George R.R. Martin’s passionate about supporting the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, but the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books (the source material for Game of Thrones) was taken completely by surprise when his campaign to raise money for the non-profit reached $231,000 just one day into the fund raising campaign. The original goal was to raise $150,000 which was upped almost immediately to $200,000. One day in it was upped to $400,000, and now with 37 days to go the goal is $500,000 of which $377,470 has been raised as I type this sentence.
Of course, people want to do good by helping out wolves, but the main reason the campaign to help out Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary and The Food Depot of Santa Fe took off so quickly was the assortment of prizes awarded at different donation levels.
“Every donation helps, whether large or small,” said Martin on his “Not a Blog.” “You guys have made me very proud.”
Among the items available during the fundraising campaign was the chance to be killed off in A Song of Fire and Ice novel. Two spots were available at $20,000 each, and both have been snapped up.
“At this level, you’ll get the incredibly exclusive opportunity to have George name a character after you in a future A Song of Ice and Fire novel. There is one male character and one female character available. You can choose your character’s station in the world (lordling, knight, peasant, whore, lady, maester, septon, anything) and you will certainly meet a grisly death! You will also get all of the above rewards (with the exception of ‘extra rewards’),” said Martin.
Facebook product specialist Dave Goldblatt was the winner of the male character spot after plucking down $20,000. “I’m fortunate enough to be in a position to do this cool thing, and it’s going toward a good cause,” said Goldblatt in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t think I’m doing anything extraordinary.”
Goldblatt also told THR why he chose to be a Valyrian. “You read some piece of fiction and for whatever reason you think one particular character or race is cool – and for whatever reason, I thought the Valyrians were cool. I’m hoping in future books we get to see more of them,” explained Goldblatt.
In other George R R Martin news, the author has finally given in and joined Twitter. But for those looking for words of wisdom from Martin, it’s better to check out his actual website and his “Not a Blog” posts rather than his new Twitter account. Martin finally took the plunge and joined Twitter, but after posting his opening message on June 9, 2014, he hasn’t said anything else. However, he did warn followers that he wouldn’t be tweeting often.
– More on George R.R. Martin’s fund raising campaign
– Interview with the author
