Because, let me tell you, if I had something before everyone else got it, I would gloat so much. How much? A lot. Just watch me spend the rest of the week gloating about the ARC of Meljean Brook’s Demon Night I won over at Dear Author.

I’m so busy getting my gloat on, I didn’t even finish singing the praises of the kind, noble, humble bidder who even went so far as to donate an amount higher than her winning bid to Mercy Corps.

So, let me resume:

Dear Mystery Lady,

I hope you enjoy your advance copy of Ember. Specifically, I hope you enjoy the car chase and the gun fight in Chapter 8. I hope you are shocked and amazed by the heartwarming alien abduction in chapter 9. Most importantly, I hope you are touched and amused by the surrealistic denouement in which Ember wakes up in her bedroom in Lancaster, California and realizes that the whole story was just dream she got from eating pork rinds and pop rocks with Pabst Blue Ribbon beer while watching her little sister’s DVD of Disney’s Cinderella on a replay loop.

(Sure, we both know that’s not what happens, but everyone else has to wait.) Happy reading.

Thank you again.

Bettie

No, I haven’t gone all money-hungry. IT’S FOR CHARITY. For charity, people. Here’s how it works:

1. Starting Wednesday, November 28th, you send me an email naming an amount you’d be willing to donate to Mercy Corps charity. (bettiesharpe at gmail dot com)
2. I will post the highest bid for each day on this blog–no names, just bid amounts.
3. The highest bid I receive by 12:00 pm Pacific on Wednesday, December 5 2007 wins.
4. You, the generous winner, go to the Mercy Corps site and donate. You choose which program your money goes to. Crisis in Sudan, Cyclone Victims in Bangladesh, Where Most Needed–pick whatever program moves you. You’ll also get the tax write-off )
5. When you donate online, choose the option to donate in honor of someone. Enter “Ember”, and have it sent to my email: bettiesharpe at gmail dot com.
6. Once you’ve completed the donation, save an electronic version of your web receipt and email it to me. The web receipt will not list your full credit card number, but it will list the amount you donated and your address (same as if you won a book in a contest, and you had to send in a mailing address). I’ll treat this information as confidential and will delete the file after I’ve seen it.
7. I send you a copy of the full PDF of Ember–weeks before anyone else will read it, and you (the generous winner) get to join the small and select club of fabulous people who have been kind enough to read Ember in its entirety: Jodie, Bam, Kate R. and My Mom.

But wait! There’s more! Along with your early copy of the Ember eBook, you’ll get:

• The smirky satisfaction of knowing what’s going to happen before almost anyone else does.
• The the warm glow that comes from helping fellow human beings who are in need.
• An income tax deduction in the amount of your donation.

But I thought you said Ember was free?
Ember is free. I wrote it intending for it to be a free eBook, and it will stay that way through the end of its run on The Serial, and for the foreseeable future on my website.

Why Mercy Corps?
Because 90% of the money you donate to Mercy Corps goes directly to charitable work around the globe. Because they fund a wide variety of innovative programs. Because they need to feel better after losing the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore.

If I win the auction, can I taunt other readers? What about spoilers?
If you win the auction, you can taunt to your heart’s content. Taunt early and taunt often, but DO NOT reveal any spoilers.