<div>Nisi Shawl, a wise and wonderful writer of science fiction and fantasy, had a dream that there was a philosophical system described in a book called <em>The Five Petals of Thought</em>. In the dream, everyone in the world routinely consulted this book to help them overcome life's difficulties. Nisi has since written several science-fiction stories about this dreamed system and the thoughtful world it creates.
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<div>Now Nisi wants to write the actual book. Here, let them explain it:
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<div>“The book will be an artifact of this imaginary philosophical movement, and
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<div>will contain guided exercises and historical examples and all kinds of
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<div>good self-help content. It will be by turns hilarious and heartening, and
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<div>everybody I describe it to wants me to make it real. Everybody besides
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<div>my agent, I mean. They would have to sell it to a publishing house,
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<div>and they’re not sure they could.”
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<div>The pressure to conform one’s book to an easily saleable idea is a familiar problem for writers, and they resolve it in a variety of ways.
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<div>Nisi supports themself tenuously by their books and by lecturing and teaching writing. They are willing to spend time and energy on this project, but can't afford to do that without some financial backing. So this fundraiser as been created to enable Nisi's friends and readers to fund the book directly themselves. The reward for any donation will be an e-copy of the book when it is finished––and, of course, Nisi’s deepest thanks.
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<div>Can you contribute an amount that you won’t miss?
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<div>If you will help raise the money needed to write the book, Nisi will keep you updated with notes about the philosophy and bites (or nibbles) of the text, and will send you a copy of the finished e-book. If no publisher is interested, Nisi will publish it electronically.
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<div>Thank you so much for considering this. How about it?
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<div>Eileen Gunn
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<div>Please note:
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<div>I am a friend of Nisi's, and am sponsoring this GoFundMe for them. All money collected goes either to Nisi or to compensate Go Fund Me.
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<div>Photo of Nisi Shawl by Caren Corley.
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Help Nisi Shawl write the book of her dream!

Help Nisi Shawl write the book of her dream!

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