In memory of Edith Layton, Jane and I are hosting a fundraiser/auction/giveaway to benefit the North Shore Animal League. Layton’s daughter Susie Felber told me that while her mother was very quiet about her battle with ovarian cancer, she was not at all shy about “her insane love of animals,” and so the family decided any memorial contributions should be directed to the NSAL.
With some help from friends and authors, we’re putting together a three part effort.
First: if you’d like to make a contribution in memory of Edith Layton, you can do so online , or to any animal rescue charity of your choosing. Anyone who donates or who is a fan of Ms. Layton or of animal rescue is free to right-click-and-save the following button for use on their website:
To support Layton’s love of animal rescue and to honor her career as a romance novelist, Smart Bitches and Dear Author are hosting a giveaway, a raffle, and an auction.
The Giveaway
To any commenter here, or at Dear Author, we’ve each got a set of 3 copies of the new anthology
Tails of Love featuring Lori Foster, Stella Cameron, Sue-Ellen Welfonder, Kate Angell, Sarah McCarty, Donna MacMeans, Dianne Castell, Patricia Sargeant, Ann Christopher, and Marcia James . Proceeds from the sale of this book go to the Animal Adoption Foundation (AAF), a no-kill animal shelter in Hamilton, Ohio. Special thanks to Berkley for donating these copies to us.
The Raffle
Send us your receipt for charitable donation at sbj.contests at gmail dot com and you’re entered in our raffle to win the following set of pet-central books from Berkley, courtesy of the fine editors over there, who all dress marvelously and have excellent taste, particularly Cindy Hwang who awesomely offered up additional copies of these books to benefit the NSAL:
An arc of LOVE IS A FOUR LEGGED WORD by Kandy Shepard
ONE MORE TIME and ALL OR NOTHING by Claire Cross
CASTING SPELLS by Barbara Bretton
THE CAT by Jean Johnson
The Cat Who Brought Down The House by Lillian Jackson Braun;
Never Say Sty by Linda O. Johnston
The Auction
But wait, there’s more! We’re hosting a charity auction over at eBay where the winning bidder will receive a bound galley of the upcoming anthology Must Love Hellhounds by mega bestselling author, Charlaine Harris, whose anthology contribution is the next installment in the Sookie Stackhouse series (the basis for HBO’s True Blood). Also in the anthology are Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Nalini Singh.
Don’t want to wait for Nora Robert’s next standalone novel? A bound galley of Black Hills is part of the raffle. And the animal related goodness does not stop there.
Christine Feehan’s Dark Slayer will be included (the heroine lives with a wolf pack) along with an awesome gift basket donated by Ms. Feehan herself. The basket is too cool to be believed, and the full details are at the eBay listing.
Thanks to Charlaine Harris, Nora Roberts, Christine Feehan, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook and Nalini Singh for graciously agreeing to have us auction off their ARCs for charity, and to Ms. Feehan for the basket. Thanks also to Berkley, especially Cindy Hwang, for the donated books. You’ll notice the auction is hosted by the business name of Smart Bitches. All proceeds from the auction, including all auction-related fees, will be donated by Smart Bitches Trashy Books LLC to the North Shore Animal League in memory of Edith Layton.
The Giveaway will end in 24 hours, the raffle on Friday 12 June, and the auction will end in 7 days, on 15 June 2009.
Bid early, bid often, or, give your nearest animal friend a rub on the head in memory of Lady Edith Layton, Duchess of Rescue. Most of all, thanks to all the people like Edith Layton who volunteer their time and energy for animal rescue. Paws up to you.
RIP LEL
Worthy on a number of levels!
I’m fostering a Yorkie right now for rescue and he’s got health bills like whoa (enlarged heart). So I will make a donation to myself in the name of Edith Layton, if that’s okay with you guys 🙂
It made me cry a bit to read this post – not just because of Ms. Layton, but because some of the foster animals I’ve had are so much trouble, and so much expense, and it was really nice to hear somebody saying that what we do is valuable and worth it. So just by putting up this post, y’all have made a donation to me.
Sorry if I’m inarticulate. Just wanted to say that this means a lot to me.
