Happy Canada Day!

Wow. It's April!

Hey folks,

Looks like I've neglected the blog for a while. Sorry. So what's going on with me? I'm working on a new book. No, it's not DotS 2. A present I'm not allowed to say what's going on with DotS 2 at the request of the creators. They like big secrets. :-p So, what's this new book then?

Álfar.

What's Álfar? It's the original word for Elves. Yep. I'm writing a book about Elves. I've got the opening chapters posted at inkpop.com where it's climbing the charts and getting great reviews. Check it out if you're curious.

Step lightly,
Shiraz.

DotS wins Mom's Choice Award!

Today's been a really good day.  After I gave up on this award yesterday I got and email today saying that Defenders of the Scroll is a Mom's Choice Awards Silver recipient in the category of Young Adult – Fantasy, Myths & Legends.

Full details here.  MCA is a big deal for me, so I'm a happy guy now.  I hope the rest of the month is just as exciting. ;-)

DotS makes the inkpop.com top 5!

After 3 months on the site and being bumped out of the top 5 at the end of December, Defenders of the Scroll managed to come in at #4 this month on inkpop.com

Check out the Winner's List

DotS actually fell to #6 twice this month, but both times the inkpop community rallied to get people to vote for it and push it back up.  I'm so grateful to the friends I've made there.

We won't know until around March 5th if HarperCollins will offer a book deal for DotS, but we're past the gatekeepers now.  Let's hope the next month goes well!

DotS wins Best Fantasy in the First Annual Inkies

What are the Inkies?  Well, the members at inkpop.com decided to put together their own little awards show online.  Most of the voting was done by appointed judges, but other members could vote too, their tops choices possibly deciding any close calls by the judges.

Here are the full Results

DotS available in stores! Well store.

I got this email this week from iUniverse:

Dear Shiraz,

Great news!  Defenders of the Scroll will be stocked January 11th - March 15th in the following Chapters store:

Chapters - Square One

189 Rathburn Road West,

Mississauga, Ontario L5B 4C1

Canada

(905)281-8342

It is important to promote, market and drive traffic to the store location listed above to purchase your book. Creating demand and traffic is crucial for expanded and long term distribution with Chapters. So alert, family, friends and acquaintances that your book is now available with Canada's largest book retailer.

Congratulations and job well done!

Shelley Rogers

iUniverse, Inc.

Publishing Program Manager

-------------------------

So what are you waiting for people? Get to Square One and pick up DotS so that the whole country can soon enjoy it!!!  ;-)

Guest Post for My Friend Amy

I probably should have put this link up a couple weeks ago, but here it is now.  Amy hasn't had a chance to read DotS yet, so she offered me a guest post over the holidays.

My Friend Amy Guest Post