July Website Drawing and other news

My new website is finally up and running! Some of you helped me with a trial run with a mini-drawing on AuthorIsland.com’s July 1st email chat. Now I’d like to celebrate my new site with everyone! And once again, how better to do so than with a new drawing?

To participate, go to www.joyce-dipastena.com, then click on my Comments page, where you will find all the details you need for entering under “Leave a Comment, Win a Prize”. The Prize? A $15 Amazon gift certificate. Deadline? July 31. Yes, this is a shorter drawing than most, but that just means an August drawing will be rolling around that much sooner!

BLOG UPDATES:

MEDIEVAL RESEARCH WITH JOYCE: Nothing new yet (except for my “Medieval Kings Poll”—why don’t you skip on over there and cast a vote?), but coming soon…an interview with GG Vandagriff, author of The Arthurian Omen, focusing on medieval Welsh research. I’ll update you as soon as the interview appears online!

One more bit of news…. I’ve finally had a sneak peek at the new cover art for Loyalty’s Web, and I must say, I’m very, very pleased. I hope you will be too! As soon as I get the official “go ahead”, I’ll share it with all of you!

Now, I’m off to enjoy a few days of cool air and relaxation at the American Night Writers Association’s Writers Retreat in Pinetop, Arizona. This is my first writers retreat, so it should be an adventure! I hope to come back relaxed and reinvigorated to write-write-write!

Review of Dante’s Daughter, by Kimberley Heuston

My review of Dante's Daughter for my Summer Book Trek 2008 reading challenge:

Book jacket description of Dante's Daughter:


“When the adventure gets too strong, lean into it.” When political upheavals forces her family to flee and separate, Antonia takes her brother’s advice to heart as she journeys through Italy and France with her father, the poet Dante Alighieri. She becomes a pilgrim who also embraces interior journeys: she struggles with her difficult, inattentive father; with her heart’s desire to paint as her father writes; and with her first tastes of young love. All the while Antonia harbors dreams that others tell her women are not entitled to dream. Dante’s Daughter portrays a life in full, one that beautifully answers Antonia’s own questions: “Had my journey made me wise? Had my secret griefs made me strong?”

This highly imagined story—based on the few known facts of Antonia’s life—is set against the dramatic background of pre-Renaissance Europe, rendered in rich detail by storyteller and historian, Kimberly Heuston.

As someone who loves history and historical fiction and who was eager to learn more about the great poet, Dante, I find my feelings after reading this book, at best, ambivalent. The book description was certainly right about the author’s richly detailed rendering of the story of Antonia Alighieri. Stylistically, Heuston’s writing is beautifully artful and fluid, so fluid that, regrettably, I found myself jarred on more than one occasion when an un-artfully modernized phrase unexpectedly leapt off the page at me just when I was most entranced. She also had a tendency, particularly in the early chapters of the book, of scattering Italian words in the text without definition or even sufficient context to hazard a guess at their meaning. I found this a bit annoying and pretentious, but thankfully as the story wove on, this happened with a good deal less frequency and more sympathy for the reader in adding definitions and contexts.

Dante’s daughter, Antonia, tells the story of her life in a first person account. Despite the book cover’s description of Dante as an “inattentive, difficult father”, for me, the book glowed most sympathetically whenever Dante appeared on the scene. Though frequently forced away from his family by unwisely chosen political allegiances, he always came across to me as a man who loved his family, treating them all with great kindness and tolerance, more than I felt was reciprocated by his wife, sons, and daughter, Antonia. (Though his sons appear briefly in the book, they are never prominent enough to capture a reader’s attention in any true depth.) Admittedly, for much of the book, Antonia is a child and young woman who might be forgiven for being so focused on her own feelings that she only rarely seems able to reach beyond them to empathize in any form with a “difficult father” who nevertheless displayed touching instances of love, attention, and encouragement for her in return. If others tried to turn her from her heart’s desire to paint, Dante, in this book, was not one of them.

The amount of detailed research that went into this book, while to be admired, ultimately threatened to overwhelm the story for me. I felt the last few chapters particularly began to drag, as I began to wonder if we would ever reach the end of Antonia’s “life’s journey”. (And please, don’t even get me started on the touches of LDS doctrine that began to pop up at the end. I’ll be sharing some of my thoughts on that in another forum. If interested, you can check out my blog for July 7th on ANWA Founder & Friends.)

