May the Best Dog Win Becomes a Coloring Book!

May the Best Dog Win, a humorous picture book about a mixed breed dog named Dash and his battle with the new Sweeper, released as a coloring book on October 1, 2011. The coloring book edition includes the original picture book story in its entirety and also offers children the opportunity to color Dash and Sweeper in a full coloring book following the story.

The idea for this came about when the author, Kelly Hashway, wanted to have coloring sheets available for kids to enjoy after reading the story. Cheryl Haynes, president of FutureWord Publishing, liked the idea since the artwork as digitally colored. This requires that the artist scan the originals into a scanner and upload them to have the computer color the artwork. Unfortunately, this doesn't work on free hand art. After giving it some serious thought, she decided to go ahead and make the entire story into a coloring book. Haynes and Hashway worked side-by-side to make this possible, and in the end, they created a beautiful storybook and coloring book in one.

Hashway states, "The coloring book is gorgeous! My daughter grabbed the crayons the second she saw it, and she loved that she could color Dash and Sweeper her own way. I think kids are really going to enjoy the two books in one that this edition offers."

May the Best Dog Win Coloring Book Edition is now available on Amazon. Readers can still find the original picture for younger children who may not be ready for the coloring book edition. The story is also available on Kindle, so there are plenty of choices for the young book lover in your family.

Author of Blue Sunrise to Debut at the Hilton at Ridgeway

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gregg Overman, author

Blue Sunrise

Contact Phone: 901-487-6927

Email: greggo@bluesunrise.net

Revised by Kristine M Smith July 20, 2011

Memphis Native Publishes Si-Fi Novel , will sign copies at the Ridgeway Hilton Sept 24 from 2 to 4pm

If Gregg Overman had been any less confident about the science fiction novel he penned ten years ago, Blue Sunrise would still be in manuscript form. But because Overman redoubled his resolve with every publisher's rejection, he now has a science-fiction thriller that is catching the attention and buzz of sci-fi fans on the web.

Touted by some reviewers as an instant science fiction classic, Blue Sunrise takes the reader on a stunning ride toward the destruction of all intelligent life in the universe. Written in three parallel settings, Overman paints a vivid description of the struggle for survival in the face of imminent destruction. The story carries the reader from Earth to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and contrasts the fragile nature of life against its desperate resolve to survive. Overman’s protagonists spring from the page via flawless characterization and bizarre alien locations are described in painstaking detail, transporting the reader flawlessly to other worlds.

Overman knew Blue Sunrise was a winner the moment he finished writing it in 2001. The supreme challenge was finding a publisher willing to take a chance on a virtually unknown author. Overman finally received a call from FutureWord Publishing, a local Memphis publishing house. The powers that be at FutureWord chose Blue Sunrise as their cornerstone release.

Blue Sunrise was released February 2011 and has accumulated significant fanfare. The online science-fiction community has embraced the book, and Overman hopes the acclaim will lead to more mainstream appeal. The book is available at all online bookstores and in some Memphis bookstores.

Overman's first book signing will be hosted by the Hilton Hotel at Ridgeway on July 24th 2011, from 2PM to 4PM.
Kristine M Smith, Copywriter and Author

Serval Son--Spots and Stripes Forever by Kristine M. Smith

FUTUREWORD PUBLISHING ANNOUNCES FIRST NONFICTION TITLE

“SERVAL SON: Spots and Stripes Forever” will debut September 1st

Seattle WA (PRWeb) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      Today the President of Futureword Publishing, Cheryl Haynes, announced the pending September 1^st release of “SERVAL SON: Spots and Stripes Forever” a new book by author Kristine M. Smith, a lifelong animal advocate with decades of combined experience as a wildlife rehabilitator, captive wild animal caretaker, veterinary assistant, and humane educator.

 

Haynes’ announcement reads in part, “As I was looking [the manuscript] over, I thought how much the book is needed in zoos, wildlife parks, school and county libraries. The book is not just educational; it is packed with familiar flashbacks to the emotional attachments we all have with our own pets.”

