Ladies, gentlemen and readers of The Alembicated Genie…
I regret to say this, but say this I must:
I foresee an encroaching future when The Genie will no longer be able to…alembicate!
Not because I want it that way, not because I’m about to retire in the face of (stiff! 😉 ) competition, but something altogether more harrowing.
On the verge of Kicking Max A** (to quote one favorite inspiration), which is all I’m able to say at this time, when I’m poised to have one helluva third anniversary giveaway on TAG, when, in short, all manner of awesome is Just About To Happen, the one instrument that has made everything possible is about to… kick the bucket.
My geriatric PowerBook, my faithful companion for the past five years, is developing Elzheimer’s, and showing signs that it needs retirement, sooner if not later. In those five years (and it wasn’t new when I bought it, either), it has survived Sonic the Hedgehog, drops to the floor, and a losing contest with Hairy Krishna and a glass of water. I’ve written two full novels, three more books in progress and over five hundred blog posts, not counting about 12.000+ emails, PMs, tweets and FB status updates.
One of the crowning ironies of my existence as a perfume writer is that I can’t afford to buy anything I review. At all. And at this point in time, I can’t afford to replace Cassius Dio, either.
Yet I have faith and I have options, and I even still have hopes, too!
To that end, I’ve created an Indiegogo campaign where readers, fans and other altruistic souls can contribute a little or a lot to the cause of Saving The Genie.
You can find out much more on the campaign, including how to contribute, here.
Even if you can’t or won’t want to support my rise to fame and fortune (I wish I were kidding!), you can – completely risk-free! – tell those fellow fumehead friends you know about it. Or the world! Or anyone who might appreciate a new perspective on an ancient art.
My words might otherwise evaporate like so much poorly stored perfume.
Because without YOU, dear readers, I could never have made it so far. Who knows where we might end up, if we could continue our explorations though the jungles of Planet Perfume, or what creatures and chimaeras we could find?
The Alembicated Genie 
Dearest Genie
As one who has recently lost his fellow IT traveller, a dearly beloved laptop, to the great bucketshop in the sky, you have my every sympathy.
I’m begging, borrowing and stealing IT access until a new purchase is made… I do so hope you are able to do the same, as it would be a much less fragrant world out there without you!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Darling Dandy, that was quite the sweetest thing I’ve read all day! Fingers crossed! For me and most certainly for you, too!
A future in which there is no Genie who is Alembicated is a very sad one. Here’s hoping both of you are able to keep on blogging long into the future.
Well, James, that’s the future I dare say we’re both trying to avoid! Fingers crossed…;)
It’s not a lot, but I put a little cash in your kitty! Can’t have the genie retiring to her bottle just yet! 😉
Bless you and THANK YOU from the bottom of my overflowing heart, Suzanne! I won’t go anywhere if I can possibly avoid it, and maybe…just maybe? I won’t have to! xo
Our electronic writing devices are like essential body organs, so of course I added my small bit to the kitty. You’ll make it!
Ellen – some (very!) long time ago in those early days on Scent Less Sensibilities and too poor to even send out for samples, I was in danger of becoming extinct almost before I’d started.
When suddenly, serendipity arrived, and that was YOU, So, dear Ellen, from the wannabe who has you to thank for becoming a perfume writer, not to mention the many thrills and spills we’ve known since…
Thank YOU.
Imagine being a total perfume newbie trying to absorb the types, the ingredients, the structures, the history yadayadyada… and then stumbling on a Genie who granted one wish–make the experience of scent come alive. Thank you for your passion, your wonderful scent fictions and for letting us help. Onward
Sam…your comment touches me more than you know! Thank YOU. Really, all that time ago when I started, I just wanted to write the kind of reviews I’d like to read in ways that everyone did. Little did I realize at the time that the writer wanted out no matter how I tried. If that passion for the subject matter, my urge to find the story, and my abilities as a writer made everything come for you as a reader, then I’ve far surpassed everything I’d hoped for. And onward…oh, yes! The only way to know is to go…
Good Luck, I hope this campaign will be successful dearest Sheila.
Carlos my friend, I have …hope! Which is a good deal more than I’ve had for a long, long time! It’s all good and getting better! 🙂
This will not do. Not one bit. Sharing around my various places for you.
xoxo
Thank you! It means so very much more than you know – or do you? 😉
I can’t imagine my life without access to my friends that I have made on the internet ❤
here’s to a free voice! I loved your writing, and don’t want to imagine the www without this genie. Don’t loose your free spirit, and continue writing as you feel you need to, also about spritzes that come from my house, please, your voice is important, needed, and appreciated. My share, small as it is, will hopefully motivate many more.
Dear Andy, your beautiful comment made my day in ways I can’t even begin to express! I foresee a sedan chair parade in your future! 😉 Thank YOU, for making it all worthwhile for writers like me.
I love your writing full of both passion and discernment. I am so grateful for your writing about my work it is important that your voice continues to be heard.
Mandy, that’s a two-way street. Thanks to the dedication and artistry of people like you, writers like me have to up the ante! 🙂 Which is, of course, a most excellent thing!
I could not have said it better than Sam. Not only do I rely on your perfume reviews, I enjoy them as mini stories in themselves. Thanks for all that you’ve contributed. Good luck dear Sheila!
Thank you, dear Amy! I’ll contribute much, much more if all goes well, and why should it not? 😉
I feel for you! To lose a computer, strange as it may seem to say, is like losing a friend.
Indeed it is, and this particular friend has made so many wonders possible. I wouldn’t be who I am today without it.