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Tag: Technorati Profile

She's Teaming Up With Mother to Give Away a Computer Device

My fantasy author is giving away a nice little computer device, and she's got Mother in on the act. I'm rather impressed, actually.

If you visit http://choicesmeantforgods.wordpress.com/, you'll see Kora Taiman's blog currently lists a post with instructions on how to enter a contest to win a Sony MicroVault 2 gig USB flash drive that Sandy Lender picked up a week or so ago for the purpose of rewarding new fans of the epic fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods. Beneath this instructional post, Mother has posted a list of ten questions (and they're fairly easy, too) for fans to respond to. To answer them, you need to have either been paying attention to the CMFG Online Book Tour or read the fantasy novel. You can still get a copy at http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9221383-5820111?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183135911&sr=8-1. What you do is cut and paste the list of questions into an e-mail, provide your answers, then send the e-mail to Mother at KoraTaiman@yahoo.com prior to midnight, July 20. Then Sandy and Mother will put the entries into a hat (what do you mean mixing bowl?)... Ah, all right... Then Sandy and Mother will put the entries into a bowl from the kitchen and Sandy will draw a winner. She'll announce the winner Saturday, July 21, the last day of the Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour.

Now how clever is that? She has a few other surprises planned for the final day of her tour, which, at first, I thought was a little silly because it's the day the final Harry Potter novel is released and, well, no one's going to be paying attention to anything except J.K. Rowling. Am I right? But she's determined to maintain a presence on the internet, whether Harry Potter is selling like hotcakes in the brick-and-mortar stores, as she calls them, or not. Supposedly this is part of her online marketing scheme.

I'm behind her all the way!

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, Kora Taiman, contest, fantasy novel, online book tour, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

She's Forcing me to Post This

I can't believe I'm posting this for her, but, you know, she hasn't finished Book III in the Choices Meant for Gods trilogy yet, so I have to appease her to be sure everything turns out the way I'd like...

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender would like to appear on the Craig Ferguson Show to p-- (WHAT!? Surely you don't want me to use that word!? I don't care if it is an industry term.)...

Fantasy Author Sandy Lender would like to appear on the Craig Ferguson show to promote her epic fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods and to "drool" on Mr. Ferguson. Apparently, she adores the man. (What? No, I'm not including anything about his blue jeans.) He has a fantastic accent, according to Sandy. (Accent? Didn't you say accent?)

By the gods. Anyway, anyone wishing to start a letter-writing campaign to help her get on the show is welcome to do so. I'm stepping out of the way.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Craig Ferguson, Craig Ferguson Show, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, fantasy novel

She Gave Me Permission to Cross-Post Henry's Interview of Me

Wednesday morning, as part of Sandy Lender's Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour, Henry Bakerson interviewed me on his blog site, Friends of Dragons. You can view the entire interview at http://friendsofdragons.wordpress.com/. Here is the meat of the interview:

Henry Bakerson: Fantastic! Now then. Tell visitors what it’s like being the new master of Arcana. I mean, that’s a crazy one for me.

Nigel Taiman: Well, let me back up and answer your first question here. I’m Nigel Taiman, the son of Kora Taiman and her husband. When her husband dies in the novel Choices Meant for Gods, I, as the heir, take over the Taiman estate. You’re right, though; it’s surreal to walk through the front door of Hleo-Arcana knowing I’m the one making the final decisions as to what’s taking place around me instead of that ogre.

Henry Bakerson: Was taking Chariss in - by the gods, Man, it’s not like she’s here - Was taking Chariss in your decision?

Nigel Taiman: I was actually away from Arcana when Amanda Chariss arrived. Mother is the one who made the decision to give her sanctuary. It was a good decision.

Henry Bakerson: Agreed. How soon after you met her did you fall in love with her?

Nigel Taiman: Sandy approved that question?

Henry Bakerson: Sure did. She actually re-worded it from what I used to have here. I was going to ask when you knew you wanted to bed–

Nigel Taiman: By the gods, Man, this is a public forum. All right, then. When did I know I was in love with Amanda? The moment I set eyes on her. She came bounding into the family’s dining room after a day of training with Mia and Hrazon, and she looked like a goddess from Mahriket. You should have seen her, Henry. Absolutely beautiful. I sort of avoided her for a bit, though, because there was so much worry surrounding her, and I assumed she’d be running out with that blasted sorcerer after her any day. It wasn’t until Jake started flirting with her like an idiot that I decided I best get her attention.

Henry Bakerson: I think you succeeded. Now, let me ask a couple questions unrelated to the story, but about you, directly. How long have you known your author?

