"Authors Supporting Our Troops 2014" has collected more than 1100 books from 140 authors in its effort to ship indie and small press published books to US soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
"Reading offers an escape from the routine of military life, and books are in scarce supply for many of our troops. I'm proud to help in this small way." Marianne Sciucco, author
(PRWEB) February 27, 2014
Indie Author Marianne Sciucco has joined more than 140 indie and small press published authors in an effort to send more than 1100 personally signed books to US soldiers serving in Kuwait and Afghanistan. "Authors Supporting our Troops 2014" was started by horror and military author Armand Rosamilia from Jacksonville, Florida. Rosamilia is the author of "Football Espionage" and "Zombie Football". Sciucco connected with him after a fellow author posted about the project on Facebook.
"Reading offers an escape from the routine of military life, and books are in scarce supply for many of our troops. I'm proud to help in this small way," says Sciucco, whose debut novel "Blue Hydrangeas", an Alzheimer's love story, hit the top of Amazon's bestseller list in medical fiction three times. "I've been doing a lot of research on women in the military, coming home, and wounded warriors because I'm working on a novel, 'Swim Season', which features an Army nurse who comes home from Afghanistan suffering from PTSD and drug addiction. This is a small but helpful way for me to give back."
Rosamilia, known locally as a radio personality at Surf 1700 AM Radio, says each day he receives three to five packages from authors containing books, and will continue to collect books for another month. "So far, over 500 authors have asked for the mailing address, so I expect many more books. We'll begin shipping the first set to a soldier in Afghanistan in about two weeks."
Rosamilia says personal contacts referred him to the soldiers selected to receive the books. "We'll be shipping to five soldiers overseas in hostile territories, and we're looking for at least three more." The soldiers will receive three to five boxes of signed books to pass out to his or her unit.
The cost of shipping such a heavy load is tremendous, but people have been helping to raise the money by purchasing T-shirts and donating money via PayPal. "You don't have to be an author to help in this cause," says Sciucco. "Every dollar counts. To find out what you can do please visit the website."
About the Author
Marianne Sciucco is not a nurse who writes but a writer who happens to be a nurse, using her skills and experience to create stories that bear witness to the humanity in all of us. A lover of words and books, she studied the craft of writing as an English major at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and worked for a time as a newspaper reporter in New England. She later became a nurse. With more than 20 years experience as a staff nurse and case manager, she has worked with countless families dealing with issues related to aging, elder care, Alzheimer's, and nursing home placement. In 2002, she put the two together and began writing about the intricate lives of people struggling with health and family issues. She published her debut novel, "Blue Hydrangeas," an Alzheimer's love story, in 2013 to glowing reviews. When not writing she works as a campus nurse at a community college in New York's Hudson Valley.