Exhibiting at the Sonoma County Book Festival!

It's been a while since I posted as I've been pretty busy traveling abroad for work and just plain working (not to mention dodging hurricanes in the Outer Banks for a friend's wedding last week and training for my third triathlon.)

So, I'm excited to finally have something new and book-related to post. I'll be attending and exhibiting at the Sonoma County Book Festival on September 24, 2011 in Santa Rosa, CA.

If you're in the area, I'll have a booth at the event and will be offering signed hardcovers of The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun. Come by and say hi. It's my brother's birthday that day too, which is a funny coincidence, and I'll be offering a 30% discount to mark the day.

In other book news, The Midwest Book Review gave my first book a nice review, saying it is "a fun entry into a brand new youth science fiction series, highly recommended!" although I wish they would have recognized it is more of an adventure novel set in space than true sci-fi. But that's a small point to quibble over. Thanks for the kind words MBR!

I also offered a free giveaway of my final paperback advance review copies on Goodreads.com. Although I only listed 150 books, I got over 1,100 requests! That was pretty exciting. I hope those who won them enjoy them as they are a rarefied version of my book now. I originally printed over 1,000 of them, gave about 700 away to kids, schools, and industry press and now only have about 50 left after the latest giveaway. If you were one of the winners, keep sending me your emails as feedback is key to me evolving the Onyx Sun series!

Lastly, since we're on the topic of the series, I have gotten a number of inquiries over the last few months about Book 2: The Wicked Adversaries of the Onyx Sun. Yes, I am working on it. I've got about 70 pages written so far and continue to chip away at it a few pages at a time. I did take a brief break to write a different novel - another book for younger readers but geared more firmly toward the YA crowd. Now that is done and out to agents for consideration, I am back to working on the Onyx Sun Book 2, while I promote Book 1.

Thanks again to all you who have supported me, sent letters from your children or students, or bought a book. I am much encouraged by all your positive support, words, and feedback.

Kalamazoo!




Christopher

Midwest Book Review Covers the Onyx Sun!

I just found out about another nice review from a well-known industry publication, The Midwest Book Review. MBR covers mainly independent books like mine. So even though The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun is right on target for the kinds of books they look for, I wondered for a while after I submitted my novel if they'd cover it.

Thankfully, a few months later I did a random Google search and found out they had! Here's what they had to say:

The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun
Christopher Mahoney
Privately Published
9780979520259, $19.95, www.onyxsun.com

Being one of the youngest astronauts ever sounds cool, until the inevitable evil buts its head into the picture. "The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun" follows Zack Goodspeed as he embraces his wildest dreams becoming part of a new generation of space explorers. But there may be trouble in his voyage to the moon, and it's up to Zack to act fast before his first mission turns into a disaster. "The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun" is a fun entry into a brand new youth science fiction series, highly recommended.

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/jun_11.htm#Fantasy/SciFi

Kalamazoo!




Christopher

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

The big eight today! You're becoming quite a little man.

Kalamazoo!

Publisher's Weekly Glows About the Onyx Sun!

One of the great benefits of making it to the semifinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards contest is that your manuscript gets attention from some serious industry players. This is both nerve-wracking and exciting as you learn that Penguin editors and Publisher's Weekly will be reading your whole story.

So, it was with a tremendous amount of relief when I read the following from Publisher's Weekly about my book:

"This space adventure yarn has the right stuff. Zack Goodspeed’s unusual grandfather, Professor Goodspeed, is an adorable nutty genius who lives next door and whose garage has been transformed into a laboratory where he’s invented, among other things, a small black cube called the Onyx Sun, which is “a source of unlimited power.” One night, soon after he has shown Zack the Onyx Sun, the professor disappears into the woods. Zack and his neighbor, Angelina “Max” Maximillian, follow him and discover a tree that opens up to an elevator that leads to the center of the earth, where the Onyx Pioneer, an enormous spaceship invented by his grandfather and powered by the Onyx Sun, is docked in preparation for its colonization mission to the moon. Zack and Max stowaway on the ship and quickly discover that the evil Dr. Machvel plans to steal the Onyx Sun and use its power for destruction. Together with their new friend, Sanjay, they work to foil Dr. Machvel’s quest for domination. The fast-paced novel keeps the reader engaged throughout. The main characters are nicely done, the plot is exciting, and there’s a clear jumping off point for a sequel, which young sci-fi fans would surely look forward to."

Exciting to see a respected member of the writing community enjoy my book. It feels validating after four years and almost a thousand hours of work.

Now, if I could just find an agent and a publisher...

Kalamazoo!



Christopher

Onyx Sun Reaches Semifinals of Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards

I can announce this now that I know where I stand.

After months of watching my book climb from a general submission, to making the first cut, to being a quarterfinalist, to finally reaching the semifinals, I at last know where I stand.

It is with mixed emotions I learned today that Amazon has selected the finalists for their 2010 Breakthrough Novel Awards. And although the first Onyx Sun book made it from a field of 5,000 entrants to only 50 Semifinalists, it will not be proceeding to the finals.

I'm very proud of my book, especially considering it is my first. To reach the top 1% of submissions is an achievement beyond what I expected. But I have to admit, as much as I tried not to, I was already visualizing flying to Seattle for the finals.

Ah well. My thanks goes out to Amazon for running such an amazing contest, Publisher's Weekly for their upbeat and positive review, and to the members of the community for reading and voting on my submission.

Kalamazoo!



Christopher

Onyx Sun Wins a Writer's Digest Honorable Mention!

I got this news a couple of months ago, but since I am getting back into blogging, I thought I'd include it since it is exciting news...

The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun has won an Honorable Mention in the 17th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards!

I sent a copy of my hardcover book, complete with the final artwork and exclusive Epilogue, to Writer's Digest almost a year ago. Of the hundreds of submissions, only three books were selected in the Middle-Grade/Young Adult category for Honorable Mentions.

I couldn't be more excited!

You will see the announcement of the award in the March/April 2010 issue or you can check it out online here. I've also included a scan of the page with my book on it in this post.

Kalamazoo!



Christopher

New Onyx Sun Web Site

What better way to commemorate my recent writing contest success, which I will announce in a day or two, than to launch a new web site too!

The new version of the onyxsun.com web site is finally live! I've wanted to update it for a while as the last version had a few distinct flaws. The new site:

• Loads faster
• Has the navigation more accessibly located at the top
• Takes up less screen space "before the fold" so people can see the content below the splashy graphics without having to scroll
  
• Has a highlight box on the right for recent announcements
• Integrates more Feedburner services so I can provide dynamic information easier, like updates from my blog!

I built web sites like this one for the last fourteen years (since 1996! yikes!), and I always like to watch how sites evolve. At the end of each iteration, I always remember being happy with the end product. Yet, as I learn the site's flaws and architect a new iteration, I look back and wonder how I could possibly have been happy with the previous version. I guess innovation is a ceaseless process like that!

Anyway, here are some screengrabs of each version from v1 on the top to the most recent on the bottom. You can also visit the new real deal online of course at www.onyxsun.com.



Kalamazoo!



Christopher