A “life lived in full” became, for me, a life lived much too full, nearly to the point of unbelievability (and sadly, knocking on the door of boredom) to me by the end of the book. In my opinion, the story would have benefited by a less broad, and more focused, approach in the telling. And ultimately, I found small evidence that the answer to the questions posed by Antonia at the beginning: “Had my journey made me wise? Had my secret griefs made me strong?” were “Yes”.

To her credit, Heuston did successfully stir my interest to learn more about the “real” Dante. After reading a few of her chapters one night, I stayed up till 3 AM, researching him in some of my medieval encyclopedias. I suspect I will be buying a non-fiction biography of him soon.

Dante’s Daughter is billed as a Young Adult book for grades 10-12. As a way to acquaint high school readers with pre-Renaissance Europe, this would probably be less painful than a dry old school textbook. But for entertainment, it will take a serious young reader to read such a seriously earnest book all the way to the end.

Drawing winner and other news…

I’m on my way out of the house to attend a musical production of “1856: The Musical”, but before I go, I have a winner to announce!



The grand prize winner of my Loyalty’s Web: The Adventure Continues drawing, for a framed print of Edmund Blair Leighton’s “The Accolade”, is…(I think this one requires a drumroll, please)…Crystal Gracia of California!!! Congratulations, Crystal. I hope you have a prime spot picked out to hang this beauty in! It, too, will be on its way to you as soon as I can pop it into the mail this week.



Two items of news before I dash off…

I have a new poll posted on my medieval research with joyce blog. Check it out on the right side of the page, and vote for your favorite medieval king!

Now, I know I ordinarily have a new drawing waiting in the wings as soon as I finish the last one, but I will be changing website servers this next week, and there may be a brief (I hope it’s brief!) black out period while I transfer my domain name over. As soon as I get the new site online, I’ll celebrate with a new drawing, and I’ll send you all a notice so none of you miss out.

Have a happy Saturday, everyone! (The date stamp says Friday, but it's really Saturday!)

June 23, 2008

Final reminder: This Friday (June 27th) is the deadline for entering my website “Loyalty’s Web: The Adventure Continues” drawing, for a print of the Pre-Raphaelite painting, The Accolade. The winner will be announced on Saturday, so if you haven’t entered yet, time is running out!





Rebekah Elrod of Colorado was last Saturday’s winner of my medieval research with joyce drawing. Rebekah won a chapbook on A History of Feasting in the Middle Ages, With 25 Authentic Recipes. Congratulations, Rebekah!

Today, I posted a new essay on the ANWA Founder & Friends blog, about one of my favorite childhood poems, by Louise Townsend Nicholl:

God and the Fairies, be true, be true!
I am the child who waits for you…

(Does anyone else remember the little book of poetry, Silver Pennies?)

One last bit of news: I now know the name of the artist who is working on my new cover art for Loyalty’s Web. Her name is Casey Nelson, and she works for Disney. She has a blogsite showcasing some of her artwork, if you’d like to take a look: Casey Nelson's Stuff.

Okay, that’s it for this news update. I’ll be back on Saturday with “winning news” for someone!

More on Joyce's Summer Book Trek 2008: Book Reviews Link

I'm not the only one Summer Book Trekking along for the summer. Click on this link to read reviews by other Summer Book Trekkers!

LDS Fiction: Summer Book Trek 2008: Book Reviews

Review of The Arthurian Omen, by G.G. Vandagriff

My review of The Arthurian Omen for my Summer Book Trek 2008 Challenge:

From the back book cover of The Arthurian Omen:

Is the story of King Arthur history or myth? A Celtic scholar is brutally murdered wh she finds a clue to a priceless fifth-century manuscript that could prove the identity of King Arthur. Determined to find the ancient relic and avenge her sister's death, Maren Southcott begins a quest that immediately puts her own life in danger.

In the tradition of Mary Higgins Clark, The Arthurian Omen weaves a tale of mystery and suspense as pursuit of the manuscript winds through the medieval castles and monasteries of Wales. Stalked by a psychopath with delusions of a Welsh revolution, Maren is shaken to the core when a new crisis threatens to destroy the one person she loves most.

Can she find the manuscript before the murderer strikes again? Or is the manuscript--and the legend--better left buried in the past?

In spite of what I felt were a few glitches in plot, I found The Arthurian Omen curiously hard to put down. In fact, I was up till 1:30 AM riding the rollercoaster ending all the way to…well, the end.

