09/13/2014

Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above the Stars – Kickstarter Update

THANK YOU to everyone who has visited the Kickstarter campaign for Above the Stars! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1907899413/above-the-stars

Momentum this last week has been a little slow… So, as a special thank you to everyone who pledges before 9/17, I’ll be emailing jpegs of original Phillip’s Quest art, including a picture of hardy gnome Phillip Tuber that you can use as computer or phone wallpaper, your profile picture on social media, or a little smile you can share with your friends.

I know that not everyone is in a position to buy the book. If you’d like to give Phillip Tuber and his friends a boost, please consider:

Retweeting one of my messages https://twitter.com/Bella772013, or

Sharing one of my posts https://www.facebook.com/bbmiller0707

Also: I am thrilled to be part of a very special closing night event at this year’s Fall For The Book. On the closing night of the festival, Thurs., Sept.18, I will be part of Haute Cuisine at the Hylton, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, George Mason University, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas. The festival will host its 2nd annual celebration of fine food, superior drink, and the various stories behind the scenes of every aspect of the food industry from farm to table—and beyond! Cookbook authors, food writers, chefs and chocolatiers, novelists incorporating food into their fiction, and even the newly minted Prince William County Poets Laureate. Come join us for a fantastic evening of books – and food!

http://fallforthebook.org/ai1ec_event/haute-cuisine-at-the-hylton-2/

The campaign runs until 9/30. Thank you for all of your support!

09/02/2014

Live and in Color! Preorder “Above the Stars” on KICKSTARTER, NOW!

Phillip took a deep breath, and rose to his feet. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and turned towards his companions. With a stern, and focused voice, he said,

“LIVE from KICKSTARTER, it’s “Above the Stars!”

Dear Friends,

Boots and britches! I am excited to announce that Book II of Phillip’s Quest: Above the Stars is available for pre-order on KICKSTARTER, today!

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Phillip and myself on this journey to publication. Phillip’s Quest is a series of beautifully illustrated Middle Grade books of the tale of an ordinary garden gnome, Phillip Tuber, on an extraordinary quest and is the inspiration of Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Lewis’s Narnia.

You can preorder your copy of Above the Stars on the KICKSTARTER site, until September 30–but, if you want to give Phillip, the book, and me a SPECIAL boost, please consider buying your copy today, on launch day, and help build an early momentum. And remember, if I do not reach my goal, I do not get one dime! All you have to do, to get to my KICKSTARTER page is click on the picture or the links embedded at the end of each paragraph!

In addition to the books, there are all kinds of great perks available at the campaign. They range from the original artwork of Dean Kuhta and Louise Goodchild to my own jewelry and an Italian dinner for four! Please check out the campaign for more details.

Again, many thanks for your support. I will be back in touch with campaign updates throughout the month of September! Ciao, grazie.

Love,

Belinda

PS – In case you’ve never visited KICKSTARTER before, or you don’t even know what it is, I’ve attached a little example that shows how to order something there.

It’s a few easy steps. KICKSTARTER is the largest crowd funding platform in the world, having raised over $1Bn for creative projects like Above the Stars. They process payments through Amazon, the largest retailer in the world. So, preordering Above the Stars on KICKSTARTER is a snap!

And, just in case you missed the link, here it is: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1907899413/above-the-stars

08/24/2014

Boots ‘n’ Britches, Phillip is Above the Stars!

Phillip Tuber

Available, November 25th, 2014

Houston, we have a tentative lift-off date of November 25th, 2014 for Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above the Stars! Phillip is over the moon! Just in time to buy for Christmas! in December, 2014, he and his friends are planning “launch” parties all over Manassas. So watch the skies! You might even see a blue fire-drake! They hope that they can invite you all to attend. I keep telling Edward, “Party Animal Extraordinaire,” we’re on a tight budget, but he already has Llemura making wiskits like crazy!!! I guess we’ll have to get funding all these events–Llemura ain’t cheap, y’know.

So, on September 2, 2014 a Kickstarter Campaign will begin so that the gang in Phillip’s Quest, can keep partying on! The campaign will defray some of the costs that we have incurred for this publication and allow the Phillip Phollowers to read more about his adventures. It takes a whole village, larger than Twistedoak, of gnomes and humans, to put this book together. The funds raised by Kickstarter will help to pay my teammates, and for us to travel to different events and schools. Dinosaurs and dragons are tough to transport. We already are scheduling going into schools and teacher events, for the 2014-2015 school year. Then, there are always Edward’s parties–he likes to do it right!

The Phillip’s Quest crew is excited to be able to offer some cool rewards at all levels of contributions, starting at just $5.00! There will be discounted, as well as free books and ebooks, the fabulous “Winterfrost” and tree necklaces; original art, Oli Warrior Squirrel and Dreamspinner (who’s Dreamspinner?), an Italian Gnome dinner, cooked by yours truly, and so much more! They will all be listed on the Kickstarter site.

