I've updated my Twitter page with the Great Sphinx!

I thought I would spiffy up my Twitter page, and what better way to do that than with the magnificent Great Sphinx of Giza! It's a gorgeous image of the Sphinx & pyramids lit up at night, quite breathtaking - check out the before and after pix (as seen with the original Twitter layout, which shows more of the background image):

Before:




After:




Spanky or what?! I love it :)

Cheers,

~Rai

Join me on Goodreads this Friday, June 25th for a Q&A on I Love Canadian Authors!

Hi there fellow book enthusiasts,

As I have mentioned many times, Goodreads is one of my favorite sites. I am also proud to be a member of the Goodreads group "I Love Canadian Authors" & was honored to be invited to participate in their Author Q&A. My turn is this Friday, June 25th, and I will be available to answer questions throughout the day.

Here is the link to the group on Goodreads:

I Love Canadian Authors group

And here is the link to the Author Q&A thread:

Author Q&A

I am following on the heels of some very cool authors, so do stop by & check out the previous Q&A's - there's lots of interesting things being asked & shared.

Of course, like many of the other participants, I will keep an eye on my thread after my day and respond to addition questions that come in. If you are not already a Goodreads member, but books are an important part of your life, I encourage you to join!

I am looking forward to this & thank the moderators of the "I Love Canadian Authors" group very much for this opportunity. Talk to you soon!

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel SECRET OF THE SANDS

Secret of the Sands - Bestseller for Historical Fiction!

Good day!

I wanted to share our cool news - our award-winning mystery novel Secret of the Sands has been on the Amazon kindle BESTSELLER list for Historical Fiction for the last several weeks. Whoohoo!! We have our awesome readers to thank for that!

Currently, we are at #75, here's a screen shot:




We are so very grateful for each & every reader. We love to entertain you! I also want to pass along to our fans who take the time to write in to tell us how much they enjoyed Secret of the Sands - that gives us big, huge warm fuzzies every time :)

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel SECRET OF THE SANDS

Celebrating Secret of the Sands' BESTSELLER status for Historical Fiction!!

Hi friends & fellow readers,

I was doing my dance of joy this week as Secret of the Sands kindle edition spent a couple of days on Amazon's BESTSELLER list for Historical Fiction, reaching at least #78. That is a huge honor for us & I want to pass along our sincere thanks to our readers - you're everything to us!

I'll take a moment to show off the screen shot of our super-cool bestselling standing:



Yippee!! Here is the link to the kindle edition:

Secret of the Sands kindle edition

Our readers rock!

Happy reading always my friends :)

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel SECRET OF THE SANDS

Award-winning mystery novel Secret of the Sands - New Canadian Distribution Deal!

I am very pleased and proud to announce that Canadian distributor, Red Tuque Books, has struck a deal to carry our award-winning mystery novel Secret of the Sands. This will more easily allow all of those super-cool Canadian bookstores & libraries to stock the book on their shelves.

Our ISBN for ordering is: 9781419675522

Here is our ad, which appears in their 2010 Spring catalogue:




Here is the link to the Red Tuque website where you can learn more about them:

www.redtuquebooks.ca




They have been invited to present at the 2010 BC Library Conference on April 22nd, 23rd and 24th, where there will be representatives from about 350 BC libraries. If you are attending the conference, be sure to say hello to Red Tuque and ask about adding our Indiana-Jones style adventure novel to your shelves. Help support indie efforts & fellow Canadians by ordering from Red Tuque! :)

Don't forget, Secret of the Sands has undergone an upgrade, so it is even more polished & awesome than ever! The new version should be on the market in two weeks or less (I'll let you know as soon as it's there!).

Who would love it? Anyone from ages 12-112, people who love National Treasure, The Mummy movies, and Indiana Jones, readers who love suspense, adventure, alternate historical fiction, speculative sci-fi, unique mystery tales, and those who are fascinated by ancient Egypt and the enigmatic Great Sphinx of Giza…covers a lot of people, doesn't it?! That was the idea ;)

Happy reading always, my friends!

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel SECRET OF THE SANDS

Rai Aren

Author

Secret of the Sands

Read Now - http://bit.ly/15WZUp

Twitter - @raiaren

Operation eBook Drop - authors, join in!

Hi fellow readers & authors,

I wanted to pass the word along about a great initiative – Operation eBook Drop. It provides donated eBooks to soldiers serving overseas. I am always inspired to hear about how books can help bring some light into someone’s life. I signed up to donate copies of Secret of the Sands – our title, published by Bristlecone Pine Press, was recently listed in the OmniLit catalogue, which made this possible. Here’s the link to our book there:

Secret of the Sands on OmniLit




Here is an article about it by Holly Christine in the Pittsburgh Book Examiner. You can find Holly on Twitter: Holly's Twitter page and here is the link to the article, which I have copied in below:

Operation eBook Drop article from Pittsburgh Books Examiner

"Operation eBook Drop is the recent development of Edward C. Patterson, author of eight novels (The Jade Owl, most recently). In the Kindle forums, Patterson came across a US soldier stationed in Iraq. The soldier expressed an interest in downloading Patterson’s work, but couldn’t because Amazon’s Whispernet (the service Amazon uses to send eBook purchases to it’s Kindle counterpart) does not function in Iraq.
The issue sparked an idea in Patterson, a frequent poster and respected member of the Kindle forums. After discovering that Kindle authors expressed an interest in making their work available for free to overseas soldiers, he concocted a plan to use Smashwords, utilizing the site’s coupon feature for free eBooks to soldiers.

Since the conception of Operation eBook Drop only a few days ago, over thirty-five independent authors have offered their work(s) for free to overseas U.S. soldiers. Smashwords quickly responded with Patterson in further developing the project, notifying nearly 1300 authors.

For now, authors interested in participating in the program are encouraged to email Patterson. Works must available through Smashwords with a 100% off coupon code. Soldiers interested in particular works will express their interest through Patterson. Patterson then notifies the author, who will then email the soldier links and coupon codes. Smashwords is currently working on an automated system to further the project development.

For more information or to get involved with the program, visit Smashwords for complete program details."

*******

If you are an author, I hope you will join us in this very worthy effort!

Happy reading, always, wherever you may be…

Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands





For 12,000 years a dark and deadly secret has been hidden deep below the Great Sphinx of Giza. In present day Egypt, a frightening, yet awe-inspiring story unravels as archaeologists race against time to decipher an ancient truth...

"A deep probing mystery riddled with prophecy and danger, Secret of the Sands uses Egypt and her mythology as a backdrop to delve into the meanings of life and religion." -McNally Robinson

"Rai Aren and Tavius E. have crafted a fast-paced, exciting novel overflowing with mystery and intrigue. The tension is constant. The characters fully developed. And the plot gripping. Ancient history and present day relevance are so expertly intertwined, that you might forget you are reading a work of fiction." -- Thomas Phillips, author of The Molech Prophecy





P.S. I thought I would share our video trailer with you:




Created by Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands, with help from her friend Tommy Taylor, author of The Second Virgin Birth.