We will miss Edith’s warm heart. There seems to be a trend with romance readers who are animal lovers. Of course, the best way to read a romance is with a cat in your lap! We have 5 shelter cats and our upcoming military move to Hawaii is centered around them (selfish beasts!)
Lisa, as another person with a ton of rescued animals (and who was just accused by siblings of “stealing other people’s pets off the street” to rescue – yeah, as if there aren’t enough homeless cats that we need to steal…), I completely understand where you’re coming from. We also have lots of rescued seniors and special needs pets.
Smart Bitches – I want to thank you for what you’re doing, for both the late great Edith Layton (it was rare to see a recent picture of her w/o a grandchild or a furry pal) and for the animals helped by the North Shore Animal League.
I’m a fan of rescues and the folks that love them. Now off to dose my neurotic part Siamese with Prozac…
What a wonderful way to remember Edith Layton! I have a wonderful yellow lab from a local rescue shelter, and I could not have found a better dog. And now, thanks to the Smart Bitches, (in my mind) the cover of For the Love of a Pirate includes about 4 dogs and 2 cats … how they all found their footing on that craggy, steep hill (mountain top?), I don’t know.
What a wonderful way to raise money for a worthy cause. KUDOS to all involved.
My doxies (both rescues) were chosen to be one of the mascots for Tales of Love. I am so glad to see that you are giving the book as a prize. It’s going to be an awesome book.
If you don’t win, buy a copy, lots of them as the proceeds are also going to the North Shore Animal League.
Adopt an animal in her name- they need homes.
I am trying to decide if i can fit in another dog. If it’s small, will anyone notice?
Great cause, ladies! I made a donation to a little tiny local cat rescue organization that doesn’t get any outside funding besides the occasional grant and donations from the public.
I wish I could have lots of rescue animals, but the hubs is allergic, so I have a purebred Siberian cat. Siberians don’t make dander, so they’re hypoallergenic to about 90% of people who are allergic to cats.
Shameless plug for my favorite shelter:
My parents volunteer at the Save the Animals Foundation (as i did before I moved away), a no-kill shelter in Cincinnati. While the animals are up for adoption (my mother is trying to collect the entire set), some of them are too feral or too ill (usually with FLV or FIV, in the case of cats) to fit into standard homes. These will be kept safe, warm, clean, and full for the rest of their natural lives.
So if you live down that way, STAF could really use your time (cleaning or cuddling) or your donations.
Thanks!
I also already volunteer at a shelter, the Arizona Animal Welfare League in Phoenix to be exact. So all my animal charity time and money is already spoken for, sorry. But I encourage everyone to give whatever they can if they ever laughed at one of those LOLcat or LOLdog pics. Which would be, you know, every person with a heart and a funny bone.
Oh, and my rescued pit bull thanks you all for your hard work. Good luck with the fundraiser!
(hear75 – Why yes, when I walked down the kennel aisles I do hear 75 barks greeting me!)
We rescue pugs, and one of my four, Peanut, is only 3 but is battling cancer that will probably take her to doggy heaven soon. I’m donating money to the Orlando/Florida pug rescue, but don’t enter me in the drawings, let somebody else win. Just wanted to say thanks for supporting animal rescue.
Sarah, is there an actual button for the graphics you have in your post? I’d like to put one on my site. My rescued Dobe insisted I ask and I agreed 🙂
What I should have said is…a button with a link to here, or the animal rescue she supported? Sorry, I still haven’t had enough coffee today. Then again, today I doubt that three gallons of the stuff would help :/
My cat, my son’s dog and my daughter’s cat are all adopted from local shelters, and my sister volunteers with a Cairn terrier rescue group, so we’re well aware of the importance of shelter and rescue operations. Here in sunny (well, not at the moment) California, the state budget crisis is going to have a big impact on county animal rescue operations, since a big part of the Governator’s plan to fix the budget is to raid a lot of $$ from county coffers.
It always makes me feel warm and fuzzy when the Bitchery puts its collective weight behind a cause. Romance authors, reviewers and readers are such a caring group—makes me proud.
