Saturday, November 3, 2012

SOS - Save Our Shore

Up here in Sussex County, where I live, we got hit hard enough so that almost everyone lost power, and some still haven't gotten it back yet. It was bad. Trees came down all over, but it wasn't as bad as Irene last year.
But the coastal areas of New Jersey have been devastated, along with New York City, where the transit system is not back up to speed yet and much of Manhattan is still dark, and especially Staten Island, which got clobbered from all sides. In these places, the people are still suffering a week after the storm.
Mr. Bachman, the hero/teacher of Heartless Cruelty, would be running around rescuing whoever he could in the hard hit shore town of Atlantis, except for one small fact: he's fictional.



But we aren't fictional, are we? That's why we have to do something. I'm going to start here: I will donate a portion of all royalties from sales of my book, Heartless Cruelty, to a fund to rebuild the devastated areas, beginning with all the books sold last night at our wonderful event at Sparta Books, and continuing through the rest of 2012.


The plan is to call this The Atlantis Fund. I don't know yet how the legal ins and outs of fundraising will complicate things, so for now, I will be putting money into an account every time a book sells. If you would like to add to this fund other than by buying copies of Heartless Cruelty, you can send a check to me at 57 Compton Road, Sussex, NJ 07461. When my accountant tells me how to do it, I will set up an actual named charity; until then, make your check out to me, and put ATLANTIS FUND on the memo line.

Booksellers who are carrying Heartless Cruelty: maybe you would like to join in the effort.

This is what we do, isn't it? We pull together when others need help. Just when you think that people are so polarized that nobody wants to care for his neighbor, a crisis happens, and we are reminded of the things that matter most.




I'll end this lengthy post with a thank you to Bruce Springsteen for writing "Land of Hope & Dreams,"
and for performing it last night with the E Street Band. 
These lyrics are the intellectual property of Bruce Springsteen and I sure hope he doesn't mind me reposting them here.
Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder's rolling down this track
Well you don't know where you're goin' now
But you know you won't be back
Well darlin' if you're weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We'll take what we can carry
Ya, and we'll leave behind the rest

Well, big wheels rolling through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

Well I will provide for you
Ya and I'll stand by your side
You'll need a good companion now
For this part of your ride
Ya leave behind your sorrows
Ya this day at last
Well tomorrow there'll be sunshine
And all this darkness past

Well, big wheels rolling through fields
Where sunlight streams
Oh meet me in a land of hope and dreams

Well this train
Carries saints and sinners
This train
Carries losers and winners
This train
Carries whores and gamblers
This train
Carries lost souls

This train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This train
Faith will be rewarded
This train
Hear the steel wheels singing
This train
Bells of freedom ringing


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