PHILIPPA BALLANTINE

M. H. BONHAM

ERIK BUCHANAN

JEANETTE COTTRELL

TOM DULLEMOND

DEBY FREDERICKS

A. P. FUCHS

VALERIE GRISWOLD-FORD

J. C. HALL

KIMBERLY HEADLEE

JASON HENDERSON

MICHAEL MENNENGA

TEE MORRIS

BOB NAILOR

KATHLEEN H. NELSON

JANA G. OLIVER

KRISTAN PROUDMAN

JENNIFER RAHN

SELINA ROSEN

TONY RUGGIERO

DAVID SAKMYSTER

SCOTT SIGLER

KAREN ANNE WEBB

Deby says:  Too Many Princes began as a somewhat ironic riff on the theme of quests, but it became so much more: a family saga, a passionate romance, a game of magic and subterfuge.
  Decades before, Unferth of Crutham received a prophecy. "If you don't have at least twenty sons, no son of yours will inherit your throne." Unferth set out to thwart this prediction through his wife and a great many concubines.  In doing so, he created a truly enormous family.  Among them:
  Brastigan -- handsome and athletic, a sarcastic outsider in a stodgy court.
  Lottres -- intelligent but clumsy, who feels lost in his brother's shadow.
  Therula -- a brave princess who fights for the freedom to marry the man she loves.
  Oskar -- the official heir who feels completely justified in trying to have his rivals killed.
  Alustra -- a proud queen who holds her kingdom together despite bitter personal disappointment.
  Pikarus -- a soldier whose duty is to keep all the princes alive, even when they war against each other.
  Margura -- the queen's attendant who lusts for men and power.
  Yriatt -- a haughty witch who no longer knows what it means to be human.
  Shaelen -- Yriatt's student, an accomplished sorceress in her own right, who makes a terrible sacrifice to complete of a desperate mission.
  Ysislaw -- an ancient wizard whose evil ambitions know no bounds.
  These are some of the characters who won my heart as I wrote Too Many Princes.  (Well, except for Ysislaw, of course.)  I hope they'll win your heart, too.

~Deby Fredericks, author of IPPIE finalist "THE MAGISTER'S MASK."
 

WHAT'S TOO MANY PRINCES ABOUT?

There are TOO MANY PRINCES in Crutham!
   "Brastigan knows it well enough; he is 13th in line for the throne, and he is bored. A misfit and rogue, Brastigan keeps busy drinking and fighting, until one day he nearly dies in a brawl. Was it an accident - or attempted murder?
   Before he can find out, Brastigan is packed off on a 'noble quest' to find the sorceress Yriatt, who may be able to answer his questions. With him goes Lottres, his half-brother and life long friend. But Lottres has his own reasons for wanting to see Yriatt. His secret threatens to tear their friendship apart.
   Meanwhile, their sister Therula waits and worries about her lover, Pikarus, who went with the two princes on their quest. She alone realizes that Crutham has been infiltrated by forces of  darkest sorcery.
   It's a race against time in this story of romance, treachery and the bond between brothers. Only Brastigan, who doesn't fit in anywhere, can thwart the secret traitor - and maybe find out where he truly belongs.

HITTING THE SHELVES IN MAY 2007

from Dragon Moon Press

Jeanette says:

Have you noticed that life never goes quite the way you want it?  You get your life lined up, nice and smooth, and just as you're about to haul your kids to soccer practice, somebody starts pounding on your door. Maybe he wants you to sign a petition, or evacuate before a dragon arrives, or tell you things about your son that you REALLY didn't want to know.  But the point is, even in little things, life is not predictable.

Personally, I have dark suspicions about this universe. I'm convinced that magical beings are hiding in corners, snickering at me, and whenever my life gets too dull they just stir it up with a stick to see what happens.

That's how I discovered Caprio, the Goat Being. He's my Puckish character in THE SHADEBINDER'S OATH. Caprio is immortal, and thinks he's a God. So far, no one's proved him wrong. Every once in a while, he jumps into human affairs with all four hooves. And in the case of THE SHADEBINDER'S OATH, Caprio jumps in with a vengeance. Caprio's recipe for disaster? "Take one princess, a young man who "sees" more than he should, and stir them up with a dragon and an ancient prophecy and a woman of mysterious origins, and stew into an appetizing and lethal mix." What fun! Even a Goat's got to laugh.

