August 2009 Archives

Avid Romance readers have a new indulgence -- the "Borders True Romance" video blog, a new community where readers can chat about their favorite Romance books, engage with bestselling authors and genre experts and enjoy unique content and promotional giveaways. Debuting at http://bordersblog.com/trueromance/, the blog is hosted by Sue Grimshaw, Borders' Romance buyer along with Romance mavens, Sarah of TrashyBooks.com and Jane of Dearauthor.com.

Visitors to the blog will find a veritable treasure chest of content including guest posts by bestselling Romance authors. Each week, various authors engage with readers, delving into characters and the "backstories" behind their books, giving fans unique access into their worlds. For example, fans of the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning can currently find a discussion of her new book, "Dreamfever." She is among an all-star list of author-contributors -- including Leslie Parrish, author of "Pitch Black," Brenda Novak, author of "The Perfect Liar," Linda Howard, author of "Burn," and Julia Quinn, author of "What Happens in London" -- who have already engaged with readers on the blog. Other highlights include a guest chat with Jade Lee speaking with Grimshaw in a Borders store about her new book, "Getting Physical," part of the Harlequin Blaze series and an interview with Nalini Singh, known for her Psy Changeling series and her new Guild Hunters series.

Readers will also enjoy giveaways by authors and publishers in addition to the great conversation and colorful commentary on the blog. On Saturday, Aug. 29, visitors to the site can learn more about bestselling author Roxanne St. Claire and the continuation of her Bullet Catcher series -- and enter to win a copy of her latest release, "Hunt Her Down."

The "Borders True Romance" video blog is an extension of the highly popular "Borders True Romance" exclusive and original BordersMedia(R) video program, also hosted by Grimshaw and viewable at http://www.bordersmedia.com/trueromance.

Source: Borders

 The National Association of College Stores (NACS) recently launched a new, informational web site with tools to help students and their families recoup some of the expenses related to higher education.

Textbooks and other course material expenses - as well as tuition and fees incurred in 2009-10 not covered by scholarships or grants - can now be claimed as a tax credit of up to $2,500 on that year's tax return under the newly created American Opportunity Tax Credit.

The web site, www.textbookaid.org, developed as part of a partnership with the Internal Revenue Service to raise awareness of the credit, offers resources and materials to help students and their families understand the details of the credit and how to apply. For more detailed information about the American Opportunity Tax Credit visit www.irs.gov/recovery.

"NACS and its members work every day to help make textbooks and course materials as affordable as possible, and have long been advocates for the inclusion of course materials in tax credits. That is why NACS created www.textbookaid.org to provide individuals with accurate, easy-to-understand information about how to best take advantage of this beneficial program," said Rich Hershman, NACS director of government relations.

For more information, contact Charles Schmidt, NACS Director of Public Relations, at (800) 622-7498 ext. 2351 or cschmidt@nacs.org" target=_new>cschmidt@nacs.org.

About NACS

Headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio, the National Association of College Stores (NACS) is the professional trade association representing the collegiate retailing industry. NACS represents more than 3,100 collegiate retailers that serve America's college students while supporting the academic missions of higher education institutions everywhere. Additional information on NACS can be found online at www.nacs.org.

SOURCE National Association of College Stores

Twelve winning writers and twelve illustrators from around the globe will be honored during the 25th( )Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards at the Roosevelt Hotel--the same location where the first Academy Awards were held--on Saturday, August 29th, 2009.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the announcement of the year's two Grand Prize winners who will each receive $5,000. Quarterly winners also receive cash prizes from $500 to $1,000. Their winning stories and illustrations will appear in the annual anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers and Illustrators of the Future, Volume 25 (Galaxy Press, 2009).

Participating in the ceremony will be best-selling authors Kevin J. Anderson, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers and Sean Williams who will serve as presenters along with special presentations from Dr. Harry Kloor, of the upcoming movie Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey; and Don Hartsell, Managing Director of the World Air League and the World Sky Race (www.worldskyrace.com).

Throughout the contests' 25-year history, over 600 writers and illustrators have been honored. "What's amazing to me is that a good 60 to 70% of winners go on to successful careers," says New York Times' best-selling author Anderson (Dune prequels, The Edge of the World).

