Remember that amazing Popular Mechanics book that I worked on? The whole reason it exists is Alyssa Smith (aqeldroma/@booksandcorsets), who conceived of it and bullied her company into publishing it and has guided it from start to finish. She is a superb editor and a wonderful person, and I'm very glad to call her my friend.

Today while she was at work, she got a call from her landlord saying that her house was on fire. By the time she got home, there was nothing left. Literally, nothing. Her beloved pet birds, her family heirlooms, her books and clothes and furniture and brand new iPad, all gone. Her roommate likewise lost everything. The buildings on either side of hers were gutted too. Their best guess is that the fire started in the basement, right underneath Alyssa's bedroom, and spread astonishingly quickly. (News coverage here with video of the fire and the burned-out building. Quite horrifying. No reports of human deaths or injuries, which is kind of amazing given the scope of it.)

Right now the Red Cross is putting her up in a hotel. She thinks that will last about a week. After that, she's going to couch-surf until she figures out whether she wants to wait three months for her old place to be renovated or try to find a new home. Until she's settled, she doesn't need donations of stuff. What she needs is money so she can keep herself afloat for the next couple of months and eventually replace some of the things that were destroyed. She does have a job and income, but she'll need to take time off work to deal with all of this. She had tried to get renter's insurance and got stuck in the labyrinthine bureaucratic process, so she has pretty much no recourse except for those of us who care about her.

If you can send a few bucks her way, please do, and spread the word. I set up the Gmail and Paypal accounts, but the first thing I did was send her the passwords, so rest assured that all funds sent using this button will go directly to her. (The problems with her Paypal account have been fixed; they were very quick about it too!) My heartfelt thanks for anything you can give.

If you need a URL to share around that doesn't have LJ's "adult content" notice, use this one:

http://tinyurl.com/helpalyssa

Thank you so so so much for your support; keep linking, retweeting, and checking back.