OR during the campaign, you may wish to reserve copies of the whole series; Winterfrost, Above the Stars and Across the Elusive Sea (to be released in 2015) and the remaining four titles.

Ultimately, our goal is to raise $3000.00 on Kickstarter. With Kickstarter, it’s all or nothing and Phillip and his friends have until September 30th to do it. So, please pre-order your copy on Phillip’s Kickstarter Campaign

Please look for the “Above the Stars” Kickstarter Campaign beginning in September, so that Llamont, Llemura and their spotted goats can leave the cold Ice Cave Canyons to the pages of “Phillip’s Quest, Book II.”

Thank you so much from me, Phillip and the team of Phillip’s Quest!

Follow all the updates, information and offers through this newsletter and all The Winterfrost Updates on http://belindamiller.me.

05/22/2014

So, how d’ya like me now?!

As you can see, my busy bee buzzed away. Good bye busy bee! In its place, “Winterfrost!” Quite frankly, the bee was driving me crazy, buzzing from one thing to another and the Red Witch was about to turn her into a snaggletoothed possum from Vandersnatch Swamp. Maleficent has nothing over on the Red Witch! And the old girl (RW) was getting her ice cubes in a bunch because she wasn’t getting enough press time. So, here it is! A website dedicated to Winterfrost and all the goings on between there and Twistedoak! There are so many:

1. A monthly newsletter will be launched. “Gnome Gnews” direct from Winterfrost Castle is just days away. This will be great for the kids, so let me know if you want it delivered to their inbox.

2. “Winterfrost” will be out in Kindle and ebook format. Look for that early June!

3. The Ragwort Chronicles, The Beginning: The Ragworts of Brokenfell
is live in both ebook and soft cover. It is a shorter book for 3rd graders and up. And, although it is for sale at any bookseller, I have a limited number of signed First Editions for sale, incl. shipping, for $21.95. A bonus gift will be included.
Go to my “Buy…” page and let me know.

4. Above the Stars, the 2nd book in the Phillip’s Quest Series is in illustration right now! Dean Kuhta is doing the wonderful illustrations. Look for a September Kickstarter Campaign.

5. Across the Elusive Sea,Book III, is almost half-way done!

Remember to let me know if you would like a colorful and fun newsletter sent to your child’s inbox!

The Busy Bee has been really busy, after all!

04/30/2014

Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above the Stars

Above the Stars, the continuation of Phillip’s Quest for Winterfrost begins as the three companions arrive in the land of Winterfrost, a land of “unbelievable beauty and incredible cold.” A book as beautiful as WInterfrost, this book is filled with new and old characters alike. Meet Phillip’s new friends, Llemura and Llamont; new enemies, Bael and a new wizard and the unicorn, Chaspère and Unilda. Find out what happens to the companions and their beloved Twistedoak as they continue their epic saga. Will they get through this challenging journey together?

Above the Stars is written by Belinda MIller and has the beautiful illustrations of Dean Kuhta. A fantasy of words and pictures.

Above the Stars will be available for sale in book and ebook format, late October, 2014 through Amazon.com.

04/17/2014

How to Find a Gnome

I look at the writings of my collegues and remark at the careful and, I’m sure, sometimes tedious research that they perform to authenticate their writing. I admire them and sometimes feel guilty because my writing requires nothing but my imagination! Even though I had Dean Kuhta’s wonderful illustrations to follow and knew the kind of characters I needed to create, I knew little about gnomes. I mean, what did you need to know? Short and stocky? Yup. Bearded? Sure. Conical hats? Mostly. I mean, just look at the annoying Travelocity gnome (my cousin started that company, so I hope I won’t get in trouble). Voila, a gnome! Then, after the third book, I decided maybe I should do some research.

Did you gnow that there is a whole gnome culture out there! First of all, I went nuts on Pinterest. Too much fun. Beautiful illustrations of gnome and their habitats. Artists have put together mini-gnome habitats. Too cute — so I went wild “pinning” all these pictures to my Phillip’s Quest page. Talented people. A bit weird, but talented. Yeah, right, look who’s talking! I’m obsessed.

So, of course, I must gnow MORE! Low and behold, I remember some of these illustrations and remember, from somewhere, the book called Gnomes. Immediately, I’m on Amazon and there it is, by Wil Huygen and RienPoortvelt. Two Dutchmen who put wrote and illustrated the iconic guide to all things gnome-ish. The illustrations are amazing! But, what’s more amazing is that I did okay with Phillip.

Except for some “nude-y” gnomes, (I’m not kidding), it would be a great book to show and read to children. One of my favorite parts is about the “other” night beings. One particular troll is called a “snotgurgle.” Must be Razorsnoot’s cousin! Gotta love it. Needless to say, I feel so much less guilty about not doing research. Goes to show you, you can find anything on the internet. Next research project–dragons!

As Phillip would say in his native language, “Slitzweitz!” (“Goodbye!”)

Of course, Phillip’s Quest and Gnomes are available on Amazon!

Winterfrost Publishing

Author, Belinda Miller

kidlit