Author Smith has raised and nurtured nearly every kind of animal native to the Pacific Northwest and most species of domestic and farm animals. But it was raising Deaken—an African serval cat—from the age of five days old until his death at 17 which she considers the epitome of her animal-enriched life.

Smith says, “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world—and I would never do it again. It was, at once, the most heartwarming and the most traumatic 17 years of my existence. Raising a wild one isn’t an undertaking for half-hearted impulse buyers. Raising a happy, healthy wild animal—keeping it safe from people and people safe from it—requires complete attention, nerves of steel, and an insane amount of good luck. We are responsible for all we tame. Most who attempt fail miserably and end up abandoning the animals they pledged to love and care for. Animal sanctuaries are overburdened with the sad results: abandoned cast-offs, looking for owners they'll never see again.'" 

Kristine M. Smith signs contract with FutureWord!

FutureWord Presents: SERVAL SON—SPOTS & STRIPES FOREVER

While scanning Facebook, I noticed that Kristine M. Smith was asking for people to read and endorse her new book.  SERVAL SON—SPOTS & STRIPES FOREVER is a true story about an African Serval cat Kris raised from kitten-hood to his death at 17 years old.  Since I’m an animal lover, I wanted to read it. As I was looking it over, I thought how much the book is needed for animal markets: zoos, wildlife parks, school and county libraries. Kristine's book voices the cry for people to never try to own the pet. Instead, people should be owned by the pet. They should do everything they can for its natural care and welfare. The book is not just educational; it is packed with familiar flashbacks to the emotional relationships that we all have with our own pets.

I sent Kris an email telling I could show her millions of reasons why she should publish with us. The book is sensational for animal lovers, not just educational, and it is a true story. So SERVAL SON—SPOTS & STRIPES FOREVER will be FutureWord's first non-fiction book.

I was flabbergasted when Kris agreed to let FutureWord publish her work. We will definitely have an asset to our publishing business. It took my breath away to get the favorable response. I read her blog and was humbled by her ecstatic reaction to join with a group of authors who are diverse in age. I held my breath and could not believe my eyes when she agreed. From her bio:

Kristine M Smith (Kris) comes by the nicknames “Mom-Cat,” “Mom-Dog,” “Mom-Goat” “Mom-Fill-in-the-Blank” naturally. From toddler-hood on, she has been a ‘critter-whisperer.’

From a very early age, butterflies and birds landed on Kris. And from the moment she was taught to string words into sentences, she has been writing. 

Kris has raised and nurtured nearly every kind of animal native to the Pacific Northwest and most species of domestic and farm animals. But it was raising Deaken—an African serval cat—from the age of five days old until his death at 17, which she considers the epitome of her animal-enriched life."

 "'I wouldn’t have missed it for the world—and I would never do it again. It was, at once, the most heartwarming and the most traumatic 17 years of my existence. Raising a wild one isn’t an undertaking for half-hearted impulse buyers. Raising a happy, healthy wild cat—keeping it safe from people and people safe from it—requires complete attention, nerves of steel, and an insane amount of good luck. We are responsible for all we tame (or try to tame).Most who attempt fail miserably and end up abandoning the animals they pledged to love and care for at the outset. Animal sanctuaries are overburdened with the sad results: abandoned cast-offs, looking for owners they'll never see again.'"

"Kristine M. Smith does not advocate the keeping of wild pets, especially wild cats, wild dogs and simians. To the contrary, for the many reasons she explains and has endured, she is opposed to wild animal ownership for most people. The commitment is brutal, the risks enormous, the memories indelible—good and bad."

Kristine M Smith is an animal behaviorist and advocate with decades of combined experience as a wildlife rehabilitator, captive animal caretaker, and humane educator.