Nigel Taiman: Interesting. I’ve known Sandy Lender for about 20 or 22 years. But I didn’t realize I could speak to her and influence her decisions and the story that Amanda was telling until just a few years ago…Maybe five or six years ago. I’ve been working with Sandy on marketing and promotion since February.

Henry Bakerson: How does it feel to have your author sharing your innermost thoughts with the world in the novel Choices Meant for Gods - telling your deepest, darkest secrets - shining a light on all your crimes - exposing your–

Nigel Taiman: All right, now, I’m not the villain in the story, you know. And your past is just as questionable as mine. Sandy’s actually been very discreet. As you know well, my teen years were hardly admirable, and I’d rather all the sordid details not be spelled out for the world, Amanda in particular, to read. Sandy has done an excellent job of hinting at what needed to be revealed without telling all my deep, dark secrets, as you put it. I have enough secrets that have to be revealed in Choices Meant for Gods that we don’t need travesties from the past muddying the waters.

Henry Bakerson: Oh, that’s right…Well, folks will just have to read the book to get all that, won’t they?

Nigel Taiman: Indeed.

Henry Bakerson: So how do folks get a copy of the book to read?

Nigel Taiman: Why, Henry…that was almost smooth. Did Sandy teach you how to market while I wasn’t looking? People can go to http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=dp_return_2/002-3163519-8684042?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books to order a copy from Amazon or they can visit her publisher’s site at http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm to order the book and see the banner ad that she’s so keen on. It includes her slogan.

Henry Bakerson: I don’t think I know what a slogan is.

Nigel Taiman: You need to interview more characters.

Henry Bakerson: Thanks for stopping by Friends of Dragons.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, Nigel Taiman, Henry Bakerson, Friends of Dragons

She Went to New York

So when she was in New York, she let random people use her camera. The image above was one result. There were more, but this is one of the few she'll allow me to post. She says she doesn't look intoxicated (but I beg to differ).

I think this proves she's still human under all that writing exterior. But, if you'd like to know what the writing exterior produces, you can get her fantasy novel (what? that was as smooth a transition as I could make it; don't complain. If you want bad transitions, go read Henry's ridiculous interview at that friends of dragons thing he has going today. ) You can get her fantasy novel at http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9883296-3024969?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182722132&sr=8-1. I recommend the novel, not my interview. But you can also read my interview at http://friendsofdragons.wordpress.com/. It's part of the Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour that Sandy Lender is so pleased with.

Anyway, the people in the picture are fellow Duranies Jennine (on the left) and Christine (in the center). Then there's "the dragon" looking not dangerous at all (on the right).

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, Duranies, Friends of Dragons, Online Book Tour

She's an Inconstant Criseyde

I couldn't believe my eyes. At first, I was thrilled to find my fantasy author at her desk in the writing den, typing away last night as if her fingers had been set on fire, totally "in the zone," as she's said in the past. In the den sat a new muse that I'd not seen before (we muses can recognize a kindred spirit in an instant, you know; just ask Jen Nipps's Kiernan). I looked at this nice young lady, puzzled by the fact that she had sort of wispy looking wings (wings, I tell you), and I asked, "Are you in Book Three?"

No.

Oh, no, nothing so benign as that. Sandy Lender was typing away at something completely foreign to the Choices Meant for Gods trilogy. She was working on some other book that I am not at all happy about. She's wasting time flitting about with this Lyndia whatever she is creature instead of completing my bride's story and now I have to compete with not just…wait…

(No, I'm not being unreasonable. You were wasting time on something you have no business wasting time on until that trilogy is complete. And I daresay you ought to have that prequel complete before you mess around with this little winged chick, too.)

Inconstant woman. Never trust a fantasy author to sit in her writing den alone. Let this be a lesson to all you muses and all you fantasy characters. If your author isn't finished with your story, or the story of someone you care deeply about, make sure you're watching his or her every move. If he or she isn't working on marketing materials and promotion of the books, then he or she should be working on the sequels and the prequels. You can best believe there'll be no more messing around in this household. I'm not the master of Arcana for nothing you know. I can handle this problem, and that winged strumpet from wherever she's from won't be visiting again until my bride's story is complete and off to the publisher.

I'm quite put out over it.

To help keep Sandy on task, you can fan the flames by purchasing your copy of Choices Meant for Gods at http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9883296-3024969?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182722132&sr=8-1. Thank you for your support.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, Lyndia

She's at The Blog for Her Interview

For those of you visiting Nigel Presents Sandy Lender for the first time, drawn here by the Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour, she wants me to explain two things before we get started so you won't be lost. I am Nigel Taiman (oh, come on, I have to tell them my full name?). I am Joshua Nigel Taiman, but no one uses my given name. I am the lead male character from Choices Meant for Gods and the fantasy author, Sandy Lender's, current muse.