As a medieval history buff who usually finds myself firmly on the side of the English, I enjoyed the mental stretch in exploring the “Welsh side” of events that took place during the 15th Century reign of King Henry V and his campaigns against Prince Owain Glyndwr in Wales. This proved the historical focus for the 21st Century characters, as much, if not more, than the actual saga of King Arthur. I thought the research was very well done, and the author is obviously very familiar with the history and terrain of Wales.

Plotwise, I only had a couple of quibbles. The chief inspector from Scotland Yard who is supposed to be protecting the heroine from a would-be murderer, inexplicably leaves her alone in the company of his two main suspects while he wanders off at one point to investigate another thread of the plot. Later, the heroine, who has previously had a very narrow escape from being strangled in her hotel room, decides to go for a midnight run all alone in the middle of Wales and…yes…has yet another frighteningly close brush with, this time, a gun toting thug. This incident in particular made it very hard for me to reconcile her with the highly intelligent professional attorney she supposedly was.

While I had some trouble with the heroine, I found the men of the story quite engaging, with the exception of the heroine’s slimy second husband, whom I was obviously expected to loathe, and did.

As a mystery, I had great fun trying to figure out who was guilty of which crimes as I wove my way through the book. Some of my guesses proved to be correct, though the red herrings were quite sufficient to make me grin with glee when my suspicions were confirmed. And to the author’s credit, when the identity of the modern “Owain Glyndwr” was revealed, my jaw dropped and I actually exclaimed out loud, “I never saw that coming!”

The suspense was so high at that point, that I literally could not put the book down until I’d read my way clear through the concluding epilogue.

However, in retrospect a day after finishing the book, one more quibble arose in my mind. The author accounted for all the possible suspects’ relationships to the heroine’s murdered sister, except for the man who was actually guilty of murdering her. Or did I merely miss it? If there are any other readers of The Arthurian Omen out there, please let me know…did the author slip up, or did my memory go faulty on me?

Would I recommend this book? Definitely! Despite the quibbles listed here, The Arthurian Omen is an engaging, fast moving mystery that will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night.

G.G. Vandagriff's website: www.arthurianomen.com

What Is Joyce Up To This Summer?

What am I up to this summer?

I’m going on a Summer Book Trek! My goal is to read one or more books by an LDS author by August 31. Since I have a few more than that currently sitting on my TBR shelf, I’ve decided to avail myself of this challenge to read-read-read, so hopefully I can make room for some brand new books.

Simply put, the rules are:

Make a list of the books you want to read this summer and post them on your blog. (This is where I’m posting my list.)

After you finish a book, write a review on your blog and link it to the Summer Book Trek 2008 on the LDS Fiction blog.

So, in keeping with the rules, I do hereby proclaim myself committed to reading the following volumes by August 31:

The Arthurian Omen, by G.G. Vandagriff
Dante’s Daughter, by Kimberley Heuston
The Great and the Terrible: The Second Sun, by Chris Stewart

Okay, what can I say, I’m a slow reader. I’ll be doing good to crank out a book a month this summer. (After all, I have to leave time for writing, too!)

If you’re LDS (or even if you’re not) and would like to take part in this challenge, go to LDS Fiction to find out how to sign up. (Note: there are prizes involved for participating!)

If you’re not LDS (or even if you are) and are not interested in reading LDS books--though they only have to be written by LDS authors, they don't actually have to be LDS-themed--then I’d like to encourage you (if you need encouragement, which I already know many of you do not!) to find another summer reading challenge to join, or just make up a challenge of your own. The important thing is, let’s all make this a summer of reading, shall we?

LDS Fiction: Summer Book Trek 2008: Ready...Set...Read! (Sign Up Here)

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If you're new to this site, be sure to check out my previous post for information about my latest website drawing!

June 6, 2008

NEW DRAWING:


Okay, now that May is over with, it's time for a new website drawing! Since artists are currently working on designing a new cover for my book, and since I sent them tons of information about medieval clothing to help them in their task, I thought a fun prize would be a beautiful copy of the Pre-Raphaelite “medieval-esque” painting, “The Accolade” by Edmund Blair Leighton. This will be an 11 X 14 inch fully framed print.

If you’d like a chance to win this prize, you must go to my website and send me the name of my new publisher. Send the publishing company’s name, along with your mailing address, to jdipastena@yahoo.com, and type “Loyalty’s Web: the Adventure Continues!” in the subject line.

