April 10, 2007

I don’t know if he has posted this on his site yet or not but I assume so. Just got this email over at MySpace from Charles…

Did you ever want to be the villain in a suspense novel? A tank crewman charging into battle? A Senator or Representative? Now’s your chance. Sort of.

In about 30 days I’ll finalizing the copy for my new novel Republic, scheduled for publication in August 2007.

Here’s a short blurb:

Welcome to the America of the future: an intrusive federal government; economy going down the tubes; and terrorism, domestic and foreign, wracking our nation. In 2016 America has become a place of fear and suspicion. Terrorism and government crackdowns have brought on a cycle of spiraling inflation and unemployment. Basic civil liberties are at risk in a country changed, yet frighteningly familiar.

A prominent citizen and commander in the West Virginia National Guard, Ken Murphy, must protect his family and his country, and identify where his loyalties lay in an increasingly dangerous conflict.

In short, it’s a big book about an American civil war.

Post a review of either the podcast or book of Prayer at Rumayla: A Novel of the Gulf War by May 10 and one of the characters in the book will get your name, and I’ll mention your blog or website in the acknowledgments. Yeah, I know, it’s a stupid gimmick. But maybe fun.

Here’s the quick Q & A and rules:

1) Do I get a free copy of the book?

How cheap can you be? You can download it free here, and listen here, but I encourage you to buy a copy. Writers have to make a living too.

2) Can I sue you if you make my character ugly or a villain or the wrong sexual orientation?

Yeah, right. Try, but I’m what they call judgment-proof (broke)

3) What if I want to be the main character?

You’d better have a pretty cool name. I’m not having any National Guard Colonels named Wilbur. No offense to the Wilbur’s of the world.

4) How do I let you know when the review is posted?

Post a comment here

5) How can you earn my undying gratitude?

Post a cool comment on your blog or somewhere telling other people about this excellent, very cool idea. Send traffic here.

Sounds Like a pretty cool deal. Go check it out.

Amy Jo over at The Bellclapper’s Garden is asking everyone to share what their favorite book when they were a kid or teenager. Pretty cool deal.

I have been reading since I was about four. By the time I was in the first grade I had already gotten well into the Hardy Boys series of books. Even though I now have many favorites that would come before them, I would have to say that any of them would be my all time favorite. I read them all probably fifteen times as a kid. When I moved out of the house as a teenager my parents traded them in at the trade-a-book place that used to be in Doraville and I really regretted losing them, so a few years back they somehow found most or all of them and gave the series to me for Christmas one year. My children don’t seem to enjoy them as much as I did, but they are also not quite as voracious readers as I was either.

My nine year old daughter was reading one of them the other day though, and I was very pleased to see her enjoying a book that is over 50 years old as much as I did.

I am not tagging anyone in this meme, if you want to participate in it that is cool. Just link to the main page of the site here and leave me a comment that you have participated and give us the link to come visit and I will also link to you from the body of the post.

Christine has her post up now.

Michelle has also joined in.