carbonel

The Short Version: I am auctioning an ARC of Lois McMaster Bujold's upcoming novel The Sharing Knife: Horizon to benefit the

mizzlaurajean and

davidschroth. This is the conclusion, part 4, of the Sharing Knife series.

This is a one-of-a-kind item, and almost the only way to read the novel prior to its 2009 release. Opening bid is $50; bid increments of no less than $1, whole dollar increments only. Auction closes noon Central time, Tuesday, January 6. Please read the long version for more details and on how to bid.

I'd appreciate if anyone who's on a Bujold-related list could pass this information on.

The Long Version

mizzlaurajean and

davidschroth are in the process of adopting offspring. This is an expensive process, especially when preceded by (also expensive and unsuccessful) infertility treatment.

Lois has signed and (if desired) will personalize the ARC for you, adding to its collector's value.

Your contribution is, unfortunately, not tax deductible

How to Bid on The Sharing Knife: Legacy (READ ALL OF THIS)

Easy: Place your bid in the comment thread attached to this entry. Do this by entering the dollar amount of your bid in the comment field. US dollar amounts only. Please put your bid amount at the top of your comment, away from any additional comment, so other bidders may easily see the amount of the bid.

I will allow anonymous posting so that non-LJ people can play, but if you are not an LJ user, you MUST include your real name and a valid e-mail address. This will allow me to contact you if I have to, and also help me make sure bids are valid. Anonymous bids without this information are not valid.

Bidding starts at $50.

Additional bids must increase the previous bid by no less than $1. Additionally, all bids must be in whole dollar amounts: $2, for example, not $1.99 (or $1.50, or $1.25, or whatever). This will keep the math relatively simple.

To avoid pranking, the maximum bid increase is $50 a turn. This is to say that if the previous bid is $210, your bid can raise the total bid to no more than $260 ($210 + $50). Once someone else has bid more, you may of course bid again. You must wait until someone else has bid in order to bid again; no sequential bids.

If the auction exceeds $1,000, the maximum bid increase will bump up to $100 a turn. Also, we will be very happy.

In the case where two people enter the same bid amount, the earliest bid is the valid one. As the second bid is invalid, that bidder may immediately bid again if he or she chooses.

The auction begins the moment this entry is posted; it ends at noon Central time, Tuesday, January 6, 2009. At that point the highest bidder will be declared the winner. Bids posted after that time will not be considered valid.

I reserve the right to declare a bid void, and remove it from the comment queue, if in my opinion it is not a legitimate bid; declaring a bid void may also declare bids subsequent to it void, based on my discretion (if your bid has been declared void and removed because of this, feel free to resubmit your bid). I reserve the right to ban specific bidders if I feel they are bidding in bad faith. Likewise, I reserve the right to cancel the auction.

Please note that I fully expect that people will indeed bid fairly and honestly; I'm just trying to cover all the bases. Having said that, please don't bid if you don't have the money or don't have any intention of honoring your bid at the end of the auction. Save us all the aggravation, please.

What Happens If You Win

I'll send you an e-mail confirming your win. I'll need a reply in no more than 24 hours after I sent you the e-mail, confirming that you intend to honor your bid, and an address I can mail the ARC to.

Once I get that, you'll have the option of either paying your bid amount through Paypal, or mailing me a check/money order. If you send your amount via PayPal, the galleys will be mailed out to you within 24 hours. If you mail a check/money order, you'll need to wait for the payment to clear.

If I don't hear back from you in 24 hours after I've e-mailed you, I'll make the executive decision your bid wasn't serious and I'll move down the list to the next highest bidder. Sorry. Note my decisions are final.

By the way, if you want to donate to

mizzlaurajean and

davidschroth without making a bid here -- and of course I encourage all of you to do so -- I hope to have a link to do so soon.