The Dragon Unveils the Cover of Choices Meant for Kings

Or...The Dragon is so stoked

Here it is: the long-awaited, much anticipated cover for Fantasy Author Sandy Lender's second fantasy novel, Choices Meant for Kings. Book II of the Choices trilogy is on its way to the printer. I'll have a release date for you shortly. Stay tuned. In the meantime, tell me what you think of this depiction of fantasy, adventure, and suspense!

If you'd like to get info on the upcoming novel, check the Books page at AuthorSandyLender. Also, the first novel, Choices Meant for Gods, is on sale at Amazon and ArcheBooks, as well as half a dozen other places around the 'net.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

Tags: fantasy author, Sandy Lender, Choices Meant for Kings, fantasy novel, adventure, suspense, fantasy

Want to Enter a Website Contest?
Or...The Dragon hid a banner at AuthorSandyLender

These lovely folks who write romance book reviews are holding a contest from Aug. 1 through Aug. 31. It's sort of like a scavenger hunt. You visit participating Web sites to find their banner, click on it to get back to their site, participate, participate, participate...you get the idea. My fabulous web mistress has hidden the Two Lips Reviews banner on my Web site in a special place. Find it, click it, visit the Two Lips folks and good luck to you!

Woo-hoo!
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Two Lips Reviews, romance reviews

Want to Enter a Writing Contest?
Or...The Dragon gives you a daunting one

I sent off my registration for the 3-Day Novel Contest up in Canada today. It costs $50 to enter and requires a writer to wait until midnight Friday, Sept.4 to start writing. Then the writer types like mad until midnight Monday, Sept. 7. He/she prints off whatever was produced and sends it to the judges. The registration fee guarantees the material gets read (nice). Now, there's only one winner from this international contest, and that winner gets published, but the true value of the exercise is...well...the exercise. I mean, what were you planning to do over Labor Day weekend? For the past two years, I've spent an inordinate amount of money on getting lost among the throng at DragonCon. This year, I'm going to produce a novel. Of course, this is the weekend after a weekend in Columbus for Context 22 where I'll be running myself ragged serving on panels and doing readings and promoting the new novel, Choices Meant for Kings. Oh, yes, I said the new novel. Stay tuned because I'm making an announcement on that score later this week...

If you're interested in participating in the 3-Day Novel Contest, check out the site. You need to postmark your registration form by Sept. 4. And that means getting an international stamp...which means a trip to the post office for some of us.

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: 3-day novel contest, registration, Choices Meant for Kings

New Dragons to Write About
Or...The Dragon gives you something real to put in your fantasy work

A story on Yahoo says German researchers discovered a new species of mangrove monitor lizard that’s related (somehow) to the Komodo dragon. How cool is that? Varanus lirungensis. Over in Indonesia. I have to say, dragons rock. (Especially small ones that have stayed hidden from human discovery for ages.)

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: Komodo dragon, dragon species, dragons, Indonesia, monitor lizard

Join Fantasy Author Sandy Lender for Interview and Book Signing
Or...The Dragon invites you to Sarasota Borders for in-store event

Join me Monday, July 20th, at 4 p.m. for an interview for the Authors Connection radio show at the Sarasota Borders at Bee Ridge and U.S. 41. Right after the interview, which will be aired at multiple later dates, I'll be selling and signing copies of the fantasy novel Choices Meant for Gods and What Choices We Made.

Both are available on Amazon.com in print versions. If you want the eBook (which is oh-so-cheap, you know), you can grab it from the publisher's site. But I hope I can meet some new folks in Sarasota Monday afternoon!

