Talespin and I are thrilled to announce the arrival, here at the official Planets Magazine shipping and distribution center (otherwise known as my dining room table), of the brand new trophies for the Planets Magazine Invitational series. Take a look:

Just imagine winning one of these for your very own, to display next to that Nobel medal, the Pulitzer, and your eighth-grade spelling bee trophy.

Well, guess what? YOU CAN!

This particular trophy is reserved for the still undetermined victor of the First Classic Invitational, which is even now starting to wrap up here. Megalomaniac has taken a solid lead, with Kode running a close second and our very own Talespin still bitterly hanging in there.

So you don’t have a shot at THIS trophy; fine. But you can have one just like it if you happen to win our Second Classic Invitational, which is presently being designed — we’re looking at an incremental FoF and maybe another tweak or two, but still guaranteed Horwasp Free!

Not everyone can win, however. That’s why every participant selected to be a contestant in the Invitational can have one of the souvenir Planets Magazine mugs seen in the background, free for your very own. (If you happen to live in Europe or Canada, we may ask you to help pay for shipping. It’s $25 for postage to Spain; can you believe it?!)

These mugs are also available as thank-you gifts for significant contributors, people who are willing to donate to help with the upkeep of the Planets Magazine, and potentially to buy Talespin and myself a cup of coffee. The Mag is a labor of love, but after all is said and done, I daresay we deserve a coffee or two for our trouble.

And, to help with that, at long last we’ve graduated to our very own Planets Magazine Coffee Link! Yes, you can now buy us coffee directly, rather than have it go to… well, me, to sort out as best I can which donations are from Planets and which are for my own writing at The Not Fake News. This new, dedicated link will easily save me ten minutes of hard work every tax season.

(As always, our PayPal link is still open, and the fees there are marginally lower.)

I’d tell you more fun and exciting things, but I appear to have run out. Just as well, really; I’ve got to go put in some hours at my paying job now.

See you in space!
-G