Could I ask a cheesy favor?

[daredtowork]

I have a neighbor, Robert W. Fuller, who has been extremely kind to me, bailing me out on numerous occasions in a situation that is design to drive people into homelessness (the multi-year application process for SSI in which you can't work because it proves you can work).

He is an author, and he makes his books available for free. I tried (and failed) to get the downloads of his novel The Rowan Tree up 5,000 as a Christmas present. Anyway, I'm still trying. If anyone wants to help me out, you can download his book here: http://amzn.com/B00B0NH3Y2

Just to underscore: this is not a promotion - this is Fuller's only novel. He made it free because he likes to put his ideas out there. His main idea is promoting human dignity. I would like to help him do that so hence the cheesy favor.

[Skittles]

1. not cheesy, very sweet

[daredtowork]

5. thank you! :D

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. A big, fat K&R!

[daredtowork]

6. Thank you :D

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. done

[daredtowork]

7. Thank you :D

[Dont call me Shirley]

4. You are kind, dared. Bookmarked to download later.

[daredtowork]

8. Thank you :D

[TNNurse]

9. Kind and thoughtful

Not a bit cheesy,

Done.

[daredtowork]

10. Thank you :D

[Sienna86]

11. Downloaded it.

Read his bio. He sounds like a brilliant and nice guy.

[daredtowork]

12. He's extremely nice.

He has been my good friend for over 8 years. He is working on a play now. The plot is a female postdoc in astrophysics has conversations with God - who is retiring just as mankind is going through various trials.

[jtuck004]

13. Done. Thank you. n/t

[daredtowork]

14. No, thank you :D

[mountain grammy]

15. Nice, and the book has good reviews

and looks like it's worth the read. Thanks for the tip on that.

[daredtowork]

17. thank you! :D

[KyleMcShades]

16. Oh yes, I know all about..

the "multi year" disability application process. If I ever take up a political cause, it would be to bring reforms to the SSA and its bullying tactics.

I can relate to when you need the people, the family and friends, who bail you out when SSA is trying to make you homeless. Thank goodness for your friend.

[daredtowork]

19. I may end up in a position to do that

I was nearly at the end of the tunnel when the ACA kicked in and started doing things that help me. Now I find myself in a variety of absurd situations since I'm in a "halfway house" sort of situation medically.

I think most people in my situation can't retain autonomy: they must go live with their families or into a State institution. This, in turn, helps to prove their condition to SSI. For those who do try to retain their autonomy - welfare is not designed to support anyone. The GOP has whittled away at it to make sure you Work or Die. They forgot about the possibility of needing a safety net for disabled people. Another group that's left bereft for a long time, and driven into homelessness, are vets waiting on VA benefits.

[braddy]

18. Done, tell us if he makes it

[daredtowork]

20. Thanks - will do!

[AtomicKitten]

21. done

k,&,r

[daredtowork]

22. Thank you :D

[BlancheSplanchnik]

23. downloaded :)

[daredtowork]

24. Thank you :D

[Aerows]

26. OT

That cat gif still cracks me up no matter how many times I see it in your signature. It's hilarious!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

44. thanks!!!!

It IS hilarious!

(I love the penguin one, gotta be the all-time winner)

[Aerows]

25. Downloaded

Thank you for bringing it to my attention - it looks like a fascinating work.

[daredtowork]

51. Thank you :D

[Kalidurga]

27. I have Kindle on my desktop now!

I have been meaning to get that for the longest time now, thanks for giving me more incentive to finally download it.

[daredtowork]

29. Oh you know him? TY :D

[Kalidurga]

35. Nope

but I will recognize his voice now forever. I have pretty good voice recognition.

[daredtowork]

41. Did you get the audiobook?

Bob has a great reading voice. He made that audiobook himself - it took 3 months in his living room, but the sound was done by a local music industry pro.

[Kalidurga]

43. There was a sample that I listened to

I didn't get the audio version. But, when I read this I will be able to "hear" him.

[daredtowork]

46. Haha, I see

That's good - his voice is almost distinctive as Patrick Stewart!

[Kalidurga]

48. Yes he has a great voice

[blondie58]

28. Its not cheesy At all!

😼 And you (and him!) are giving those of us who have a voracious appetite for books a gift. 🎇
I will do it right now.

[daredtowork]

31. Thank you :D

[LuvNewcastle]

30. Downloaded to my Kindle.

I look forward to reading it. Thank you and thank your friend for me.

