The Lost Children Charity Anthologies: Seamus Bellamy

Showing posts with label Seamus Bellamy. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Lawrence Block signed books raffle!

We've had the blessing to work with many hard-working and generous people since we embarked on this project. One of them is Seamus Bellamy, who contributed the excellent story "Larry" to volume one of the anthology. Seamus purchased three SIGNED first editions of crime writing legend Lawrence Block's book After Hours, and we are raffling them off for the next ten days!

Anyone who buys the anthology, either for Kindle or in paperback, email the Amazon or Createspace receipt to this address: tpluck+lostchildrenbooks@gmail.com to be entered into the raffle. There are three chances to win.

Amazon (US)

Amazon (UK)

Createspace

Watchung Booksellers

Indiebound (from your local independent bookstore)

If you've already purchased the book, buy one as a gift.

(The book is currently in the Kindle Select program, but if you require it in Nook or any other e-book format, I will e-mail you those editions upon request, and assist you with transferring it to your e-reader.)

From Seamus:

Anyone that buys Lost Children: A Charity Anthology between June 6th and Saturday June 16th will be entered in a draw to win one of three signed hardcover copies of After Hours: Conversations with Lawernce Block. They're first editions. Don't try and tell me you don't want one.

In doing so, you'll be helping out a pair of great charities, wind up with a great anthology, and if you're lucky, a signed hardcover copy of a book that lets you take a boo at the mind of one of noir fiction's greatest living legends.

It ain't no velveteen day, but it sure as hell ain't a poke in the eye either, now is it? Get to giving and good luck in the draw!

If you can't see your way to agreeing with me that stripping the innocence right out of an innocent kids isn't the worst kind of crime that this dogshit world of ours has to offer, then we've got nothing else to talk about. While most of us bop through our days oblivious to the abuse inflicted on so many of the kids on a daily basis, a few tenacious souls are strong enough to do something about it. Tommy Pluck's one of those. Last year, Tommy and Fiona Johnson put together Lost Children: A Charity Anthology. It's a book that I was proud to contribute to, and one that you should be proud to buy. Y'see, all proceeds from the book are donated to PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children and Children 1st Scotland --Two fine charities that work endlessly to protect the kids that the rest of us are too wrapped up in our own lives to keep safe or too damn oblivious to see as needing protection.

Seamus Bellamy is a warlord, author and journalist who's work appears frequently in print and online. You'll find his portfolio and other undesirable things at www.seamusbellamy.com

Thank you, Seamus!

-Tom and the LC crew

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Get a taste with Seamus Bellamy's story at the Flash Fiction Offensive

David Barber, editor of The Flash Fiction Offensive and contributor to the anthology, chose Seamus Bellamy's crime tale "Larry" to showcase the book. It's a gripping tale and will give you an idea of the talent that contributed to our anthology.

Larry by Seamus Bellamy, at The Flash Fiction Offensive

Monday, October 24, 2011

a little about... Seamus Bellamy

Seamus wrote the excellent crime tale Larry for the anthology and has one of the coolest Twitter avatars in existence.

What inspired your story?
I don't remember much of my own childhood, so getting into the headspace to write a tale told through the eyes of a child has always proved difficult for me. That said, I've known a lot of individuals on both sides of the law that came from broken homes, abusive parents and worse. That, I can write about.

What makes this cause important to you?
For our society to become something we can be proud of, it falls on each one of us to do what we can to protect our fellows. Who could be more worthy of protection than a child? The very least I can do to this end is turn my pen towards making some cash to help keep kids safe.

A little bit about myself
After attending university, I spent over a decade working in private industrial security and intelligence. Close to two years ago, I packed it in, to peruse my passion: writing. These days you can find my work in the pages of Maximum PC, PC Gamer, Mac|Life and TabTimes (launching this fall). I've also penned two books: Joomla for Dummies (second edition), as well as the second edition of Drupal for Dummies, which was co-written with Lynn Beighley. When my tech writing schedule allows for it, I plunk away at my first novel. I reckon it'll be ready when it's ready. You can catch up to me through my website www.seamusbellamy.com

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.