Fundraising for Nice People: Adam Callaway’s “Financial Times Bingo” Fundraiser
My good friend, Adam Callaway, has fallen on some pretty rough times this year. He lost his job and due to a number of factors (the recession hit right as he was graduating from school, he’s young, he doesn’t make $289,000 a year, etc.), he and his wife don’t have much saved up to help them survive the next few months. In other words, he could really use some help. I’ve known Adam for years now. He’s not one to ask for money often, and I know for a fact that he’s already applied to at least a dozen jobs since he was let go by his previous employer. He doesn’t want to be where he is (who does?). But because he’s there, he’s hoping folks will offer a little financial help. His goal is to have enough saved to survive through March, assuming he can’t get a job before then. That’s about $2,000. I think we all can help him get there — no problem. The good news is that Adam is offering all kinds of perks for donations, including: For a $3 donation:My short-short story collection #TWITFIC in any format (mobi, epub, pdf).For a $5 donation:Everything above plus a copy of the very first Lacuna story, a novella called The City of Missing Letters. If you ever wondered about the origins of the city, this is the story to have. Available in any format (mobi, epub, pdf).For a $10 donation:Everything above plus a copy of my mosaic novel The Inked Man, comprised of previously-published Lacuna stories as well as stories entirely new to the collection in any format (mobi, epub, pdf). There may be a slight delay in receiving this as I’m finalizing the cover and layout.For $25:Everything above as well as my young adult science fiction novel Junkyard Kings. Readers have described it as “Harry Potter with giant fighting robots.” This also comes in any format (mobi, epub, pdf).For $35:Everything above and a personalized Filament webcomic attached to a blog post detailing how awesome you are as a person.For $50:Everything above, plus I’ll ship you a random rare or antique book from my own collection. Most of the books are signed genre works and I will email you a list to choose from if you reach this level. (This one is confined to the continental 48 only. Sorry Hawaii, Alaska, and the rest of the world).For $100:Everything above, plus a permanent link or thank you on Sensawunda, seen by hundreds of visitors each day.For $250:I will write for you a personalized story of between 1000-2500 words with nearly all parameters chosen by you. And a second rare book.For $500:Everything above, and I’ll write you your own, 2500-5000 short story. Any genre, idea, or circumstance. And it’ll be damn good too. And I’ll send you a third book.For $1000:Everything above, except I’ll write you a novella of at least 10,000 words. I’ll send you a fourth rare book. And if I ever get the pleasure of meeting you in person, I’ll give you a bear hug, bake you butterscotch cookies, and declare you Supreme Being. He’s also offering to release panels from his comic, Filament, for every $10 submitted. That means 200 comics if we make it to $2,000! And what fiction he will release to folks, you better believe it will be great stuff. His Lacuna stories are wonderful and weird. So if you think you can spare $1, $10, or whatever, please head over to Adam’s site and click the donate button on the right. Alternatively, you can directly donate through Paypal using adam.r.callaway[at]gmail[dot]com (just leave a little note or email him so he knows that’s what it’s for). Any little bit helps! Please spread the word!
How the Genre Community Restored My Faith in Humanity
On January 10th, Catherine Schaffer and Mary Robinette Kowal organized a fundraiser to raise money for a genome sequencing procedure for fellow writer, Jay Lake. Lake, as you might know, has been battling cancer for years, and recently received some terrible news about his future. Having this procedure done could very well suggest new treatments that could extend his life. The fundraiser offered a lot of amusing perks for different goal levels — Paul Cornell, for example, offered to sing “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush (goal reached!): You can find many of the other amusing examples, from ancient trunk stories to Mary Robinette Kowal’s amazing rendition of “Mother Goose” in her “phone sex” voice. Needless to say, the cause is a good one. When I had the fortune to have Jay Lake on my podcast last year, he shared a great deal about his personal life, which had the effect of convincing me that I should write about my own travels with cancer (which I started here). While it’s not fair to offer up one of those “if anyone deserves it” statements (almost everyone deserves the right to a long, healthy life, as far as I’m concerned), I have to admit that I’m extraordinarily happy that so many wonderful people stood up to raise money for Jay. And that fundraiser has, at the time of writing this post, raised over $36,000 in under 48 hours, with numerous bits of joy added on as previously unexpected financial heights were reached (the fundraiser has now become a way to help Jay pay for his medical bills). I imagine Jay is overwhelmed for very good reasons. After all, the community came out en mass to help him get a potentially life-saving procedure he otherwise couldn’t have afforded. I can imagine he’s ecstatic and emotional over this. I would be too if I were in his position. But I’ve found myself overwhelmed too, for different reasons. Folks who know me have been, shall we say, gifted to my perpetual cynicism about our culture. Barely 12 hours before this fundraiser went live, I recall telling my friend, Adam Callaway, that our culture is a painfully selfish one, and that we are capable of so much good if we could only get over our desperate need to hoard wealth and back-stab one another. I still believe that, but the enormous success of this fundraiser (one that still has a month left) has made me realize that there is a strong pocket of what I’d call “true humanity” right here in the genre community. That so many people who don’t even know Jay would pour out their support for him, and at such a rapid pace, has taught me that maybe I shouldn’t be so cynical about everything. After all, fundraisers happen all the time, for very good causes, and some raise massive amounts of money too. The genre community is relatively small, though. The people offering to embarrass themselves in public or donating their money have done something extraordinary, as they have done many times before. This time, it was too obvious to ignore. Too big. Too amazing. That’s more or less how the genre community restored my faith in humanity. You’ve shattered my view of the world in all the right ways. And I thank you for that. For those who haven’t helped yet, please head on over to the fundraiser for Jay and give a little money. The stretch goals have since been, well, stretched to the $100,000 mark, in which someone will produce a Jay Lake musical (after Howard Taylor draws a picture of Jay beating the crap out of cancer). I’d love to see that musical, and I’d love to see Jay ride out the rest of his life with a little less stress. Go donate!