I know I promised a Q and A about Kira, the Rainbow Princess over a week ago, but things got pretty busy . . . We announced a launch date and a launch party last week, and now we're less than a month away from launch. There's a lot of information to cover so this is actually the perfect time to answer some of your questions.
Q: When and where will Kira, the Rainbow Princess be available? A: Kira, the Rainbow Princess will be available through Amazon.com on Friday, November 25, 2016! An electronic version of the book for e-readers as well as a paperback version will be available - just in time for Christmas!!! Q: Who is the intended audience for Kira? A: Kira is a middle-grade, fantasy adventure novel. It should be suitable for children of all ages, and is intended to appeal to both boys and girls. One of my hopes in writing Kira was to offer a modern fantasy adventure (in the same vein as the Chronicles of Narnia) with a strong female protagonist. Q: You mentioned a launch party... Any details? A: Our launch party will once again be hosted by Alaura Kitchen and Candy in Pitman, NJ on December 10, 2016. We plan on having a "signing table" as well as live-readings by the author. We'll also have raffle drawings throughout the launch party and of course we're giving away FREE ice cream. Q: Will I be able to purchase Kira, the Rainbow Princess at your launch party? A: Yes, we will have a limited supply of paperbacks available for purchase at the launch party. That covers a lot of the details about Kira's launch in November and our launch party in December. We should have one more Question and Answer blog post before launch, so if we didn't get to your question this time, hopefully we can answer things the next time around. Check back early and often for all your Kira information! Morning everyone!
I wanted to put up a quick post this week to keep everyone in the loop regarding Kira, the Rainbow Princess. A lot of people have been asking about Kira's launch date -- especially because they're starting to think ahead to Christmas and the idea that Kira might make a nice present for a middle-grade (3rd -8th?) child. Unfortunately, as of today, I still can't commit to a definite launch date for Kira. There are a couple of reasons for this. One of the things I've discovered about being a self-published writer, is that it's a lot like juggling. You throw multiple balls up into the air and then you try to keep the faith that those various projects will land as you expected. So how does that relate to Kira? Next week, I will send Kira, the Rainbow Princess to my editor, Liam Carnahan at Invisible Ink Editing. I cannot say (with any certainty) how long it will stay with Liam before he sends the revisions back to me. My best guess is 4-6 weeks, but honestly, who knows? Once I get the edited version of Kira back in my possession I'll be able to lock in a definite launch date. The Good News is that (if everything goes according to plan) Kira should be available on Thanksgiving Weekend . . . making it the perfect literary present for any of your middle-grade friends and family!!! Thanks for being patient as I try to navigate this publishing process for only the second time in my life (without a very good map or compass). Finally, one last note. Next week I would like to post a Question and Answer for Kira, the Rainbow Princess. So, if there's anything you're dying to know about the story, the characters, or the process . . . please drop me a note in the contact page on my website. Thanks again for your support! In what is shaping-up to be one of the most contentious presidential elections in recent history, I have intentionally avoided the topic of politics on this webpage. This has been done, very much, by design. I do not intend to publicly endorse either candidate. Nor do I plan on telling you who to vote for -- frankly it's none of my business. I trust that you're all smart enough to research the issues most important to you and then make an educated decision between either left or right. That's the beautiful thing about being an American! We each enjoy the freedom to walk into the voting booth on November 8th, each one of us shrouded in complete secrecy, and then we cast our vote to screw up our country in whatever manner we think is best. And all things being equal, I STILL wouldn't be writing about politics on this webpage, but I read an article today that I cannot ignore -- Not as a husband. Not as a father. And not as a human being. Today I read an article in the Washington Post. The headline reads, "Trump Recorded Having Extremely Lewd Conversation About Women in 2005". I won't repeat the comments here, but I will include a link to the article. My reaction is visceral -- it is one of both anger and disgust. It's a reaction that is justified. But, at least for the moment, I ask you to put those raw emotions aside. I want you to ignore the actual words Trump said in 2005. Instead, I want you to focus on the response offered by Trump in 2016. Regarding these quotes, Trump says,“This was locker-room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended." Those words -- that "response" -- is unacceptable. In fact, anything less than a complete apology (not for causing offense, but for the words themselves) is unconscionable. Trying to rationalize and justify these comments to the people of America as "private" or "locker-room banter" only reinforces the obvious: Trump is a misogynist. Undoubtedly, there will be individuals who run to Trump's defense. They will use lines like: All men talk like that. -- No we don't. Apologize. Women are not objects for you to grab at your whim. It was a private conversation -- Not anymore. Apologize. Your words are hurtful and dangerous. Hilary's even worse than Trump -- That's what we call a deflection. Talk about the issue. Is it okay for men to talk this way about women? I'll give you a hint. The answer is "no". Apologize. How do you explain these comments to your 8 year old daughter? Is that too young? Okay, how do you explain them when she's 16? When she's 36? How do you justify an American president who talks this way about women and then dismisses it as "locker-room banter"? I wrote Kira, the Rainbow Princess for my daughter Fiona AND for my son Aidan. I wanted to write about a strong female character capable of saving herself. I wanted them both to read Kira. I wanted them to see a girl who was brave and smart and competent. That's the story I wanted to tell. That's the story I wanted them to grow-up reading. But history has been telling us a different story for too long -- it's the same story Trump likes to share in the privacy of his locker-room. And now it's up to us - ALL OF US - to change that story. Like I said before, you can vote for whoever you want. This is America. I'm going to do the same. But please, don't let these comments (and the world view toward women that they reflect) go unchallenged. This is America after all, and it's about time we changed the story. |
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