The Writers of the Future writing contest (www.writersofthefuture.com) was initiated by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983 to provide a means for aspiring writers to get a much-needed break--its winners have gone on to publish over 550 novels and 1,400 short stories, selling an impressive 31 million copies of their works combined. Due to the success of the Writing Contest, the companion Illustrators of the Future Contest was created in 1988.

"The Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests have proven to be the most effective means for contestants to make their break in the publishing industry, an industry renowned for being closed to the newcomer," said Joni Labaqui, director of the contests. "That's why the Writing Contest and Illustrating Contest were created - because it's so hard to get published and there are so many talented people who give up on their dreams to see their works in print."

Source: Writers of the Future

"Losing a job can be a prime opportunity," says Tina Seelig, executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. "Most people's paths are riddled with disappointments, both large and small. The key is being able to recover from them." In her new book What I Wish I Knew When I Was Twenty (HarperOne; April 2009; $22.99), Seelig maintains that there are boundless possibilities around us--to find them, we simply need to break free from many of our assumptions and to throw out the old rules so that we might finally recognize the opportunities in our midst.

A major setback such as a job loss can be taken as a time to reevaluate one's goals and priorities, figuring out a way to propel forward toward even greater success. This has proven true for many successful entrepreneurs, including David Neeleman (founder of JetBlue) and Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple), both of whom conceived their most successful ventures only after being fired from prior jobs.

As corporations implement layoffs and unemployment numbers rise, Tina Seelig offers fresh advice on finding a satisfying, successful career no matter what the job market:

• Adjust your attitude - Your state of mind is the biggest determinant of what you can accomplish. Think as big as possible, aim for positions that seem beyond your reach or outside of your field. It is much more effective to have big goals than to have small goals.
• Bounce back from disappointment - For most successful people, the bottom is lined with rubber as opposed to concrete. When they hit bottom, they sink in for a bit and then bounce back, tapping into the energy of the impact to drive them into another opportunity.
• Change your career goals - People expect you to make decisions about your career and then stick with them. But most successful people change course many times before finding the best match for their skills and interests. A successful career is not a straight line but a wave with ups and downs, with the biggest gains often following the biggest dips.
  

For years Seelig has taught her students to turn their creativity into credibility and their ideas into business realities. And now that her lessons are available in the form of WHAT I WISH I KNEW WHEN I WAS TWENTY, readers of any age, and at any point in their career, can do the same.

Source: HarperOne

Twin sisters are faced with the beauties and perils of the Arizona desert in the "Wild Horse Creek" series by Sharon Siamon (Walrus Books/Whitecap). The series launches with The Mystery Stallion, and follows with Coyote Canyon in Winter 2010. Siamon has sold more than a million copies of her internationally-loved horse series, which include the ten-book Mustang Mountain series and the Saddle Island trilogy.

In The Mystery Stallion, Sophie and Liv spend spring break on their grandparents' ranch in Arizona and encounter more adventure than they'd anticipated. Their grandfather's prize stallion is badly injured, the rest of the herd of horses disappears, and the twins are thrown into a dangerous mystery. The Arizona desert comes alive in this fast-paced, engrossing horse adventure for kids ages 9-12. The twins survive snakebite, fight off wild pig-like javelinas, and confront bandits.

Enthusiastic Liv faces challenges head-on while anxious Sophie plays it safe, but as the story progresses, they develop, as individuals and in relation to one another. Unlike series where the protagonists remain the same throughout, these girls grow and change, just as their tween readers are doing.

"Girls love horse stories and horses, especially wild horses," says Siamon. "As J. Edward Chamberlin says in his wonderful book, Horse, wild horses give us 'a way of imagining what it would be like to be free and to wander with the herd in the field of our dreams.'"

Coyote Canyon, the second book in the "Wild Horse Creek" series, finds the twins on the ranch in Arizona for several months. The excitement focuses on the desperate search for a beautiful and precious foal.

Sharon Siamon http://www.sharonsiamon.com/ has sold more than a million copies of her novels worldwide. She is the author of the best-selling Mustang Mountain series, and has published fourteen novels in Canada, two series in England, and a series in Norway.

As a child, Siamon had a passion for horses, mountains, and books. She grew up in rural Ontario, Canada, and first went to the Mojave Desert as a young teenager. She says the Wild Horse Creek series "echoes the thrill of her first ride across the desert, galloping hard into the sunset."

SOURCE Sharon Siamon