Thank You!

May 05

Just wanted to give a shout-out to everybody who participated in our May Day AIRlift! I’m still tallying the receipts and order numbers you sent me, but my guesstimate is that we moved between 100-120 books. Whatever the number turns out to be, that’s the number of dollars I’ll give to the Koru Foundation.

Thanks again!

By the way, anybody who feels a burning need to follow the minute-by-minute account of my life can find me on Twitter @g_willow. That’s all for now.

May Day AIRlift

April 24

Friends and colleagues,

As most of you know, the first volume of my comic book series AIR debuted last month. Drawn by the incomparable MK Perker, AIR is the story of Blythe, a fight attendant with a fear of heights who is drawn into the race to develop a radical new form of flight based on Aztec technology. She also falls in love with a guy who might be a terrorist. It’s a look, through a surrealist lens, at the nature of borders, identity and travel in our post-9/11 world. Though fans have been calling the series entertainingly bizarre and unexpected, I feel quite sane when I’m writing it. Who knows what that says about me!

Happily, the trade has been getting good reviews. Two weeks ago, MK and I learned we’ve been nominated for the Eisner Award for best new series. We’re totally psyched; this is a great honor. But I’d still like to kick things up a notch.

Whacky as it is, AIR is a book with a message. So, for every copy of AIR bought this May Day (Friday, May 1st), I will donate $1 to the Koru Foundation, a UK-based charity that helps impoverished communites the world over develop low-cost renewable energy projects, bringing climate-friendly electricity to villages without a single light bulb. Ironically, the people most threatened by climate change are those who had the least responsibility in creating it. I saw this firsthand in North Africa, where desertification is already destroying ancient farming cultures. By acting now, we can help ease the burden on our planet while bringing power to communities without it.

Here is what to do:

1. On Friday, May 1st, click here to purchase a copy of AIR: Letters from Lost Countries from Amazon.com
2. Email info [at] gwillowwilson [dot] com. Write ‘May Day AIRlift’ in the Subject line. In the body of the email, copy and paste your Amazon order number. Do NOT include any financial information, your address, or anything else! Just the order number.
3. Sit back, wait for your book to arrive, and feel good about having done something for our planet.

A copy of this email is available here on my website. Feel free to link to it, forward this email widely and/or post this message to your blogs. I appreciate your support.

All best,
Willow

NOTE: A lot of people have been asking if they can buy from their LCS or another website. The answer is yes, absolutely. If you buy from your LCS, send a scan of your receipt instead of an order number. Make sure to black out any personal info (account numbers, addresses) first. 

Still Here, I Swear

January 28

The last few months have been so busy workwise that I can’t stand the sight of my computer by the end of the day. Hence, no blogging. But I’m still here. If any of you New Yorkers feel like braving the costumed crowds at the Javits Center next week, I’ll be lurking around the DC/Vertigo booth. Stop by and say hello. In the meantime, I hope to be back to blogging as soon as the spirit strikes me. You can always catch me Arguing On The Internet over at TalkIslam. They’ve set up a podcast feature at RedRoom, which is appealing when you’re burnt out on keyboards...stay tuned. 

The talented Moe Abbas has been updating various parts of the site, so look for new reading material under press, books etc. Happy trails.