Deadline to enter: June 27th.



BLOG UPDATES:


I’m also running a medieval research drawing on my blogsite, medieval research with joyce for a 17-page chapbook entitled, A History of Feasting in the Middle Ages, With 25 Authentic Recipes. If you’re interested in medieval research and would like a chance to win this booklet, check out my blog, “Let’s Have Another Drawing!”






You can also check out my most recent post on ANWA’s Founder and Friends and read my blog about why I didn’t have time to blog on Memorial Day.

May 15, 2008

Today is May 15th. Can you believe the month is already half-over? I think it all began when Easter fell in March this year. It’s like we lost an entire holiday month! Summer is right around the corner, which means triple-digit temperatures where I live. So far, May has been a fairly mild month, but that appears in danger of ending any moment now. For those of you living in more extended “spring” areas, I will soon be envying you!

DRAWING REMINDER:

My “Loyalty’s Web: New Adventure” drawing, to celebrate my new contract with Leatherwood Press, is also still open for entries. If you haven’t already entered, don’t delay! All you have to do is send me an email to jdipastena@yahoo.com, with “Loyalty’s Web: New Adventure” in the subject line, and “I can’t wait to see the new cover!” in the body of the email. (With your name and mailing address, so the prize can find you if you win it!)

And speaking of prizes, click here to take a look at what could be waiting for you: Mrs. Cavanaugh's World Famous Chocolate.

If you win, I’ll even give you your choice: dark, milk or mixed.

Deadline for this drawing: May 30th.

BLOG UPDATES:

For you medieval researchers and/or medieval writers out there, I have updated my medieval research with joyce blog with a post entitled: More on Castles. My post focuses on the book, The Castle Story by Sheila Sancha, a research book recommended to me by British medieval fiction author, Elizabeth Chadwick. (Elizabeth left a comment on my post, so check that out to while you're there.)



MISC:

I still have a few “old cover” copies of Loyalty’s Web available for 30% off the cover price. They are available for $13.25 (a $5.70 savings) plus $2.00 shipping. Email me at jdipastena@yahoo.com to reserve a copy, since this offer is only good for as long as my supplies last, and I will email you back with details on payment options. International orders wilhave to pay the full cost of shipping, minus $2.00/USD.

April 28, 2008

You haven’t forgotten about my most recent website drawing have you? Well, I guess it’s not actually a “website” drawing, since I’m giving you all the information you need to enter it here without ever having to visit my website this time round.

To celebrate the upcoming re-publication of my medieval novel, Loyalty’s Web, by Leatherwood Press, I’m offering a 1 pound box of Mrs. Cavanaugh’s Home Fashioned Chocolates (I’ll even let you choose…dark, milk chocolate, or mix!) to someone who emails the line, “Can’t wait to see the new cover!” to me at jdipastena@yahoo.com. Be sure to type “Loyalty’s Web: New Adventure” in the subject line. The deadline for entering is May 30th. I know that seems like a long time away, but enter early before you forget!

Speaking of new covers, my editor at Leatherwood Press wants me to hold off on offering copies of Loyalty’s Web as drawing prizes until the new cover version becomes available. What to do, now, with the few copies I have left of Loyalty’s Web that look like this?

My “leftovers” have to go, preferably before the new cover version comes out, so while supplies last, I’m offering anyone interested the opportunity to reserve and purchase a copy with the “old” cover at a 30% discount. That beats even the current 10% discount on Amazon! (And you never know…it could be a collector’s item some day!)

If you’d like to purchase a copy of Loyalty’s Web for $13.25 (a $5.70 savings off the cover price!), plus only $2.00 shipping (total: $15.25), email me at jdipastena@yahoo.com to reserve a copy, since this offer is only good for as long as my supplies last. I will email you back with details on payment options. International orders will have to pay the full cost of shipping, minus $2.00/USA.

In other news:

I have updated my medieval research with joyce blog with a book review of the medieval novel, Walk With Peril. Although the book is currently out of print, used copies are available very inexpensively through Amazon. Personally, I think the book is a treasure for hardcore medievalholics. Check out my review to see if you think it might be up your alley too, or not.

I have also (finally) updated my Medieval Vignettes blog with a new flashback scene based on Loyalty’s Web, entitled, “Picking Herbs”. Hope you enjoy it!

