On Friday I was shocked to learn that writer Rochita Loenen-Ruiz had lost her husband and the father of her children. Rochita and I have been friends since meeting online in 2010 or 2011, and she is a person very dear to me and I writer whom I respect and admire enormously.

Rochita has not had an easy time in the years I’ve known her, and I keep hoping that something good will happen for her, to allow her to really spread her wings as a writer and as an activist. She has a great and selfless heart, and anyone who has met her knows what I’m talking about. This is someone who shines.

And now this blow.

Aliette de Bodard and other friends of Rochita have set up a fundraiser to help her deal with her family’s immediate and urgent needs in the aftermath of a devastating loss. As part of my own contribution I am giving two ARCs of Occupy Me into the ‘thank you’ pot for supporters, and I’ve donated two unpublished stories to the stretch goals. I wish I could do more.

Here is the link once again. Please support this effort if you are able to, or share it on social media if you can.

Rochita has published many stories; here is one of her better-known pieces, Song of the Body Cartographer Among other things, it shows how luminous she is.