2008 Beach Book Festival Awards!!
11:49 AM PDT, May 5, 2008
Today I learned that FORWARD TO CAMELOT (which I co-authored with Kevin Finn) has earned an Honorable Mention in the 2008 Beach Book Festival, for great beach reads in the upcoming summer.
I'm very excited that 4 1/2 years after its original publication, CAMELOT is still winning honors and entertaining readers. CAMELOT is also available now to download to Amazon's new Kindle, so if you haven't read it yet in THAT form, I hope you will soon. Enjoy YOUR beach reads this summer -- and I hope you have a copy of CAMELOT tucked under your beach towel! Going Forward with TOTGA!!!
2:46 PM PDT, April 23, 2008
The Amazon contest is over, and from it has come a completely unexpected development: A group of us ABNA authors (all semi-finalists or higher) have decided to turn our backs on the usual route of begging publishers to take our work. We're taking charge and STARTING OUR OWN PUBLISHING COMPANY!
It will be called TOTGA -- acronym for "The Ones That Got Away", meaning the great (in our humble opinions!) novels that Amazon did NOT choose to win ABNA. And our business model will be delivering wonderful fiction in all kinds of new e-publishing modes (including the Amazon Kindle) for the 21st century reader who still loves to get lost in a good story. Our group comprises authors from all corners of the U.S., the United Kingdom and New Zealand (we are very glad to welcome other ABNA authors as well, if they want to be part of this historic venture). We have, since the idea was first tossed out in mid-February, moved from the Amazon forums to Writers Cafe, held telephone conferences, begun to formulate our mission statement, started building a website, and have now selected a board of directors and chosen officers (of which I am -- I blush to say -- Chairman!) We have also chosen our logo and picked our areas of interest (editorial, marketing, finance, legal, etc.). We will soon be going forward in those separate areas -- as well as taking steps to set up a corporation and issue stock. From a hurried, get-it-done-in-a-week submission to a contest to semi-finalist to Chairman of the Board of what I believe will be a remarkable venture, I must say that Amazon has given me the wildest of wild rides, and I look forward eagerly to our budding company and all it can give the world in the way of great fiction!! NOT IN ABNA'S TOP 100 ...
1:07 PM PST, February 19, 2008
Well, it's February 19th, and though I was expecting to spend a long day worrying about my entry, STEALING FIRE, in the ABNA contest, Amazon made it easy: They posted the top 100 semi-finalists in the contest overnight, and they were all there when I looked at seven o'clock this morning.
As I expected (after reading the less-than-glowing review of my book from PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY), STEALING FIRE was not among the top 100. But strangely enough ... neither were some of the very best entries I read. I've learned a lot from being part of this contest (the only one where I've been able to interact with other contestants -- which has been fantastic!). The first thing I've learned is ... there are a lot of really wonderful writers out there. And a lot of equally wonderful unpublished work. I've been in pretty hefty company being among these semi-finalists, and I'm grateful to have been part of this. I hope that Amazon customers have had a chance to download and read (for free!) some of the amazing excerpts that have been posted here over the last month. There's some wonderful reading to be found ... for nothing! And a chance to post on the message boards where you can even, if you're lucky, get a message to someone whose work you admire ... how many people can say that about other books they've read recently? In sum -- sure, I'd love to be part of the top 100, but given the remarkable writers and novels who have not advanced, I'm still in pretty glorious company. I've learned a lot about the writing community at large, and who knows? Maybe there'll be another ABNA contest in the fall -- I already know of lots of writers who are ready to enter it! Meanwhile, I have rewrites to finish on STEALING FIRE, and then it's time to get busy shopping it and see if I can get a contract. Back to the writer's life ... SEE MY ABNA ENTRY'S PREFACE & PROLOGUE ANYWAY!!!
9:01 AM PST, January 22, 2008
After the euphoria of discovering I was an ABNA semi-finalist for my novel, STEALING FIRE, I learned something disconcerting: All of us who wrote prologues or prefaces or anything that preceded the first chapter of our books had them cut when the 5,000-word excerpts were posted on Amazon. (I have no idea why.)
