Posts Tagged ‘the mark of a druid’

Enter now to win the cover art!

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Well Peeps this is the last week to win the original artwork that graces the cover of The Mark of a Druid. Check out the details at http://www.themarkofadruid.com/novel/2009/11/30/contest-14/ It is easy to win but you don’t have much time left

Give the Gift of Lit!

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

This Holiday season A.P Stephens the author of
THE WHITE SHADOW SAGA: THE STOLEN MOON OF LONDOR
came to Podiobooks.com authors and said join me in spreading the word about literacy for the holidays. Here is what his blog says and her are a few of the authors that jumped on board.
“It is with great pleasure I bring forth and introduce you to The Gift of Lit, a collective effort by many of the fine authors from Podiobooks. Together, we would like to share with you our diverse works and invite you to take a look at the nice selection of books we have spent hours, days, months, or years writing.
The Gift of Lit: Holiday 2009 is now here. If you are looking for a great gift this holiday season, rather it be for a family member, friend…or for yourself, take a look at the list below and give one, some, or all of these books your consideration. There are books to suit your needs this holiday season. Here, you will find fantasy, sci-fi, crime drama, speculative fiction, techno thriller, and much more. Help support these authors and spread the joys of literature. Give spark to imagination.
Below, take a look at all of the different titles offered and follow the links to purchase your own copy for yourself or to give that special someone this holiday. Yet, no matter the time of year, The Gift of Lit will be sure to please all readers.”

And from Lulu

Drew Betty’s Lost Gods

(starts at $15.50 new)

Kweku Anansi is just another member of the African diaspora, trying to
make a place for himself in his adopted home of Toronto, Canada. He
dreams of better days, of a time when he could stop running small time
cons just to make the rent. He dreams of the life he used to live,
centuries ago when he was revered as a god.

A chance encounter with a fellow con man with a dark and secretive
past of his own, plunges them both into the dark world of the lost
gods, gods who would do anything to be worshipped again. Including
destroying the world, if necessary.

How far will Anansi go to reclaim his godhood? What will he give up to
have true power again?

THE VATICAN ASSASSIN TRILOGY by Mike Luoma

Buy it here at >> Lulu << (starts as low as $35.99)

This three in one omnibus edition collects all three novels in the “Vatican Assassin” Trilogy under one cover. “Vatican Assassin”, “Vatican Ambassador” and “Vatican Abdicator” are joined in this volume by an extensive appendix of previously unreleased background material. There are some early concept sketches by Mike Luoma, as well as “The History of The Future”: a timeline developed to extrapolate from today into the future setting for the story; “The Original Story Outline”; “The Story of The Project”; “The Alien Timeline” and more.

Snag Some Cool Schwag

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

J.D. Sawyer is Turning the Tables on the Gals of Podioracket.com

Heather Roulo and Rhonda Carpenter are going to let you snag some cool schwag!

J.D. Sawyer Author of Antithesis and Down From Ten will host a special Podioracket.com Blog Talk Radio Extension where he leads the Interview, handles the questions and callers with guests Rhonda R. Carpenter and Heather E. Roulo. Have questions for the ladies about Podioracket.com, BTR, WWW, or either of their books The Mark of a Druid and Fractured Horizon then be there LIVE at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern on Thursday, September 17th. Set a reminder! That is tomorrow!

 

How do you win?

Show up and enter the chat room or call 347-996-3319 and ask a question or comment to the authors and you could just Snag the Schwag. There will be more than three winners! Book excerpts and what ever else J.D. comes up with. Here is a hint to a secret schwag award, Ding Ding Ding, But you will have to come to the show to find out what that means! See you there Blog Talk Radio Podioracket 6:00 pm PST. Don’t be late!

Meet the Author this Saturday.

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Book Signing August 29th 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm

I am so excited to be doing my first book signing right here on the mountain.

Mc Cabe & CO Booksellers

23898 Lake Dr, Crestline, CA 92325 Get directions

Mc Cabes and Co are some of the nicest people. They truly support local authors and in this case a local artist as well, Amie Perry-Reavis. There will be a book reading and paper backs for sale. If you already have a copy bring it I will be happy to sign it. The Original art will also be there for those of you who want a closer look at the 2009 contest series grand prize.

