For today only (Friday, August 14, 2009), John Scalzi is matching tax-deductible donations (up to $500) made to support the online magazine Strange Horizons.

I’ve donated $100, and even if the $500 limit has been passed, I encourage you all to donate whatever you can afford, for all the wonderful reasons that Scalzi explains on his blog.

For his great generosity and willingness to give back to a publication that supported his early career, and give other new writers the same chance, I am proud to induct John Scalzi into my personal pantheon of Great Human Beings.

ETA: In case anyone thought my induction of John into the Great Human Beings pantheon was premature, his 27-hour “Scalzi Challenge” was even more successful than he had dared to hope. In the words of Strange Horizons editor Susan Marie Groppi —

So up there in Scalzi’s post when he said “What I would say would be an even better outcome, however, is an even larger pile of donations sent along to Strange Horizons, for which my and Krissy’s $500 is just the cherry on the top.” You guys far exceeded any reasonable expectations for that “better outcome.” I’ve just finished doing all the tabulating, and the grand total for the 27-hour Scalzi Challenge period came to $9590. When you add in the matching funds from John and Krissy, that’s just over ten thousand dollars raised.

I don’t think I can possibly express how much this means to Strange Horizons, and to all of our staff members. We’re going to keep the fund drive open for a while longer in case anyone else wants to donate, but we’ve totally met and passed our overall fundraising goal. I’m totally overwhelmed by the generosity all of you have shown, and totally scared for what might happen if Scalzi ever decides to use his powers for evil.