Every year, I attend a number of conventions.  I have an amusing game that I play called the Subversive Appleseeding project.  The game is very simple.  I select an intellectually and emotionally challenging book that moved me.  I buy as many cheap copies as I can and I purposely leave behind challenging books at conventions in the hope that said novels will find new readers.

This year, I have selected The Fault in Our Starts by John Green.  I will start seeding this book in just a couple of days at the Midwinter Gaming Convention. For your entertainment, I have included the letter I will leave in the book below.

Subversive Appleseeding 2014 Letter

Greetings and Salutations,

The book you have discovered by accident is a gift from me to you.  I believe that the right book in the right hands at the right time can change the world.   (The above greeting was inspired by Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.)

I found the Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien quite by accident as an adolescent and it helped me through some dark times.

It occurred to me that sometimes the universe needs a little help with making sure that books find the right readers at the right time.  I attend a good number of conventions in a given year and I have a tradition of leaving behind a subversive book that will challenge readers and maybe help them through a dark time.

I call this hobby Subversive Appleseeding.  The first three books I’ve seeded were A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

Conventions bring a wealth of opportunity to learn, socialize, and enjoy fellowship with your fellow nerds.  When you leave the convention, please consider reading this book.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is about a teenager girl dealing with cancer.  It is about love and loss and the power of art to inspire.  This book will make you cry.  Somehow the idea of that makes me smile.

Read this book and then pass it along to someone else that you might think needs it.  Share art that touches you.

Jason Andrew
http://www.jasonbandrew.com
jasonbandrew@gmail.com