Force 10 Fan Storm: Win a KINDRED SPIRIT Galley

Posted on February 22, 2006 by John

I just received bound galleys (otherwise known as Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs), or Uncorrected Proofs) for KINDRED SPIRIT. Once again, I’m having a Fan ARC contest. It’s called the FORCE 10 Fan Storm KINDRED SPIRIT ARC Contest. For details, read the news bulletin HERE. Basically, I’m looking for motivated fans willing to spread the word far and wide, via reviews, etc. (Assuming you like what you read, naturally!)

Here’s what the uncorrected proof looks like:

KINDRED SPIRIT Bound Galley

The bound galleys are reviewer copies, and include typos, missing words, double words, etc., that were still around in the pre-production version of the manuscript. As such, they are not supposed to be used for quotes. Winners of the galleys (which will be signed and personalized) who follow through with the guidelines of the contest will also receive a signed and personalized copy of the real book when it comes out.

This is a chance for my most outspoken (in the spread-the-word-far-and-wide meaning of that word) to read the book before anyone else. And to score a signed personalized copy for helping me get other like-minded readers interested in my latest fictional offering.

Visit the KINDRED SPIRIT page HERE.

Contest details HERE.

Until the next one,

-Jack

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KINDRED SPIRIT Back Cover Text Posted

Posted on February 18, 2006 by John

Just a heads-up to tell you that I’ve posted the KINDRED SPIRIT back cover text (to whet your purchasing appetite, I hope) on my website’s Kindred Spirit Page. Don’t everybody rush out and pre-order all at once…on second thought, go right ahead. Do that. But no pushing and shoving. I’ll wait here for your return. Dum…dum…dum…dee–dum…. Oh! Welcome back. And thanks! 🙂

Also, I sent out a full newsletter (rather than a simple news bulletin) a few days ago. If you don’t subscribe, you can get it HERE. However, only registered subscribers are eligible for prize drawings. If you’re thinking about subscribing, know that I will not sell, disclose, release or repurpose your e-mail address. I only use the e-mail addresses for newsletter distribution, special bulletins, prize announcements (and eligibility), special offers, etc. all related to my books and stories.

Finally, I’m getting excited about the no-complications-attached aspect of this new book. KINDRED SPIRIT is not part of the Wendy Ward/Wither stories. With WITHER, I had to explain that it was co-authored but only had one “pen” name on the cover. With WITHER’S RAIN and WITHER’S LEGACY I had to explain that they were sequels, stand-alone sequels, but sequels nonetheless. With BUFFY: GHOUL TROUBLE and the ANGEL books (AVATAR & MONOLITH), I had to explain that they were original novels BASED ON the TV shows. Not novelized episodes, but new stories, what I liked to call “lost episodes” so people could get the concept. And no matter what I said, some people assumed I was actually Joss Whedon or that he got the idea for Buffy from “my” book.

Anyway, with KINDRED SPIRIT, there is no attachment to a lost (but loved) TV series, no co-author involved, there is no sequel or prequel or series involved. It’s a book that will stand or fall on its own. But I know when I’m at the table and someone asks which ONE book of mine they should try, it will be a no-brainer. Try KINDRED SPIRIT. If you like that, then you can try the Wendy Ward/Wither books.

KINDRED SPIRIT is also the most mainstream book I’ve ever had published. There are genre elements: ghosts, possession. But they are not as in-your-face-genre as monsters and magic. The characters in KINDRED are several years older than the main characters in the Wendy/Wither books. And the vast majority of the research for this book came from experts in their respective fields. I interviewed TV news station personnel, including a couple reporters, producers and office staff. I interviewed people from an exhibit building company, our chief of police, and I exchanged e-mails with a ghost researcher. Usually my research involves libraries and Internet searches. But for KINDRED SPIRIT, I spent most of my research time in the field, so to speak.

I hope my readers are pleased with the results.

Until the next one,
-Jack

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Join the NBN-7 News Team (contest)

Posted on February 15, 2006 by John

My new novel, KINDRED SPIRIT, revolves around a fictional TV news station. The main character in the novel, Hallie Moore, is a news reporter doing “best of” type segments for NBN7 News called Hallie’s Comets. I’ve created a related Web site for the new station that is up and running already. HOWEVER, I want to add more content to the site, including a page for the NBN7 News Team. This is where you come in…

I’m asking interested fans to send me a photo of themselves to post on the site to list those chosen as some of the stations reporters. In the book, I mention some reporters and anchors by name, but some reporters (the sports guys/gals, the health reporter, the consumer reports reporters, the investigative journalist types, etc.) are unnamed. To fill those employment gaps I’d like to use fictitious names with your photo, and give a tiny bio. You can even list a few towns where you’ve lived (or enjoyed visiting) and I’ll look for rated news station markets near those towns to give your reporter character some backstory. Reporters on the rise move from lower rated markets (smaller cities) to higher rated markets (big cities), but reporters at the tail end of their careers may have an opposite progression.

Pose in business wear if you want to be a serious reporter, something casual if you’d like to be part of the sports team, etc.

Additionally, I will create some fictional local stories of the man-bites-dog variety, but maybe not that silly, and I can use pictures for the people invovled in those stories — just in case you don’t want to be all dressed up in your photo.

If you have an idea for the type of story you would like to be in, let me know. Hot dog eating contest winner, multi-car pile-up victim, principal of a school involved in an asbestos clean-up, etc. I’ll use fictionalized towns and streets and institutions but the idea is to set these local stories in the Philadelphia metropolitan or suburban area, but as far south as Dover, DE and as far east as the Jersey Shore.

