An appeal on behalf of Caitlin R. Kiernan

[chris_walsh]

To go off-topic to a friend of Doc's, I hope people in this communite can help support someone worth supporting.

Caitlin R. Kiernan, who inhabits LJ World as greygirlbeast, has gone public with a major health issue: she has PNES, or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. This makes it hard for her to work. She is a freelance novelist with no health insurance (as

Comments

[snowfields]

I know exactly what she's going through. I lost my job to something very similar in 2006. Nobody will employ me now as insurance won't cover me, so I've been reduced to disability payments from the government. I found out just after new year they were cutting the money I receive, meaning I can no longer pay my rent. I'm officially homeless as of the 22nd Feb.

I hope she manages to get through it.

[chris_walsh]

And I hope you manage to get through your situation, too. I read your entry about what's happening; I can't really imagine having to go through that, and I'm sorry you have to.

Best of the good luck. You deserve good thoughts, too.

[sistercarrion]

Will crosspost like woah to my journal..

[chris_walsh]

Very much appreciated.

My finding out about Caitlin was Farscape-related: I wasn't a watcher of the show, but when it was threatened with cancellation in 2002, Caitlin started writing appeals to the Powers That Be and encouraging others online to do the same. Neil Gaiman (a friend of hers, and who got her to write for the comic The Dreaming) posted about her effort, and mentioned as an aside how good Caitlin was at describing a writer's day-to-day work. That interested me enough to swing over to her journal; I became a big fan of hers, also getting to communicate with her and even send her stuff. Everyone likes gifts!

Again, thank you for helping to spread the word.

[beautifulmithra]

Thats a shame. It sucks having no health insurance and having a major problem- I am in the same boat.
I was unaware she was on LJ. I have never read anything by her, though I have Silk & Triads sitting on my shelf. I need to get to that.. I've got SO many books on my to read list. lol

[chris_walsh]

The Caitlin book I recommend as a starting point (now available as a mass-market paperback) is Low Red Moon (2003).

I'd read her previous book, Threshold, in 2002, and -- unusual for me -- immediately re-read it because it was such a striking book, and because I wanted to understand it better. Threshold and Low Red Moon follow one particular story, one that continues in last year's Daughter of Hounds (out in trade paperback, and available at the above link). I hope, if and when you read Caitlin's stuff, that you like it.

And I hope you like Doc's and Faust's Triads. I just read that; whoa, vivid. Worthy book.

[chris_walsh]

And thank you as well.

[elite]

I have just finished a tedious freelance script job and I will be donating as soon as I get my first check.

It sucks to have no health insurance. I've never had it, actually, so I know how hard it can be to deal with a simple cold or ingrown toenail. I can't imagine how tough it must be to deal with a major health issue. I'm glad so many people are supporting Caitlin and I'm going to do my part as soon as that money starts to trickle in for me. =)

[chris_walsh]

To paraphrase/misquote Monty Python and the Holy Grail, your help will be very, very...helpful. ;-) Thoughts help as well; Caitlin and Spooky have asked for those, too, which don't cost anything! So thank you for your thoughts, too.