The paperback and hardback editions of The Spikatur Cycle, the sixth cycle in the Saga of Dray Prescot by Alan Burt Akers, are now available from all good bookshops worldwide.

The Spikatur Cycle contains the four books: Beasts of Antares, Rebel of Antares, Legions of Antares and Allies of Antares.

An ebook edition will appear later in the year.

Here is the blurb:

Four hundred light years from Earth, Kregen is a marvelous world, peopled by wonderful beings, filled with light and clamor and furor of life lived to the hilt. But Kregen has its darker side, where horror and terror batten on innocent people, where sorceries rend reason, where injustice denies light.

The Spikatur Cycle brings Prescot closer to the realization of many of his dreams. He is determined to do what he feels is laid upon him; but he finds it is not so easy, particularly when the Empress Delia and his comrades are determined to keep him out of trouble. But, he is Dray Prescot, Lord of Strombor and Krozair of Zy, and that canny old leem hunter will not be prevented from buckling up the brave old scarlet breechclout and with a sword in his fist hurtling off beneath the Moons of Kregen into fresh headlong adventure.

You can buy from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com, or any other bookstore worldwide.

Paperback: ISBN 9781843198475, RRP: $31.95/£18.99, 632 pages
Hardcover: ISBN 9781843198468, RRP: $56.00/£36.00, 632 pages

The prices of all Mushroom eBooks titles on Scribd have been reduced by at least 30%, so now might be a good time to catch up with all those books you were going to buy…

Many many thanks for your support and custom over the year, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and an excellent 2010.

Mushroom eBooks are now available on Scribd. You can buy the books there, and also preview them — up to 40% of each book is available for preview.

You will find that prices for Mushroom eBooks on Scribd are typically lower than most ebookstores, although you may still get a better deal at Fictionwise.

About Scribd, Inc.

Scribd is the world’s largest social publishing company with more than 60 million readers each month. Scribd is changing the way people discover, share and sell original writings and documents on the Web. Its innovative document reader technology, iPaper, enables anyone to easily upload PDF, Word, PowerPoint and other document types and share on Scribd.com or embed on thousands of other websites. Scribd is backed by Charles River Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Paul Graham’s Y Combinator, the Kinsey Hills Group and several prominent angel investors. For more information about Scribd, visit www.scribd.com.

Please take a look at the new “Moyra Caldecott: author, poet, artist” website at www.moyracaldecott.co.uk. The site promises to be “for all things Moyra Caldecott”. It has been completely re-created, and new articles, excerpts, poetry, art are posted at least once a week.

There is a separate page for each of her books, although these still need some work.

You can subscribe to the site, either by RSS or by email, to get updates. And the site is social, so you can leave comments or discuss the posts.

Please take a look at the new “Moyra Caldecott: author, poet, artist” website at www.moyracaldecott.co.uk. The site promises to be “for all things Moyra Caldecott”. It has been completely re-created, and new articles, excerpts, poetry, art are posted at least once a week.

There is a separate page for each of her books, although these still need some work.

You can subscribe to the site, either by RSS or by email, to get updates. And the site is social, so you can leave comments or discuss the posts.

The Jikaida Cycle by Alan Burt Akers will be available on 21 July in a hardcover edition from all good bookstores. Published by our sister imprint, Bladud Books, this is the latest of the Saga of Dray Prescot omnibus editions and contains books 19-21:

A Life for Kregen
A Sword for Kregen
A Fortune for Kregen
A Victory for Kregen

The back copy:

Four hundred light years from Earth, Kregen is a marvelous world, peopled by wonderful beings, filled with light and clamor and furor of life lived to the hilt. But Kregen has its darker side, where horror and terror batten on innocent people, where sorceries rend reason, where injustice denies light.

Here, in the unforgiving yet rewarding world of Kregen, struggling through disaster and triumph, Dray Prescot has made his home. He has acquired a number of titles and estates but now the people of the island empire of Vallia, which has been ripped into shreds by ambitious and mercenary invaders, have called on him to lead them to freedom as their emperor. Reluctant to accept the imperium, he shoulders the burden because, rightly or wrongly, he sees this as the lesser evil…

I am pleased to announce three new eBooks that we are publishing over the next few weeks:

10th August – The Cotton Run by Daniel Wyatt

Set during the American Civil War, this tells the story of Joshua Denning, captain of a “runner” — a ship running the Union blockades to bring much needed supplies to the Confederates, and trade Southern cotton.