I have read DeForest Kelley: A Harvest of Memories, Kris’s first book, and recommend that everyone else read it, too. Kris comes by her Kelley “fanaticism” honestly enough: Kelley—the Star Trek actor who played Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy on the original series—launched her writing career in 1969!  Kris was Mr. Kelley’s personal assistant and caregiver at the end of his life and offered a brief-but-moving tribute to her mentor at Paramount Studios upon his passing in 1999. She is also a well-regarded copywriter, coming in (presently) at #5 (out of 17K copywriters) in the Copywriting category and in the Top 15 in the sales copywriting category.

Kris is the author of three other soft cover books (available to Authorhouse.com, Amazon, and other online bookstores): Floating Around Hollywood and Other Totally-True Tales of Triumph; Let No Day Dawn that the Animals Cannot Share, Purposeful Christianity, and an e-book (available at Payloadz.com), The Enduring Legacy of DeForest Kelley: Actor, Healer, Friend. So SERVAL SON—SPOTS & STRIPES FOREVER will be her sixth book.

The book is going to be 6 by 9 perfect print bound and will be available on all on-line bookstores and hopefully in as many zoos, parks, gift shops, libraries and to whoever will hear our voice on the care of exotic or any animals for that matter. There are just over 21,000 words in the book and anyone and everyone from 5th grade up should be able to understand and enjoy it. I laughed and identified with many of the situations that Kris faced while taking care of a wild animal. Coming from a background of animal lovers and naturalists, I first went for the book because the serval kitten on the cover was too appealing to pass up. The words inside sealed the deal. I was hooked.

Find out more about the author and her other books at kristinemsmith.biz. 

We have not determined a price for the book yet. We hope to have the book ready for publication on September 1st. Kindle will become available soon after the launching.

Cheryl Haynes, Publisher

FutureWord donates books to Literacy Groups in Elmira New York

I watched an episode on "The Outer Limits" that showed a neural receiver being worn by people of the future. These neural receivers could transmit and receive information from a huge database making it possible for a human to learn knowledge without reading. The neural receiver read it and transmitted all of it to the memory.This was a scary thought.

The point in the show was that developing a program to make knowledge equally available to all was against natural evolution. (in the mind of the author) And it also created a society that evolved to one that could not understand how to read. Anyone born with the ability to read was a freak and was lucky to get a job as a janitor. The rest is somewhat predictable. The program started to get a virus which damaged the brain and people suffered neural damage to the point that they were dying off. Of course one person who had taught himself to read found the original safety features in the original read-only file and tricked one of the neural readers to focus on the material and quickly shut down the database before all was ruined. With such a neural implant, they no longer had any choices of what they wanted to learn or research.They were being forced to only know what the database wanted them to know.

I know this sounds hard to believe but we have people who can't read. There are literacy foundations in every city and those foundations need books and volunteers to help people who cannot read. Imagine not being able to understand your own surroundings. You would be trapped in a bubble. That bubble would be no different than living life wearing a neural feeder that was being worn by the people in the above fiction story. Man has a choice. He can read and then chose what he wants to retain for himself. This is how we develop.

FutureWord chose books that are easy to read and spiritually uplifting. Scores of May the Best Dog Win and Return to the Shore were selected to take to the Literacy Groups in Elmira. I am waiting to hear what else we can do to help others in the same situations.

Each book is on a different level. Every author has a chance to donate some of their books to a charitable organization to help illiterate people learn to read.

Author writes her lifetime dream story for children

Allyn M. Stotz grew up in a family of writers, editors, and authors. Her father ran the town newspaper, her mother wrote weekly news columns, her sister is a writer/editor and her brother is an avid blogger. Living among them all her life was, in one way, something that made her feel normal with her imagination. After all, she was raised with it and she never thought her own talent as anything out of the ordinary. Then one day, she was reading some of her brother's blogs and reflected on all of the story ideas that she carried with her through her lifetime. A light bulb went off. I can do this!

Where would she start? Well she just sat down and started writing whatever came into her mind. One of the stories she visualized to bring to life was one with a little girl who loves peanut butter and can't get enough of it. She has visualized the story in her mind over the years and now had it perfected.

