Happy Release Month!

 

Paperback

Woohoo! Yeah! I finally have both the paperback and ebook versions of Sultana available for sale at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and Smashwords (Amazon.co.uk and Barnes and Noble.com still have only the ebook as of this post). If I told you how long it's taken me, from the date my research began to finally having this book for sale, it would be a tale of some interesting rejection letters - recall something about "a positive portrayal of Muslim society will never sell post 9/11"- followed by the trials of getting and losing two agents, and a hard-won sale that just wasn't meant to be. I could tell you, but I would have to change the names to protect the not-so-innocent. Or, I could give you all the names and places, but then I would have to kill you. On second thought, how about I never tell you? Instead, I'm just going to celebrate all month long.

Ebook

First, at my website starting tomorrow (April 1, but not an April Fool's joke) I'm giving away five Kindle copies (INTERNATIONAL) and two paperbacks (US and CANADA only) of Sultana. Winners will be asked to review the book on Amazon. What do you have to do to win? Email me at lyarde11751 at verizon dot com and tell me why you want to win this book. Winners will be announced at the end of April. On April 7-11, I'll be at History and Women, with the new Sultana trailer, an excerpt and your chance to win two paperbacks (US and CANADA only) or two Kindle copies. Please leave a comment to be included in the giveaway. Then April 21, I'll be at Unusual Historicals with an excerpt of Sultana and your chance to win one paperback (US and CANADA only) or one Kindle copy. Please also leave a comment to be included in the giveaway. 

For the international giveaways of Kindle copies, you need: A Kindle OR any of the Kindle applications for Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android or Windows Phone7.


Now that Sultana is done, surely I must be planning to relax, right? Yeah right. In addition to promoting it, I'm hard at work on the sequel, Sultana's Legacy. The next book begins fifteen years after the events of Sultana. It is brutal and bloody - starts off with a child's throat being cut. I was so worried the first chapter might turn people that I sent it in panic mode to another writer, who said as dark imagery goes, it was fine. I can only hope so because it goes downhill for my protagonists after that. Would you believe all that tragedy actually happened? I hope readers come to understand that and gain an appreciation for the suffering my characters endured. In the meantime, I'm editing steadily the manuscript; I'm about halfway through and hope to find beta readers at the end of spring. Then it's back to my cover artist. As with Sultana, I've decided to go with another Orientalist painting for the cover. I need a somewhat mature figure who looks somewhat sad or contemplative. Early possibilities include Ange Tissier's Algerian Woman and Her Slave

I'm also considering Jean Francois Portael's Femme Orientale.

Both subjects meet the criteria because they capture an older, moodier woman and there are dark undertones in the background that suit the themes of Sultana's Legacy. Also, both resemble the subject I chose for the cover of Sultana, although the earlier painting (Jewish Girl of Tangiers) was done by Charles Landelle. I'm thinking of a fall release for this book, September to November.  Off to make it happen.