Books For Our Troops & Their Families

© Marta Stephens 2009 all rights reserved

I’m not a “cause” person, but I do have a soft spot for the men and women in our military. So when I heard about two great opportunities to donate books, Operation Desert Swap & Operation Books, I didn’t think twice about joining.

The driving force behind Operation Desert Swap is L-M Owens, author of Darius Prince of Legend & Darius Master of Dragons: Prince of Legend Book II. She is not only an author, but the mother of a 19 yr old son who is going to Iraq on Sept 11, 2009.

Her plan is simply to:

“To support our troops and boost morale. To take Operation Desert Swap to as many soldiers as possible.”

How? Interested authors will need to first visit her website http://operationdesertswap.webs.com/ and join the group. Authors will then be placed on a list to "adopt" a soldier and send them a copy of their book along with an initial ODS letter. At least once a month authors will send their soldier a letter to help keep their morale up. Members of this group will also send their soldier at least one care package during their deployment, plus a Christmas card and if possible a birthday card.

As part of the ODS project each soldier is asked to swap their book with another soldier when they have finished reading it, and then that soldier swaps it off with another and so on.
The first shipment of books is October 23, 2009, so the goal is to get 83 authors, one per soldier, before that date. The project is days/weeks old and has a long way to go.

The second project, OPERATION BOOK, is the brain child of author, Ernie Johnson. This project will collect books to be sent to the families of servicemen serving in IRAQ.

Christmas time is a lonely times for the families of servicemen and women who are serving our country in Iraq. Though a book, from an author won't cure that loneliness, it'll let that spouse at home know that American authors stand behind their spouses.

Authors from across America and Canada are already donating books to be sent, at Christmas time, to these spouses of our soldiers in Iraq. If you'd like to see more about this project, go to this link OPERATIION BOOK. If you're an author, and would like to donate one or more books send an e-mail to operationbook09@yahoo.com. As soon as we have a specific location where we can collect and store these books until November, we'll inform all authors.

I hope this post will reach out to and nudge the many published authors who visit Murder By 4 to support our troops.

* * *

Marta Stephens writes crime mystery/suspense. Her books are available online at familiar shops such as all the Amazons, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-Million, and Powells. Other locations include, but are not limited to those listed on her website.

THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (2008) Bronze Medal Finalist, 2009 IPPY AwardsTop Ten, 2008 Preditors and Editors Reader Poll (mystery)

SILENCED CRY (2007) Honorable Mention, 2008 New York Book FestivalTop Ten, 2007 Preditors and Editors Reader Poll (mystery)

Visit Sam Harper at http://www.samharpercrimescene.blogspot.com