We All Cast Heal! 2021

Hi. My name is Blaise Corvin, a fantasy and sci fi author currently specializing in the GameLit and LitRPG genres of fiction.

 

Four years ago, I started a fundraiser for the GameLit/LitRPG community called the GameLit Society Philanthropy.

 

You can find the last three here:

 

2020 Philanthropy

2019 Philanthropy

2018 Philanthropy

 

As its name implies, this charity drive originated in the GameLit Society (previously the LitRPG Society), a Facebook group for writers and readers in the LitRPG and Gamelit space.

 

Everything from the beneficiary of our philanthropy (Shriners Hospitals for Children), to the recent name change have been decisions that the community has taken part in.

 

Let's talk about the name change really quick: We All Cast Heal! This year, I felt a name change was appropriate because, well, the community has grown. This Philanthropy started with a Facebook group that I founded, but I have several facebook groups now. Most importantly, a larger genre umbrella than GameLit has been floating around that makes sense to me: Progression Fantasy.

 

I personally think Progression Fantasy makes less sense than "Progression Fiction," since it seems to exclude science fiction in name, but let's ignore my nerd quibbles right now.

 

Progression Fantasy (or Fiction) would encompass:

 

GameLit

LitRGP

HaremLit

Cultivation (Wuxia and Xianxia)

DungeonCore

etc.

 

I have at least a toe in all of these communities.

 

Helping sick kids every year is probably the most important thing I've ever done in my life. My hope is that this fundraiser continues, grows, and outlives me. And for that to happen, we needed to change the name to be reflective of something other than a single Facebook Group.

 

For those who are not familiar with Shriners Hospitals for Children, they're a relatively large organization that helps sick kids. Some kids who otherwise would not be able to afford care can find healing at Shriners. What's more, and one thing that is important to me is how Shriners is on the cutting edge of medical tech.

 

Every time we do this charity drive, readers tell true stories of how they or someone in their family has been impacted or even saved by Shriners Hospitals.

 

If anyone would like to watch the video that the organization has on their homepage right now, you can find it here:

 

Stories of Sydney and Seth:

 

 

 

 

So anyway, the name has changed, but our purpose and methodology have not. The funraiser will last 2 or 3 weeks. Then I will add my own donation to cover all the fees that Go Fund Me takes and increase the donation on top of that, send it to Shriners, and post the receipt for the community to see.

 

From the get-go, transparency has been a big deal to me, not least of which because so many corporate fundraisers seem to begin and end with throwing money into a cash register and getting like... a paper leaf on the wall or something as the only evidence anything even happened.

 

For a lot of us, 2021 hasn't been quite the same level of dumpster fire as 2020 was, but it still hasn't been pleasant. I am hoping that we can end the year strong, do something good, and end the year on a positive note.

 

So... Let's all cast heal! : )

 

-BC