If there's one surefire way to get the entire JustLuxe editorial team to stop working and engage in conversation, it's to bring up Game of Thrones. We're obsessed and we're not ashamed — which is why we started immediately pooling our funds when we heard about George R.R. Martin's new crowdfunding campaign. Anyone familiar with the books or HBO show knows that the author has a soft spot for wolves, so it's no surprise that he's raising money for The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in his home state of New Mexico.
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What are the perks to donating? Only the best incentives ever offered for any crowdfunding campaign ever! After all, who wouldn't want to be killed off in the upcoming A Song of Ice and Fire book or get tickets to the premiere of season five?
Hosted on Prizeo, the campaign has a huge selection of offerings and the raised money will be going to the non-profit Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary and The Food Depot of Santa Fe. According to the author himself, no matter what donation amount you give, you'll be entered into a contest to win a helicopter ride with him to the wolf sanctuary (though higher amounts give you more entries). You'll be able to pick his brain about Tyrion's fate, whether direwolves are as fluffy as you imagine, his upcoming books, whether Sansa and Littlefinger will become some bizarrely hot power couple, and will you let anyone live at the end? (Okay, so these may be my questions and no, I haven't read the books, so if the answers are in there, don't tell me!) There may even be a game of Bingo in it for you.
If you pitch in $450 you will get a signed map of Westeros, $600 gets you a signed and dedicated GOT cookbook, and $1,200 will reward you with a handwritten thank you note from George.
Now, onto the good stuff. Unfortunately, people already snatched up the episode one script (signed by the cast and crew) for $4,500, the pair of tickets to the season five premiere for $7,500, and George's worn hat for $7,500 (which seems like an odd thing to spend that much money on, but no judging).
Perhaps the coolest prize that was on offer, for $20,000 two lucky fans scored the chance to appear in the next novel as a character with the societal station of their choice (who will, of course, be killed off some magnificent way. Sadly most of the campaign sold out faster than a 90s 'N Sync concert, but you can still snatch the $15,000 breakfast with George, where you may be able to convince him to sneak you in the book too (*Just kidding, that just sold as well).
I'm not really surprised the rewards have been mostly taken. After all, just in the course of writing this article the $200,000 goal was met even though it isn't over with for another 59 days. Seeing so much success, we hope that other big-named authors and public figures follow suit and use their names like this to raise money for some worthy causes. And if you aren't one of those lucky fans to have bought one of the big prizes, you can still pitch in and get yourself some of the smaller ones listed above.
Also, make sure to remember that even donating $10 will give you two entries into the helicopter ride contest!
