PROTECT's latest victory!

We're sharing this to show the results we get when we support PROTECT!

Thank you to all who've purchased these books, and doubly so to those who join PROTECT

They are the real warriors in this fight, and we are proud to support them!

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Forward to Your Friends and Share on Facebook & Twitter Dear Supporter: Victory! Yesterday our Child Protection Act of 2012 passed Congress. Today it's on its way to President Obama's desk for signing. This was a major bipartisan victory, and a direct result of your support for PROTECT! We especially thank Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-CT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). The new law includes several measures that our allies have been trying unsuccessfully to pass for years. Here are the highlights: • Reauthorizes our PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, approving double today's child rescue funding for America's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. These task forces rescue thousands of children every year • Tough new penalties for threatening or harassing a child witness in child abuse and exploitation cases (this was vigorously opposed by some) • New fast-track administrative subpoenas for U.S. Marshals searching for fugitive sex offenders • Increased penalties of up to 20 years for distribution or receipt of child abuse images, when the victim is under 12  Many Americans just assume that passing laws like this is easy. After all, who's not against child abuse? But PROTECT members know better. You know that every victory we win is the result of a long, hard fight. We're David, up against Goliath. We depend 100% on people like you to keep us in there fighting for victories like this one! Join us in celebrating today! And please consider helping us replenish our war chest. You can give a gift of any size online, or even pledge a small amount each month. Thank you for being someone children -- and PROTECT -- can count on! Copyright © 2012 PROTECT. All rights reserved. PROTECT | P.O. Box 27599, Knoxville, TN 37927 | www.protect.org Click here to unsubscribe

Book Signings for Protectors!

If you're in the Chicago area in mid-November- bring a coat, and visit one of two bookstores hosting signings of Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT -

On November 15th, at Open Books, Andrew Vachss, Michael A. Black, and Zak Mucha will be there to sign Protectors and other books. Artist Geoff Darrow will also be there to sign Shaolin Cowboy. They have a limited number of copies of Protectors on hand. Sales of all books will benefit PROTECT and children's literacy in Chicago.

On November 16th, the same crew is heading to Centuries & Sleuths in Forest Park. C&S also has copies of Protectors on hand for purchase. The full event details are available here.

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.

Lost Children: An Anthology to Benefit PROTECT and Children 1st

Lost Children: A Charity Anthology collects thirty short stories from emerging hardboiled, transgressive, literary and noir writers to support PROTECT and Children 1st. PROTECT lobbies for stronger and smarter child protection laws in the U.S., and Children 1st deliver services to help children and families, and speak out for children's rights in Scotland.

Authors include Paul D. Brazill, Chad Rohrbacher, David Barber, Fiona "McDroll" Johnson, Ron Earl Phillips, Lynn Beighley, Susan Tepper, Thomas Pluck, Nicolette Wong, Benoit Lelievre, Seamus Bellamy, J.F. Juzwik, Nancy Hansen, JP Reese, Luca Veste, Sam Rasnake, Sif Dal, Veronica Lewis-Marie Shaw, David Ackley, James Lloyd Davis, Roberto C. Garcia, MaryAnne Kolton, Vinod Narayan,  Paula Pahnke, Susan Gibb, Ingrid K.V. Hardy, Gil Hoffs and Erin Zulkoski.

The book is available for as an e-book at Amazon, Amazon UK, Smashwords, the Apple iBookstore for the iPad, the Sony e-Bookstore, the Kobo Bookstore, and Barnes & Noble for Nook for $2.99

It is also available in trade paperback at Amazon and Createspace for $9.99
The trade paperback is available with free international shipping at The Book Depository.

You may also buy the e-book directly! We will mail it to you in PDF, Kindle mobi, and Nook 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. $2.99

a little bit about... James Lloyd Davis

James Lloyd Davis gave us a powerful tale from the Vietnam War, that could be any war, entitled "Butterfly Fingers."

What inspired your story?
Butterfly Fingers is a story about orphans in a war zone, about the soldiers who are probably the cause of their condition, but who become, as "occupiers," a source for both sustenance and survival as well as one of the few witnesses to their existence, their plight. Any veteran will recognize the concept of the 'fingers' ... both greedy and needy, the taps on your arms, the reaching, the touching, the pinching even, the gestures ... all of them are a cry for help even when offered in jest, with laughter ... laughter being a human emotional response to desperation. The reaching? It's a response to hunger. It's even a cry for love in a loveless place. Little fingers. Graceful, delicate fingers.

What makes this cause important to you?
War creates widows and orphans. It creates veterans and cripples and head cases. We don't often hear about the orphans, though, and my story attempts to give you a reminder about the fact that they are children. Little things. Innocent. Christ, they're everywhere, die by the trainload daily, from starvation, disease, neglect, and it feels like nobody really gives a damn! Sorry, it makes me angry as well as sad.

Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.
I'm just getting back to writing after a life-long detour where I was doing an awful lot of other things. You can read about me, my history, even read some of my work at the following web sites:
http://jameslloyddavis.com/ and http://www.fictionaut.com/users/james-lloyd-davis

a little about... Sif Dal

Sif Anna Dal contributed her story "Pretty Little Girl" to the challenge:

What inspired your story?

My story was inspired by the many children I see at our local shopping centre with their parents. The parents are often young, and lead tough lives, and their children are the baggage they must carry along with them.
For these children this is the only life they know and they find joys and comforts in their life, seemingly unaware of the pitying glances of bypasses.


What Makes this cause important to you?

I have long been an advocate of children. I have studied child development and helped to run parenting forums and groups based on attachment theory. I see that there is a dualism in how children are perceived throughout
much of society; as both precious and to be protected, but also less sentient because of their inability to communicate their complex needs and emotions. I am keen for the voices of children to be heard.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

I am a mother of four boys and a compulsive writer. I have degrees in Communications, Education and Creative Writing and am currently preparing to undertake a Doctorate (doing research in the field of folklore). I post several times a week on my blog "At the Bottom of the Garden" (http://www.wherethefairieslive.com) about life as a writer and mother of  four who also lives with low vision and ADHD - my blog is rather eclectic
but I post bits of writing most weeks.

A little about PROTECT

50% of the proceeds of the sales of this e-book will be donated to PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children. The funds are taxable because PROTECT lobbies Congress to strengthen laws that protect children from predators. One of the founders is author and lawyer Andrew Vachss.

The National Association to Protect Children is a national, pro-child, anti-crime membership association. We are 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.

Find them at:

www.protect.org

a little about... Luca Veste

This is the first in a series of posts about the contributors to our collection. Luca's story "Waiting" appears in The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology.

What inspired your story?

It comes from a personal event, extrapolated to an inordinate amount. I've been that child waiting at a window for a parent, and it stays with you forever. It's possibly the most personal thing I'll ever write, but on seeing the incredible image that was used as a prompt, this story just wouldn't budge from my mind.


What makes this cause important to you?

Anything to help children and I'm there. As a father, the most important thing in my life is my children, so anything I can do to help children who possibly don't have that same support as my own children, I'll help any way I can.


Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

I'm a Husband and Father of two daughters. I'm a mature student studying Criminology and Psychology. I review books on my Guilty Conscience ( http://guiltyconscienceblog.blogspot.com ) site, and turned my hand to writing a few months ago. I released a collection of short stories in October, titled 'Liverpool 5', published by Trestle Press. I've had stories at Thrillers, Killers 'n' Chillers and the forthcoming Paul D. Brazill Anthology 'Brit Grit 2'.