This week I made a even bigger attempt at spreading the word in a grass roots effort to tell my local communities about the coming event. Our local paper The Alpenhorn News is going to run the announcement and they will also be reviewing the book in the next couple of weeks. There have been announcement fliers spread from Running Springs to Crestline. I also sent the press release to another local paper The Mountain News we will see if they run the story.

If you live in Southern California then you can enjoy a day in the mountains beating the heat. We are always 20 degrees cooler up here. Our community is nestled in the San Bernardino National Forest. After the book signing spend an hour at Lake Greggory about a quarter mile from the book store or take a short drive to Lake Arrowhead Village and make a day of it. Bring your hiking boots or off road vehicle and hit the trails it is free! Silverwood lake is less than 30 minutes from the book store.

So how did this happen?

Simple, I have a friend who went to the book store and said, “Do you carry The Mark of a Druid?” They said, “It is not in stock but, we can order it for you.” She then said, “She is a local author will she be having a signing here?” She kept asking when I was going to set it up. There is nothing like your friends and fans pushing for you. I was busy when we first released with my online efforts and didn’t want to invite people up when it was snowing. Hence, the end of the summer Book Signing. Escape the So Cal heat at 5000 ft while you support a local author. It is actually pretty funny how nervous I was when I went in to set it up. I took some bookmarks in to the store and asked to talk with the owner. I didn’t realize until after I walked out, with the booking in my PDA, that I couldn’t find my keys. I thought, oh great, I’m so nervous I left them inside. Then I realized I didn’t need to go back in because my car was running windows down, car unlock, in the parking lot. I must have been so nervous when I parked I didn’t even turn off my car. I remember telling myself just do it all they can say is no and I jumped out of the car.

I hope to see friends, colleagues, neighbors, mountain folks and of course all of the great people from down the hill, as we say up here above the clouds.

Email me if you want directions or suggestions of how to spend the day in paradise. Rhonda Carpenter P.S. Contest 10 is now open come on over and join in!

Book Signing August 29th

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

 

Book Signing August 29th 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm

I am so excited to be doing my first book signing right here on the mountain.

Mc Cabe & CO Booksellers

23898 Lake Dr, Crestline, CA 92325 Get directions

Mc Cabes and Co are some of the nicest people. They truly support local authors and in this case a local artist as well, Amie Perry-Reavis. There will be a book reading and paper backs for sale. If you already have a copy bring it I will be happy to sing it. If you live in Southern California then you can enjoy a day in the mountains beating the heat. We are always 20 degrees cooler up here. 

Our community is nestled in the San Bernardino National Forest. After the book signing spend an hour at Lake Greggory about a quarter mile from the book store or take a short drive to Lake Arrowhead Village and make a day of it. Bring your hiking boots or off road vehicle and hit the trails it is free! Silverwood lake is less than 30 minutes from the book store.

So how did this happen? Simple, I have a friend who went to the book store and said, “Do you carry The Mark of a Druid?”

They said, “It is not in stock but, we can order it for you.”

She then said, “She is a local author will she be having a signing here?”

She kept asking when I was going to set it up. There is nothing like your friends and fans pushing for you. I was busy when we first released with my online efforts and didn’t want to invite people up when it was snowing. Hence, the end of the summer Book Signing. Escape the So Cal heat at 5000 ft while you support a local author.

It is actually pretty funny how nervous I was when I went in to set it up. I took some bookmarks in to the store and asked to talk with the owner. I didn’t realize until after I walked out, with the booking in my PDA, that I couldn’t find my keys. I thought, oh great, I’m so nervous I left them inside. Then realized I didn’t need to go back in because my car was running windows down, car unlock, in the parking lot. I must have been so nervous when I parked I didn’t even turn off my car. I remember telling myself just do it all they can say is no and I jumped out of the car.

I hope to see friends, colleagues, neighbors, mountain folks and of course all of the great people from down the hill, as we say up here above the clouds.

