Michael R. Hicks's Blog, page 19

It’s A Mystery…Or Is It?

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Published on March 19, 2012 07:49

It's A Mystery…Or Is It?

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Published on March 19, 2012 07:49

Contest – Win a Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet!

And so the Buy FROM CHAOS BORN So You Can Win A Stinkin' Big Prize begins!

I was thinking of making you suffer through a big treasure hunt, but fortunately for you I'm so pooped from getting the book ready that I'm going to make it easy on you. Kinda.

But hopefully the prize will be worth it: a Kindle Fire or a Nook Tablet, winner's choice! (Those prizes are for a U.S. winner only; for a winner from outside the U.S., I'll give you a gift certificate worth $200 at whatever retailer we can decide upon.)

First, you'll probably need a copy of the book unless you're an unnaturally lucky guesser. Since I literally just pushed the publish button, I don't have all the purchase links yet, but will update this post as they come on-line. But here's where FROM CHAOS BORN will be available initially (with more retailers & print later):

Amazon US

iBooks/iTunes
Smashwords

On to the contest! For those who have watched Monty Python And The Holy Grail, you'll recognize the scenario: I'm going to ask you some questions about the book, and you've got to give me the (correct) answers in a comment. If you don't, you'll be flung off the bridge and into the bottomless chasm!

Here are the questions:

1. Who delivered Keel-Tath to the temple of the Desh-Ka?

2. Name the great mountain pass where Kunan-Lohr faced off against the Dark Queen.

3. From what is Ayan-Dar fleeing up the great stairway in the fortress of Ka'i-Nur?

4. Who is the "destroyer of worlds"?

5. Why do YOU deserve to win a Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet (or $200 gift certificate)?

6. What is your favorite color? Think carefully, because a lot of people screw up on this one.

Now, post all your answers in a comment, below. YOUR COMMENT WILL NOT APPEAR UNTIL THE CONTEST IS OVER! So please post only once. If you're not sure if it made it, you can always email me and I'll check.

I'm going to let the contest run…for a while. I haven't decided yet. So get your comment in and good luck!

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Published on March 16, 2012 08:06

What’s On YOUR Bucket List?

You’ve probably heard of a “bucket list,” which is basically stuff you’d like to do before you, well, kick the bucket. I wanted to take a little break from book stuff before the release of FROM CHAOS BORN next Monday, and it suddenly struck me that I was curious what other folks had on their lists, and if any of those things would be ones I’d like on mine.

To be honest, my list isn’t very long at the moment, because I haven’t really paused to give it much thought. But here are a few things that I’ve got scribbled on my mental wall in crayon:

Travel. This is sort of an open-ended one, but I have on my list visiting all the U.S. states and provinces in Canada (most of which we’ll accomplish in the RV); India; Australia; New Zealand; and, well, just about every country in Europe (especially Norway: I hope to get in on the troll hunting action there!).
Static parachute jump. I wrote those words because that’s something I’m absolutely terrified of doing, but if I could dress up in combat fatigues and jump like the big boys and girls do, I’d suck it up and give it a try. I even have an invite from a jump school in Europe, and could write it off on my taxes for book research! Of course, that’s assuming that I survived. Talk about a hilarious YouTube…
Hiking the Grand Canyon. We visited the Grand Canyon earlier this year, and the thought of making the hike, difficult though it may be, really took hold on me.
Pretend like I’m a fighter pilot in a real plane. They have these places where you can fly a plane – well, actually, where someone who has a clue about flying flies the plane, and you get to hold a stick and rudder that hopefully are both disconnected – in simulated air combat against opponents. I’m sure I’d puke my guts out, but I’d sure like to give it a try!
SCUBA diving. I don’t actually want to go out in the ocean and dive, because I’m afraid of the things swimming around out there with big pointy teeth, but I’ve always thought it would be cool to learn how. It’d almost be worth getting a swimming pool!

Okay, there are a few things. I’m sure I could think of a couple more, but I’m more curious what you have on YOUR list!

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Published on March 14, 2012 14:34

What's On YOUR Bucket List?

You've probably heard of a "bucket list," which is basically stuff you'd like to do before you, well, kick the bucket. I wanted to take a little break from book stuff before the release of FROM CHAOS BORN next Monday, and it suddenly struck me that I was curious what other folks had on their lists, and if any of those things would be ones I'd like on mine.

