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This Issue:
Chance Encounters | Events
| Online Store | Chance for the
Future | Hope for Tomorrow | Faith
in the Past | Upcoming Projects
June
2 , 2002
May was
a busy month, what with the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, my birthday,
the season finales of some of my favorite TV shows (Alias, Smallville
and Farscape) and the opening of Star Wars and Spider-Man (not to mention
the relentless editing of FITP), I've been quite busy. Still, here we
are, nearly halfway through the year already. Can you believe it? And
with time comes (hopefully) progress -- which is what this e-newsletter
is about. So without further ado...
Chance
Encounters
The month of May
hosted the tenth annual Pikes
Peak Writers Conference, one of Wrtier's Digests' Top Ten Conferences
in the US. I was fortunate enough to attend for the first time at the
lavish Wyndham Hotel here in Colorado Springs. My expereinces have been
captured in a new article at Chance Encounters.
Next Issue:
The Whys Behind the New Chance
Encounters Online Store (see below)
Events
Jonathan Martin's
Threkjshanelle: Collection Two is now available. I did the design
work on the cover but I must admit that my job was made easier by using
a picture of Jamaica Lee Smith as the basis for the design. The first
book used an illustration that Jon had done with most of the color focussing
on the eyes and the lips. This time out, we followed the same formula,
colorizing the same elements of the black and white photo. Early response
has been fantastic. In fact, Jon's been having a hard time keeping copies
on hand.
What does this mean
for upcoming events? Jon and I will likely begin the tag team promotion
efforts again. We're currently looking into several local independent
bookstores to host a new signing or event. Jon will sign Threk 1 and
2. I'll sign CFTF and HFT. More as it develops.
Check out Jonathan
Martin's new book.
Online
Store
Yep. It's a new
section to the Chance Encounters Update.
Announcing the brand
new Chance
Encounters Chance for the Future Online Store! Now you
can pick up full color CFTF shirts, caps, coffee mugs, mousepads and
tote bags at reasonable prices. Share your favorite sci-fi novel with
your friends, family and co-workers! It's also a great way for me to
put together promotional items that I can use for contest prizes and
gifts to media, bookstore and publishing contacts. Thanks to Gary Annis
and Kim Tedrow for encouraging me to do this. Some of the items (the
travel mug and golf shirts come to mind) are limited edition, so you'll
want to pick stuff up for the summer now.
And, from now until June
9th, all orders over $50 will receive FREE Domestic Shipping!
Perfect for Father's
Day and Graduation! Additional products will be added regularly (I've
already gotten a heads up on some new offerings that will be available
shortly). Expect a store for Hope for Tomorrow to debut in the
near future and another one for Faith in the Past as its release
approaches. Links to the new store can also be found on both the CFTF
main page and the HFT main page.
News about new products
and upcoming stores will be announced here first so keep your eyes peeled!
Chance
for the Future & Hope
for Tomorrow
CFTF and HFT
Bookmarks
In addition to promotional items available at the online store, bookmarks
for CFTF and HFT have also finally been created. This is something I've
been hoping to do for a long time since I've had several e-mail requests
for them. They're full color, featuring very vertical layouts of each
book cover, and will be laminated and topped with a tassle. They're
not available for sale, but they will be free to visitors at my next
signing for as long as supplies last.
Great Deals on
Copies of CFTF
Unfortunately,
one of the great independent book stores here in Colorado Springs (McKinzey-White,
you may recall a very successful book signing that Jonathan Martin and
I did there last year) is closing it's doors at the end of June. Despite
the sadness of this occasion, at the time of thiswriting, they are running
some terrific sales on everything in stock. While they have probably
been the number one supporter of CFTF over the past year, selling more
copies than any other store in town, at last count McKinzey-White here
in Colorado Springs (Garden of the Gods & Centennial) still has
six copies. I believe they are all signed. If you want to pick up a
copy of CFTF at a really good discount (I believe they're up to 30%
or 40% off now), you might want to stop by. You'll find the CFTF books
on the sci-fi shelf. Happy hunting!