REVIEWS of THE SHADEBINDER'S OATH

Cottrell has managed to mix magic, knights, ancient secrets and the dead in an original and entertaining story. She initially writes each of the threads as separate sections but as the story continues the various plotlines become more and more entwined until they become one single finale. Superb!  ~Steve & Lesley Mazey, The Eternal Night Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Fiction Web Site

THE SHADEBINDER'S OATH is a terrific fantasy that grips the audience from the moment a young lad shows courage while on a dare to visit the Shadebinder in the King's stable and never slows down until the final contest occurs. The story line is action-packed as Caprio does his Machiavellian machinations while two unlikely allies, the cabinetmaker and the princess, join forces to save the Kingdom of Ailsandia from the Being's mischievousness and that of human foibles and follies. Jeanette Cottrell provides a wonderful tale.  ~Harriet Klausner, Reviewer

From Gwen Gades, the DMP publisher:
ANCESTOR was NUMBER 1 on Amazon.com :) Publication day was FUN! We were number one in the Horror, SF/F and genre fiction categories. We were the number 1 mover and shaker, and number 7 over all. Couldn't make Harry Potter 7 budge, but we gave it a good try. We sold out the first printing and are into our second. The second printing is due from the printer on April 18th, so to those of you who are waiting--hang on just a little bit longer!

Thanks so much to all of you who bought copies, and shared in our success. We couldn't have done it without you!  --Gwen Gades

From Scott Sigler, author of ANCESTOR: Here's my rally cry: "If you don't buy Ancestor, we will find you! Convert to Siglerism!"

In addition to everything else, Ancestor has an whopping 34 reviews on Amazon!
Here are a few samplings:

Phillipa Ballantine, author of CHASING THE BARD, was invited onto a national daytime programme along with other representatives of the sci fi community.  The 'Good Morning Show' wanted to present a basic primer for those who haven't read the genre before.  We gave listeners the basic intro and I was encouraged to speak about Chasing the Bard on television.  There are also rumours of a return where we can go more in depth and I can talk about being a genre writer in New Zealand.  I talk about the experience on my latest podcast of Whispers at the Edge http://www.whispers.libsyn.com/  Cheers, Philippa Ballantine

This just in from Ricky, who is Selina Rosen's personal spokes-parrot: Selina Rosen, author of SWORD MASTER (upcoming), is proud to announce the release of a new book from Five-Star Mysteries in June, 2007. BAD LANDS, co-written by Selina Rosen and Laura J. Underwood, is described as "CSI Meets Medium On Survivor" Now, that sounds like a heck of a book, Ricky. Keep Selina moving, will you? (Ricky is pictured at left)

Valerie Griswold-Ford, author of NOT YOUR FATHER'S HORSEMAN, will be attending RavenCon (4/20 to 4/22) in Richmond VA and the Iowa Mystery Writers Conference (5/4-5/5) in Des Moines, IA

Dragon Moon Press is proud to announce that Jana Oliver's SOJOURN is a Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award Finalist! This coveted award from the BSFS has presented “The Compton Crook Award” each Balticon SM (since 1983) for “... the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year ...”.   Congratulations, Jana!

KIM HEADLEE, contributor to THE FANTASY WRITER'S COMPANION has marvelous news! Her historical novel LIBERTY is a finalist for the Holt Medallion For Excellence in Romantic Fiction in the Historical category. Kim will be signing her novel, (as Kimberly Iverson) at the book fair sponsored by the Smoky Mountain Romance Writers at the Knoxville Crowne Plaza Hotel of Knoxville, TN, the afternoon of Saturday, April 7, 2007.  Kim recently earned a Blue Ribbon Rating from Romance Junkies. "LIBERTY is an epic historical romance with many facets. ... dynamic characters portray a selfless love by which legends are made. " ~Natasha Smith

 

Nina Munteanu says: I am in my first podcast! And it's so cool! I joined "The Scapecast" (Farscape Podcast) crew. Check out Episode 25: A different hero's journey (March 16, 2007), which I co-wrote. Cool stuff! www.scapecast.org 

I will also be participating in the Romance Writer's of America writer's conference in Vancouver this May (Write-on Vancouver) and will be available for book signings and selling. 
     ~Nina Munteanu, author of DARWIN'S PARADOX (upcoming)

From Tony Ruggiero (see bookmark at left) I will also be posting short stories to my blog there to share with readers. All you have to do is subscribe to my blog. I will be attending RavenCon April 20-22 in Richmond Virginia. Also, I've added an additional webpage on myspace. 

From David Sakmyster, author of TWILIGHT OF THE FIFTH SUN, says: My short story, 'The Red Envelope' which appeared in vol. 23 of the Writers of the Future anthology, has just been selected to appear in the 'Year's Best Romantic Fantasy', from Wildside Press, due out in November.

Also, my story, 'It's What's Inside that Counts' won an honorable mention in Writer's Digest's Popular Fiction Awards, for the Horror Category.

(See David, busy looking sinister, at left!)

NEW DRAGON MOON PRESS DRAWING May 5, 2007. All subscribers to our newsletter will be automatically entered in our drawing for a free Dragon Moon T-shirt, and an e-book download of the winner's choice!