The Lost Children Charity Anthologies: July 2012

41 writers. One cause. We've rallied a platoon of crime, western, thriller, fantasy, noir, horror and transgressive authors to support PROTECT's important work: lobbying for legislation that protects children from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

Powerful stories from George Pelecanos, Andrew Vachss, Joe R. Lansdale, Charles de Lint, Ken Bruen, Chet Williamson, James Reasoner, Charlie Stella, Michael A. Black, Wayne Dundee, Roxane Gay, Ray Banks, Tony Black, Les Edgerton and 16 more, with 100% of proceeds going to PROTECT.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Protectors gets cover art

Animal Artist Kim Parkhurst has given us a cover for Protectors, the new Lost Children anthology to benefit PROTECT. The cover design will begin now.

We have quite a line-up for you- we shared a partial list, and once the contracts are signed we'll have 40 authors total. Crime and noir writers, Westerns, horror, transgressive and literary. An Edgar finalist from Chet Williamson. Novel excerpts from Ken Bruen and Charlie Stella. New tales from James Reasoner, Wayne D. Dundee, Todd Robinson, Glenn Gray, Patricia Abbott, Les Edgerton, Josh Stallings... every name gives my internal reader a twinge of excitement.

The response has been staggering... in fact, I'm off to read a late entry from a relative newcomer whose reading at Noir at the Bar NYC knocked my socks off.

In a few weeks I'll share the final roster and cover, and on September 1st you'll all get a chance to become PROTECTORS and read 40 tales from legends and rising stars from many genres.

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Protectors is available as an e-book for Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, Kindle UK, Nook, Smashwords and Kobo. The trade paperback is now available from Createspace and Amazon, and from other online retailers and local bookstores.

Lost Children: A Charity Anthology is available for purchase in trade paperback from Watchung Booksellers, Amazon and Createspace, and as an e-book at Amazon, Amazon UK, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, the Apple iBookstore for the iPad, the Sony e-Bookstore, and the Kobo Bookstore.

You may also buy the e-books directly. We will email it to you in Kindle and epub formats. You can read it on your computer, or transfer it to your e-reader with software such as Calibre E-Book Management. This generates the largest donation.

What's the story behind the project?

Protectors:
The Lost Children Charity Anthology was such a success, that Thomas Pluck decided to collect stories from a variety of authors to benefit PROTECT, a lobby whose victories against child abuse include the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, the Hero to Hero program, and Alicia's Law. He collected 41 stories from all new authors. Thanks to the inspiration of goodhearted people like Fiona Johnson, and the people of PROTECT who fight the abuse and exploitation of our children every day, the book is a reality, and 100% of proceeds benefit PROTECT.

For the first anthology:
The challenge began on Flash Fiction Friday, when author Fiona Johnson was guest writer for the fiction prompt, and asked us to write about the lost children. She asked photographer Danielle Tunstall for permission to use the arresting photo shown in the right sidebar, and said:

Some children are lost before they have even started living. Some children are a throw-away commodity like a burger box that’s left to blow down the street in the wind and rain.

I offered to donate $5 for each story submitted to PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children, and Fiona would donate $5 to Children 1st, a children's charity in Scotland. Together we raised $300 for each of the charities thanks to the generous and creative writing communities of Flash Fiction Friday, Fictionaut, and the crime fiction community on Twitter.

It was such a success that we thought we could go further. Ron Earl Phillips, Fiona and I chose 30 of the best stories to put in a charity anthology, all proceeds of which will go to PROTECT and Children 1st.

100% of royalties donated to two causes:

OUR DONATION RECORD

PROTECT and The National Association to Protect Children (USA)

The National Association to Protect Children is a national, pro-child, anti-crime membership association founded on the belief that our first and most sacred obligation as parents, citizens, and members of the human species is the protection of children from harm.

PROTECT is a bipartisan pro-child, anti-crime lobby whose sole focus is making the protection of children a top political and policy priority at the national, state and local level.

You can read about PROTECT's Victories here.

100% of the proceeds of Protectors, and 50% of the proceeds of Lost Children: A Charity Anthology, are donated to PROTECT.

This is an independently organized event, not officially sponsored by [NAPC/PROTECT]

Children 1st (UK)

Children 1st has 125 years experience of working with children and families, previously as the Royal Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (RSSPCC). Today, they support families under stress, protect children from harm and neglect, help them to recover from abuse and promote children's rights and interests. You can read more about their work with children here.

50% of proceeds of the Lost Children Charity Anthology go to Children 1st.

This is an independently organized event, not officially sponsored by Children 1st.