When you spend as much time online as I do you get to know some spectacular people. I met my much-beloved Ahmed via the internet, and wrote online for a wonderful woman named Georgia Jones for many years. I even wrote a book via email with a partner named Elliot Grant years ago. So the interwebs are my friend, and many of my friends are on the interwebs.
Still, the generosity and joy I often find here in cyberspace amazes me. I've tasted the bad. It was worth having a psychotic stalker for years to stick it out. And as my life has changed, this digital world has become more and more important.
A few years ago I had just beaten cancer for the third time when I was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis. It is a disease with no cure, no FDA approved treatment, and it gets very little attention on the world stage of research and development. Most of us diagnosed live fewer than 7 years. PF slowly shrivels the lungs until we strangle to death. There are some promising developments in the distance, but most of us sit on lung transplant lists praying for miracles that won't reach us in time.
I have been lucky. Really, I have. I have a man in my life who is a brilliant physician. I never smoked. I sang and swam a lot in my youth, so I do more with the 2/3 of a lung I have left, functioning, than many people with a lot more. I carry canned oxygen with me, but use it sparingly. I force myself to stay active and positive.
And I have Gwen Hayes, too. The Talmud says that "every blade of grass has its Angel bending over it, whispering grow, grow." Gwen is just such an angel. This month her wonderful release, Oh Goddess, has received rave reviews. But Gwen will not be making money on the title, because she has donated the proceeds from this book to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis.
It would be simple for me to say I love Gwen for doing such a thing. We share some cyber-space together at Fictionistas, and rub shoulders daily at Romance Divas. But her generosity in giving this... the fruit of her soul... to a cause very few people even know of is heart-crushing. She has always been able to make me laugh. She has always been a fun person to know.
But this? Well, suffice it to say we will meet up this March at the New England Romance Writers of America Conference and she may not survive the hug. Poor angel... I may crush those wings to smithereens.
Buy this book. NOT because it will benefit those of us who are literally dying out here. But because it is a funny, wonderful, quick read that will touch your heart. And because Gwen Hayes is going to be a best seller in the very near future. You can say you discovered her ages ago, when she had only just gotten her wings.
ISBN: 978-1-60504-367-8 Length: Short Story Price: 2.50 Publication Date: January 27, 2009 Cover art by Tuesday Dube
*All author and editor proceeds from the sale of Oh Goddess will be donated to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis. You can find out more about the foundation at www.coalitionforpf.org.
Warning: Recent studies show that consuming beverages while reading this story can cause damage to computer monitors, clothing, and sometimes nearby walls. Reader agrees to hold both Samhain Publishing Ltd. and Gwen Hayes harmless in case of accidental spewing caused by laughter.
*VERY special thanks, too, to Samhain for being a part of this generosity.
