Hey, what good is a blog if I can’t use it to promote my own projects, on occasion?

I realize I talk about Triumph Over Tragedy constantly these days, but this project really means a lot to me and I’m incredibly emotionally invested in it. We have some fantastic authors who have donated time and wonderful stories to help those effected by Hurricane Sandy. I’m doubly emotional about this because I spent the Christmas season on the Hurricane Katrina ravaged Gulf Coast and it’s an experience I will never forget. The holidays are approaching, and all I can think about are people who have lost everything, and my memories of all the tent cities and families that I saw standing around fire pits in the middle of winter in Mississippi.

That’s no way to celebrate whatever holiday you celebrate during this season.

I realize this project has already had a lot of attention and discussion, but I can always do more. We are almost caught up on edits (yay!). I want to focus on polishing off a few of the final stories and really spreading the word and trying to get as many people as possible to donate a tiny $7 to purchase this incredible anthology. By purchasing the anthology, you are also helping people who really, really need your aide at the same time. Bonus: 100% of the money raised goes directly toward relief efforts.

Anthologies are hard to sell, especially if they are full of stand-alone stories. I feel like I need to work even harder to get people to bite, and I’m willing to get down and dirty and work as hard as I need to to push this project and garner as much interest as possible.

I’m willing to do almost anything. Seriously. I will guest post, yap at you on a podcast, give you information so YOU can post about the project, join a forum and drive everyone insane, bake cookies and ship them to you. I don’t care what. I want to reach out to as many people as I can and help spread the word about this incredible project. I figure I can either email everyone alive and ask if there is any way I can do (whatever) to promote the project on (insert medium here), or I can use my website and broadcast my desire into the interwebs and let people come to me.

While this is R.T. Kaelin‘s brainchild, I’ve royally inserted myself into the project, and I’d like to not only continue helping by editing stories until my brain hurts (which is what I have been doing), but I want to take some of the weight off of his shoulders by doing a bit of PR work and letting him rest up and enjoy time with his family.

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For those of you who haven’t been keeping tabs, this incredible anthology’s updated list of contributing authors is as follows:

• Robert Silverberg (Hugo and Nebula Award winner)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley (Locus Award winner) (donated by the MZB Literary Trust)
• Timothy Zahn (Hugo Award winner)
• Elizabeth Bear
• Michael J. Sullivan
• Mark Lawrence
• Bradley P. Beaulieu
• Philip Athans
• Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Tobias Buckell
Tim Marquitz
• Stephen D. Sullivan
• Rick Novy
• Jean Rabe
• Maxwell Alexander Drake
• SM Blooding
• Erik Scott de Bie
• Alex Bledsoe
• Elisabeth Waters
Bryan Thomas Schmidt
• R.T. Kaelin
• Ari Marmell
• Matt Bone
• Sarah Hans
• Rob Rogers
• Jaym Gates
• C.S. Marks
• C.J. Henderson
• Marian Allen
• Bryan Young
• Donald Bingle
• Janine Spendlove
• T.L. Gray
• Miya Kressin
• Matthew Wayne Selznick
• Steven Saus
• Addie King
• Rob Knipe
• Vicki Johnson-Steger
• Tracy Chowdhury
• Doris Stever