Why the Paypal option?

The short answer is this: I'm experimenting with a reader-funded model for stories that are, for one reason or another, unsuitable for the more standard modes of publication. Depending on how this test goes, I may try other such projects, in addition to my usual novels and short stories.

In this case, it's primarily a matter of length. Deeds of Men is a novella: it's twenty-one thousand words long. (For the purposes of the Nebula awards, a short story is anything up to 7,499 words, a novelette is 7,500-17,499 words, and a novella is 17,500-39,999. Anything longer than that is a novel -- though it's a rare sf/f novel nowadays that comes in under eighty thousand words). Novelettes and novellas, unfortunately, are very awkward to sell, because very few markets publish them. Therefore, in the normal way of things, writing a novella wouldn't be a good use of my time.

But of course, it isn't all about business. I wanted to write this story, and moreover I wanted it to be available to readers just before the release of In Ashes Lie, which is hard to arrange when dealing with a magazine's production schedule. On the other hand, writing, revising, copy-editing, proofing, typesetting, and setting up the webpages for it took an awful lot of working time, and it's easier to make room for that in my schedule if I have some hope of income from it. I could have put the story out via an e-publisher, perhaps -- some of them are actively interested in novellas -- but I want to try this approach first, releasing the story for free, and letting people contribute whatever they wish (or nothing at all).

If you don't agree with the idea, you don't have to: Deeds of Men is free to all, and will remain that way. I won't be offended if you just download without donating. If you'd like to see me play with more projects of this sort, though, consider dropping a little money in the kitty.