Three Trafford authors are recipients of the 2008 Premier Book Awards! This is a the first year of the award and it is causing quite a stir in independent publishing. Sincere congratulations to authors John Warner, Graham Clews, and Kenn Joubert for their outstanding achievement. From the Premier Book Awards website:

The primary goal of Premier Book Awards is to recognize authors and publishers for superior achievements in their chosen genre. The secondary goal is to assure readers that a book chosen to receive a Premier Book Award is truly of outstanding merit and well worth adding to their libraries. We believe we have achieved both goals.[…]We highly recommend that you check out the titles on the list and read the books chosen for an award. They are all a wonderful reading experience.

Meet the winning authors!

Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror winner: Golden Quest by John Warner

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Historical Fiction winner - first place: Eboracum, The Village by Graham Clews

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Historical Fiction winner - Escape to Freedom: Book One of the Huguenot Trilogy by Kenn Joubert

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Book: The New Game Plan: Using Sports to Raise Happy, Healthy, and Successful Kids
Author: Stephen R. Raghoobarsingh, M.A.

Vancouver’s Stephen Raghoobarsingh has been extremely busy with his promotional work. Over the past few months he has appeared in four media (Urban Rush, Breakfast Television, Victoria Times Colonist and on Ultimate Sports Parent Radio). If you are interested in more information, phone 1-604-837-3353 or email phil@newgameplan.com. Click on the thumbnails below for screenshots of Stephen’s TV appearances.

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Book: The Five Pillars of Relationships
Author: Peter Sammarco

Congratulations to Peter Sammarco! The attached article appeared in a recent addition of Natural Living/Healthy Living. Click on the thumbnail to see more.

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Book: Without Fear, Favour, or Affection
Author: Charles Scheideman

Congratulations to Charles Scheideman for the article which appeared in a recent edition of the Victoria News (click below for the full story) regarding his autobiographical account of life in the RCMP.

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Book: All Our Friends: Simply Rewards of Simple Living
Author: D. S. Hartley

D. S. Hartley found her book in a great review in a recent edition of the Gulf Islands’ (British Columbia) Island Tides - click on the link below for the full story.

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Book: A Divided Forest
Author: Doris Chapin Bailey

Congratulations to Doris Chapin Bailey and her husband Roy on a full-page article that appeared in a recent Sitka Weekend. The story details the events leading up to the writing of this, her husband’s biography. Click on the image below for the full story.

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Book: The Last Viking
Author: Ron Dawson

We recently received this exciting email from author Ron Dawson

Hi Ben.
…I had a small scale ‘launch’ party in October 06. Almost immediately everyone who read it was saying it ‘would make a good film!’. Lo and behold early in 07 I was invited to pitch it as a film project to a film producers’ forum over here. In the interim three film companies expressed various levels of interest in Viking as a film project. One of these has changed policy and has dropped out but the other two, by request, are kept informed of progress for ‘possible involvement’. Anyway, after the pitch a film producer, Michael Ford, with a small company, Infinite Wisdom, and an award-winning scriptwriter, Simon Bovey, collared me in the bar to say they liked it and wanted to take it on. After several meetings, with something positive on the table, I agreed to sign a one-year film option contract which we would delay signing until the first anniverary of the Viking’s publication date, August 18, 2007 (see pic below)…

With that anniversary approaching the company’s loins are stirring and they are now ‘pitching’ for the necessary finance/backing, hence the ‘teaser’ artwork I sent to you. The landscape looks quite positive and they seem confident of raising the necessary funding.

So it’s fingers crossed but what I have learnt is that the film business moves very slowly until they are actually loading film into the cameras and, no matter what has gone on before, it’s only at that point should you start to believe that it might happen.

Whatever, it’s been more than interesting and fun for me (see pic below, I was invited to the relaunch of a restored DUKW, that’s me in the bobble cap, and I did a guest signing at the War and Piece Show).

Anyway that’s about it. What I am certain about is that not knowing anyone in the publishing world it’s unlikely that Viking would have been published and so if I hadn’t published via Trafford it’s absolutely certain that it would never have got this far towards becoming a film. ie no regrets!

Best wishes
Ron Dawson

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Book: Forever the Fat Kid: How I Survived Dysfunction, Depression and Life in the Theater
Author: Michael Boyd

Noel Ramirez recently wrote a great review on Michael Boyd’s Forever the Fat Kid, appearing in Out in Jersey (June-July 2008 issue). Please click on the image below for the full text. A second review found at R.A.W. Sistaz website can be read here.

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Book: Believing the Unbelievable: Surviving the Cruelty of the Christian Brothers Regime
Author: Benjamin Franklin

The Harp’s Sarah Hackett recently wrote a column on Benjamin Franklin’s Believing the Unbelievable, his story of abuse at the Glin Industrial School under the Christian Brothers regime. Please click on the link below for the full review.

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Book: More Moxie than Money: Three Women & One Company
Author: Bernice Davidson

Congratulations to British Columbia’s Bernice Davidson on the publication of her book detailing the 50-year history of her secretarial agency opened with two friends. The article below (click on it for more info) is from the North Shore Outlook.