To be honest, my list isn't very long at the moment, because I haven't really paused to give it much thought. But here are a few things that I've got scribbled on my mental wall in crayon:

Travel. This is sort of an open-ended one, but I have on my list visiting all the U.S. states and provinces in Canada (most of which we'll accomplish in the RV); India; Australia; New Zealand; and, well, just about every country in Europe (especially Norway: I hope to get in on the troll hunting action there!).
Static parachute jump. I wrote those words because that's something I'm absolutely terrified of doing, but if I could dress up in combat fatigues and jump like the big boys and girls do, I'd suck it up and give it a try. I even have an invite from a jump school in Europe, and could write it off on my taxes for book research! Of course, that's assuming that I survived. Talk about a hilarious YouTube…
Hiking the Grand Canyon. We visited the Grand Canyon earlier this year, and the thought of making the hike, difficult though it may be, really took hold on me.
Pretend like I'm a fighter pilot in a real plane. They have these places where you can fly a plane – well, actually, where someone who has a clue about flying flies the plane, and you get to hold a stick and rudder that hopefully are both disconnected – in simulated air combat against opponents. I'm sure I'd puke my guts out, but I'd sure like to give it a try!
SCUBA diving. I don't actually want to go out in the ocean and dive, because I'm afraid of the things swimming around out there with big pointy teeth, but I've always thought it would be cool to learn how. It'd almost be worth getting a swimming pool!

Okay, there are a few things. I'm sure I could think of a couple more, but I'm more curious what you have on YOUR list!

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Published on March 14, 2012 14:34

Upcoming Release of “FROM CHAOS BORN” – Win A Free Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

It’s official: the latest novel set in the IN HER NAME universe, , will be released for the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Smashwords for all ebook formats on 19 March! The book will appear two to three weeks later at other ebook retailers like iBooks and Kobo, as well as in print on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other on-line retailers.

But the really fun part of this book launch is that some lucky reader is going to win a KINDLE FIRE or NOOK TABLET (winner’s choice)! I’ll announce the contest details later this week, so stay tuned – you won’t want to miss this!

I also wanted to give a big thank you to Char at Wicked Cover Designs who put the cover art together for me. She saved my sanity!

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Published on March 13, 2012 16:33

Upcoming Release of "FROM CHAOS BORN" – Win A Free Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

It's official: the latest novel set in the IN HER NAME universe, , will be released for the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Smashwords for all ebook formats on 19 March! The book will appear two to three weeks later at other ebook retailers like iBooks and Kobo, as well as in print on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other on-line retailers.

But the really fun part of this book launch is that some lucky reader is going to win a KINDLE FIRE or NOOK TABLET (winner's choice)! I'll announce the contest details later this week, so stay tuned – you won't want to miss this!

I also wanted to give a big thank you to Char at Wicked Cover Designs who put the cover art together for me. She saved my sanity!

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Published on March 13, 2012 16:33

Autographed IN HER NAME Collection Contest Winner

Well, I have to confess that this contest was quite a bit of fun! I've never run one like that before, but it was entertaining to see the extent to which people will go to win something like this. It'll be even more interesting to see what you're willing to do for the next and final giveaway for the launch of , but I'll cover that a bit later (hint: you WILL want to take part in the contest!)…

But I digress. The response to the "autographed boxed set" IN HER NAME contest was awesome! There were over 330 comments posted by, um, more people than I felt like counting.

At the end of the day, we had four front runners: Jamie Andrews, Daniél Lecoq, Melinda Seigler, and Solace Winter. I was intrigued by their different strategies for cajoling friends over here to vote for them:

Jamie emphasized the family vote, apparently either promising riches or beatings to his various family members and pets to coerce them into voting for him. At one point I had to wonder just how many children and dogs he has in his household. He apparently also has at least a few friends, although the most common term of endearment was "book nerd." Hmm.

Daniél, the clever rascal, focused his campaign on the cat vote, apparently enlisting every cat owner in Sweden and half the European Union to vote on his behalf. Based on the responses, I think Daniél clearly has a promising future career of cat matchmaker, as most cats worldwide apparently will get along with his own dear Blade. And one respondent, in a testament to Blade's social responsibility, reported that the cat didn't drink his beer. That made me wonder just whose beer Blade did drink…

Melinda's strategy began by implying that none of her friends read. Be that as it may, she clearly cornered the "good luck" demographic, with most of her respondents dropping in long enough to hammer out those two words before disappearing back into oblivion. I must say, however, that at least one of her friends is a literary soul whose comment summed up the desperate battle for the prize: "May monkeys defile the corpses of your enemies…"

Solace flogged her Scott Stanford (whoever he is) Fan Club into action with what can only be assumed to be severe consequences should they not flock to support her. Violence was clearly an option, as one respondent claimed to be forced to vote at gunpoint (yes, it WAS a water pistol), while another promised to vote for her in exchange for her not puking on his DVD collection. Of course, there were reprisals on the part of some of the respondents, particularly threats to go running around naked. I really have to wonder about this Scott Stanford Fan Club. They might be worth a horror short story.

