Yesterday I bought a button. You know the little “happy bunny” – the cute little white bunny who says really rude things? The button shows the happy bunny saying “It’s all about me. Deal with it.”

This isn’t all about me. For a change.

It’s NO exaggeration to say that I’ve made amazing friends through mystery fandom. While my friendships within science fiction go back over twenty years (okay thirty really since I met Ruth in 1975 whiile I was at Albany State in grad school), in mystery, often thanks to the internet, I’ve made some of my best friends. Often we’re convention friends in the sense that we see each other once or twice a year, but that extends to the time between. In some cases, as I’m sure it true of a lot of us, I’ve made friends with people I never HAVE met face to face. You know that one; when I went to US Nationals in San Jose back in ’96, my friend Patty picked me up at the airport; we’d never met except on the “Skatefans” mailing list. Shaz Wheeler and I have yet to meet.

Distance is no longer a barrier to friendships, real ones, friendships where you share stuff and know people real well and help each other through bad times and share hysterical laughs – even if sometimes you’re laughing at separate times in separate cities while you snort over each others’ emails.

So this one is about one of those friends – hey, Kate. I’ll try not to get soppy but I consider Kate Derie one of my closest friends and I’m really PISSED OFF that she’s dealing with breast cancer. I’m seriously tired of the good guys having shit dumped on them and the bad guys getting away with stuff. Kate has been there for me SO MANY times you’ wouldn’t believe it; she’s done some very generous things for me and she’s one of the most interesting people I know. She’s also one of THE unsung heroes of mystery who was finally honored as a fan guest of honor last year at ConMisterio, but I think deserves more.

So anyway, I’m not going to go on at length about what’s going on. If you want toknow, go read Kate’s new blog at http://pinkterror.blogspot.com/. I asked Kate specifically, after she broke the news to a few of us if I could tell people and she was smart enough to say yes. Smart enough, if you will, to know how valuable support can be. We’ve all got different strengths and different things we do well, so maybe we can all come up with smart ideas. In the past few weeks, not only have I remembered a number of friends who are survivors but have learned how common it is to know someone who knows someone – you know how that is?

If you want to help, come up with some stuff for her to read; she’s trying to establish a comfort, bookshelf for the coming weeks. Stu suggested Wodehouse, I suggested Pratchett’s WEE FREE MEN because I know she and I share a love of Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde If you’re a writer, maybe you have a spare ARC you could pass on to her; if you have special books that you read for warmth, when you’re blue, when you need extra oomph, name it would you? I have had days when I could not read due to pain and lack of concentration and have accumulated cartoon collections and photo collections and we all have some ideas. Maybe some of you have been through surgery and the aftermath of cancer and radiation and know what to suggest. And I’ll be compiling lists for Kate and finding duplicates of things when I can. And if you’re of a mind – up top there I’ve added a link to her blog and a link to “The Breast Cancer Site” (another “donate for free” site along with the “free book” one I have up there. Doesn’t cost anything and money does get donated.

For me (the non Wodehousian, the shelf contains

Barbara Kingsolver’s THE BEAN TREES
Peter S Beagle’s I SEE BY MY OUTFIT
Anne Lamott’s JOE JONES
And yeah, Aunt Dimity
Keith Snyder’s books – all 4 but especially SHOW CONTROL and COFFIN’S GOT THE DEAD GUY ON THE INSIDE because they make me laugh EVERY DAMN time I read them – the warmth and goofiness and friendships rock
Jasper Fforde’s THE EYRE AFFAIR and the Tuesday Next books for sheer goofiness
Christopher Moore’s LAMB and FLUKE