For some authors, this is not much of a problem. Their original openings were interesting but not critical to their stories. For some of us, though, our prologues not only set up important plot information and characters, they also attempted to set a certain mood. That is the case with mine. My preface is quite short -- less than a page long -- and the prologue only a few pages, but those few pages do make a difference in how my entry is perceived. Among other things, the prologue introduces my heroine for the first time. I have attempted to circumvent Amazon's cutting by posting the preface and prologue intact on the bottom of my ABNA page, where it says "Discussions". I started one, "Here's the original opening of my novel", and there, if you're curious, is where you can find the complete text. Since I have picked up some reviews that complain about my pacing, I thought I'd try to help readers learn more about the book in this way -- and show them that the pacing in the rest of the excerpt is pretty quick. Please go to www.amazon.com/dp/B00124CO4I to download and read the current excerpt, but remember also to go to the bottom of the page to read the original opening! And thank you all for your continued support in helping me garner reviews to impress the judges for the next round! Made it into ABNA's SEMI FINAL ROUND!!!!
6:52 PM PST, January 15, 2008
Wow! After two days of waiting feverishly at the computer (okay, after 2 MONTHS of waiting feverishly but much more so in the last 2 days), I received an email from Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest team, telling me that my new novel, STEALING FIRE, has advanced to the semi-final round!
This is very exciting -- especially as it winnowed the entries from 5000+ down to 828 (that's what I counted). So only 16% of all entries actually made it through to the next round. Now begins the shameless self promotion where I beg every friend or relative I have (with an Amazon US account) to write a review for me. And yes, you're going to get that same awful spiel here. For the next month, Amazon will be allowing customers to download and review the excerpts of the semi finalists for free. You can also read the Publisher's Weekly review of the book at the same site. You can find my excerpt of STEALING FIRE under ABNA General Literature, at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00124CO4I PLEASE won't you go there, download the excerpt (it's FREE!) and rate and review it? Customers who post the most valuable reviews are also eligible to win some great prizes from Amazon, so it's worth your while to investigate! Meanwhile, I'm off to sip champagne and celebrate that for awhile, at least, I don't have to think about this contest!!! Hugs to all -- and thank you in advance for your reviews! Oh, boy -- A Red Face for Christmas!!!
6:59 AM PST, December 21, 2007, updated at 1:46 PM PST, December 21, 2007
The one thing I've always prided myself on is careful research, something I feel all readers are entitled to from their authors. And just a short time ago, I learned that the most important piece of research Kevin Finn and I did for our novel, FORWARD TO CAMELOT, the research on which our entire story's plot centered, turns out not to be true.
Kevin was appalled when he told me about it. I had a few moments of being appalled too. Then I decided to be philosophical about it. The plot of FORWARD TO CAMELOT is kicked off by the disappearance of JFK's personal Bible on the day of his assassination. That Bible, according to William Manchester's DEATH OF A PRESIDENT (a brilliant and moving book), was the President's personal possession and traveled with him everywhere. And when LBJ's people needed a Bible for him to swear on during the inaugural ceremony on Air Force One on the afternoon of November 22, 1963, they used JFK's Bible, as it was the only Bible on Air Force One. Afterward, Manchester said, Sarah Hughes, the judge who conducted the swearing-in ceremony, left Air Force One as it sat on the tarmac in Dallas and handed the Bible to a man who looked like a Secret Service agent. In Manchester's narrative, that's where it disappears. We checked various other sources, but the only other one that mentioned the Bible at all was Jim Bishop's THE DAY KENNEDY WAS SHOT, and he refers to the Bible as a missal, a Catholic prayer book. He also says nothing of its disappearing, but on the other hand, he doesn't say what happened to it. No other narrative that we looked at -- and we looked at thousands of pages related to the JFK assassination -- even touches on this point. So we figured we had to decide whether the Bible was a Bible or a missal, and we accepted Manchester's thesis that it disappeared and had never been found. We decided the Bible was a Bible (which we felt would make it more personal to JFK) and we went ahead and made it our McGuffin in FORWARD TO CAMELOT -- the Bible our heroine Cady Cuyler was sent back in time to retrieve. Cady might not have had to bother ... turns out that LBJ was sworn in as president on a Catholic missal, a recent gift to JFK ... and the missal, far from being lost, was given to Mrs. Johnson after the swearing-in