WonderCon hosts the

Robert A. Heinlein
Memorial Blood Drive

On Saturday, March 3, WonderCon will host the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive, sponsored by the Heinlein Society. Blood Centers of the Pacific will be at Moscone South to collect blood donations from 10 AM to 4 PM, in Room 232 in the East Mezzanine. We hope you will take a brief break from your other convention activities and come join us in saving lives, and have some cookies and juice while you're at it.

Each donor will receive a cloisonné pin that was designed by Mr. Heinlein for the first World Con blood drive in Kansas City as our way of saying, "Thank you for helping." In addition, WonderCon will provide a "goodie bag" to each person who donates blood as an additional thank you for supporting this most worthy cause.

About
Robert A. Heinlein

Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 - May 8, 1988) was one of the most popular and respected science fiction authors of the 20th Century. By setting a high standard for science and engineering plausibility, he helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first writer to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s with unvarnished science fiction. He was also among the first authors of bestselling novel-length science fiction in the modern mass-market era.

Four of Heinlein's novels (Double Star, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) won Hugo Awards in the years they were published. In 2001, another novel (Farmer in the Sky) and a novella (The Man Who Sold the Moon) received "Retro Hugos" for the year 1951, and the movie Destination Moon, which was based on a Heinlein story, received the "Retro Hugo" for best dramatic presentation. He was the first writer to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement.

Heinlein was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Writers", but he was much more. He was a philanthropist who helped many charitable causes and individuals. When asked how he could be repaid for his help, he would reply, "You can't pay me back, you have to pay it forward."

One cause that was of great importance to him was blood donation. Having a rare blood type himself (AB+), he was a frequent donor and a supporter of the National Rare Blood Club, which was an integral part of his novel I Will Fear No Evil. In 1976, at the 34th World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, he helped to organize the first of many science fiction convention blood drives. In 1977, he did the same at the San Diego Comic-Con, and 2007 marks the 30th anniversary of the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive as an integral part of that event.

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In 2001, at the 59th World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia, the Society sponsored its first onsite blood drive, with the Red Cross collecting 60 units of blood. In the 5 1/2 years since then we have sponsored more than 50 drives, generating more than 1,900 units of blood and saving potentially thousands of lives.

• Place the books of Robert Heinlein in libraries everywhere, especially in school libraries where his juvenile novels may continue to help to form character and provoke critical and intelligent thinking among our young people
• Award scholarships and grants to worthy young people
• Assist in disseminating the works of Robert Heinlein into new languages and formats
• Explore the possibility of accurate and true to book renditions of Robert Heinlein's stories to film and other media
• Promote scholarly research and overall discussion of the works and ideas of Robert Heinlein.

You can learn more about Robert Heinlein, the Heinlein Society and the Blood Centers of the Pacific at www.heinleinsociety.org and www.bloodcenters.org.

We hope you will join us in "paying it forward" by donating blood at WonderCon this weekend.

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