Sandy takes today during her online book tour to visit this blog and answer a few questions about her writing life.

Nigel: First question: if you have this blog for me to manage, and it's supposed to be about you as a writer, why are you so quick to censor it and keep me from talking about you as a writer?

Sandy Lender: Please tell me this interview isn't just a bid for leniency in your postings. Nigel Presents Sandy Lender came about because my publisher, Bob Gelinas of ArcheBooks Publishing suggested to all of his authors that we set up blogs for marketing and branding purposes. I was hesitant because I'm a fairly private person, and what writers aren't? I've got you managing the blog because I felt kinda silly journaling my daily life for people in first person prose. I'm censoring it because I still don't feel entirely comfortable sharing "stuff," and I know you can relate. I mean, should we develop a blog called Sandy Presents Nigel Taiman where I talk about your escapades in your youth when you and Henry used to frequent--

Nigel: I understand completely. Next question: Is purple your favorite color, and why did you select it for Amanda Chariss's eyes and gem?

Sandy Lender: Ooh, good question, Love. Yes, purple is one of my favorite colors (I'm also keen on blue and I wear a lot of Cardinal Red, which I'm sure you've noticed). The lighter purple, closer to lavender, is Chariss's typical eye color, as you're vividly aware, and for your guests who might be stopping in for the first time, Chariss is the main character in my fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods. She was born with an amethyst on her cheekbone, high up near the corner of her right eye, and no one knew what it was a sign of until she and The Master Rothahn travel to Tiurlang and find its meaning, and her purpose, in the prophecy scrolls guarded there. I've recently picked up a book called Love Colors by Pamala Oslie that details the different personality traits inherent in the different colors that we're attracted to.

Nigel: We should have Pam at our blogs for an author interview.

Sandy Lender: I tried to contact her a couple months ago and received no response. I'll try again at the end of my CMFG Online Book Tour.

Nigel: Now you hadn't read Love Colors back when you selected Mandy's eye color, so how did you know about the properties assigned to color? And, along this same vein, how did you come up with some of the other larger themes and smaller details in Choices Meant for Gods?

Sandy Lender: It's good that I can read your mind, Honey, because that didn't make much sense. I think you're asking where my ideas come from, and that answer is you. You. Chariss. John Taylor. Charlotte Bronte. Basically, the muses in my life offer me constant inspiration. My pen is never motionless, oh you who disturbs me with ideas in traffic. If the insurance company only knew... The color knowledge is something I picked up over the years. You read and learn that sort of info on your own because they don't exactly teach college courses on which color groups are more likely to attract artistic persons to your life. Now the Anglo-Saxon theme of exile that Chariss and Hrazon portray in Choices Meant for Gods I learned in my Old English literature classes. The mead hall look of Arcana's family dining room (and please note the significance of you and Chariss meeting at the mead hall table without me having to come right out and call you Hrothgar) comes from my Old English studies. The Thornfield Hall feel of Arcana in general comes from my channeling of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. So I would say the ideas come from my muses and my sources of inspiration coalescing in my brain at random moments when I have a pen to write them down.

Nigel: After watching you for months, I've also learned that one of your sources of inspiration is Duran Duran. Now they're a--

Sandy Lender: That took you months to learn?

Nigel: Well, a couple of days. I wasn't exactly well-versed with your society or its music scene when you first pulled me in so it took a bit to figure out why people always said the band's name twice. My question about this is how do they relate to fantasy literature?

Sandy Lender: Ummm, have you looked in a mirror?

Nigel: What?

Sandy Lender: We're gonna leave it at that. And if Dawn is reading today, she can share Carol's comments about Master Rothahn. Just keep in mind that CMFG is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and indications depicted therein are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Nigel: Getting back to a writer's life question, I want you to tell our visitors how your current life events affect your writing style and the events that take place in the Choices Meant for Gods trilogy.

Sandy Lender: Sting once quoted some philosopher saying that artists are at their most creative or do their best creating when they are in the most pain. He said this of himself when creating the Soul Cages album after the loss of his parents. It was a fabulous album. I have been going through a lot of crap and depression and whatnot for several years, and there's a very dim light at the end of a very long tunnel, so I have a lot of creativity in my life yet to come.

Nigel: Is it true that it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

Sandy Lender: I don't want to give the impression that I was talking about love in the answer I just gave. Love is over-rated and not worth the effort all these poor sots put into it. But that's an interesting question for you to phrase that way... I should have expected it from you. I had to give a speech in speech class in high school where I convinced the audience of something. This was the topic I got. I kid you not. I had to convince my classmates that it's better to love someone and lose them - get your heart ripped up and trampled - than never experience love at all. I succeeded because I can manipulate people's heartstrings. It's a gift writers must have. I ask your forgiveness now for manipulating you, Dear.

