that response a surprise! I mean, sure, I figured a few folks would dig a little deeper and throw some cash my way… but I was hoping for maybe 20. And, um, yeah, it was more than that. A whole lot more, like an order of magnitude.

I’m still reeling from this. Wow. Thank you. This really does mean the world to me.

But it also means I owe you. Sure, you’re getting the three issues per week thing, but I also added some perqs to the Galaxy Class subscription level. When I dreamed them up, again, I expected only a few folks would sign up, so it would be pretty quick and easy to fulfill them. D’oh!  

So yeah, I was wrong. Then a series of other issues hit that I won’t bore you with, but it’s been difficult to gather myself and keep my word with those promises. Things haven’t really eased up much (oy, the next two months with the book coming out and the travel!) but I have been catching up with duties, and this one has floundered far too long.

First: My sincere apologies for being so slow about this, and my gratitude for your patience.

Second, this email is only covering two of the perqs. Otherwise it’ll get too dang long. I’ll get to the other ones soonish.

After I explain, if you still have questions or comments, please leave a comment on the website (click the title of this email above and it’ll take you to the page, or click the button below). Substack pings me when someone leaves a comment, so I promise I’ll see them all! Only Galaxy Class folks can see the post, BTW.

So.

1) I promised y’all meteorites (and a short description of them). I was finally able to secure enough space rocks (barely!), though it took a little while to find them — pickings have been scarce for some time now. But I have ‘em, and now I need to know where to mail them!

So, if you want to get your meteorite, what I need for you to do is email me with your name and physical mailing address.

BUT: Please do NOT reply to this email! That will make it a lot harder for me to prepare the label. Instead, please send me a separate email to [email protected], with the subject line “Galaxy Class Subby Address”. That’ll make my life a lot easier! I can categorize them and keep track of them far better.

If you can, please format the address as it would appear on a label, so I can cut-n-paste it into a file for printing. If you live in a country other than the United States, please make sure you add that!

But wait! Don’t run off and send that email yet, because…

2) I also said that on one Monday per month in the public/free newsletter issue I’d add a special “Thank You” section with your names and a link to your business/website/whatever. That’s a logistical problem, because just that one section would be far, far longer than any usual issue!

Still, I like this idea, so what I’m thinking now is that I’ll send out a single special issue to all subscribers with all this info. Since every issue sent also exists on my Substack website it’ll have a permanent home, and I can link to it once a month.

I hope that modification is OK with y’all.

So, if you want me to include a link to your Twitter, or your website, or your shop — whatever you’ve got, within reason; I trust you — then when you send me your mailing address for the meteorite, please add a line that includes your URL and a short description that I can use to link with. Something like

Phil Plait: I write a newsletter about astronomy and stuff

or

ISellSeaShellsByTheSeaShore: I have a store on the beach where I sell sea shells

You can use a nickname or handle if you don’t want your real name out there. I get it, and that’s cool by me.

It’ll take me a short while to get this all organized and shipping started, but I’ll get these out ASAP.

And again, thanks. The dust is still settling here — and I’ll have more to say about that in time — but y’all really, truly helped, and I seriously appreciate it.

Et alia

You can email me at [email protected] (though replies can take a while), and all my social media outlets are gathered together at about.me. Also, if you don’t already, please subscribe to this newsletter! And feel free to tell a friend or nine, too. Thanks!