Email me if you want directions or suggestions of how to spend the day in paradise. Rhonda Carpenter

P.S. Contest 10 is now open come on over and join in!

Rhonda Carpenter & Brian Rathbone You Can Hear from Them Both!

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Thrusday kicks off with a live interview about The Mark of a Druid on Conversations live.

If you want to see the tables turned, tune in to Conversations Live, where  Rhonda R Carpenter will be interviewed by Cyrus Webb in a 30-minute LIVE show on Thursday, July 23rd at 5pm PST/8pm EST. Rhonda does a fantastic job on the regular Podioracket feed and the Podioracket Blog Talk Extension.  Let’s support Rhonda and help her shine as she talks about The Mark of a Druid! Bring your questions.

Brain Rathbone Goes 4 for 4!

Want to go 4 for 4? This is a awesome contest. Podioracket and Brian Rathbone join forces in this 4 Book Giveaway. It’s too easy to pass up.

Join Brian LIVE on Blog Talk Radio Podioracket Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 6:00 pm PST/9:00 pm EST. Set your reminder now: BlogTalkRadio.com/Podioracket.

There will be a reading from the author and Q&A about the fascinating World of Godsland and the exciting release of The Dawning of Power trilogy. While in chat, ask a question or, better yet, call in (347) 996-3319. That’s it! It’s so easy to help spread the word, have some fun, and join in the celebration. Do it now because the interview is the end of the contest!

While the paperback and ebook editions of The Dawning of Power trilogy are already available for sale on Amazon, this contest celebrates the Podiobooks.com release of Dragon Ore, which will complete the audio trilogy. There is still a little time and four ways to win one of four autographed copies of The Dawning of Power See the Rules at The Dawning of Power

The contest ends July 23 on Podioracket’s Blog Talk show. 
Good luck!

60,000 Downloads for The Mark of a Druid!

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Hello Dear Readers!

This has been a astounding week of good news and I got tons accomplished. First off let me thank you all for your continued support of my writing and other projects. The Parsec Nomination Submission is complete. It made it to them on Monday. Here you go.

While Podioracket is on a short break we are still turning out blogs and having BTR-PR Interviews. July is totally booked and August is almost full! I can’t believe how successful this endeavor has become and in such a short period of time. We went live in mid March and at the end of June we are hearing nothing but praise from everyone who is listening to the show. Please feel free to take 2 minutes and leave a comment or review on the site or on Itunes. It will help us receive more notice and Heather Roulo and I completely appreciate it. Oh there is also a voice recorder on the site so please leave us a voice message.

Tomorrow on the BTR-PR Show I will be interviewing Jason M. Kays author of Virtual Vice at 2:30 pm PST. Here is a link so you can join us live on the show.

The call in Number is (347) 996-3319

During the interview I will be playing Jason’s kindly sent reading and his promo. We will talk about what inspired this story and how a lawyer turns novelist!

The Mark of a Druid is about to hit 60,000 downloads

When I first decided to release The Mark of a Druid as a free serialized podcast I had no idea what I was doing. But I grabbed the boot straps and called the many me’s together and jumped in with both feet. I have learned so much since starting the publishing and podcasting of this project. There have been highs and lows but over all I think I am not doing too bad. It hit Amazon officially in February as the podcast simotaniously completed. I never thought in a million years I would have 60,000 downloads.
So what does 60,000 downloads mean??? I asked myself the same thing. Lets look at it in simple mathematical terms. There are 34 Episodes in the book. 60,000 divided by 34 is 1764 listeners. But if you look at the more in depth numbers provided by the host for the podiobooks.com version Episdoe 1 has been downloaded 3861 times. I see that as 3861 potential people who could like what I am doing, leave a comments, rate and review the book. But more importantly that is almost 4000 listeners who could tell their friends! Not bad for a first time novelist. Even if I do say so myself. And I owe that success to all you listeners spreading the word, buying books and downloading. I am not a rich person, but I do want to give back to the listeners and readers. The best way I can think of to do that at this point is to have contests and keep releasing more content as soon as available. If you haven’t Kidnapped the Trailer what are you waiting for. This is the biggest prize yet int he 2009 Contest series. Click here to find out how easy it is to play and win.

