Posted on: 01/28/10

I recently received my author comp copies of the paperback edition of Hero-Type. It’s a really beautiful book — the folks at Graphia did a great job.

 


The Hero-Type paperback

Well, I started thinking about what to do with these books. (There’s a bunch of them, and as much as I like being reminded that I’m an author, I really don’t need THAT many copies of my own work lying around the house.) The “thing to do” with author copies is to give them away, of course, so I could have had a drawing or a contest, I suppose. But I wanted to do something different this time around.

After all, one of the elements of Hero-Type is learning that “supporting the troops” isn’t quite as easy as most people would have you think. So why not use this book about supporting the troops to actually, y’know, support the troops?

So, here’s the deal: Teachers, librarians — you can get a signed copy of Hero-Type for your school/collection by rallying your own “troops” to support the men and women in the field. Get your kids together to write letters or send cards. Better yet, put together a care package. Write up an account of what you did and why, take a picture of yourself at the post office sending out the package, and e-mail the whole she-bang to hero AT barrylyga DOT com (along with your full name and address, of course!). I will then send you a signed copy of Hero-Type.

If you’re looking for what you should be sending overseas, check out this article:http://thefuntimesguide.com/2005/09/soldierpackages.php. (The page formatting’s a little funky in my browser, but the information is solid.)

And if you don’t know who to send a package to, check out AnySoldier.com. AnySoldier.com is a terrific organization that helps bring packages from home to folks in the field who wouldn’t otherwise get them. I had a good friend who served in Iraq who speaks very highly of AnySoldier.com, so you can be sure it’s a worthy place for information and assistance.

So, to sum up — you get a signed copy of Hero-Type for your classroom or collection by:

  1. Gathering your kids
  2. Putting together letters, cards, and/or a care package
  3. Sending the stuff off
  4. Documenting what you did and sending that documentation to hero AT barrylyga DOT com.

Go for it!