The Seer's Stone

Yay! The copies of The Seer's Stone have finally arrived! The book is now on sale from the Dragon Tree product page, and from shops in Santa Cruz and Los Cancajos.

Twelve adventures under La Palma’s amazing starry sky.

Take a journey through La Palma’s turbulent past, into its present and out into the exciting future. Chedey will tell you how his world collapsed when the Spanish conquered the Island in 1493, Althay will explain what happened when the volcano erupted, Daida shares her visit from an extraterrestrial and Leyre will take you out into space.

For children aged about 10 – 12. 148 pgs A5. 13 illustrations. 10€

More details of the book here.

S l o w P r o g r e s s . . .

So at long last my brain's started working again (mostly) and I've found out how to punctuate dialogue in Spanish. Two pages down, 134 to go. [Sigh] At least I'm moving again. Even if I still don't have my books from the printers.

Not going too well

I got very tired and I had to stop everything non-essential for a while. The English version of my new book is taking longer than usual at the printers, because it landed in the middle of a reorganisation. Meanwhile, I'm still working on the translation. And I've just found out that I've been doing it wrong. In Spanish, you punctuate the dialogue in a completely different way. So I'm going to have to go back and do it all again. Take a deep breath and start again...

American Express gift cards : Guest Post by Hank Quense

Want an American Express gift card?  My friend Hank Quense is giving two away, and you won't need an Amex account to use them. This guest post tells you all about it.

Hank Quense

Strange Worlds Online
My Amazon page
My blog site
Self-publishing Guides

I’ve written a series of four books to demystify the self-publishing and book marketing processes.  I’ve spent a year on these Self-publishing Guides and now it’s time to get some book reviews for all four books.  I have a plan to encourage folks to write and post positive reviews for my books.  I’m calling it a Review Blitz and it will involve giveaways.  I’ll be giving away American Express Gift Cards to be awarded via a random drawing.

Here’s the deal.

Step 1) Select one of these books to read and review:

Self-publishing a Book

Marketing Plans for Self-publishing Authors

Manage Your Self-publishing Project

Business Basics for Authors

You can find out more about these books on my Amazon page or on my Strange Worlds Online website.  You can also download a brochure.

Step 2) Send me an email at hankquense@icloud.com telling me which book you chose and I’ll send a 100% discount coupon to download the book from Smashwords in the format you wish. (Note: this is a different email address than my usual email address)

Step 3) post your review during the week of 3/1 thru 3/7/14

Step 4) For extra credit (and rewards), write a blog and post it during the week of 3/1 thru 3/7/14.

Step 5) Send me an email at hankquense@icloud.com when the review is posted.  If you wrote a blog post, send me a link to the site in addition to the review posting.

Here’s how the drawing will work.

If you write a review and post it on Amazon, you’ll get entered into a contest for a $50 gift card.

If you post the review on Amazon AND Goodreads, you’ll have two entires in the $50 gift card drawing.

If you post a review on Amazon AND write a blog post about the book, you’ll get an entry into a drawing for a $100 gift card.

If you post a review on Amazon AND Goodreads AND write a blog post, you’ll get two entires in the $100 drawing.

CAUTION: posting stuff outside the week of 3/1 thru 3/7/14 will be appreciated but will not qualify you for the drawings.

An hono(u)rable mention

I've just won an hono(u)rable mention in On The Premises' Mini-Contest #22 for micro-fiction.
I have to admit that the winning entry is much better than mine! But it's a nice start to the year.