Writers of SFFWorld.com – Unite!

Early last year, someone lit a fire under my butt.

Okay, not literally, but that’s what it felt like. I mean, the world was ending on the 21st of December. Right?

We’d been talking about putting out an anthology for years, and I had thought 2012 was it. Now or never. If the members of SFFWorld.com’s Writing forum did not get their act together in 2012, we’ll never have another chance.

So, we did it. Together we wrote 12 short stories about the end of the world and self-published The End – Visions of Apocalypse*.

Frankly, once we published it, I thought it would all end there (pun intended). I mean, who reads anthologies? And who would read our anthology?

Well, a lot of people decided to give us a try, I’m sure in no small part due to Hugh Howey‘s and Michael J. Sullivan‘s participation (long time members of SFFWorld.com) as well as the trusted old technique known as ‘word of mouth’.

And therefore to all the readers out there, you have our sincerest gratitude.

For those who paid cold, hard cash for that reading experience, we would like you to know that your monies did not get squandered.

Instead, all the contributing writers felt that our first year’s proceeds should go to Africare, a charity whose mission it is to serve people in need in Africa. This past weekend, on behalf of the writers** and SFFWorld.com, we were able to contribute $200.00 to Africare’s mission. Any additional proceeds garnered in 2013 from the sale of The End – Visions of Apocalypse will continue to go towards that cause.

I know, that doesn’t seem like much, but considering that the anthology has been offered mostly for free since it was published, I’m happy with what we were able to donate.

So much so that with that success under our belt, I’m pleased to say that we’ve got cracking on another anthology. Later this year, Mark Lawrence and twelve SFFWorld.com forum writers will be published in the Lucky or Unlucky: 13 Stories of Fate anthology. Mr. Lawrence donated the money from the sale of his story to our anthology to Children’s Hospice in the United Kingdom, bringing our total donations for 2013 up to $550.00. What a score for those charities and SFFWorld.com!

Though not all the proceeds of the second anthology will go to the Children’s Hospice, know that if you buy our second effort, much of your monies have already made a significant difference in someone’s life.

Thank you to all the readers and writers of short-fiction anthologies. We couldn’t do this without you.

*If you would like to read our collective efforts, you can still purchase a copy (only 99 cents!) on Amazon.com or Smashwords.

**The writers whom contributed to The End – Visions of Apocalypse are: Michael Aaron, Liam Baldwin, R. F. Dickson, Wilson Geiger, Norman Gray, Hugh Howey, Stephen “B5” Jones, G. L. Lathian, Igor Ljubuncic, Pete McLean, Michael J. Sullivan, and Tristis Ward