[daredtowork]

32. Thank you, I will :D

[RKP5637]

33. Did it! Thanks for the post! n/t

[daredtowork]

42. Thank you :D

[Control-Z]

34. I just had it sent to my Kindle.

One click. Easy peasy. It's got great reviews. Now when I locate my Kindle in the Xmas mess I'm still dealing with I'll have something new and good to read!

Thank you, and your generous friend!

[daredtowork]

38. Thank you :D

[Stonepounder]

36. Downloaded. Looking forward to reading it and the next one. n/t

[daredtowork]

39. Thank you :D

Lol, I doubt there will ever be another one! He was nursing that one for many years. He had mixed feelings about publishing it because one of the main characters is similar to Obama, but I suppose one of the reasons Obama was swept into office is he fit what so many people were waiting for. Anyway, I think this is the only novel Bob has in him!

[Jackpine Radical]

37. Ordered it for the Kindle reader on my iPad.

Pretty good reviews on Amazon too.

[daredtowork]

40. Thank you :D

[vive la commune]

45. Got it

Hope the downloads put a smile on your friend's face.

[daredtowork]

47. Thank you :D

I'm still waiting for him to notice! It's late, though - he might have gone to sleep. I might have to prompt him in the morning to check.

[Control-Z]

49. Is there a way to see

how many have been ordered/purchased (for $0.00)?

I'd love to see your goal reached!

[daredtowork]

50. hmm I don't think, so

But I will check now.

106 since yesterday, and I got around 200 on Christmas. Perhaps my goal was a bit ambitious, hahaha.

Ps. I can check because I have the pwd to that account with the download reports. It's not public.

[Control-Z]

52. Well, do let us know.

If I put the link on my older daughter's facebook, quite a few may see it.

[daredtowork]

54. I will check every few hours over the next couple of days

And TY for the Facebook boost!

[dballance]

53. Done - looks like a good read. /nt

[daredtowork]

55. Thank you :D

[NV Whino]

56. Done

Thanks for the recommendation.

[daredtowork]

57. Thank you :D

[Jamastiene]

58. Done.

My favorite price too.

[daredtowork]

60. lol, thank you. :)

[Jesus Malverde]

59. Got it with the audible narration...nt

[daredtowork]

62. aw, you didn't have to do that

Thank you, though - let me know what you think! It's a long book! And written from the perspective of the "previous" Civil Rights Movement. (gosh it seems weird to say that).

[niyad]

61. not cheesy, a very thoughtful and caring thing to do. bookmarking for download later.

[daredtowork]

63. Thank you :D

I wish I could show a fraction of the amount he has cared about what happens to me. He really does walk the talk.

[Pacifist Patriot]

64. Just downloaded. Can't wait to read it.

[daredtowork]

65. Thank you :D

Hope you like it!

[Skittles]

66. K&R

[daredtowork]

67. Thanks for the kick!

Just checked, and download count is 113! Thanks for all the quiet ones!

[tblue37]

68. I started to read the book and was going to make it available on my popular websites, but

I got angry partway through when the hero started sleeping with a pretty young black student (during the 70s, if I remember correctly) because his wife was so "overfocused" on her career as a chemistry professor and such a "bitch" that she refused to come to the college he'd just been made president of and support him at social functions, even on weekends. On top of that, she was so concerned about getting tenure that she nagged him about all those lefty positions he was supporting in favor of civil rights, student participation in governance, etc., because it was alienating her colleagues and undermining her tenure prospects.

I am a woman who ended up divorced back in 1983 when my kids were 3 1/2 years and 21 months old because my college professor husband and a graduate student in his department had a baby on the way, so of course he had to ditch me and marry her.

I get along great with his current wife now, and I have always been fond of my kids' half brothers and stepsister, but that sudden divorce threw me into years of desperate poverty and overwork and meant my kids were treated as second-class citizens in their father's home, even though we had shared custody of them.

The novel pissed me off because even as it espouses civil rights and human dignity, it falls into the same pattern of justifying a man's choice to ditch his wife for someone--usually someone younger--because his wife doesn't satisfy the standard he happens to be judging her by. In the novel the wife is struggling to establish her career as an academic and a research chemist--at a time when women were in a very precarious position in both fields. But snce the man is the heroic defender of human rights and human dignity, her unwillingness to support him, by acting as a college president's wife should or by putting her own desire for tenure on the back burner when his statements and positions turns her colleagues against her, is used to justify his affair with the young woman--who is a student.