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JDP NEWS is also available in a Subscriber version. Subscribers receive extra privileges, such as extra chances to enter my website drawings and special Subscriber-only drawings. To join, send an email request to jdipastena@yahoo.com. Upon confirmation, be sure to follow all the instructions to successfully become a Subscriber member!

April 21, 2008

And the winner of my latest Loyalty’s Web-site contest is…AnneMarie DeRemer of New Jersey!!!

Congratulations, AnneMarie! You will be receiving a signed copy of Loyalty’s Web, along with a miniature medieval pillow/sachet from the Arizona Renaissance Festival. Keep an eye on your mailbox. The pair will be on their way to you soon!



Now for some good news for me! I have just been offered a contract by Leatherwood Press to take over publishing rights for Loyalty’s Web. That means a new cover, new promotion, and future availability in brick and mortar bookstores, in addition to the internet.

A contract offer is a biggie, and how better to celebrate than with chocolate? I’d like to share some with you! So I’m offering a 1 lb box of Mrs Cavanaugh’s Home Fashioned Chocolates to some lucky person who sends me an email to jdipastena@yahoo.com. Please type “Loyalty’s Web: New Adventure” in the subject line, and in the body of the email type: “Can’t wait to see the new cover!” Deadline for entering is May 30th.

More prizes to follow as future milestones are reached along the way to new publication, so keep an eye on this blogsite. You never know what will be coming next!

JDP NEWS update, April 14, 20

Are you having a good spring? We hit 92 degrees in my part of Arizona today, so it’s quickly starting to feel like summer here. (Although when we hit 110 degrees, I know I’ll be looking longingly back on this 92 degree day.)

Tomorrow night (April 15), I will be doing a presentation on my medieval novel, Loyalty's Web, for the 50th Anniversary of the Kearny Public Library. I’m pretty nervous about it, as it’s my first “presentation” on pretty much anything, so wish me luck!

I have a few updates and reminders to share with all of you.



I have posted a new Clio’s Corner on my website. If you’d like to read about exercise advice for people in the Middle Ages, check it out!




Loyalty’s Web will once more be Book of the Day on AuthorIsland this Wednesday, April 16. If you’re like me, you’ll be needing a reward the day after “tax day”, and how better to reward yourself than with an entertaining romp through Middle Ages? Check out AuthorIsland on Wednesday to see how you can win a free, signed copy of Loyalty’s Web.






April 20th is the last day to enter my website drawing to win a copy of Loyalty’s Web plus this beautiful miniature “medieval” pillow from the Arizona Renaissance Festival. Check out the News & Contests page on my website for details on how to enter.



Finally, I have some exciting news coming up about Loyalty’s Web in the near future. So stay tuned. Celebratory prizes may be involved!

JDP NEWS update, April 1, 2004

I’m back from my trek to Salt Lake City, Utah, where I had to switch my wardrobe from Arizona short sleeves to Salt Lake City long sleeves and sweaters while I was there. Brrrr! As if that weren’t bad enough, it actually had the nerve to SNOW one day. My deepest sympathies to those of you still suffering from frigid weather, but there’s a reason I live in Arizona, after all, and it doesn’t include seeing snow outside my window at the end of March.


Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time soaking up knowledge to improve my writing skills at the Storymakers Writers Conference and attending the very elegant Whitney Awards Gala, even though my novel, Loyalty’s Web, did not win an award. However, Loyalty’s Web was nominated in the largest category (over 80 entries in the Women’s Fiction/Romance Category), so I remain very pleased to have landed among the top five finalists.


In other news:

Amazon is now offering Loyalty's Web at a 10% discount. If you do not already own a copy, this would be a great time to hop over to Amazon.com and snap a copy up!

Website drawing reminder: If you haven’t already entered the new drawing on my website, check out my News & Contests page there.


On the way home from Salt Lake City, I stopped at the Arizona Renaissance Festival and did a book signing for Loyalty’s Web at Lady Ann Chamberlin’s bookshop. It was a wonderful experience, meeting both readers and aspiring writers, and I’ve been invited to return next year. I’ve attended the Arizona Renaissance Festival “for fun” for all twenty years of its existence, but this is the first time I’ve dressed up in costume. Thought you might all get a kick out of seeing my Lady Joyce of Pastena attire. If you’d like to read an account of my experience at the festival, you can go to ANWA Founders & Friends and read my blog.

