Friends and colleagues,

As most of you know, the first volume of my comic book series AIR debuted last month. Drawn by the incomparable MK Perker, AIR is the story of Blythe, a fight attendant with a fear of heights who is drawn into the race to develop a radical new form of flight based on Aztec technology. She also falls in love with a guy who might be a terrorist. It's a look, through a surrealist lens, at the nature of borders, identity and travel in our post-9/11 world. Though fans have been calling the series entertainingly bizarre and unexpected, I feel quite sane when I'm writing it. Who knows what that says about me!

Happily, the trade has been getting good reviews. Two weeks ago, MK and I learned we've been nominated for the Eisner Award for best new series. We're totally psyched; this is a great honor. But I'd still like to kick things up a notch.

Whacky as it is, AIR is a book with a message. So, for every copy of AIR bought this May Day (Friday, May 1st), I will donate $1 to the Koru Foundation (www.korufoundation.org), a UK-based charity that helps impoverished communites the world over develop low-cost renewable energy projects, bringing climate-friendly electricity to villages without a single light bulb. Ironically, the people most threatened by climate change are those who had the least responsibility in creating it. I saw this firsthand in North Africa, where desertification is already destroying ancient farming cultures. By acting now, we can help ease the burden on our planet while bringing power to communities without it.

Here is what to do:

1. On Friday, May 1st, purchase a copy of AIR: Letters from Lost Countries from Amazon.com

2. Email info [at] gwillowwilson [dot] com. Write 'May Day AIRlift' in the Subject line. In the body of the email, copy and paste your Amazon order number. Do NOT include any financial information, your address, or anything else! Just the order number.

3. Sit back, wait for your book to arrive, and feel good about having done something for our planet.

A copy of this email is available here on my website. Feel free to link to it, forward this email widely and/or post this message to your blogs. I appreciate your support.

All best,
Willow