09/20/2014

Fall for the Book & “Above the Stars”

My wonderful family and friends at the Fall for the Book event on Sept. 18, 2014. People got to see the cover of the new book, Above the Stars, and eat some of the food that came from Ivy’s kitchen and Violette’s Magic Forest.

Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above the Stars will be released on Nov. 25, 2014. You may pre-order now through KickStarter. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1907899413/above-the-stars

Read about Stinky’s story, meet LLamont and LLemura, and a lizard who’s a wizard. New fantastical characters–bats and a unicorn! Join Phillip as he gets closer to Winterfrost Castle. The adventure continues.

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.

07/15/2014

Winterfrost’s Gone International!

Hello, Brazil, Italy, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, England, Wales! Wow! All of you have visited the land of Winterfrost and have met my friends Phillip Tuber and Rawlink Ragwort! Have any of you bought a book for your children, or for yourself? Please let me know. I would love to hear from you!

: Phillip Tuber

: Winterfrost Castle

: Poppa Ragwort

: Wait to read in October, 2014

Just go to my Buy Phillip’s Quest and The Ragworts page to purchase!

06/13/2014

Meet Llamont!

Is he not the sweetest llama you’ve ever seen? Llamont is from my newest book–to be out on October–“Above the Stars,” Book II in the Phillip’s Quest series. He is drawn by the brilliant illustrator/artist, Dean Kuhta and lives, with his wife, Llemura, in the mountains of Ice Cave Canyon. An important character to the series, Llamont may be one of the prints available during our Kickstarter campaign in September! –From: Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above the Stars, by Belinda C. Barker and Illustrated by Dean Kuhta–

He was chomping on a long blade of grass. This odd looking fellow wore no boots on his very furry feet. He was the herder of the spotted goats. The goat herder had a few of the silly goats lagging behind. He seemed completely unaware of the dinosaur beside him or the gnome standing on top. Edward had managed to scramble to the top of Stinky’s head where he perched himself so he could get a better view of the activities.

“Lassies, p-p-please now. Yur a-laggin’ b-b-behind. It’s almos t-t-time fer t-t-tay.” As he spoke, there were little sprays of liquid coming from his mouth. Indeed, he spit as he spoke.

“We’re goin’ as fast as we…” The head goat, Veni-Vedi, fell over in faint. It lasted two or three seconds and then, “can. Hold yer britches!”

This odd fellow plus many more make their appearance in the newest book of the Phillip’s Quest series as Phillip and his two companions, Edward the Squirrel and Stinky the Dinosaur, continue on their quest for Winterfrost Castle. Meet Bael, the Red Witch’s new villain who tries to straighten out Razorsnoot, the farting goblin. Meet Oli, Edward’s sister who is taking care of a special gnome. And meet Chaspere, the lizard who’s a wizard!

Look for the “Above the Stars” Kickstarter Campaign beginning in September, so that Llamont, Llemura and their silly, spotted goats can leave Ice Cave Canyon for the pages of “Phillip’s Quest, Book II.” Win free prizes–jewelry, art prints, gift cards, free signed copies of “Winterfrost” and “The Ragwort Chronicles,” and MORE.

Sign up for the “Gnome Gnews-Letter” at this website for updates about the campaign, new books and exciting offers!

02/13/2014

Veni, Vedi…and Valentine Wiskits

Phillip is getting ready for continuing his adventure. He has come across many new and fascinating creatures!

Have you ever heard of “fainting” goats? Well, they are real! But not the kind that Phillip, Edward and Stinky come across. These, belong to LLamont and LLemura and have 2 heads! Oh! And they’re pink and purple polka dotted. Not the nicest little creatures. If they get upset, their milk turns sour and LLemura can’t make her famous Wiskits.

So, Veni is the lead goat, and very bossy. Vedi, unfortunately, is the more reasonable one, but doesn’t get far. Still, it doesn’t take much to make them faint. Especially, when a big, “Hey, watch those feet!” dinosaur comes up beside them.

The lavender goat’s milk is pretty sweet and LLemura makes the best Wiskits out of it. I’m sure, LLamont will get them, in the shapes of hearts, tomorrow!

Happy Valentine’s Day, from LLemura, LLemont and the Goats of Phillip’s Quest, Book II, Above the Stars