ANWA Founder & Friends is a blog maintained by members of the American Night Writers Association (ANWA), a writing group for LDS women and women who uphold similar standards in their writing. I blog there every other Monday. The topics are wide ranging, from writing, to family, to spiritual, to personal experience. If you’re interested in such subjects, you might like to check out ANWA Founder & Friends to see where our ramblings take us.

Finally, in other blogging news, for those of you who follow my medieval research with joyce blog, I will regrettably be cutting back my blogs to once a month for the foreseeable future. The reason? I am beginning work on the final revisions of my spinoff to Loyalty’s Web, tentatively titled Illuminations of the Heart. Needless to say, this will be consuming a great deal of my free time, hence my need to cut back on other projects a bit. However, once I have completed my revisions, I hope to resume a twice monthly blog on my medieval research site, with both continuing posts on my research for Loyalty’s Web, as well as new posts on researching Illuminations of the Heart.

Well, that’s it for now! I wish a blessed spring for you all, and a swift thaw for those of you still struggling in the cold! May April bring you many warm and happy days.

JDP NEWS update, March 17, 2008

DRAWING UPDATES:

Congratulations to Melissa Keith of Rhode Island for winning my medieval research with joyce Research Book Drawing. Her prize is a hardback copy of Medieval Wordbook by Madeleine Pelner Cosman. Have fun researching, Melissa! I hope you enjoy your prize.

I posted a new website drawing today. Prizes? To find out, go to my website, look at my News & Contest page, and follow the instructions there.

BLOG UPDATES: I updated my medieval research with joyce blog on Thursday, March 6th, with a post titled, “What’s for Dinner?” In this post, I share information from one of my favorite books on medieval meals, Fabulous Feasts by Madeleine Pelner Cosman. (Interestingly, the same author who wrote Medieval Wordbook!) If you’re interested in this subject, check it out.

BOOK SIGNINGS: I’ve been invited to sign copies of my medieval novel, Loyalty’s Web, during the last weekend of the Arizona Renaissance Festival. The signing will take place from 2:00-3:00 PM at Lady Ann Chamberlin’s Bookshop (booth 309A). For location directions, go to Royal Faires. (And while you're there, browse the entire site. It's fun!)

Finally, I’m off to Utah next week to attend the Storymakers Writers Conference, where Loyalty’s Web is a finalist for a Whitney Award. Winners will be announced at an awards gala on Saturday night, March 22nd, so wish me luck! I’ll see you all when I get back.

And the winner is...

The winner of my first website drawing for 2008 is... Gigi Hicks of Georgia!!!






Gigi has won a free, autographed copy of my medieval novel, Loyalty's Web...










..along with a 150 ml tube of Seacret Select Hand Cream. Seacret Select comes enriched with "Dead Sea minerals that nurture the skin and enhance its healthy look."



Congratulations, Gigi! I hope you'll enjoy your prizes! They'll be on the way to you soon.

I'm off to the ANWA Writers Conference and Book Signing in Gilbert, Arizona for the weekend. When I get back, I'll begin work on a new website drawing. Subscription JDP NEWS members will be the first to know when I get it posted!

February 22, 2008

NEW DRAWING:

I just got back from the Arizona Renaissance Festival, where I picked up some trifles, knick-knacks, and a few more expensive items for future drawings. Some will be available to everyone on my website, others on some of my blogs, but I’m going to start with a drawing available only to subscribers of JDP NEWS. This prize falls into the medieval knick-knack category, but if interested, subscribe to JDP NEWS today! Deadline for entering the drawing is March 31.


OTHER DRAWING UPDATES:




There are a few more days left before my website drawing for a free copy of Loyalty’s Web and a 150 ml tube of Seacret Select Hand Cream draws to a close on February 28. If you haven’t yet entered, hop on over to the News & Contests page of my website and get your entry to me ASAP!








For those interested in writing medieval fiction, my drawing for a free copy of Medieval Wordbook is also still open on my medieval research with joyce blogsite. Go to my post on Research Book Drawing for details on how to enter.




BLOG UPDATES

My blogsite, medieval research with joyce, has been updated twice this month, with two posts on the research book, Medieval English Gardens, by Teresa McLean. If you are interested in writing medieval fiction, or merely interested in medieval gardens, check out my two most recent posts.


