Phoenix Rising

Those of you who are subscribed to one of the Phoenix Rising, Terminus, or Narrate Conferences newsletters, as well as those of you who have registered for either Phoenix Rising or Terminus, have already heard the news: The Phoenix Rising compendium is now available! You can find out more information about the included papers and presentations and how to obtain a copy here. Thank you again to all the presenters who contributed!

New footage from Phoenix Rising is available through Borders! Click here for more information and links to see some man (wizard?) on the street interviews, Quidditch, and wizard rock.

(The panel is now online! Click here for more information.)

If you're a Borders Rewards Member, you might have already seen this news in your Borders Weekly Shortlist e-mail! Featured this week was "HPTV" -- a book club recorded at Phoenix Rising with fans talking about the Harry Potter books. You can stream the video or download it to watch offline at http://www.bordersmedia.com/harrypotter/bookclub/default.asp.

Cheers!

In the wizarding world, as well as the Muggle world, all good things must come to an end - and so it is with From Ash and Flame. We've been delighted to serve as your news and information community for the last sixteen months, and we'll think of you often, even as we join new adventures.

Future Communications
If you ever have any questions or concerns about Phoenix Rising, don't hesitate to contact us. info AT thephoenixrises DOT org will stay open, even as we begin closing the message boards and other e-mail addresses later this summer.

Notice: We have already closed the Phoenix Rising message boards to new registrants, and we will be putting them into archive mode starting July 1. We know - it makes us sad, too, but we're already having issues keeping the boards clear of spam and as our team disperses, it will become even more difficult. We invite everyone to use the Terminus message boards, whether or not you plan to attend, which are located here: Terminus forum. The same goes for terminus2008, our Terminus LiveJournal community. Please do join; we'd love to see you over there.

We found a phone!
If you lost a cell phone at the conference, please shoot us an e-mail with identifying information at info AT thephoenixrises DOT org. We'll happily send it to you if it's yours.

Pirate Gold and Other Winners
In a poetic outcome worthy of Jean Lafitte himself, Lumién, the house of all tellers of tales and more than a few pirates, took the Pirate Gold competition in a come-from-behind victory. Professor Bolton, known to his comrades hereinafter as the Pirate King, advanced upon the Information Desk late Sunday night, drawing scads upon scads of House Points from his pockets. His cunning, combined with his students' outstanding efforts in the Firewalking, Horcrux Hunt and Dueling competitions, made for an impressive surprise victory in which the pirates pocketed the Pirate Gold. Congratulations to all knaves, rogues and scurvy dogs!

Final points standings for the Pirate Gold:
Lumién: 2440
Bellereve: 2232
Zodico: 1867
Pontalbòn: 1449

Congratulations also to Amy of Bellereve and Alyson of Lumién, who successfully tracked and defeated the Dark Lord through the twists and turns of the Horcrux Hunt. Finally, a round of applause goes to the following individuals, all of whom won one or more of the Firewalking challenges: Jamie, Jeff, Lauren, Veronica, Beth, IndyWitch, Magick, Ginni, Julie, Traci, Denise, Twinkie the House-Elf, Marginaliana, Mad Maudlin, Matt, Violante, Hummingfox, Fluffy, Cena, Adalia, Millicent, and Woodchuck.

For those of you who less successfully tracked the Dark Lord, we have made the Horcrux Hunt solution available on our lagniappe page.

Downloads

In addition to the Horcrux Hunt, Phoenix Rising has also uploaded our Remembrall Wall and our Final Theory Wall, both of which serve as a tribute to the creativity, the wonder and the sheer magic of the Harry Potter fan community. You may find them on our lagniappe page.

Finally, we have uploaded all New Orleans editions of From Ash and Flame, which you may find at the following links:
http://www.thephoenixrises.org/pdf/FAAF_Friday.pdf
http://www.thephoenixrises.org/pdf/FAAF_Saturday.pdf
http://www.thephoenixrises.org/pdf/FAAF_Sunday.pdf
http://www.thephoenixrises.org/pdf/FAAF_Monday.pdf

You will need Adobe Reader to view these files; a free download for the program can be found here.

Thank you again to our intrepid band of reporters, photographers and editors for their work keeping the wizarding world abreast of Phoenix Rising's goings-on.

