Here’s the latest update on the results of Cornstalk Gypsies, the first in a series of what I hope will be many Relief Anthologies.

From Editor J.K. Richard:

I believe in the power of words.

I started Relief Anthology this summer as a response to the massive floods that the state of Iowa sustained in late May and early June. I felt like a helpless bystander as fellow Americans struggled to save their homes and businesses.

I noticed however, that I wasn’t alone in my feelings of uselessness. My friends, associates, and partners in crime in the auctorial communities wanted to do something to help Iowa as well. They wanted to give, to do something, but with the economy beginning to spiral (downward) we were all a bit inundated with our own personal finances to make a donation of modest enough proportions to impact flood relief efforts.

So we wrote and gave a gift of words.

Today marks the first donation from ReliefAnthology.com to the public.

As I looked for either a charitable organization or a relief effort that was specific to our cause I came across the Donors Choose website. I found an awesome teacher with an awesome proposal: she wants to inspire her 3rd through 5th graders to write.
Mrs. W of Lincoln Elementary School in Waterloo, IA … we’re all about kids writing.

Mrs. W still needs $728.00 dollars to see her proposal fulfilled. $728.00 might seem like a lot of money in these tough economic times…but if you donate and tell 5 people, and they tell 5 people…and they each tell 5 people…

… then we might just be able to help provide the resources needed to inspire the next generation of SFF writers.

I hope you order a copy or two for any of the readers on your Xmas list, or just grab a copy for yourself to read. All the profits go to help kids in Iowa write (while it doesn’t address flood relief, as originally planned, this is an incredibly worthwhile cause – literacy).  I hope you’ll buy a copy today.