Not the signing report; a beg for charity money

As regular readers know, tonight I joined David Drake, James Maxey, and Lisa Shearin at a signing at the Cary Barnes & Noble. I'll talk about the signing--and maybe have some pictures from Gina--tomorrow night.

Tonight, though, I want to talk about something James is doing and ask you to help by giving some money. I don't do this often, and I'm not entirely sure what moved me to do it tonight, but so it goes.

In the interest of full disclosure, I barely know James. We've met at two signings, maybe one or two other times, and that's about it. I also know there are a zillion worthy charities. I'm asking tonight, I guess, because I think what James is doing is kinda cool, and because I have a personal tie with the charity.

In another of James' blogs, if you scroll down a bit, you can find an entry from yesterday entitled "Books for Breasts." Basically, James is offering free signed copies--really free, including postage--of his latest book, Dragonseed, to anyone who donates any amount, however small, to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. His blog entry will give his reasons for doing this. I'm doing it because, as I said, it's a cool idea, and because my mother lost both breasts in two separate rounds of breast cancer.

All you have to do is follow this link to his personal page on the Komen foundation site, donate any amount, and he'll send you a link. If you're broke and need something to read, drop in a buck, and get a new paperback; what a deal. A used book would set you back the same amount.

James set his original goal at $300 and then raised it to a grand. When I went over there a few minutes ago, the total was $565. I made it $665, and I'm looking forward to my book.

Tomorrow, as I noted, I'll get back to the signing.