Nigel: I hate it when you make me nervous like that. I have no more questions because you've crossed all these others off my list, so let's just end with how can folks get a copy of Book I, Choices Meant for Gods?

Sandy Lender: You're so good at marketing, Darling. You see why I invited you here to do this? Folks can pick up their copy off of Amazon and get free shipping at http://www.amazon.com/Choices-Meant-Gods-Sandy-Lender/dp/1595071652/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3163519-8684042?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181832464&sr=8-1. They can also get it from my publisher's site, but they have to pay shipping there...http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm.

Thank you for taking the time, Sandy. If any visitors have questions for the author, or for me, just put them in the comments field and we'll be checking in during the day.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, fantasy novel, Duran Duran, Old English

She Posts a Guest Blog

Choices Publisher Chooses Green

By Guest Blogger Sandy Lender, author of Choices Meant for Gods

It's all the rage in the publishing industry: print your books with text pages that are some-odd percent recycled paper. It's good that J.K. Rowling is having her however-many-million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows printed with partly-post-consumer-recycled paper. Luckily, she's not the only author sending press releases to Greenpeace announcing this environmentally-conscious public relations move. But what's her publisher doing on the front end to make Harry Potter green?

Considering everything I do for marketing and promoting Choices Meant for Gods is lavender, to match Chariss's eyes and the amethyst on her cheek, it may seem a touch odd that I'm suddenly spouting about how green the process was to bring the book to fruition.

The natural explanation: I'm also an environmentalist. It's sort of an obsession for me. I have more sea turtle conservation knowledge packed into my brain than can possibly be healthy for a human. And I'm willing to spout it to anyone who'll listen (or who is unfortunate enough to get trapped with me on a slow-moving bus). So there's no surprise that my marketing efforts included buying cloth bags with my book cover and my "some days, I just want the dragon to win" slogan emblazoned on them so people would use those instead of plastic bags. You see, the plastic bags end up in either landfills or our oceans, and the latter spells trouble for sea turtles who mistake them for yummy jelly fish.

A great thing that my publisher, ArcheBooks Publishing (http://www.archebooks.com/) does on the front end of the publishing and marketing process not only to save trees, but also to save production dollars, is use electronic files instead of paper files whenever possible. Bob Gelinas, co-founder of ArcheBooks, explained, "We only accept submissions at ArcheBooks electronically to eliminate the excess use of paper." Ninety-nine percent of the submissions that come through the mail on nice, bright paper, get rejected.

What more happens to keep ArcheBooks green? "We all work from virtual offices, thus there's no commuting and no carbon emissions from our cars," said Gelinas. This facilitates the use of electronic files throughout the editing, proofing, galley and printing cycle. To keep production green all the way to completion, Gelinas explained: "Since we use both digital and offset manufacturing, we only create as many printed books as people actually want. We don't print more than twice the demand, thus wasting paper."

Now the paper used for Choices Meant for Gods? I'm happy to announce it's acid-free. For those who are still uneasy about the trees that sacrificed it all to make Chariss's story available to you, there's an eBook edition available on the Archebooks site at http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows, ArcheBooks, environmentally conscious, carbon emissions, sea turtles, recycled paper

She'll Be Here Tomorrow

Any of you who visit this blog site regularly know that my fantasy author is usually hovering over my shoulder, reading and censoring what I'm posting in support of her fantasy novel and my bride's story, Choices Meant for Gods. But tomorrow, she'll be here in a more planned and official capacity. As part of the Choices Meant for Gods Online Book Tour (or virtual book tour, as some tour people call it), Fantasy Author Sandy Lender is stopping by Nigel Presents Sandy Lender. (Seems fitting, doesn't it? makes you wonder why we didn't do it sooner... oh, she says she had too many other stops... wait a minute... I, the official marketer for Choices Meant for Gods, got a back seat to all the other tour hosts since May 21? I should be completely offended. )

Well, we'll start the day off with a guest post and then an author interview. I hope you'll stop in for the light reading (because I doubt she's submitting anything heavy about her life; you regular visitors know how closed she is on that subject) and for the interview. Now, let me tell you, I did manage to get some good information out of the interview. We're not talking Amanda Chariss level of interrogation here, but I at least got her to respond to a few questions that weren't just about the book.

Wait, I'm getting lectured. Okay, turns out I made a reference to an interrogation scene from Book II above and I had to go back and remove part of the sentence. Now we have something you all can be allowed to read. Yes, I've read Book II. Heck, I lived it. Figure that one out...

See you all in the morning.


Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, Sandy Lender, fantasy author, fantasy novel, online book tour, virtual book tour, Nigel Presents Sandy Lender, Amanda Chariss, author interview