ceremony. She was told it was now a piece of history (which it was) and she gave it, in turn, to her press secretary, Liz Carpenter, who could use it to answer questions from the press. But no one ever asked about it. The press probably had too many other details to be concerned about on that day. So the story of its use and its ultimate destination never came out.The Johnsons retained the missal and eventually it went to LBJ's Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. They offered to return the missal to the Kennedy family some years later, but the family, saying it wasn't that personal to them, said they didn't want it back. When I phoned the Kennedy Library in the early 1990's to ask whether the Bible (which is what I thought it was) had ever been returned to them, I was told it had not. So I assumed that Manchester's story was correct -- the Bible had simply vanished and never turned up again -- and I went forward accordingly with our thesis in CAMELOT. You can see photos of the actual missal (now under glass in the LBJ Library) on our website, www.ForwardtoCamelot.com. I have decided to take the tack that Jack Finney took in his brilliant TIME AND AGAIN, one of the best time-travel novels ever written. He said in a brief afterward that the Dakota, the apartment house in New York (yes, where John Lennon was shot some years later) had not been built in 1882, when his story had been written. But he needed it to exist in 1882, so he used it. I hope readers will find this bit of history intriguing, as I did, and not be put off by its turning out not to be true! CAMELOT was published in late 2003, and we believed, from that time to just a few weeks ago, that we were using a bit of true history to build a great story on. So much for great research! Merry Christmas to all! A Run-up-to-Christmas Surprise
1:57 PM PST, November 26, 2007
It's always heartening to an author to hear from people you don't know that they're interested in your book. It's especially heartening when your royalty checks haven't been all that impressive recently! And it's even more heartening when you hear it from people you never expected to hear it from.
I've been pursuing a recent hobby -- trading Disney pins online. It's fun, and I get to `talk' via email with a variety of interesting people of all ages and types as we arrange trades. I have to admit, in the interest of full disclosure, that I now own -- gulp! -- more than 175 Disney pins. How did THAT ever happen? Well, in the last week, no less than three Disney pin traders have mentioned the signature line in my email, which mentions my novel, FORWARD TO CAMELOT (co-authored with Kevin Finn). Strictly as a result of seeing that signature line, they've checked out the book, and two actually decided to get it for Christmas! (The third has already told me he's getting it for a friend who's really into history and alternate history.) We're batting three for three, and I didn't have to do anything to promote it! Who'd a thought it??? Since it is Christmas, I'd like to offer all our wonderful readers an opportunity, from now until December 18th: Though we tried hard, a few tiny historic mistakes crept into the novel (I blush to admit). They're VERY small mistakes, and there are only a few. Some clues: One has to do with time of day, another with a uniform. But if you can spot one and email me about it, I'll send you an autographed copy of the book as a gift. You can give it to someone else, keep it for yourself, or donate it to your local library or book sale -- your choice. But show us where we went wrong and I'll get a copy out to you. Send all emails to susansloate@forwardtocamelot.com. (Send any other comments you have there, too.) Remember, this is not a spelling or grammatical mistake -- it's an HISTORICAL mistake. (And guys, please don't write me to tell me Lee Oswald really did kill the president. I'm not buying that for a minute.) Good luck -- I look forward to hearing from lots of you! Susan Sloate Author, FORWARD TO CAMELOT
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Bio
Co-author of FORWARD TO CAMELOT, 2003 alternative-history novel from Authorhouse (finalist in 2004 IPPY Awards, finalist in 2004 Arizona Authors Assn. Literary Competition). #6 Amazon bestseller in Sci-Fi/Fantasy, optioned by Fast Carrier Pictures for film.
Semi-finalist in the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest with STEALING FIRE (info and excerpt appear on my website and at www.abnabooks.com). Also author of 16 published young-adult books (fiction and non-fiction, sports, biography, romance, etc), which includes Silver Medal/2007 Moonbeam Awards, for RAY CHARLES: FIND ANOTHER WAY! from Bearport Publishing. Playwright (two produced plays), screenwriter (2 screen properties optioned), sportswriter. Founded and chaired The East Cooper Authors Festival in May 2007, a program that brought together published authors with students from primary schools through high school outside Charleston, South Carolina in programs designed to excite young readers. Inaugural program reached more than 12,000 students in one day.
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