CFTF Around Town
Speaking of book store shelves, Media Play at Citadel Crossing no longer
has copies of CFTF or HFT. However, Heroes and Dragons across the street
at the Citadel Mall may still have a copy or two of CFTF. They're disappearing
from the shelves, folks so you'd better get em while you can.
Faith
in the Past
Cover Design
The rough version of the cover for Faith in the Past is complete
and is getting a pretty good response from those who have seen it. Jonathan
Martin has stuck a very early draft of it up on his site. Find it if
you can.
At the top of the
cover is the logo type which looks very much like the typography I created
for the first two books. Jamaica Lee Smith portrays Faith in the center
of the cover and she is flanked on the left by Chance (portrayed again
by Jim Carhart) and on the right by Tannk (portrayed by Jerry Wrischnik...
at least it started out as him). Below and to the right is Nik Taverone
(portrayed by Kris Cartwright) brandishing two laser guns. Just below
Nik is an explosion which harkens back to the explosion of the original
computer in CFTF. In front of the explosion are five riot-gear-clad
Enforcers firing their weapons (all portrayed by Karl Cartwright). It's
a pretty thrilling cover, if I do say so myself.
The cover still
isn't completed. Indeed, there is still some question as to whether
all of the models and actors on the cover will remain intact. Once I
clarify that, I will re-work the replaced character(s) and/or do the
final tweaking required to make it as good as it can be.
Manuscript
As for the manuscript, I continue to hack away at it. It's a good 3/4
of the way done with the current draft and I expect to hand it off to
editors and test readers sometime this month.
Initially, I planned
on shopping FITP to agents before publishing it through the same route
I used for CFTF and HFT. Now, I think I will probably put it out the
same way and shop the trilogy/series to agents for a potential traditional
run. If I do that, the POD edition of Faith in the Past will
likely see print by the end of this year.
Upcoming
Projects
A few updates on
future projects:
1) The
Crockett Chronicles
Things
are moving slowly on these humorous stories... but they are moving!
Co-writer Chris Weil and I are hoping for a completed and polished first
draft by the end of the summer and to have it see print via POD by the
end of the year. Yes, you too can discover what it's like to be friends
with Shawn Crockett.
2) Travel
Tips for Every Day
Added a couple new tips this month. The tips have been organized into
three categories (Foreign Travel Tips for Every Day, Domestic Travel
Tips for Every Day, and Every Day Tips Adapted to Travel). The format
for each tip has also now been determined. I expect to work these out
over the course of the summer. Although I don't really need to write
the entire book to shop it to agents (this is nonfiction, after all),
I probably will finish it simply because it's a list book. Once the
manuscript is done, I'll hand it over to editors and move on to the
next project (see #3).
3) Life is
But a Dream
I've had a great deal of reader interest in this book as well as possible
agent interest so this will be my next project and really my first real
non-fiction piece (Travel Tips is really just sort of a list book).
I really do think that I have something to say about this and I hope
it will help others to do something they love with their life. Rather
than write the whole book, I will likely write part of it and put together
a book proposal so I can shop it to agents and traditional publishers
before opting to publish it on my own.
4) One of
the Girls
I'll take a break from the Fairlight family to pen this
contemporary adventure story of twin teenage girls, one of whom discovers
that she has extraordinary abilities. At least once a week I find myself
adding to the mythos of this story in my Palm Pilot so it must be getting
close to the time for me to write it. More on this as it develops.
5) Faith Restored
I'm planning on plotting this fourth Fairlight novel in early 2003.
When will I write it? That sort of depends on the state of the first
three books and what sort of demand there is for a fourth. I'm hoping
there is because this story is tied very tightly to FITP.
Thanks again for your
readership and support. God bless!
Paul
M. Carhart
Author, Chance for the Future & Hope for Tomorrow
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