"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."
Tags: fantasy author, Sandy Lender, fantasy novel, radio interview, book signing, Borders, Sarasota

Plastic is So Bad

Or...The Dragon saves a duck from certain plastic doom

I leapt out of the car, startling the gentleman driving. Luckily, he’d stopped at a stop sign, but he wasn’t accustomed to me shouting, “oh my God, stop, stop the car” while flinging the seat belt around and exiting the car as if it were on fire. The duck I approached seemed similarly startled. It looked at me as if deciding, “human coming this way; do I fight or fly?” The poor thing stood next to one of those plastic six-pack rings. It was like an advertisement for pollution. I could hear Sigourney Weaver’s voice rattling off a statistic about pollution and bird deaths in my head. I could also hear the duck hissing at me—a series of deep-throat threatening hisses like a psychotic goose. I spoke kindly to him while I grabbed up the soda rings and he waddled warily to the side, keeping those brilliant shiny eyes on me the whole time. I got back in the car and Joe had to ask “What is wrong with you?”

Ooo. A chance to educate.

See, I hate to find plastic crap lying around. I live pretty darn close to the Gulf of Mexico so it’s doubly annoying to find plastic crap lying around. Sea turtles eat plastic bags that look like jellyfish and suddenly find themselves choking to death or too full to eat anything nutritious. Birds and small creatures get caught in these ridiculous soda rings that people are too busy to cut before tossing in the trash. I could go on for a looooong time on this diatribe. Instead, I’ll direct you to this excellent article from Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you have trouble with that link, try http://tinyurl.com/PlasticInOcean.

“Some days, I just want the dragon to win.”
Tags: pollution, sea turtles, duck, plastic rings, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Gulf of Mexico

We Have Winners!
Or…The Dragon gives away books to celebrate successful online book tour

I haven’t posted at this blog for a month (or so) because I’ve been posting at a bunch of other places since June 1 for my third online book tour. The great news is the tour has been a great success. I’m surprised at the hits to this site. We went from 23,320 to 23,791 with no new posts from me. Odd stat, but cool to have folks checking in to learn more about me. My rank for Today the Dragon Wins at Technorati went from 376,090 to 269,519, which isn’t fabulous, but, hey, I’ll take the improvement. What I found bizarre is that, after being showcased (and linked) on 20 or so blogs, Today the Dragon Wins’ authority at Technorati went from 15 to 14. Methinks Technorati needs to adjust their system, eh? (There's a nifty green button at the upper right of this blog post where you can link to "favorite" this blog on Technorati, if you're so inclined.)

On Twitter, I went from 59 followers to 1,649 thanks to my participation with my good friend Jamieson Wolf in the Internet’s first live Tweeterview. (You can read the full transcript at this blog.)

I joined facebook in the middle of the tour and now have 125 connections there. At Amazon, my page for Choices Meant for Gods gained another five-star review and my ranking improved overall. Its best was 59,884 one Friday (late morning).

In other great news, I met some fun people during the tour. From the hosts to the visitors, fantasy readers with excellent ideas and senses of humor made me thankful for the time, energy, and dollars I put into the tour. It was worth it. Now, I get to give a little extra “thank you” to a few of those folks. My tour organizers pulled names from those who left comments each week during the tour and here are the winners who will be receiving hardcover, first edition, personalized copies of Choices Meant for Gods in the mail!

The tour host winner is Cynthia Eden. We had the most comments (29—not counting duplicates or my comments) the day she hosted me at her site.

Week One Winner: Pauline Baird Jones
Week Two Winner: My Newest Stalker, Mysti Holiday
Week Three Winner: Lisa Lawmaster Hess
Week Four Winner: M (love the Bond reference!)
Week Five Winner: Deborah Panger

With the comments link below, please join me in not only congratulating these folks on winning a fabulous vacation-in-a-book, but also in thanking them for supporting me during the tour with their kind words. It was a fantastic journey.

(You can also follow this blog so you're notified when I update with news.)

“Some days, I just want the dragon to win.”
Tags: fantasy, dragon, winners, book, Choices Meant for Gods, online book tour, blog, Technorati, Twitter, Tweeterview, Jamieson Wolf, facebook, Cynthia Eden, Pauline Baird Jones, Mysti Holiday, Lisa Lawmaster Hess, Deborah Panger