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 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.  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.  (You can see previous posts here and here.)

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 four books I’ve seeded were A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

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.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is about a man named McMurphy seeking to scam the justice system by pretending to be crazy, only to learn that insanity is sometimes a matter of perspective.  This book will make you laugh and 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