The Mark of a Druid is now also available on www.tailcast.com.  I am so pleased that they got the audio upload function working on their site. It is a wonderful place for writers and artist to show off their work and make friends.

Last thing: I huge thank you to Cyrus A. Webb for the glowing 5 star amazon review on the book. It means the world to me. Cyrus is an advocate for literacy and the creator of the new Television show “The Write Stuff” Which begins airing June 27! He is also a long time radio host of Conversations Live and has asked to interview me about the book. This interview is Scheduled for 7-23-09 at 5:00pm Pst and will last 30 minutes. When it gets closer I will post it here. Find out the about the show at www.thewritestufftv.com.

Here is what he said:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MARK OF A DRUID is the Best of Both Worlds for the Reader, June 27, 2009
By  C. A. Webb “Conversations Book Club” (Jackson, MS) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Rhonda Carpenter gives hungry readers exactly what they expect from a tightly woven storyline: a book you can not only lose yourself in but find a part of yourself after you are finished. Why do we believe the way we do? Who truly influences the way we evaluate our lives and those of others past? Just because we can’t wrap our minds around something does that make it any less real?

These are all discussions that any book club or group of friends will have fun dissecting and debating as they maneuver from chapter to chapter.

Carpenter has truly left her “Mark” with this one, and the literary world is a better place because of it.

On to another busy week Stay tuned for more.

Keep Writing, I know I will,

Rhonda R Carpenter

The Mark of a Druid Nominated or a Parsec Award

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Welcome Readers,

I am very happy to announce “The Mark of a Druid” has been nominated for a Parsec Award for 2009 Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novel Form). The emails started going out on Thursday from www.parsecawards.com. I along with many of the podiobooks.com authors, as well as podcasters have a big thank you to say to our fans.

The Parsec awards are fan nominated. So thank you for nominating The Mark of a Druid. And you like me maybe asking what happens now? Well, the way I understand it the nominees need to provide a submission to the committee. That mean I need to pick between 1 and 6 samples for the podcasted book. This submission can be no longer than 60 minutes including a new 30 second intro. The drop dead date on this submission is next Sunday.

From these submissions they will choose 5 nominees from each category. The competition is stiff in all of the categories. While I don’t expect to win I am truly honored to be nominated by the fans. From the five selected by the committee one will win. The awards will be announced on September at Dragon Con 2009. Best of luck to everyone.

Now how to choose what to submit? Since I have never done anything like this before I am clues as to how to choose an hour if sections under 6 to give the judges an idea of what the book is about. I mean really with 5 plot lines and 2 time frames in the book I am having a bit of a time picking sections to include in the submission.

Also Podioracket was nominated for an infotainment awards. But Heather and I don’t believe we meet the criteria since Podioracket is not yet 6 months old. So maybe next year but we totally appreciate the nomination.

Best of luck to all the nominees in this years Parsec Awards.

Kidnap the Trailer contest is under way. Grab the trailer today and put it on your face book, myspace, or blog. Tweet or Plurk the link and then let me know on the book website under contest number 9, in the contest section.

Matthew Wayne Selznick on BTR June 25

Mathew Wayne Selznick, one of the spearheads of the DIY podcasting world, will be joining the Podioracket Blog Talk Radio program on June 25 at 2:30 PM Pacific/5:30 PM Eastern. You will not want to miss this one. He is going to tell us all about Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights and what’s new for Brave Men Run.

 

Keep Writing, I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

So What is Shaking in Rhonda Ville?

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

Welcome Readers,

This was one of the most exciting weeks! I started the week off with an interview on Author Autobahn on Blog talk. The interview with Kelly was great and I can’t wait to interview them about their new services for promoting authors on July 13. Podioracket declaring it J.C. Hutchins week and I have to say this guy is an unstoppable marketer. Just in case you didn’t hear all the hoopla, Dark Art Personal Effects hit the bookstores and Amazon and other on-line booksellers with resounding success. I personally can’t wait to receive my copy. There were two killer interviews with J.C. and he is so gracious!