Thank you Smart Bitches, DA, et al for putting this together! I rescued a mutt from a local shelter in DC last year and will definitely be donating to them now in honor of Ms. Layton.
Although your post was written to positively, I still couldn’t help getting a little teary eyed.
I absolutely love the Bitchery and the folks at DA, and agree with SonomaLass. Keep at it folks!
I never had a pet, and begged the hubster for a toy sized purebreed. He told me if we’re getting a dog, we’re getting a rescue, because there are so many of them that need love, kindness and caring. I am so glad he made me pull my head outta my ass and forced me to see the light.
We took a little trip to Princeton Small Dog Rescue, and met Brooks, a pomeranian that was so terrified he couldn’t manage to bark. He had been taken from a Trenton kill shelter and was at PSDR hopefully awaiting adoption. When we saw each other it was love at first sight. While he respects the hubster, Brooks is completely bonded to me, and is my first child. He is extremely protective of my biological children, and of course, of me, even though he is a 12 lb. chicken. Yep, all bark and pee in terror.
However, with all of his insane behaviors, his crazy stomach, his incessant barking, and his complete and total understanding of the English language, our lives would not be nearly as rich if we didn’t fall head over paws that day.
If I do not win, I will purchase. Thank you folks!
I love my rescued Norwegian Elkhound. She doesn’t appreciate that I moved her from Ohio to Florida, but she’d follow me anywhere! Way to go for animal rescue. Three cheers to the Bitches, one and all.
Just a note to point out that “no kills” are not necessarily better than shelters that are upfront about euthanizing. It’s more complex than that, and the overpopulation problem is so massive that there aren’t homes for all of them. People who work in shelters—particularly the ones that aren’t limited admission, which the majority of “no kills” are—make some hard and heartbreaking decisions.
Better than giving money, btw, is giving time. Take it from someone who worked at a shelter for years—you can’t count on money or supplies reaching the animals, but you can count on your time and love going where it needs to be.
What a wonderful way to remember Ms Layton.
My cousins had a rescued dog, and what a timid, neurotic pup she was. Never mean, although somewhat intimidating, what with her size and all the barking. No bite though, just bark.
A truly admirable endeavor. All my cats have come from shelters, the only way to adopt animals who truly are needed and wanted. I give of my time and money to our local shelter as should everyone.
What a great memorial! I can count three cats and a dog among my rescue animals (not all current). Two of my cats came from the Cats Protection League, which lost quite a lot of money in the Icelandic bank collapse. Had it not been for the CPL, I’d never have found my gorgeous furbabies, who are pretty much my actual babies in all but the biological sense (because that would just be weird. Also, I’d be concerned about the tails), so I’m a big, huge fan of giving them money and will toddle over to their website to do so.
These are great causes.
I’m so sorry about Edith Layton, and I love what you’re doing in her memory. I have 3 dogs and a cat (oh, and a turtle too!), so I can relate to Edith’s love of animals. Thanks for being great!
Wow! This is such a nice way to honor her memory and what a great charity to make the donations to.
What a nice thing you guys are doing. Hope you make a lot of money!
Would love to win this book; a lot of good authors wrote for it.
As the proud owner of 9 rescued pets, I know that Edith would be touched. I hope all these efforts bring some comfort to her family and the animals she loved.
What a wonderful thing to do. Thanks for being aware!
The auction is just about to become too rich for my blood. 🙂
Admitting this is a big step, because I have an issue with losing auctions and would normally bankrupt myself before quitting. Instead, I can sit back and just be happy that a lot of money is being raised and that someone is going to end up with some great items.
As soon as I’m officially out I can then donate to NSAL.
🙁 i just discovered her and now She’s gone – She was amazing.
I rescued five kittens in the past two years. They’re victims of irresponsible parents, those alley cats.
I think this year, I will give two eldest cats to anyone who wants to accept them.
My condolences. It’s a good thing you decided to donate to the North Shore Animal League. It will help a lot of animals.
I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s a good thing that you decided to donate to the NSAL. Your donation will help a lot of animals.
It truly is noble of you to think about all those animals. I hope that her family is coping well with the loss
All i can say is that Edith Layton is an exceptional woman and we hope that she may find peace.