Two More Copies Sold and International Intrigue!

I am happy to announce the confirmation of at least two more copies of The Summer of Pomba Gira sold. This means our fundraising is up to $15.00, or $7.50 per organization. Just enough to get 2 cups of coffee or a small bottle of Tylenol. We'll get there, though, because this is all about an act of faith, isn't it?

I received my Author's Copy of the novel from Xlibris yesterday. I'm to review it and see if there are any more edits I want to pay through the nose for. They did a fantastic job on the cover, with the exception of one quirky part. There is an unusual ghost image of the cover title, which makes it appear to be an optical illusion. That wasn't a part of the design, so I'm getting them to see if they can fix it. In the meantime, I'll consider it number 5 on the growing list of returns on your investment:

1. Artwork suitable for framing
2. Dartboard entertainment
3. Fireplace kindling
4. Helping out worthwhile NDN organizations
5. Optical illusions

Rush right out and order one today, as it might be fixed soon. This way, you can have the version that wasn't fixed and impress your friends. Did you know that in stamp collecting, an error on a stamp can enhance its long term value? Stamps, covers on novels, who knows, we could be starting a trend!

How it works as something of an optical illusion is that in regular lighting, you can clearly see the ghost image, but in low lighting situations, it disappears completely. This gave me an idea...and that's always a dangerous thing...

You're intellectual, stunningly handsome, and you want to impress a date with your literary repetoire. You take said date on a fancy, candle lit dinner. Do you bring roses? No, thats so passe. Besides, you bought my book and now you're broke. Rather, you bring the copy of The Summer of Pomba Gira to impress your date, and give it to your date as a gift. Killing two birds with one stone, in my opinion, as there's a rose on the cover that won't wither away. A veritable testament to your potential in the relationship. Said date will be impressed, no doubt, with your creativity and charm.

In the low lighting of the restaurant, the ghostly image will not be seen. Upon returning your date home, he or she will consider the relative merits of calling you again. In passing and in the cold light of day, the date will look at the cover, see the ghostly title image, and begin to wonder if he or she needs glasses. The spectre of a future with bifocals will emerge, and there will be an unsettling moment of fear. The date will remember how young he or she felt with you that night, how very much alive, and so not-in-need of bifocals at that time. A call to your auspicious phone number will surely follow.

I won't be able to count helping your love life on my list of reasons to get the book, not without some kind of data. So feel free to email me with your success stories. If you're a real player, buy 20 copies.

Now, onto other exciting news!

I finally updated my website. It's not particularly easy for me to do this, especially when I forget my passwords, which often happens. While I was there, I noticed that there are features where you can track where visitors who look at your website are from. No worries, it's not like I know who you are or where you live. Just a general tracker of what time zone you live in. Apparently, my website has been visited about 300 times since I started it in June, and one visitor to it is from England, and two visitors to it are from Spain.

I know who the visitor from England is, but the two from Spain I don't know. How terribly exciting! Welcome, Spaniards! I can honestly say, given the history of indigenous people on this continent, I never in a million years expected to be saying that. Ah, but times are changing. Seriously, welcome! Of course, I don't know if they went beyond the website to reading this blog, but one can but hope.