BOOK SIGNING REMINDER


And finally, for those of you who live in the sunny state of Arizona, don’t forget that I will be signing copies of my Whitney Award finaling book, Loyalty’s Web, on Saturday, March 1st, from 4:45-5:30 PM at the Eagle’s Aeirie School in Gilbert, Arizona (17019 South Greenfield Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85295). The book signing will follow the 2008 American Night Writers Association (ANWA) Writers Conference. This Conference is open to anyone interested in writing. Details about the conference, book signing and location can be found at http://anwa-lds.com/register-08.html. I’d love to see any of you there!

Welcome to February!

For all of you who follow my blog, medieval research with joyce, I am moving my posting dates to the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month, because of a scheduling conflict with Wednesdays. My newest post is now up, on the subject of "Medieval Gardens". This will be a two-part post, so be sure to return on February 21st to learn "the rest of the story" about my research book, Medieval English Gardens, by Teresa McLean.

Also, don't forget that my drawing for an autographed copy of Loyalty's Web and a 150 ml tube of Seacret Select Hand Cream (enriched with select ingredients from the Dead Sea) is still running on my website, www.joyce-dipastena.com. (See News & Contests page.) If you haven't entered yet, now's the time to do so. Deadline: February 28, with winner to be announced on Leap Day, February 29.

Another reminder: I will be doing a book signing for Loyalty's Web following the American Night Writers Association (ANWA) writing conference on March 1st, 2008, from 4:45-5:30 PM. For more information on the writing conference (everyone interested in writing is invited to attend), check out the AWNA website, which includes topics, speakers, and a location map.

The book signing, of course, is free. Location: Eagle’s Aerie School in Gilbert, AZ; 17019 South Greenfield Road, Gilbert, Arizona (NE corner of Greenfield Rd/Santan village Parkway and Pecos Road.) Tha'ts 4:45-5:30 PM. If any of you are in the area that day, I'd love to see you there!

Book of the Day, Book Signings and more

January is flying by! In two days it will be February, and my medieval novel, Loyalty’s Web, will once again be “Book of the Day” on Author Island. If you still don't have a copy, check my book's spotlight on February 1st, for another excellent opportunity to win a free, autographed copy!

In additional news, I have several book signings coming up. First, I will be signing copies of Loyalty’s Web at the Ray Primary School in Kearny, AZ on February 14, 2008 from 4-6 PM. Location: 651 Senator Chastain Dr, Kearny, Arizona.

I will also be signing copies of Loyalty’s Web following the American Night Writers Association (ANWA) writing conference on March 1st, 2008, from 4:45-5:30 PM. Location: Eagle’s Aerie School in Gilbert, AZ; 17019 South Greenfield Road, Gilbert, Arizona (NE corner of Greenfield Rd/Santan village Parkway and Pecos Road.)

I will be in Sandy, Utah on March 22, to attend the Whitney Awards Gala. I’m in the process of setting up a book signing before and/or after the gala with the other finalists and winners. Details to follow.

Finally, for any hard-core history buffs or would-be writers out there, I am currently running a drawing on my Medieval Research blogsite for a research book: Medieval Wordbook, by Madeleine Pelner Cosman. If interested, go to my post at medieval research with joyce for more details about the book and how to enter.

In the News: Loyalty's Web

I’d like to announce that Loyalty’s Web is a finalist for a 2007 Whitney Award in the Romance/Woman’s Fiction Category. My book is competing with national bestseller, Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer, so I consider myself in good company. ☺ Winners will be announced March 22, 2008. Click on the banner below for more information.




I will also be holding my first book signing for Loyalty’s Web on February 14, from 4:00-6:00 PM at the Kearny Public School Library, in Kearny, Arizona. I’d love to see any Arizonans (or anyone else!) there!

Happy New Year! 2008

Happy New Year to you all!

Can you believe it's already 2008? I'm sure we're all still recovering from the holidays (at least, I know I am!), so I'll keep this short with just a couple of update announcements:


For those who are interested in a bit of historical trivia, I have updated the Clio's Corner feature on my website, with some information about the 12 Days of Christmas. (And you thought Christmas was over!)


My medieval research blog (medieval research with joyce) will be updated this Saturday--a delay from last Wednesday, for which I hope my readers will forgive me. The topic this week will be "poison", and it's a pretty good bet that cowbane will be making an appearance somewhere in my post.

And last, but never least, I'm holding a NEW DRAWING on my webpage. If you're interested in entering, go to my News & Contests page for the details. And please don't forget to include your mailing address with your entries!

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That's it for now. Short and sweet.

I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!