Let me know and send in those photos!

Until the next one,
-Jack

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Is it a contest if everybody wins?

Posted on February 14, 2006 by John

A long time ago in a galaxy far… no, scratch that. Definitely happened in this galaxy. But it was a long time ago that I started a “Use Your Name in My Next Novel” contest. People signed up at book signings and through my Website via an e-mail link. Unfortunately, the local signups were lost or misplaced when my family moved into a new house. But I do have all of the e-mail entries and I used this list to pick names for random/incidental/mentioned characters in my new/current novel, Shimmer.

If you read my other entry about the delays associated with Shimmer, you’ll understand how long it has been since I started the Use Your Name contest. So, to make amends, I’m using several of the submitted names in Shimmer and I may use some of the others in my next next novel, if you know what I mean. I apologize for those whose names I lost in transit and I hope to have more sign-up opportunities at my future signings for Kindred Spirit.

I’ll announce the preliminary winners in my next newsletter, which I hope to send out sometime soon, especially now with KINDRED SPIRIT moving crisply along the book production rails. Why “preliminary” winners? Well, for several reasons, the main one is that I have to sell this book. The next book sale isn’t guaranteed, of course. But let’s assume I do sell the book. Okay, the next step is for the characters bearing the names (though not the descriptions, occupations, or personalities) of the preliminary winners to make it through revisions and edits and page cuts, etc. (I still remember I lost one of my characters in WITHER before that book reached the publication stage. I mentioned him in WITHER’S RAIN or maybe it was WITHER’S LEGACY even though he wasn’t named after any particular person.

I’ll let the prelim winners know they’ve made it past the first stage and I’ll update them along the way.

Also, before I forget, the zombie story I wrote for the Modern Magic anthology should be coming out soon. No firm date yet, but soon I’m told. I had fun writing this gonzo story which featured two real life Philly DJs (Preston & Steve from WMMR 93.3FM) in fictional battle against a horde of bloodthirsty zombies. Are there any other kind of zombies?

Until the next one,
-Jack

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Endings and Beginnings

Posted on February 14, 2006 by John

Today ended up as a double deadline day, or rather double beat the deadline day. About a week or so ago, I received the first pass galley pages for KINDRED SPIRIT (JUNE 2006) for review and corrections with a February 16 deadline. This will probably be my last chance to make changes to the book before it goes to press, although a second pass galley is not completely out of the question. I finished a day or so early and overnighted the pages with changes to my editor at Pocket Books.

My other deadline was self-imposed. Since my son, Matthew, is scheduled to begin radiation treatments (5 days per week for 6 weeks) starting the 16th, I wanted to finish the first draft of my current novel, Shimmer. This novel had been put on hold for various reasons at various stages during the 2.5 years I’ve been working on it. I even put this novel on hold while I wrote a complete other novel, ANGEL: MONOLITH, back in late 2003 and early 2004. I was 62,000 words into this new novel and I thought I had a chance — if I kept my nose to the grindstone for a good month straight — to reach the finish line (THE END line?) before Matthew began his radiation treatments.

The self-imposed deadline worked as I finished this one a day early as well. I wrote for 24 days straight without a single day “off” and I wrote 155 pages, or about 40,000 words to complete the first draft. Now the work begins on the revision/polish/etc before I can submit this one to my agent.

So today was a day of endings (my work on KINDRED SPIRIT) and beginnings, i.e., the first draft of SHIMMER. It was a little strange to be working on a final product of my novel writing at the same time that I was finishing the very early stages of another one.

Until next time,
-Jack

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Kindred Spirit and Other Updates

Posted on February 8, 2006 by John

My next novel, Kindred Spirit, is scheduled for a June 2006 release from Pocket Books. Should be in stores late May. It’s been a while since my last novel, Wither’s Legacy (OCT 2004) came out and news has been scarce, but now it feels as if everything is happening at once. I decided to start a blog — restart, actually, since I began one back in 2003 using Blogger — using WordPress. I’d like to do more modifications to this WordPress theme but I’ve been too busy to spend a lot of time with it.

I’m overdue for my next author newsletter. I actually thought this blog might take over the role of the newsletter once I got the hang of it. I’m also getting the urge to revamp the site a bit as well, but again, time constraints are keeping me from some of these things.

2005 was a rough year for my family. My twelve-year-old son underwent three brain surgeries and is getting ready for six weeks of radiation therapy. The good news is that his doctor is hopeful the radiation will kill the remaining tumor in his brain stem.

Other good news is that I’m back into a daily writing schedule even if it takes place after midnight each night! I’m nearing the end of the novel-in-progress which has been in progress than any other novel I’ve ever worked on.

I ran a contest on my site and at signings to have a reader’s name used in the book. This was the book for that. And I have all the names submitted online (although I lost the book signings list when we moved to a new house), and because of the delay I’m hoping to pick more than one name.

As far as Kindred Spirit news, I have the cover posted on the site along with the Pocket Books Catalog page description of the book. Currently, I’m in the middle of reviewig first pass galley pages to mark corrections before final printing. Yet another time constraint preventing me from doing some of the stuff above. But the first pass galley pages have to take priority; they’re do i about a week.

Also this week, I received a JPG of the Italian edition of Wither’s Rain, which is due out May 2006.

Here’s a small version of the Kindred Spirit Cover…

Kindred Spirit Cover Thumbnail


And a thumbnail image of the Italian Wither’s Rain cover…

Wither's Rain - Italian Edition - May 2006


That’s all for now…

-John “Jack” Passarella

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