7th September – Wintermoon Ice by Suzanne Francis

The first book of the “Sons of the Mariner” series, in which an unexpected inheritance forces Tessa into the arms of a volatile alien-hunting mariner and challenges her understanding of time and space. It is set in both this world and in the world of Suzanne’s wonderful fantasy romance series, “Song of the Arkafina”.

5th October – The Garden by Renée Evaline Wilks

A modern hard-hitting novel, telling the story of hardened little boy who finds relief from his alcoholic father’s brutal physical beatings in an unlikely companion. Romance blossoms between them as they grow up. The Garden is their refuge and saviour, and its memory pushes them past whatever penances they must endure to find each other again.

Read an interview with Suzanne Francis, author of Heart of Hythea and Ketha’s Daughter, the first two books of the “Song of the Arkafina” series, over at The Long and the Short of It.

I am pleased to announce that Mushroom has signed up with WOWIO to offer some of our titles for free. The books are advertising supported, which involves two or three ads placed at the beginning and end of the book — there are no adverts placed to interrupt the reading experience at all. Mushroom receives a small remuneration from Wowio for each download, which we split with the author. Unfortunately, Wowio is only available in North America at the moment, but is hoping to make the service available internationally in the future. The books are available in PDF format, which can be read on desktops and laptops with Adobe Reader or other PDF viewers, and on some portable devices, such as the Sony Reader and Palm, using appropriate software.

We currently have titles by Roger Taylor, Moyra Caldecott and Dennis Radha-Rose available, and they provide an opportunity to sample these authors with something more substantial than the usual two or three chapters.

About WOWIO

What is WOWIO?

WOWIO is our passion. A passion for books. A passion for reading. A passion for removing barriers and expanding access to the written word. Ultimately, it’s passion for FREE BOOKS + FREE MINDS.

Our Goals

Our business goal is to build a unique and viable company that creates valued relationships between readers, sponsors, and publishers.
Our community goal is to dramatically expand access to written works by eliminating the economic, geographic, and logistical barriers while also ensuring fair compensation for publishers.

A Win-Win-Win Community

Authors and artists work hard to create their books and should receive fair compensation. WOWIO introduces sponsors as the primary source of compensation. Readers get books for free. Sponsors get opportunities to establish valued relationships with readers. Authors, artists, and their publishers get fair compensation. It’s a win-win-win for the WOWIO community — where each group willingly gives a little to get something in return.

Respect for Readers

As book fanatics, we revere the sanctity of books and the purity of the reading experience. Therefore, our inclusion of sponsors in the WOWIO community does not mean ads are indiscriminately placed in books. Instead, WOWIO appoints a sole sponsor who willingly covers the cost of the book in exchange for an opportunity to establish a meaningful connection with an appreciative reader. It’s about sponsors earning a reader’s respect by honoring their reading experience.

Respect for Sponsors

Traditional advertising shouts its message whether anyone wants to hear it and whether or not it is relevant. By contrast, WOWIO sponsorships are targeted by readers’ own pre-selected preferences — delivering messages that are more relevant. With WOWIO, it’s about sponsorships being a tool for awareness, rather than intrusion. It’s about readers having a say in the messages they see. And it’s about a mutual respect between sponsors and readers that results in unprecedented brand loyalty.

Respect for Publishers

Authors, artists, and their publishers are at risk in today’s digital world. Their passion and hard work is often trivialized by those seeking free access above fair compensation. WOWIO works to undermine this piracy by creating a sustainable micro-economy where books are free and their creators still get compensated. It’s simply about readers respecting the work of authors and artists by supporting the sponsors who pay them.

About WOWIO

WOWIO is today the only source where readers can legally download high-quality copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. Readers have access to a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles.
WOWIO opened on the World Wide Web in August 2006. It is a privately owned company with headquarters in Houston, Texas.

I am pleased to announce that we have signed three books from Daniel Wyatt, author of “The Falcon File” series.

The first is The Mary Jane Mission, which was originally published by Random House, and we are hoping to publish this next Monday (fingers crossed). The Last Flight of the Arrow will be published on August 4 December 15, and The Cotton Run will appear on November 10 in January 2009.

I will post more information as soon as I have it.