Who Wants Free Art and Books?

I've been in New Orleans at the fabulous Saints & Sinners Literary Festival, which is why there have been no new posts. I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, as there's some fun news.

Right now though I want to tell you about a fundraiser my dear friend Jim Lucio is holding. Jim is a fantastic artist. I'm particularly in love with his series of Polaroid portraits.

Jim is currently raising money to help his friend Julie prevent foreclosure on her home following the loss of her job. That's totally sad, I know. But it gets worse. Julie takes in homeless animals, and unless she finds a way to hang on to her house, 11 little fur people (including Waffle, below left) won't have anywhere to live and may end up back in shelters, where things won't look too good for them.

So now you're all weepy, right? Well let me give you the good news. Jim is looking for 50 people to donate $50 each. I'm sure some of you would do this just because you 1. want to help someone out, 2. want to help animals out, or 3. have an extra $50 lying around and don't know what to do with it.

That's all great and everything, but most of us are kind of self-centered creatures and want more than just warm fuzzies for our money. That's where this gets extra-good. Everyone who donates $50 or more gets a piece of art from Jim's Polaroid show at Metro Gallery.

But that's not all. Each of my readers who donates $50 or more will get a piece of Jim's art AND a signed copy of my latest novel, What We Remember.
Jim's prints sell for $60 each and my novel is $24, but for your $50 you:

1. Help out Julie and her 11 fur people
2. Get really cool art
3. Get a signed copy of my new novel

As they say on TV, that's an $84 value for only $50. Also, you can't put a value on helping save Julie's home, so it's more like an $84 billion value for only $50.

Jim needs to have the money by June 01, which is just around the corner. So head on over to his website for more info and a link for donating. Once you've donated, let me know so I can confirm with Jim. Then I'll send you the book.

I know the economy has been hard on all of us, and some of us simply don't have $50. But you can still help by passing along this request to everyone you know who wants to help out someone in trouble, help animals, loves art, or just wants free stuff. The more people who know about this, the sooner Julie and her critters know that they'll be safe.

Enough reading. Get donating and spreading the word.