Author and webmaster (he manages the sites of Terry Brooks and Naomi Novik) Shawn Speakman‘s recent battle with cancer left him deeply in financial debt. In response, his Grim Oak Press published the anthology Unfettered, which they describe thusly:

You define life or it defines you.

In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both.

Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hogdkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story Shawn could sell toward alleviating those bills — and suggested Shawn ask the same of his other friends.

Unfettered is the result, an anthology built to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.

Every story in this volume is new and, like the title suggests, the writers were free to write whatever they wished.

The first printing was limited to 500 signed copies (at $150) and 5,000 unsigned copies (at $35), nearly all of which have already sold out, and Grim Oak is planning a new printing (the book is also available as a $9.99 ebook).

Building on the success of Unfettered, Speakman now plans to launch a nonprofit organization to be funded by an annual anthology like Unfettered. The anthology will offer similar help to ill artists not lucky enough to have such famous friends. He hasn’t yet named his new organization, but told John Ruch at Paste Magazine that he draws inspiration from the Haven Foundation, a similar fund started by Stephen King that provided minor but valuable financial aid to Speakman.

He hopes to have the organization and the new anthology ready for a dual debut at the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention.

Meanwhile, Speakman remains cancer-free, and it looks as if Unfettered will successfully retire his medical debt. He already shared a little extra Unfettered money, in fact, with another author whose son required hospitalization.

“I’ve had a lot of help,” Speakman said. “I’m definitely the kind of person who believes in paying it forward.”

Table of contents for Unfettered includes:
“Imaginary Friends” by Terry Brooks (a precursor to the Word/Void trilogy)
“How Old Holly Came To Be” by Patrick Rothfuss (a Four Corners tale)
“River of Souls” by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (a Wheel of Time tale)
“The Old Scale Game” by Tad Williams
“Game of Chance” by Carrie Vaughn
“Martyr of the Roses” by Jacqueline Carey (a precursor to the Kushiel series)
“Dogs” by Daniel Abraham
“Mudboy” by Peter V. Brett (a Demon Cycle tale)
“The Sound of Broken Absolutes” by Peter Orullian (a Vault of Heaven tale)
“The Coach With Big Teeth” by R.A. Salvatore
“Keeper of Memory” by Todd Lockwood (a Summer Dragon tale)
“Heaven in a Wild Flower” by Blake Charlton
“The Chapel Perilous” by Kevin Hearne (an Iron Druid tale)
“Select Mode” by Mark Lawrence (a Broken Empire tale)
“All the Girls Love Michael Stein” by David Anthony Durham
“Strange Rain” by Jennifer Bosworth (a Struck epilogue tale)
“Nocturne” by Robert V.S. Redick
“Unbowed” by Eldon Thompson (a Legend of Asahiel tale)
“In Favour With Their Stars” by Naomi Novik (a Temeraire tale)
“The Jester” by Michael J. Sullivan (a Riyria Chronicles tale)
“The Duel” by Lev Grossman (a Magicians tale)
“Walker and the Shade of Allanon” by Terry Brooks (a Shannara tale)
“The Unfettered Knight” by Shawn Speakman (an Annwn Cycle tale)