Two Good Deals, One For a Great Cause

A couple of the vendors who sell my stories are having special deals right now.

Fictionwise is having one of its 40% rebate on everything sales, for purchases made with a credit card. The link takes you to the two of my books they sell, but the rebate applies to everything. The way this works is when you purchase a book with a rebate, the rebated amount is credited to your "micropay" account, which can be spent later like cash. I like their rebate-on-everything sales because usually their rebates only apply to DRMed books, and I don't buy those. You don't have to join a club or anything; just create the usual online buyer's account and your rebate amount will be stored there for whenever you want to use it.

All Romance eBooks is having a promotion where authors and/or publishers are donating their royalties for the month of May to the National Center for Lesbian Rights -- which supports the rights of all LGBT people now, not just lesbians. The NCLR is representing Clay Greene in his attempt to get justice from Sonoma County for the horrible way they treated him and his partner, Harold Scull.

From NCLR's info page on Greene v. County of Sonoma et al.:

Clay and his partner of 25 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place, including wills and powers of attorney, naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.

In April 2008, Harold, who was very frail, fell on the front steps of the home he shared with his partner of 25 years, Clay Greene. Harold had endured open heart surgery, was on a number of medications that made him uncomfortable, and was in declining physical and mental health. When Harold fell, he did not want Clay to call an ambulance. But Clay knew that the fall was serious and that medical attention was required. He did what any of us would do—he called the paramedics. When Harold, in a fury, told the paramedics that Clay had pushed him, they reported the allegations, which were found to be unsubstantiated.

Then Harold and Clay's nightmare truly began. Instead of handling Harold and Clay's case appropriately, the County of Sonoma filed for conservatorship of Harold's estate, seeking control of Harold's finances. Without authority, the county auctioned off everything that both Harold and Clay owned. Virtually all of the couple's belongings, including numerous pieces of art, Hollywood memorabilia and collectibles, were sold at auction or have disappeared. In an early visit by County employees to review the contents of the home, workers remarked on the couple's treasures, with one noting how much his "wife would love" a piece and a second commenting how "great that would look in my house" on another. When Clay objected he was told to "shut up."

County workers also removed Clay from his and Harold's home and placed Clay in an assisted living facility against his will. Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in a nursing home. Because of the County's actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 25 years, and he has been unable to recover his possessions.

That's really despicable. The county claimed Harold and Clay were only roommates when it came to visitation rights or the authority to make medical and financial decisions, despite Clay having a legal power of attorney (which was ignored). But it seems the county was treating them as legal partners who owned property in common when it sold the entire contents of their home to pay for Harold's medical costs. They couldn't even be consistent in their gross mistreatment of this couple.

All my stand-alone short stories up on ARe are part of the fund raising effort. I'll donate all my royalties from ARe to Clay Greene's legal fund at NCLR, to help him get some sort of justice out of this mess, and give Sonoma County officials the slap they clearly need to jar a few brain cells loose. If you've been thinking of trying some of my work, this'd be a good time to do it -- some good stories and helping out with a worthy cause. (And in actuality, I'm donating all my royalties for the quarter -- through the end of June -- since my statement doesn't break it down any farther than that.) Here's ARe's info page about the fund raiser, which includes a list of all the authors and publishers participating, with links to their books.

Angie