Announcements

Seems like it is really that time of year when people need donations and the like to help them through tough times. No, I am not complaining, I’m simply stating a fact. However, this one does hit home for me, seeing how I am a cancer survivor as well. From Matt Staggs’ blog: Back in September, Paul Haines, an Australian sf/f/h writer was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He had surgery and then chemo for six months and it was gone…or seemed to be. He recently was told that there are spots on his liver. The thing is, although most of his care is covered, he’s written this– He [his oncologist] still wants to wait a couple of months (ideally he wants even more than that) to see how the cancer in my liver is behaving. He also understands our fear, our need, to not be sitting around waiting to do nothing. So in those couple of months we will try the other two forms of chemotherapy for cancers like I have and to combine that with a monoclonal antibody called Avastin. Chemo fights the tumour, the antibody fights the blood vessels feeding the tumour. Unfortunately, Avastin is not part of Medicare or the private health system’s funding at this stage, so we’re having to come up with $20,000 to do it. Our parents have said they will help us here, which is a great relief. You can read his blog here: http://paulhaines.livejournal.com/ $20,000 is a lot of money and not a lot of money at the same time. Again, help if you can spare a few bucks here. I don’t know what the exchange rate is, but I imagine the U.S. dollar is worth a little more, which might mean every dollar helps double. It’s for a good cause: helping battle cancer. Thanks for your time. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

Going through my blogroll I discovered this post over at Wands and Worlds. On February 5, 2008, a terrible tragedy struck when a tornado swept through central Arkansas. Among those killed by the tornado were a beautiful 10-year-old girl named Emmy Grace Cherry, along with both of her parents, Dana and Jimmy. Emmy was a sweet, caring girl who loved animals and books, and wanted to be either an astronomer or a veterinarian. Her favorite author was Erin Hunter, author of the Warriors series. (Erin Hunter is a pen name for a team of writers who write the Warriors books: Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and the newest Erin, Tui Sutherland. ) The result of the above, after a lot of support from the online community, is the creation of the Brightspirit Relief Fund. The Erin Hunter/s have donated six books, all signed by the original Erins, and they’re looking for more things to help drive donations to the fund.Check out the link above and if you happen to have anything you could donate, or perhaps you would like to have your own auction and donate the proceeds, then please do so. Any help would be greatly appreciated on this. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

Well, apparently GUD magazine is having a contest for bloggers. All you have to do is post about the contest with the appropriate links back and you have a chance to get their entire hardcopy stock. So, seeing how that sounds like a good idea to me, I’m writing about here (with the appropriate copied and pasted bits thrown in for good measure): Here’s the (self-referential) Pre-launch Buzz Contest: blog about the launch contest with a link back to this post–then leave a comment at this post with a link to your blog post. You’ll be entered to win A FULL SET OF GUD, HARDCOPY (Issues 0-3). If we don’t receive at least 100 entries, we reserve the right not to award this prize, so BE SURE TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS! You’ve got seven days to help spread the word (give or take — through the end of Friday, Pacific Standard Time) BONUS: First ten entries win a PDF of Issue 3! And we’ll spread a few more goodies around if response warrants it. 🙂 BONUS 2: Everyone creating an account gets a freebie from Issue 3 just for signing up (it’ll be in your account, waiting). Everyone who already had an account? You’ve got a new freebie waiting for you, too. So, spread the word everyone! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

Well, it was just brought to my attention that Stephen King will be judging the SHOMI Book Trailer Contest. What is it all about? Well, here’s what was sent to me in an email (and I’m guessing it’s okay I post this stuff because it’s newsworthy): New York, NY-July 22, 2008-Dorchester Publishing and Circle of Seven Productions have teamed up to present a contest offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for amateur and professional filmmakers who also love books. Participants will create book trailers based on their favorite novel in the SHOMI series of modern-day fantasy fiction. The best trailer-as selected by internationally bestselling author Stephen King-will be shown at a movie premiere in New York City as well as a theater in the winner’s home market.The contest will provide a creative outlet for the filmmakers’ visions while ultimately allowing the winner to showcase his or her talents before a potential audience of tens of millions of people through Circle of Seven’s distribution relationships. “We’re thrilled to offer filmmakers a means to broadcast their gifts,” said Brooke Borneman, Director of Sales and Marketing for Dorchester, “and hope that the contest gives the winner a platform that will propel his or her film career to new heights.”Book trailers-which are similar in style, content, and technique to movie trailers-are a powerful and increasingly popular method for communicating why a particular novel or series of novels is a ‘must read.’ A memorable short film can visually highlight a book’s most compelling elements and draw viewers into the story and the author’s universe, making a prospective reader want to know more.A groundbreaking line of speculative fiction that combines the best elements of the fantasy, thriller, science fiction, cyberpunk, and romance genres, the SHOMI imprint has been hailed by reviewers for its genre-blending, high-velocity action-adventure stories and emotional impact.“SHOMI books have received comparisons to films ranging from Underworld and Resident Evil to Blade Runner and The Matrix,” explained Borneman. “The cinematic quality of the books and the sheer physicality of the storytelling are what make the SHOMI universe a natural for filmmakers to explore.” If you want to know more, including guidelines and contest rules, go here.

I just got an email from Matt Staggs regarding a blogathon that will be going on this weekend to help earn money for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. I’ll just post the important information here: I’m doing a blogathon this Saturday, July 26 – posting to myLiveJournal every half hour for 24 hours to raise money for the BostonArea Rape Crisis Center. This is my sixth year blogathonning, and Iwrite spontaneous short fiction every year. It usually tends to havean urban fantasy bent (as in fantasy in a city, not paranormalromance), but this year, I’m taking a distinctly SF angle on it. For24 hours, I’ll be in character as a xenoarchaeologist, trying to makesense of precollapse Earth… with the help of over 50 artists whodonated “artifacts” to this project, including a few SF/F authorsthemselves. All artifacts are being auctioned, with a story card. It all goes down here: http://shadesong.livejournal.comAnd the auctions are here: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZshadesong And there’s a lot more info on my LJ about why I do this, and why BARCC. So keep and eye out. There are actually some really cool things up for auction. Maybe they’d make a nice gift for a friend or family member. And just think, bidding is for a good cause! So check it out! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

The winner last time was The Naming by Alison Croggon. Now for a new poll, which should be visible on the right there. If you can’t see it the choices are: Honeycomb by Israel Del Rio Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale Saga by Jeff Janoda The New Mars by John L. Manning, Jr. Feel free to leave a comment here with your vote if you can’t see the poll for some reason. One of those books will be what I read next. With that, I’m out! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)