Preface for The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer

Some of the tales in The Acorn Gathering continue plots from The Acorn Stories. The others use a variety of new settings and characters. This collection stands on its own, giving readers any background details they might need about the characters, so readers need not start with The Acorn Stories.

Five writers joined me in contributing stories to this project. Not wanting to stifle the voices of individual artists, I accepted their works without insisting on everyone following the exact same punctuation traditions, in cases where those traditions differ according to which style book one checks. However, I corrected typographical errors and consulted with individual authors when I saw a definite need for larger changes in their work.

I invited the authors to share their talents and their vision. The resulting anthology provides a variety of voices more diverse than I ever created with my fictional narrators, yet more cohesive than I ever imagined. My original idea of setting all the stories in my fictional West Texas town of Acorn proved too limiting. Still, the stories paralleled each other with similar themes, issues, conflicts, and chance encounters. That cohesive echoing seemed especially surprising to me, since most of the authors wrote their stories before reading the other stories.

Finally, and most importantly, I arranged an agreement with iUniverse (the publisher) that ensures all author and editor royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the American Cancer Society. Our reward comes in knowing that our efforts will help with the search for a cure to cancer.

Webmasters, if you sell books via your site, please list The Acorn Gathering, and feel free to use its cover image to boost sales.

Bookstore owners and managers, in order to help potential customers who would like to support this project, please keep The Acorn Gathering in stock, and please display it where readers will find it. If one of the authors lives in your area, please point that out in displays, and please consider inviting that author for a reading or signing. I know that the ongoing trend among many bookstores involves only highlighting celebrity-driven books or movie-related books, but I hope booksellers will make an exception for this important cause.

Readers, please help promote this book. If possible, please write a review and submit it to one or more of the following: (1) online bookstores; (2) your local newspaper(s) or college newspaper; (3) a newsletter, magazine, or web site; (4) your neighborhood association or local civic organization newsletter. Or just post the review on your web site. Some online bookstores also offer you the chance to create lists, guides, etc. that mention some books you would like to suggest; please consider promoting The Acorn Gathering in that way as well.

Book groups and book clubs, you can start many rather lively discussions with the stories in The Acorn Gathering, and we encourage you and your members to do so. The book includes a racially diverse mix of characters in a variety of situations.

Simply telling your friends and family about The Acorn Gathering will help to sell the book, which means it will raise more money for cancer research. Please do whatever you can to further our cause.

I want to thank the following people who helped me make The Acorn Gathering a reality:

Freeservers. They provided the web site for TAG (http://acorngathering.gq.nu/), at no charge. Many people learned about our project that way, and I believe it will continue to help TAG find more readers. For those of you who found us through Internet search engines, it especially helped that I could put AcornGathering in the web address, without buying a domain name.

AuthorsDen. This web site focuses on helping writers reach an audience and each other. That made it easy for me to get feedback on the overall book, and some of the stories I wrote for it. I will continue to use AuthorsDen as a way of promoting TAG.

Writers Waters Club at MSN. Unlike many of the online writers clubs I have visited, which often seem more like ego contests than places for creativity, Writers Waters offers a helpful, supportive environment for writers. I also posted some of my TAG stories there, for feedback.

Native American Storytellers and Native American Storytellers Club at Yahoo. Of the countless authors I have encountered over the years, kanee_ok and moon_grace are among the most dedicated to the craft and to their fellow writers. They manage a club and web site, and they deserve endless kudos for their continuing work, which brings together many other unique and precious voices.

John Mudd. John found us at AuthorsDen and provided extremely beneficial publicity for the project.

Ronald L. Donaghe. Ronald helped me a great deal with my simultaneous book projects: The Acorn Gathering and Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure. He has been a great friend and literary inspiration! Working on more than one book project at a time is quite a challenge, and I do not recommend it. Without Ronald, I probably would not have been as successful with both projects.

Finally, I want to express the eternal pride and gratitude I feel toward the writers whose works appear in this book. It never would have happened without them, and there were times throughout this project that I wondered if I would find enough writers. They came through, with both creativity and enthusiasm, making me happier than I ever could have imagined that this book is now complete.

And now, please enjoy an exciting collection of stories. Thank you for purchasing this book and for helping us in our cause to bring the world one step closer in finding a cure for cancer.

Duane Simolke, Editor and Contributing Author, Lubbock, Texas