Now that I've kept you in suspense long enough, here are the results of my almost-scientific tabulation of the votes. Weeding out duplicates and some other oddities (sorry, next time we do something like this I'll have a better system!), we find that…

…Daniél Lecoq is the winner! It was a close thing between him and Solace, who trailed him by a mere 9 votes. I suspect the Scott Stanford Fan Club is going to be in for some unpleasant DVD-puking-upon. Melinda trailed Solace by 16 votes, and Jamie came in at – amazingly enough – 16 votes behind Melinda.

Of course, this means that I'm going to have to ship this pile of books to Sweden, where Daniél lives with half the country's cat population. Perhaps I'll just deliver the books in person. It would only be a little more expensive than what the post office is going to charge me to ship them!

Anyway, congrats to Daniél, and thanks to everyone for playing!

But before you go, there's more. Barring any more unforeseen delays, I'm planning to release FROM CHAOS BORN on 19 March (for ebooks; print will be a bit later). We will be having a final book launch fun-fest starting on launch day. I'll give out more details in a day or so, but I wanted to let you know that the prize will be one of the following little goodies, winner's choice:

A Kindle Fire
A Nook Tablet (8 GB)

Note: The option of the above prizes is only for U.S. residents. However, if the winner is from outside the U.S., he/she will be eligible to win a $200 gift certificate from an on-line retailer of his/her choice (as long as it's something I can put money into!).

So, STAY IN TOUCH! I'll be posting more here on the blog, Twitter, and pointed hits on Facebook to come here!

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Published on March 12, 2012 13:26

Win A ONE-TIME Autographed Set Of The In Her Name Series

As the next step in the pre-release celebration (and, yes, blatant self-promotion so you'll hand over your money to me), I'm offering up something that is, and shall always be, as Spock might say, unique: an autographed set of the six already published IN HER NAME novels.

But that's not what makes it unique. Technically, someone could buy all six books and go on a stalking expedition to harangue me for my signature, which is completely indistinguishable from any doctor's signature on a prescription.

No, this set is unique because it will include the original proof copies of LEGEND OF THE SWORD and DEAD SOUL, and all six books will have a special inscription along with the autographs to emphasize that the collection is unique. There will never be another one like it.

I'm sure that someday this set will be valuable enough someday to buy a Happy Meal after you hawk it on eBay, so you won't want to miss out!

Winning this treasure trove is simple, but you're going to have to enlist your friends, family, dogs, cats, people off the street, and other web visitors to help you out! Here's how it works:

- YOU post a comment to this thread (only one, please!). It can be about my books, your pet parakeet, Uncle Jim-Bob, whatever. NOTE: If it doesn't appear right away, don't worry – first-time posters have to be manually approved, but I'll try to get those done as quickly as possible.

- Then try to get YOUR FRIENDS to come and post a reply (it can be anything, but begging and pleading for you to win the contest is always good!) to YOUR comment. Of course, they could also post their own, so you'll get to see who your friends really are. MWUAHAHAHAA!

- One way you can help get your friends here is by clicking on those little social media buttons at the bottom of this post (but before the comments)!

- Whoever's comment has the most friend-comments by 6PM EST on Sunday, 11 March, wins! In case of a tie, I'll figure something out. Maybe we'll have a singing contest. Or not.

NOTE: I had originally set this up to just have a little thumbs-up vote thingy, but it wasn't working right and I had to change the contest rules a bit. My sincere apologies for the inconvenience, and dang technology, anyway!

So, the keys to winning are going to be to write something that will grab some attention (nothing lewd or crude, please!), and getting all your friends here to vote for you!

I'd also suggest that you check back periodically through the contest to see how you and your competition are doing. You wouldn't want to lose by a vote or two, would you?

That's it. Start working on your comment and get your peeps voting for you!

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Published on March 09, 2012 03:00

Winners of the $20 Giveaway Contest

Congrats to Stephen Ross and Jenny! Stephen snagged the $20 gift certificate, and Jenny got the $10 one. Congrats to you both, and thanks to everyone for playing this round!

We had 61 entries in a relatively brief period of time after the Facebook fiasco, which I think is awesome.

Now, folks, I'm going to give you a heads-up on something: I'm going to start another contest at 6AM EST (yes, that's 6 in the morning here on the East Coast of the USA, as opposed to the 6PM I've been doing) TOMORROW. That would be Friday here in the U.S. That's the *start* time, but the contest will run through 6 PM EST on Saturday. You'll have plenty of time to play, but a word of advice: the earlier you get started on this one, the better your chances to win!