Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Book Launch: Aquamarine


Welcome, one and all, to the book launch we've been promising for the last few weeks!




The pilot copy arrived sizzlng off the digital press yesterday, and we've been ready to launch for ten days or so. It's ready to go, so let's check it out.

Here's the "blurb" from the back cover:

    Mel Keegan's new story is set in the late 21st Century when major land masses have been submerged by rising oceans and the Earth is a world of water. Russell is a hydrologist, based on the great floating platform of Pacifica. Eric is one of fifty Aquarians, a new sub-species of human who can breathe underwater. When the pair refuse an attractive offer for Eric's services on a suspicious salvage, Eric is kidnapped and a fast-paced intrigue unfolds on the "acorn principle" ... a small event turns out to be the key to a major war which would involve the whole Pacifica region.

And if that isn't enough to whet your appetite, have the first 10% of the book on us:

Read the first segment of the novel in PDF format...


And, getting right down to the business end of the booklaunch:

Get the screenreader style ebook, for iLiad, Palm, Pocket PC and Adobe Reader...

Get the PC/Macdesktop style ebook ...

Both ebooks are $9.95, which is a handy saving over the paper version. But we know many people prefer paper, so:

272pp, 6" x 9" trade-size paperback;
full color ccover by Jade


Price:
US$22.50
US$9.95(eBook)


Buy the paperback here:


Support independent publishing: buy this book on Lulu.


AQUAMARINE is a book with a publishing history. Rather than go into the whole thing again (it's a long and rather frustrating story), I'll refer you to this page, which tells the whole thing (and you can also look at various pages on the blog here, which go into a bit more detail, and with a tad bit more emotion):

the Aquamarine page on the website...

...of the blog posts that rattle on about the "publishing misadventures" of this book, here's the best: books getting printed without being proofread? Hey -- I'm not alone, it happens to the big boys, too!

Suffice to say, the DreamCraft version of AQUAMARINE has been proofread to death. It's been done at least half a dozen times, and we're confident of the proofing and copy editing to let it go out on its own. It'll be 99.999997 right this time, and all here are breathing great sighs of relief.

It's fantastic to have this done done, finished, "out there and cooking." Were I to sum up AQUAMARINE myself, I'd tell you there are two parts of the year when it makes very good reading. The dead of winter is one ... you're longing for tropical beaches and blue-green water...

...and the other time is the height of summer when it's hot and still and sticky, and you're longing to be submerged in the aforementioned blue-green water...

Well, I can't actually transport you to Tahiti (where the waters are warm and clear beyond your imagination, the beaches are white, and the most beautiful of the girls turn out to be boys), but AQUAMARINE will do instead, and cost you a heck of a lot less than a plane ticket!

Incidentally, the images above are, at full-size, 800x600 -- they were designed as wallpapers, or desktops. To get them to fit the larger size 1024 monitors, set them to "stretch to fit" when you install them. Enjoy. And -- did you get your screensaver, a couple of weeks ago? In case you missed it, here it is again, in versions for XP and Vista:

Get your AQUAMARINE screensavers right here!




This about wraps it for the book launch. Lulu is shipping immediately, and of course with the ebooks from Payloadz, it's instant gratification. As for me, I'll be devoting the whole afternoon to THE LORDS OF HARBENDANE, and the next book launch you see on the blog will be that one. Please enjoy AQUAMARINE ... for the first time in history, meticulously proofread, thoroughly copy edited and wearing a blazing, full color jacket. The pilot copy looks nothing less than gorgeous.

Cheers,
MK

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