Welcome to Galactic Barter, I would like to see this view in person:

Photograph by Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (Rear Admiral, USN, Ret.) aboard Freedom 7 launched 5 May 1961. Photo courtesy of NASA.

You can help.

This is my attempt to barter my way into space. I want to go to space aboard Virgin Galactic.

Inspired by oneredpaperclip. I have decided to pursue a life long dream and go into space. Kyle McDonald started with one red paper clip and ended up with a house. Me? I start with something way more valuable but the end goal is whole lot larger.

One novel – ten signed copies – one dream

I wrote the book, The Academy that was published in August of 2000. There are ten signed copies of my novel, The Academy with certificates of authenticity. They are shiny and even notarized! I will offer each of these books in barter here and on several different sites in several different cities.

My eventual goal is book passage on Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two. The ultimate goal: book passage on Virgin Galactic that as of right now is $200,000. The final price tag: $288,000. Because even if it is a barter you have to pay federal and state taxes worth $88,000.

Here are the simple rules:

Starting 1 January 2010, I will begin accepting offers. Every legal item or service will be considered. To make things simple, let’s use the prohibited list from craigslist and ebay. If you are an electrician who thinks an hour of your time is worth my book, make an offer. Just understand that I am trying to accumulate enough value to buy a ticket on Spaceship Two. Whenever possible, I would like to trade in person. This won’t always be possible.

You can track the progress via blog or get first look as a registered user. I will publish an updated list of all items that can be taken separately, in part or in total for something else.

Want to make an offer? Send me an email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Don't want to make an offer but want to help? Click the "Discover" link to the right. It will help this site get viewed at Stumbleupon.

You have a bunch of questions – the first should be: Why barter?