Some awards changes

Hi everyone!

I wanted to announce a further change to the Patreon rewards (no, there's no fee changes going on, at least as far as *I* know). These were always a work in progress, it's a bit hard to gauge precisely what things should be. I think, though, that a few tweaks are probably overdue (for the Redshirts, Officers, and Captains). I have also been kicking an idea for the upper tiers around, but I don't want to say anything until I have it all worked out in case it's not feasible, I just want to say that nobody is being forgotten here!

Captains: This will pretty much remain as it is: an abbreviated novel review that will eventually wind up on Youtube (or an in-depth novel examination that will go up sooner). 

Going with them each month will be one of two things: Micro-reviews (what has been coming through already), or Double-Features. For these, I will go less in-depth on the work and will often be looking at something more atypical, and as the name implies, two of them. So they'll be more of a summary + consideration than the Micro-Reviews, more wide than deep. These are still intended to be exclusive releases here only.

And of course, early access of the weekday reviews (typically the Monday after the Saturday early access).

Officers: This will still have the monthly Q&A, as well as the early access for Star Trek (or the Saturday movie). It will also include a copy of that month's Mini-Review, to keep.

You'll also be getting a monthly video that will eventually wind up on Youtube, drawn upon and expanded from existing reviews. For example, Worf & Klingon Honor will take information from a few reviews (most notably Redemption) to examine the topic; also Five Reasons Walter Peck Was Wrong. These are things that aren't strictly on the release schedule, they'll be something that shows up on Youtube usually on a day when I have nothing scheduled anywhere else. They'll be yours to keep.

There are also going to be a kind of weird early access. Starting in April most likely, you'll be getting one of the film Background/Introduction videos for a movie that I'll be doing eventually; likely August's. So about a four to six month lead ahead of the actual movie is the plan.

That's in addition to the occasional bit of weirdness that comes through, like the Red Shirt Diaries, this coming month's Deleted Scene/Outtakes file, and other weirdness that will be Patreon exclusive.

Red Shirts: So far the rewards have been just a captioned image and a story. I've felt for a long time something else was probably deserved, but couldn't think of what. Then, after the hot tub story was so well-received, I finally realized I was missing the obvious.

So, the Red Shirt will retain the exclusive captioned image. The personal story will go on the "if I have one" pile. But on Saturdays, there will be an audio recording of a chapter of an SF book. This is the same book we've been covering previously in the upper tiers (Call to Arms), so you'll be linked with some zip files to the previous chapters soon. Each chapter is usually 20 to 30 minutes long. These will be Patreon exclusive.

So, to sum up:

Red Shirts:

-Captioned image

-Weekly story chapter

-Sometimes a personal story too

Officers: Red shirt+

-Q&A

-Mini-Review

-Future Youtube video

-Film Background video

-bonus reward

-Weekly Star Trek/Saturday film early access

Captains: Officer & Red shirt+

-Novel review

-Mini-Review or Double-Feature

-Weekly early access to everything

I will be sending out rewards for February Sunday or Monday. As always, if you didn't get your reward due to technical or billing problems, don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you all so much for your continued support.