Podioracket, that is Heather Roulo author of Fractured Horizon and I have added a Blog Talk Radio Show to our Podioracket.com endeavor. I am still experimenting with the show times while not over doing it so that I can continue to write. Right now the calendar is booked out July 13th. I invite you to come and join us in chat and on the phone lines with all of our special guests. Last weeks show with J.C. Hutchins live we gave away two autographed copies of his book and there were 100 live listeners 56 in chat and 19 callers with 23 eligible questions and 16 people emailed for a prize. SnowMedic and Cobalt both won and I want to congratulate them. There have already been over 2000 archive listeners to the show! I am ecstatic! Now that is building a buzz.

I also release a video for Thewritestufftv.com and it is available at YouTube on their stream. A vlog went out on the Mark of a Druid Feed for the new contest and we released our first video trailer for the book. That makes contest #9! Can you kidnap the trailer? I hope so. As most of you know I am not a rich person so free advertising for my book has to be creative. If there is one thing I am it is enthusiastic about my fans. So I truly want to give back. This contest will have 3 winners each receiving a singed copy of the paperback, in a canvas promo bag full of The Mark of a Druid Promo items. So what are you waiting for go kidnap the promo and enter the contest! Details available here. At over 56,000 downloads and climbing every day I am thrilled with the success of The Mark of a Druid. I couldn’t do it without the Readers! This is completely your success as well as mine. I am humbled by all of the positive comments, ratings and reviews. Keep them coming! The more people who spread the word the more notice this novel will get and that is what I want. I want to spread the word far and wide.

I know allot of you have been emailing about the next book, When Ethers Descend, so here is an update: I have canned another chapter that makes 8 and am consistently moving forward. I believe I am on target for a winter podcast schedule but we will see how it goes.

This is another jam packed week coming up Monday at 2:30 pm PST I will be interviewing J.D. Sawyer Live on BTR-PR, (BlogTalkRadio.com/Podioracekt) Dan is the author of Predestination and other games of chance as well as being known as a hell of a guy in the pod-o-sphere. He has graciously agreed to do a live reading. You won’t want to miss this. Oh heck, I don’t want to miss it. His cover and links are over on the right side, it is the one with hot chick on the purple sheet. Smoken’ cover! There will be a new Podioracket episode released this week. Stacey Cochran and J.P. Moore with contests and news, new releases and completed works on Podiobooks.com. I can’t talk this site up enough! I think it is brilliant and I am so looking forward to 2.0 to be rolled out.

Huge thank you to all the new subscribers to the new book site. www.themarkofadruid.com. If you haven’t subscribed it is really easy and quick. I hope you will join now. Until next time, take care.

Keep Writing, I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter

Blog Talk Radio Interview about Podioracket!

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Contest 8 has a winner!
Photo by Henry Diltz

Welcome Readers!

Contest #8 closed last night at 12:01 Am PST!

The Winner is Cyndi30107! Your Prize will be shipped on June 1, 2009. Congrats you will be receiving a singed copy of The Mark of a Druid!

I so enjoyed answering the questions for the Meet the Characters Contest and we will be doing this one again in the next few months. As always if you want to ask a question of the characters please just go the meet the characters section of www.themarkofadruid.com and click on any character and ask your question. The next time we run a meet the characters contest you will be automatically entered to win if you shoot me an email and tell me that you asked a question. Send those emails to infor@themarkofadruid.com.

I am so thankful for my listener-ship I truly want to give back and have been tossing around some ideas for extra Mark of a Druid material that I can proved while you are so patiently waiting for the next book, When Eithers Descend. If you have ideas about what would hold you over and keep you interested just let me know and I will see what I can do. Email me at info@themarkofadruid.com.

The next contest will be announced in just a little while and it is all about ratings! I hope you will join in the fun and enter this contest!

Announcement

Heather Roulo and I will be interviewed tonight on Behind the Mike with Joel M http://www.blogtalkradio.com/BehindTheMike/2009/06/01/Relay-For-LikePodioracket  Go there now or listen in archive!

Keep Writing! I Know I Will!

Rhonda R. Carpenter