Unicorn! Pegasus! Kitten!

Fantasy pits a lot of strange creatures against each other. Vampires vs. Werewolves. Orcs vs. Elves. Dragons vs. Humans. Hobbits vs. Rings. And of course, the all-time classic match up:

Unicorn Pegasus Kittens vs. Auto-Immune Diseases.

What is a Unicorn Pegasus Kitten you may ask? The answer:

Cover Art by Jeff Zugale

One of my favorite things about the members of the genre community is the way they band together for a cause. The latest example of this is Clash of the Geeks, an anthology of "fanfic" inspired by the piece of Epic Imagery above.  Besides being awesome, Clash of the Geeks is also a charitable project aimed at raising money for Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. Lupus is an autoimmune disease which afflicts approximately five million people world wide, including the wife of Bill Schafer, editor of Subterranean Press and co-conspirator in this project. Other co-conspirators include fantasy wunderkind Patrick Rothfuss, the tragically underread Rachel Swirsky, and a couple of newcomers who won Scalzi's original fanfic contest. Here's the short description:

Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi and Subterranean Press are proud to announce the publication of Clash of the Geeks, a special and fantastical electronic chapbook featuring stories by Wheaton, Scalzi, New York Times bestseller Patrick Rothfuss, Norton Award winner and Hugo Best Novel nominee Catherynne M. Valente, Hugo and Nebula Award nominee Rachel Swirsky and others, for the benefit of the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. The chapbook is free to download, but voluntary payment is strongly encouraged, via Paypal or by tax-deductible donation forms, both linked to later in this entry. All proceeds from this chapbook will go to the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. Please enjoy the stories, link your friends to this page — and give!

You can read the long version at http://unicornpegasuskitten.com/. I encourage everyone to check it out, download, and donate. It's good fiction for a good cause.