Deadline for Overseas Shipping Order: Sunday November 25th, 2007

(A donation of $10.00 is approximately two books to a soldier. )

I have some relatives in the military who have read my book and enjoyed it and I believe that most American soldiers would as well. I got to thinking about it and wondering about how I can get copies of my book in the hands of soldiers. I contacted www.soldiersangels.com and they have replied agreeing to facilitate getting my book in the hands of our soldiers and veterans, including wounded soldiers in the Veteran’s hospitals, etc.

Your donation will help me make bulk purchases of my book so that I can distribute more than I would if I bought them in smaller quantities.

For tax purposes you should consider your donation a purchase as I am not equipped as a tax exempt organization. Also, if you would like to purchase your own, personal copy, please purchase it separately so that I can keep the monies distinct. However, if you donate and then purchase the book, I will in turn donate part of the proceeds to buying more books to give to our troops. That is for donors only!

(A donation of $10.00 is approximately two books to a soldier. )

Behold, Fidelis is being released in audio book. We’ll be releasing segments as we have them until the complete text is in audio, and then we’ll make the whole thing available. Enjoy!

This post has the first few captivating pages of Fidelis for your listening pleasure. You can subscribe to the feed to automatically receive new additions automatically.

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I am very pleased to release a few of the illustrations produced for the hard cover edition of Fidelis. They were drawn up by Kelley Kaffenberger. Her web page is www.kaffenberger.info. Here are a sample of some of the illustrations in the book:

And she also did a nice looking map. Go ahead and click on it to see it full size!

Thanks to Kelley for her great work!

Information about the Commission Program is Near the Bottom. 

As part of my campaign to kick off the role playing game based on my book series, I am inviting bloggers to join and participate in my game and hope they will post a review- positive, I hope!- on their blogs, with a link to the game.

As part of this effort, I am going to give additional resources to bloggers who sign up so that they can start the game with more advantages than a new player normally would have. This will allow them to buy weapons and supplies and enable them to travel more widely, earlier.

In order to qualify for this promotion, bloggers should sign up to play the game and immediately send a message to AR Horvath from within the game. He is easy to find, but if you have trouble you can also send a petition, or if all else fails, send an email to him at pr@birthpangs.com. Give him the web address of your blog.

YOU MUST ACTUALLY POST THE LINK ON YOUR BLOG, even if there isn’t a review yet. This is to prove that you really have access to the blog. You can put it in a post or in your blogroll link section. In theory, after Horvath verifies the link you could delete it, but why would you do that? That would be mean.

Please play the game long enough that you can really get a feel for it before you post your review. In particular, READ THE FAQ! It is a big world and takes some getting use to. When you post your review, please alert Horvath. While he reserves the right to decline to link to your review, if it is honest and/or enthusiastic, you can count on Horvath also linking back to your site. Everyone wins.

Information Below on the Commission Program.

To go to the game and get started, go here: www.birthpangs.com/rpg

The game takes place in a big world. If you have questions or concerns about getting started, READ THE FAQ. After that, feel free to ask the players in the game, or again send a message to Horvath.

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Commission Program: If you want to list my book for sale along with a review of the game, please let me know. I will generate a referral code for you which people arriving from your site and purchasing MUST include when purchasing. Bloggers will earn $3.00 for each book, soft or hard cover.

The Birth Pangs role playing game is unique in that it aims to reflect the book series in the game world. There are some limitations to how accurately the RPG can do something like that but literally hundreds of hours have gone into rendering it as close as possible. What really makes the game unique is that the author of the Birth Pangs series himself participates and the characters in the book also makes appearances in the game. But what is potentially ground breaking is the fact that it is possible that there can be reverse inspiration, where events in the RPG might actually come to be reflected in later books… !

The Birth Pangs world is one with post-apocalyptic feel to it. There has been a terrible disease and some nuclear strikes and now there is virtual anarchy. This plays out in the game as players are able to conquer cities and territory, build city defenses, and tax travelers, as well as uncover material that will help them understand the Birth Pangs series itself as they read the books.

Technology continues to shape how books are marketed and promoted today. The close interaction between Horvath and his fans and the real potential for ‘fan fiction’ (in the RPG sense) to be integrated into future books is just a sign of how the industry is transforming.

In anticipation for the Christmas season, Horvath has released a special RPG package where a small donation gets new members some advantages as they begin playing. Normally, players start out with just the clothes on their back, but Horvath will give new donating players money, weapons, and a ride so that they can quickly immerse themselves into the fantasy world that is the Birth Pangs universe.

The promotional donation amount is just $5.00 and puts new players in a position of strength right to start with. Go here to purchase the promotion resource bonus and/or go here to play the role playing game: www.birthpangs.com/rpg

NOTE: This is for new players only, as existing players already know that they can donate through the game and that since they are already strong characters, they don’t need this special help to get started.