Allyn now needed a publisher. She queried many places but when this first crossed the desk of Futureword Publishing, it was forwarded to Valerie Bouthyette to determine if this was going to be a book she could bring to life with the zest that made other books, Like Ronnie and BB, Nanny's Tales, the Dragon and the Unicorn, an instant heart winner.

Valerie thought it was a fantastic idea and wanted to take that chance as long as Futureword agreed to volunteer some teamwork with it. The result: The Pea in Peanut Butter.

Allyn's from a very determined family. Her mother is now 83 years old and has stayed the course with her writing in spite of health and age issues to finish off her third novel. Allyn shows the same perseverance in her work.

With her mother still writing and the rest of her family busy at it, how could Allyn miss her own chance?

The book is 36 pages with full bleed color illustrations and will soon be available on Amazon and all online bookstores.  The 8 by 10 fully illustrated picture book will be on sale for $11.95.

Blue Sunrise to reach Earth in February 2011. Amazon is first target!

 

It was a long walk for Gregg R. Overman in getting his work published. 

I was standing at my own book signing at Waldenbooks when my doctor, Dr. Ciao Newman, came up to me and handed me a manuscript that she promised she would pass along for a friend. That next day, I sat down and read straight through it and told the author it was not something to set aside and gather dust. Off and on, I checked back with Gregg updating him on how get it published until I finally said, "I can do it now."

But before I get to Gregg's book let's look at who he is. Gregg Overman was born in New Orleans and spent most of his life in Louisiana, graduating quite some time ago from LSU with a major in zoology and a minor in chemistry. He remains interested in many areas of scientific endeavor and considers himself to be an armchair physicist. This was his first major in college. Gregg has worked as a chemist for most of his life.

In 1987, his career brought him to Memphis, TN where he started The River City Soap Co., a small manufacturing firm specializing in industrial detergents. How Gregg came about writing Blue Sunrise has been reserved for the local press exclusively.

Ben Allspot, one of the novel’s strongest characters, will grab the readers' attention in the first paragraph as he boards a shuttle for the moon, hoping against all hope that he can run from his shattered life and his drug addiction.

It is the year 2061 and the moon's surface has several mining colonies set up to harvest and process Helium 3—an isotope of Helium useful for fusion reactors and rocket engines. Earth’s economy depends on this material as much as it once depended on oil.

The first expedition to Mars finds the planet to be more interesting than they could have dreamed and more puzzling than they could have imagined as every new discovery leads to a new question. What happened to the water on Mars? What could explain the unusual geology of the red planet? Was there once life on Mars? The crew will eventually find the answers they seek, but will they survive the incident that explains it all?

Many thousands of light years from Earth a 400 year-old alien stands rooted in the ground—the normal state for all the adults of his species. His immediate task is to educate the young heir apparent of the race that has enslaved him and all of his kind. Their discussion will range from philosophy to history, and although the young alien will perhaps learn his lessons a bit too well to suit his teacher, it is the teacher whose eyes are truly opened.

There is a brief sparkling of light at the very edges of our solar system. It is repeated three times. This event is not unique in the history of the galaxy. It has happened many times in many different systems, but never before has anyone or anything ever taken notice. This time, just by chance, someone sees but does not understand. It will be many weeks before the staggering significance of the event is known.

Blue Sunrise is a 145,000 word, 450 page, 6 by 9 perfect bound print that will also become available for the Kindle. This book is now available on Amazon. The retail price is $16.95 but there are discounts running now to sell the book at $10.76. Look for it on all online bookstores in the spring of 2011.

I compare his work to Frank Hebert and that's making a serious comparison. He doesn't stop at science. He adds religion, fantasy, philosophy, politics, and every angle is covered and the whole story is charged with emotion and a detailed description of the entire scientific adventure. ~Cheryl Haynes~

A book signing for Gregg's family, friends and business acquaintances will be held at the Hilton Hotel on May 14th, from 2-4 p.m. in the afternoon.There will be a book signing open to the public at a local library but those details are not to be released at this time.

Cheryl Haynes, Publisher 

www.futureword.net