First an important announcement, as well as being available on Kindle both books are  now available as PDF ebook versions on my Guardianscifi website for instant download at a special Christmas price of $3.00 (£2 GBP).  The normal price will be $6.00 (£4.00 GBP).

Recently a friend of mine suggested I should add an interactive page to my website to make it more interesting. She suggested a game or competition based on my books with some sort of prize at the end.

I thought about her suggestion for a while and decided to give it a go. I quickly dismissed the idea of a game as it was far beyond my limited programming skills. A competition of some sort, if it was fairly simple but still interactive might however be within my capabilities. I searched the net for ideas and as luck would have it found a website where it was possible to create a quiz and then embed it into a web page.

I made a list of questions and answers based on my first book Guardian. I organised them in order so as to reflect the order in which the story in the book unfolds. I also made sure the answers were available on the web if you know where to look  (or you can of course buy the book!).

The site that hosts the quiz allows a player to register and record their score. I have used that facility so I can offer the incentive of a prize to those who  reach 100%

To ensure there is no cheating I can see how many times a person has completed the quiz. Genuine contestants who manage 100% will be entered into a draw to win one of three free, signed copies of Guardian Generations.

So what are you waiting for? Give my quiz a go!

About Clive

Just a short entry today to inform everyone that my books are now available on Kindle.

The book files have been optimised for all the Kindle enabled devices:
Kindle
Kindle DX
Kindle 1st Generation
Kindle 2nd Generation
Kindle for PC
Kindle for Mac
iPad Kindle
iPhone Kindle
Android Kindle
Kindle for Blackberry

The text to speech function is also enabled.

The Amazon product numbers are
ASIN B004BLK5PY for Guardian
ASIN B004BLK66W for Guardian Generations

They are must have additions to your Kindle library and hours of reading pleasure for less than a round of drinks!

As a reminder of what they are about the back cover blurb is copied below:

Guardian
Having retired for a quiet life in an isolated part of the country following an unsuccessful and debilitating experiment by the Navy, Tristan Taylor’s life is turned upside down by the arrival of Aurelia- an alien warrior whose fighter has crash-landed behind his cottage!

With the realisation that he can ‘feel’ the alien’s thoughts and with the knowledge that the previously failed brain implant can now interface with the alien’s computers. Tristan begins his quest to end the rule of the dominant Dacian people and bring peace and equality to all races.

Guardian Generations

RAF fighter pilot James Taylor is abducted by an alien craft as he flies his Typhoon over Scotland. He’s unaware that his uncle, Tristan who disappeared without trace many years ago, had been targeted by aliens and is now one of the ‘Guardians’ of space, a specially selected and highly trained race with telepathic powers.

As Tristan’s daughter hurtles towards Earth to find more people capable of becoming Guardians, on another planet and evil scheme to ‘cleanse the galaxy’ of all synthetic life forms is gathering pace. James unwittingly becomes part of the plan, and is tasked with countering the threat of Guardian Artificial Intelligences.

Stardrive technology is in overdrive, space pirates are amassing, and a secret passed down through generations is revealed. But a time-bomb is ticking – is there still time to bring peace to the galaxy.

About Clive

There seems to be a growing trend towards advertising books using a short movie trailer. Most of the large publishing houses produce one for new books they release; either that or the authors have deep pockets!

Not wishing to be left out I decided I had to have a trailer for my books. My publisher being small and my pockets being empty I had to produce one myself.

So armed with little knowledge, Photoshop, Poser and iMovie I set to work.  I did have a vague idea as to what I wanted so I started with the characters in Poser. Once the characters were produced I added some simple animation.  I made up a couple of backgrounds with text in Photoshop then imported the lot into iMovie.

I used iMovie to add transitions and flying text over the characters. I moved things around and adjusted the timings until I had what I considered to be a passable book trailer.

The one missing element was a sound track. I searched the web for royalty free sound tracks. I needed something dramatic like an action movie theme. I eventually found one I really liked but unfortunately it cost $99 L

So back to the drawing board, further searching turned up a site that sold short royalty free sound tracks that were designed to be looped. I obtained 7.5 seconds for $9, rather more realistic! The only draw back being the resultant looped track was a bit repetitive but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

So here is Version 1 of my Book Trailer please let me know what you think.

I learnt a lot producing this version so now I have decided to produce something a bit more sophisticated. I might even save up for the $99 sound track. Watch this space!

About Clive

The last month has been pretty busy and I have to admit to rather neglecting this blog. Guardian Generations is now available in limited numbers exclusively from my Guardian Sci Fi website. It will not be on general release for another month or so therefore if you are quick you can get an exclusive, dated pre-release  first edition. You never know it might be worth something one day

I have been working on the book website to reflect the publication of Generations. Instead of the ‘Look Inside’ page which used a small flash program to turn the pages of a virtual first chapter I have used Google books and linked to them from my website. The advantage is they show random sections of each book. I have limited it to 20% but it is far better than just one chapter.  Please give it a try and let me know what you think.

It has become time to renew my clive.uk.com domain name and it has doubled in price! I have to say I was a little annoyed but as it is an established website listed on Google etc., I had no choice but to pay up. I have purchased www.cliveosbornerapley.com so I will slowly build that domain name up and eventually shut down the clive.uk.com. I don’t want to be caught like that again.

I have also changed the domain name of my publishing website to reflect the content. The original was www.partnership-publishing.com . It was initially designed to discuss that method of book publishing but it has subsequently evolved to discuss all aspects of publishing a book. The new name is www.publishingoptions.info. The original name will be active for the next six months to ensure the new one is fully Google listed and linked too.

If you have bookmarked either site please remember to update to the new domain name.

I am currently in Scotland so I will be picking up book three once things have settled down here.

Book three word count 9000

About Clive

The proofs for Guardian Generations have been returned from the publisher. I now have to go through them and check for any errors or changes I don’t agree with then sign them off. Good job it is a wet weekend!

The back cover blurb has also been returned for approval. What do you think?

RAF fighter pilot James Taylor is abducted by an alien craft as he flies his Typhoon over Scotland. He’s unaware that his uncle, Tristan who disappeared without trace many years ago, had been targeted by aliens and is now one of the ‘Guardians’ of space, a specially selected and highly trained race with telepathic powers.

As Tristan’s daughter hurtles towards Earth to find more people capable of becoming Guardians, on another planet and evil scheme to ‘cleanse the galaxy’ of all synthetic life forms is gathering pace. James unwittingly becomes part of the plan, and is tasked with countering the threat of Guardian Artificial Intelligences.

Stardrive technology is in overdrive, space pirates are amassing, and a secret passed down through generations is revealed. But a time-bomb is ticking – is there still time to bring peace to the galaxy?

I have not touched book three for ages. I will soon have to get on with it now Generations is nearing its publication!