In my case it was my desire to raise my own kids instead of dropping them off at daycare with a stranger that justified my being treated as valueless. I still contributed to our family income. I continued teaching college as an adjunct, and I also ran a home daycare, so I could be there with my kids during most of their waking hours, but I was not hustling for a more lucrative and prestigious position, so obviously I deserved to be cheated on and ditched.

So whether the wife devotes herself to having a serious career or does not, she is wrong, and her husband needs to find a younger woman who will be what he wants her to be--which is inevitably the opposite of what his wife is.

I could not finish the book. It pissed me off too much. I did read the ending, though, after I quit progressing through the middle of the book.

[daredtowork]

69. Actually that's the part I got hung up on, too

IMHO, I think in an academic (or corporate) hierarchy there is an implied power relationship that could be coercive, because the higher ranking person can write recommendations or make introductions (or conversely, ruin your reputation in the "good old boys" network). So personally I'm for that particular point in academic codes of conduct that Bob's against. However, Bob thinks those codes overreach into personal privacy, and his argument is that authentic love should trump it.

As for the rest, regarding the wife, it's the plot of the novel. Rowan is not such a heroic a character, but his decisions have consequences. The latter half of the book isn't so much about him.

Oh, it might also help to know there's some Arthurian allegory going on.

[daredtowork]

70. Final Count 127

It looks like everyone who was going to check out the novel has already done so - I want to thank everybody for helping me with this little Christmas gift.

From the above post I guess I should mention that the initial protagonist, Rowan, is a "flawed character" who makes some questionable moves. And perhaps I should mention that self-realization, personal choice, and private life are all important aspects of dignity for Fuller. There's a lot of room for debate on how he explores those themes in his novel (and I've enjoyed debating them with him over coffee/tea quite a few times), but keep in mind this is also fiction. He lays on the Arthuriana pretty thick - especially toward the end.

[ScreamingMeemie]

71. Not so fast...

downloading now...

You are a kind person.

[daredtowork]

72. lol, thank you

I don't think he's noticed the downloads yet. Hehe.

[ohheckyeah]

73. I just saw this

and downloaded the book. Thanks for the post - it was nice for him and me.

I has a stroke in July and reading helps take me outside of my problems so thanks again. I'll write a review once I'm done reading it.

[daredtowork]

74. Thank you :D

I hope your review is kind! Remember it's his only novel, lol.

[ohheckyeah]

75. I'm always kind in my reviews.

Even if I don't like a book, I say why in a nice way because I admire anyone who can sit down and write a book. There are few books that I can't find some redeeming value in. The reviews sound like this is one I'll genuinely enjoy.

[daredtowork]

76. I admire that, too

I have a box in my room filled with the notes of 5 sci fi epics I've never written. On my computer I have numerous starts of books. I've actually been working on one about my recent experiences with the welfare system because I think that system needs to be outed in a major way. Procrastination happens. Priorities change. Editing and rewrites get infinitely deferred.

Bob had been working on The Rowan Tree for so long that when he showed me a draft (to inquire whether it was worth publishing), a good portion of it would only come up as symbols on my computer. Different drafts had survived savings/re-pastings through just about every version of Word, and perhaps other word processing programs! Before he published it, he worked over it mercilessly until it met his standards of perfection. He's polished that novel like a diamond.

[PosterChild]

77. DONE. I actually went ahead...

... and installed the Kindle app on my NOOK in order to get it! I'm kind of ideologically opposed to Kindle, because I support the ePub standard, but, as long as it is free, what the heck.

Thanks!

[daredtowork]

78. Actually I am, too

And so is Fuller - we've been discussing Amazon's most recent monopolizing move with Kindle Unlimited. The Rowan Tree is also on Smashwords, which I believe distributes it to Nook? Actually you can get all his books for free on Smashwords. He intends to hold out there as long as Smashwords can: since his books are free anyway, there is not much Amazon can do to him. But the reason I posted the Kindle link here was so he would see it go up on Amazon's Literature category list. So thank you for holding your nose and downloading from there. I was hoping he would randomly check it, but I've been taking screenshots just in case he doesn't. XD

[marle35]

79. Done!

k&r

[Tom_Foolery]

80. It's a done deal...

It looks like my kind of book. I'm looking forward to reading it.

[TBF]

81. Free? You betcha -

and I may actually read it as well.

[daredtowork]

82. Wow, this is still going on?!

Thanks so much!

I just checked the reports, and the downloads are up to 162. I don't think he's noticed yet, teehee.

Since I apparently had an over-inflated sense of Internet numbers, I'm now thinking 500 is a more reasonable goal, lol.