You’re Invited to a Spring Book Fest (April 24-26)
A book for me, a book for you, a book for a friend … We’re closing in on the end of the school year, and books make the best presents!
The Realm Makers Spring Book Fest is a great place to discover new authors, find your next book, and mingle with other fantasy/sci-fi fans. Join me on their social platform (it’s free) April 24-26!
I’ll be hanging out there throughout the festival, and I’ll be online for a live Q&A on Saturday, April 26 at 3:00pm CDT. I’d love to see you all there, and I’d love to answer any questions you might have for me as an author, homeschooler, fantasy nerd, or just any random question you’d like the answer to… (I don’t claim to have ALL the answers, but if I have one for your question, I’ll do my best to answer it!)
Another reason to join the Realm Sphere at the free level as a fan…
Is that Hearts of Stone and Steel needs YOUR help!
Last week was kind of a crazy one. We started off the week with a mix of ups and downs...
first, there was the disappointment of seeing that Mantles of Oak and Iron had not moved on to the finalist round of the Realm Awards…
but then there was the the thrill and excitement that my short story PLAY DATE was a finalist (and the excitement that 3 of the stories in the DOSA Files are finalists, which is super cool)
Then I was able to ship out all my paperbacks and hardcovers of The Prisoner and the Pirate to my kickstarter backers.
Then, on Friday, I woke up to the absolutely stunning bombshell news that Hearts of Stone and Steel had not only been nominated for the Reader's Choice award, but apparently had been nominated enough times to get it on the semi-finalist list!
I'm still reeling over that one, dear Reader. I guess in my head, I thought maybe only a handful of people had actually read this book (or any of my books, really), and with the additional barrier of having to be a paying subscriber to the Realm Sphere to even nominate a book, I had kind of given up on the very idea of the Reader's Choice to the point I barely even advertised about it.
But YOU, dear Reader. You didn't care that I thought this was an impossible goal or a ridiculous long shot. You didn't care that the odds weren't in my favor. You showed up.
Wow, did you ever show up!
Thank you.
There's another round of voting now through May 16, and you don't have to be a paying member of the Realm Sphere this time, anyone in the Realm, even the free level, can vote on these 25 titles that made it through. (And there are some EPIC titles in there, several of which I have read and loved... if you want a recommendation for what to read next, just ask, I'll tell you which are my favorites on that list).
But if you've read and loved Hearts of Stone and Steel and think it should move on to the next round, will you show up again and vote for it? Voting is easy! Just join the Realm Sphere at the link in the button up above at ANY level. Then you can vote at the link below!
Thanks again. So very much.
THE LIST
Top 25 for the Reader's Choice Award are:
A Stolen Heart by Selina R. Gonzalez
Blood of the Stars by Karyne Norton
Daisy Dunlap & the Cartoon Carnival by C.O. Bonham
Falling Through the Black by E A Hendryx
Flashpoint by C.M. Banschbach
Game On by H.L. Burke
Guardian by Cathy McCrumb
Hearts of Stone and Steel by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt <—that’s me!
Hybrid by Candace Kade
Ignite by Kara Swanson
Lightshed by Crystal D. Grant
Memoria by JJ Fischer
Mortal Queens by Victoria McCombs
Page Magic by Dawn E. Dagger
Protector by Megan Schaulis
Saints and Monsters by Ellen McGinty
The Chaos Grid by Lyndsey Lewellen
The Immortal Abyss by Katherine Briggs
The Nightmare Virus by Nadine Brandes
There Bleeds the Light by Andrea Renae
Thread of Dreams by Emily Barnett
To Weave the Wind by Sharon Rose
Water's Break by Sophia L. Hansen
What Comes of Attending the Commoner's Ball by Elisabeth Aimee Brown
Winter's Maiden by Morgan L. Busse