New Release: "Wai-nani: High Chiefess of Hawai'i - Her Epic Journey"

Linda Ballou, well known for her adventurous travel articles and breathtaking photography, will soon release her first novel--an event which marks the beginning of her career as an author of books (as she currently has another in progress).

Through the eyes of "High Chiefess, Wai-nani," the reader will experience the Hawai'ian society as it existed when Captain Cook arrived at Kealakekua Bayin 1779; ride the billowing seas with Eku, the wild dolphin she befriends; learn why she loved the savage, conflicted ruler, Makaha; walk with her as she defies ancient laws and harsh taboos of the Island people; share the love she received from all who knew her; and learn how she rose to become the most powerful woman in old Hawai'i.

"Wai-nani: High Chiefess of Hawai'i - Her Epic Journey," an historical novel, will be released in May of 2008 through Star Publish, LLC.

A love triangle of extremes has proven to be a solid base for Ballou's writing. From her roots in Alaska she received strength, solitude, centeredness and respect for the awful power of nature. Her short story "Raindrop People" and numerous adventure articles including "Raven Brings the Sun," about a float down the Tatshenshini River, take place in her homeland. In Hawaii she found nurturing, a spiritual awakening, sensuality, peace anther heroine for her historical novel, "Wai-nani: High Chiefess of Hawai'i -Her Epic Journey."

In California, she obtained a degree in English Literature from Northridge University and a doctorate in urban savvy. She continues to enjoy opportunities there for intellectual stimulation, exciting contacts and friends. It makes a great base for exploits that she will share in her upcoming travel collection, "Lost Angel Walkabout."

Visit her website http://www.lindaballouauthor.com/ to read an excerpt of "Wai-nani" and/or to purchase the book. You can view numerous travel articles and photos published in a variety of venues over the last ten years there as well.

"Best of the Best" Poetry Competition Winner Announced

The Best of the Best Poetry Competition sponsored by TRIPLOPIA ezine announces its 2007 recipient: Christina Lovin for “Coal Country.”

Lovin’s poem is an expertly crafted sonnet crown eulogizing a played-out Midwestern coal town. Previously the poem has been recognized by the 2005 Betty Gabehart Prize for Imaginative Writing from Women Writers of Kentucky, the 2006 PASSAGER Poet of the Year Award and the 2007 Oliver Browning Award from POESIA. It was also a finalist for the 2006 Rita Dove Award and the 2006 Margaret Reid Award for Traditional Forms.

“Coal Country” is collected in Ms. Lovin’s first chapbook, What We Burned for Warmth from Finishing Line Press, 2006 Her second chapbook, Little Fires, will be published by the Finishing Line Press New Women’s Voices Poetry Series later this year.

The competition, in which a poem must have won first place in a previous contest, awards 100$, a Pushcart Anthology nomination; an author interview; a critical appreciation by judge, Tracy Koretsky, author of Ropeless, a fifteen-time award-winning novel.

The competition will re-open for submissions in May of 2008. Details available by request from bestofthebest@triplopia.org .

TRIPLOPIA is an internationally-oriented, thematic, web quarterly which publishes three poems by each carefully selected author along with fiction, interviews, reviews, and features.
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Author Seeks Writing Samples

Dynamic dialogue, fresh body language, description that doesn't stop the action, intriguing hooks that keep going... These are four of the 24 fiction-writing techniques for which positive examples are being sought for the next edition of this year's winner of the Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction Book.

If you or the writers you know would like an excerpt from your published or unpublished novel, short story, script, or work of creative nonfiction considered for inclusion in the all-genre edition of this award-winner, here's a one-time opportunity.

Up to 145 of the best examples that show the effective use of a specific writing technique will be featured in DON'T SABOTAGE YOUR SUBMISSIONS, the all-genre edition of DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY, which -- in addition to winning the Agatha Award -- became a nominee for both the Anthony and Macavity awards for best nonfiction book, an alternate selection of the Writer's Digest Book Club, and a finalist in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards.

The author of this much-acclaimed insider's guide for writers is Chris Roerden, an editor for 43 years whose clients have been published by Berkley Prime Crime, St. Martin's Press, Midnight Ink, Viking, Rodale, and many others.

Her purpose in creating the 'DON'T' series is to show why ninety percent of manuscript submissions are rejected immediately, and what writers can do to boost the odds that an agent or editor will actually read what they submit. Roerden targets 24 techniques that reveal most manuscripts as average.

"Only positive examples will be published," she says. "The bad examples I write myself because I don't want to embarrass anyone." Writers who are featured receive a copy of their own review and full credit, as in any review, and retain all rights to their own work.

No purchase is required and no fees or payments are involved. Guidelines and a form for submissions can be downloaded from here [PDF file] or received for a large SASE sent to P.O.Box 16024, High Point NC 27261.

Deadline is US Thanksgiving 2007; selections are being made as they arrive. Publication is June 2008.

For more information, reviews, and the first four chapters of the award-winning book, see Bella Rosa Books.