A Fundraiser by Author Jim C. Hines for Sexual Assault Awareness Month

In a departure from our usual silliness, let me bring to your attention a real cool giveaway being organized by fantasy author Jim C. Hines to benefit Rape Crisis Centers.

The sad fact of our society and the world is that rape is far to common of a crime.  If you haven't been a victim of this crime or known someone who has been a victim then it may be hard to understand just how profound an impact this horrific crime can have on some-one's life.  Rape is a violation that victims will never be able to forget and must live with the rest of their lives.  As horrible is the crime is however, it is important to remember that there is hope and healing is possible.  To the parents out there, please raise your boys right, to the men out there please act like real men, protect and honor women do not hurt them.

April is sexual assault awareness month, so please take time, donate if you can or help in one of the many ways large or small that you can to help reduce sexual assaults in this country and to help victims of sexual assault find healing and justice.

Below is the complete post regarding the giveaway hosted by author Jim C. Hines from his website.

"Fundraising for Rape Crisis Centers 

April is sexual assault awareness month. 

This is something that’s very important to me. I’ve written a fair amount about rape over the years, but a lot of it comes down to:
Rape is a horribly common crime. 

As a society, we tend to punish victims while excusing or defending many perpetrators of rape
While the individual rapist is always responsible for his (or her) crimes, there are cultural/societal reasons rape continues at such a frequent rate
Survivors of rape deserve support, no matter what. 

For several years, I’ve run a fundraiser and given out signed books to encourage people to donate to rape crisis centers. In the past, I’ve given out autographed books to people who donate, but this year I wanted to go even bigger. So I’ve talked to some author friends, and the net result is that you could win a lot more books this year, depending on how much money we raise. 

I’ll post a running total here throughout the month. The more money we raise, the more prizes I’ll throw into the pot. Right now, we’re covered through $3000 with a total of seventeen incredible, autographed books. If we raise more money, then I’ll just have to round up more authors and prizes. 

TOTAL RAISED AS OF 4/11/2012: $473 

The prizes so far and the amount we have to raise to add them to the giveaway are as follows:
$0 - An ARC of Libriomancer, by Jim C. Hines
$250 - Blue Magic, by Alyx Dellamonica
$500 - The Unexpected Miss Bennet, by Patrice Sarath
$750 - A book from Anton Strout (an ARC of Alchemystic or, if the ARCs aren’t ready, a copy of Dead to Me)
$1000 - Of Blood and Honey & And Blue Skies from Pain by Stina Leicht
$1250 - A Magic of Twilight (hardcover) from S.L. Farrell
$1500 - Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear
$1750 - The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea, by Martha Wells
$2000 - Hardcovers of Twilight’s Dawn and Bridge of Dreams, by Anne Bishop
$2500 - With Fate Conspire & an ARC of A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan
$3000 - The Vineart Trilogy (hardcover) by Laura Anne Gilman
$3500 - ??? 

Thanks so much to all of the authors who offered books! 

The rules:
You can donate to your local rape crisis center, or if you prefer, to an organization like RAINN. Most places will take donations online.
To enter, send an e-mail to endrape@jimchines.com.
Let me know how much you donated so I can update the total. You can donate any amount, from $1 to $10,000 or more.
If you donate at least $50, please include some sort of documentation (e-mail or electronic receipt, something like that).
Make sure to include your mailing address!
Now, Michigan law prohibits unlicensed raffles, meaning I can’t require donations to enter. Therefore, if you can’t donate anything at all, you can still e-mail me to enter the giveaway. But for those who can, please try to give at least a few bucks. 

Winners will be selected at random on May 1. If there are particular books you’d like, please mention them in your e-mail, in order of priority. But I can’t guarantee anything. I’m planning to pick winners and prizes like so: 

Randomly draw winner #1. If they asked for a specific book, that’s what they win. Otherwise, they get the first one on the list (Libriomancer). 

Randomly draw winner #2. If they asked for a specific book and it’s available, that’s what they win. Otherwise, they get whatever’s next on the list.
And so on and so forth, until all the prizes have homes.
I hope that’s clear. If anyone has questions, please let me know.
Finally, I’d very much appreciate it if people could spread the word about the fundraiser and giveaway."

LINK to Jim C. Hines' Website

For more information on rape victim resources and sexual assault please visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).