As a side note, if anyone has pictures they'd be willing to let us use, we'd be grateful! It is sometimes hard to find time to take pictures when you're running around like a bowtruckle in a forest fire. Please e-mail us at info AT thephoenixrises DOT org if we might use your photographs. Thank you!

Media Coverage
Thank you to all the media who attended Phoenix Rising! Stories have appeared on MTV, NBC and Salon.com, and in the St. Petersburg Times, among others, and we expect more in the upcoming weeks -- so keep your wands lit and your eyes peeled! Links to the stories can be found in our news archive.

New Orleans Library Fundraising
We are thrilled to report that the fundraising effort for the New Orleans Public Library, spearheaded by Professor Conrad and Bellereve House, raised over $2,000 for the libraries! The library also happily claimed all leftover copies of the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that Phoenix Rising had available, courtesy of Listening Library. Thank you again for your support of our libraries, and if you're looking for a way to provide further support, please visit the Rebuild New Orleans Public Library website.

Compendium
Thank you to all our presenters who chose to participate in our compendium! We will be lightly editing your submissions over the next month, and we hope to have the book in the hands of the publisher before the light of summer fades. How quickly we can get the book out will depend on the publisher, but we're hoping for later this year.

Sponsor Appreciation
Again, we want to recognize our sponsors for their support of Phoenix Rising! As the first event of Narrate Conferences, Inc., we are flattered and humbled by your support of an untested enterprise. Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts!

Thank you to Listening Library; Borders, Inc.; FictionAlley and FictionAlley eMentors; Alivan's Master Wandmakers; The Leaky Cauldron; Betas Anonymous; the Knight Family; the Owl Appreciation Society; The Shrieking Shack; Whimsic Alley; The World Confederation of Pirates and Ninjas; Knockturn Alley; Atlanta HP; Perfectus; eOwlery; Sectus; The Daily Snitch; The Harry/Ginny OTP Newsletter; Hogwarts Today; hp-ohio; The Petulant Poetess; The Quidditch Pitch; Simply Undeniable; The Sue March; The Sugar Quill; and all our banner exchange and challenge participants!

Terminus Street Team
For those of you looking to continue your Harry Potter adventure next year, we invite you to join the Terminus Street Team. We'll be supplying our team with postcards, stickers and more to hand out at all the wonderful Harry Potter events this summer, and we'd love for you to join us. Please contact Renee Antoine, our Media Manager, at renee DOT antoine AT terminus2008 DOT org if you are interested - or just leave a comment here.

Thank You
One last time, thank you so, so much to everyone who took part in Phoenix Rising. Whether you exchanged a banner with us or gave a presentation, were part of our vendor room or volunteers, sponsored an event or simply attended the conference, Phoenix Rising would never have been as magnificent, welcoming and wonderful as it was without your contributions. We hope to see you next summer in Chicago, but even if we don't, we hope you know that we are honored that you chose to join us - and you made our weekend in New Orleans simply magical.

Thank you.

We're almost ready to post our last edition of From Ash and Flame, complete with everything from downloadable versions of the conference newsletters to mentions Phoenix Rising in the news. In the meantime, though, for those of you looking forward to Terminus who aren't yet watching terminus2008, we wanted to pass on a brief announcement regarding registration.

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For those of you interested in being part of the first 100 registrations for Terminus, please note that we have only one slot remaining to receive a limited edition Terminus Early Registrant t-shirt. To make sure you're in the first 100, you need to complete your registration as soon as possible and make sure we receive your payment within 30 days.

Optional items like the Tradewinds Quidditch Tournament, Thoth's Tournament of Knowledge, and to-be-announced keynote presentations can be added to your registration at a later date using the "change my registration" option in the Registration section of the Terminus website at http://www.terminus2008.org/registration, which details information about the five days of programming and events included with all registrations.

As it happens, our registration system won't tell you if you're registrant 100 or registrant 101, so we are happy to honor any registrations made by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 8, and paid within 30 days as "first 100" registrations, and we'll get your t-shirt in the mail as soon as all outstanding registrations in the category have been paid for or deleted.

If you have any questions, please e-mail us at registration@terminus2008.org. See you in Chicago!