May The Fourth Be With You

Saturday is Star Wars Day (May the 4th be With You). Since David Farland/Wolverton has written several Star Wars books,we'd like to celebrate this day of geekdom by letting the Wolverton Family know that "the force will be with them" in their time of need. Help Ben by tweeting, retweeting, and sharing this throughout the twitterverse.

Help Star Wars author's son on Star Wars Day! Visit http://www.helpwolverton.com to learn more. #davidfarland #starwarsday #HelpBen

Our goal is to get #HelpBen and #davidfarland trending, thereby reaching more people who can help Ben. Please tell others about the event. You can also share this tweet on other social websites like Google+ (get it trending there!), Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, blogs, and anything else. Several independent studies confirm that spreading the word will significantly increase your midichlorian count.

Trending Goals

While having several hundred people mention it throughout the day will be helpful, it might not be enough to get the topic trending. While every tweet helps, timing of the tweets can make a difference. If we can have 100+ people mention it at once within a coupe of minutes of each other, it ups the chances of it trending. So, here is what we suggest. If you are looking for the right time to do it, do it at the top of the hour. If we can get enough people tweeting it, we should be able to trend every hour for a few minutes. Retweeting similar tweets should also add into the formula.

If tweeting during those times don't work, we understand. Please still mention this event on Twitter at whatever time works best for you. Every mention helps.

If we are trending, mention the fact. It will keep it alive.

This is our suggested tweet:

Help Star Wars author's son on Star Wars Day! Visit http://www.helpwolverton.com to learn more. #davidfarland #starwarsday #helpben

That is only suggested. Feel free to make it your individual tweet, or add additional information. Just make sure every tweet directs people where they can find more information (http://www.helpwolverton.com) and includes the hashtags #HelpBen and #davidfarland . Otherwise, have fun with it!

What Happened to Ben?

The twitter bomb fundraiser is for David Farland's son, Ben Wolverton, age 16, who was in a tragic longboarding accident on April 3rd, 2013. He suffers from severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drums, road rash, pneumonia. He recently woke from coma and is facing months of rehabilitation. Due to unfortunate circumstances, his family has no insurance.

To learn more about Ben and his accident, read the Ben's Story section. Regular updates and photos are posted on this blog, charting his progress (and occasional setbacks) during his recovery.

How Can I Help?

You can help by spreading the word on social media, buying Dave's books, and/or donating directly to the fun set up to cover the medical expenses required to get Ben walking again.

Spreading the Word

Our goal is to trend on Twitter, which should attract attention around the world. Google+ has a trending page as well, so use the same message there. Otherwise, sharing it on all your social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, blogger, wordpress... anything. We'd settle for neighborhood smoke signals if you think it would get people to notice. Encouraging your friends to pass on the word helps as well.

Buy Dave's Books

David Farland (also known as Dave Wolverton) has written many Star Wars novels and contributed to anthologies, such as Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia, Star Wars: The Rising Force, Star Wars: Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina, Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters, and Star Wars: Tales from Jaba's Palace.



You can also help by purchasing David Farland’s young adult fantasy thriller Nightingale. This powerful novel has won seven awards, including the International Book Award for best young adult novel of the years, and the Hollywood Book Festival for best book of the year. It has been praised by authors such as James Dashner (The Maze Runner), Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn), and Paul Genesse (Iron Dragon series). Nightingale follows the story of Bron Jones, who was abandoned at birth. Thrown into foster care, he is rejected by one family after another, until he meets Olivia, a gifted and devoted high-school teacher who recognizes that Bron isn’t even human—he’s what her people call a "nightingale."

You can purchase it on Amazon/Kindle and Barnes and Noble/Nook. You can purchase the book and the audiobook on the Nightingale website Also, Apple/iTunes has an enhanced version complete with illustrations, interviews, animations, and its own soundtrack for your iOS devices.

If you’ve read Nightingale, don’t forget to write a review (it’s okay if it’s short!) and post it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. This will help too.

If you are a Star Wars fan, you may be more interested in downloading and purchasing David Farland’s Golden Queen trilogy as an e-book. Proceeds will also go toward Ben’s medical expenses.

International best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson called The Golden Queen "A rainbow mixture of technology and mythology, filled with vibrant colors, larger-than-life heroes, and thunderous action. A grand quest across a kaleidoscope of parallel worlds." Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Orson Scott Card said, "David Farland's Golden Queen trilogy....is . . . the equivalent of Lord of the Rings in space. . . . Even though it's a rollicking good yarn, you experience it with all the power of real life. Farland is simply one of the best sci-fi and fantasy writers alive."

The Golden Queen follows Gallen O’Day, who is hired as a bodyguard to escort a young woman through the woods to the forbidden ruins at Geata Na Chruinn. It seems like an ordinary job—but all too soon, he finds himself fleeing for his life from creatures that seem like escapees from a nightmare—the alien dronon, led by their golden queen. With his best friend, a genetically engineered talking bear named Orick, and his girlfriend Maggie, Gallen soon finds himself tangled in an interstellar war that he never knew existed, racing across a host of worlds, confronted by a future unlike any that he had ever imagined.

The first book in the trilogy is currently available for free on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and Kobo.

Purchase the second and third books on Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Donate

You can also donate straight to Ben on the GoFundMe: Help Ben Walk page right here.

Thank you, everybody, for your continual kindness in this great time of need!