Christchurch area earthquake

Our heartfelt sympathy for all of you who are affected by this terrible event. I'm sure our Australian government will do all it can, on our behalf, to help wherever and with whatever we can.

Thanks, Thrin! I know that there are specialist Australian (I think NSW) Search & Rescue teams on the ground in Christchurch and doing an excellent job.

Sending love to all involved or who have friends/family involved. The world is with you.

All my sympathies and best wishes to those affected. Our thoughts and hopes are with you.

I thought folks might be interested to hear that a couple of New Zealand writing colleagues of mine are putting together an anthology, "Tales For Canterbury", to raise funds for the victims of the recent Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand - (for non-NZers: Christchurch is in the province of Canterbury).

There is a website here:

http://talesforcanterbury.wordpress.com/

I think this is a great initiative, and I'm honoured to have been asked to contribute a story. I'll let people know when the anthology is available.

>5 timjones: An excellent idea, and congratulations timjones on having your piece included. I see that Neil Gaiman is also contributing something. Looking forward to reading "Tales for Canterbury".

I don't know how many bookshops and libraries have had to cease operation because of the earthquake, and I'm concerned about readers in the Christchurch area who might be without book for a while.

Can anyone tell us if libraries are still operating or whether patrons can use other libraries until things are back to normal with the usual ones in their areas?

Does anyone have any ideas about how we on LT might get some books to the readers of Christchurch to tide them over until their libraries and bookshops are open again?

Perhaps all this is already organised by other New Zealanders. Hope so.

>6 Thrin:, Thrin: A number of writers are submitting reprint stories that fit the themes (Survival, Hope, Future) of the anthology, but I've committed to writing a new one by the end of March - so, no pressure, then!

>7 Thrin:, Thrin: Good questions! The Christchurch City Libraries blog has an update on the libraries that are open:

http://cclblog.wordpress.com/

I'm not sure about book donations for Christchurch - I couldn't find any information about that. Most of the recent information I've seen suggests that donations of money are what's most needed at the moment.

>7 Thrin: & 8 As far as I know, most of the suburban libraries are hoping to be able to open again soon. And lovely as an emergency book-package sounds (and it genuinely is a great idea), a lot of people don't have houses to keep the books in, or are still trying to do things like sort through books that have gone everywhere when their bookcases came down … there's only one residential welfare centre open now, so space is at a serious premium. As Tim said, the single most useful thing to send is a donation of money. But I'll keep my ears open, and try to post a “donations of books please!” if things change.

>8 timjones: & 9... Thanks timjones and joannasephine. I hadn't thought things through, although I should have, given that we've had so many people homeless here in Australia because of floods and cyclones. Money it is then!

http://www.redcross.org.nz/donate

Thanks, Joanna and Thrin

That fundraising anthology is now available for pre-order:

Friends of mine are editing a short story anthology, "Tales for Canterbury", to raise funds for the victim of the Christchurch (NZ) earthquake of 22 Feb - all funds raised go to the NZ Red Cross.

The anthology is now available for pre-order here:

http://randomstatic.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_10&prod...

Contributors include Neil Gaiman, Gwyneth Jones, Jay Lake, Jeff Vandermeer, Sean Williams, and a good number of NZ authors. Check out the contributors' list here:

http://talesforcanterbury.wordpress.com/list-of-contributrs/

An update on the Christchurch earthquake fundraising anthology, "Tales For Canterbury":

"Tales For Canterbury", a short story anthology from which all proceeds go to the NZ Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, is now available as an ebook, and for pre-order as a print anthology. I've blogged about it here: http://bit.ly/mpf4Ws

All the contributors have donated their stories, and among the list of contributors are names such as Neil Gaiman, Janis Freegard, Gwyneth Jones, Jay Lake, Helen Lowe, Tina Makereti, Juliet Marillier, Jeff Vandermeer, Mary Victoria, and Sean Williams.