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It's been an exciting week for the Named: Ratha's Courage was named a finalist in two different awards:

• ForeWord Magazine, which covers the best in independent publishing, named it a finalist for their Book of the Year Awards in the Science Fiction category. The winners in the ForeWord awards will be announced at a special ceremony at BookExpo America on May 29.
  
• The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA) named it one of five finalists for the Ursa Major Awards in the Best Novel category. The Ursa Major awards recognize excellence in the anthropomorphic arts, which "...include a non-human being given human attributes..." The Ursa Major awards are selected by popular vote, and the nominees in each category are the top five which received the most nominations, so it's very exciting that Ratha's Courage was one of the top picks! Voting for the winner is open from now until April 19, so if you liked Ratha's Courage and believe it deserves to win, please vote for it at the link above!
  

In other news, Clare Bell's twitter novelette,

Ratha's Island,

has started! To read it as it's posted, follow

@rathacat

on Twitter or use hashtag

#rathafic

. Clare is also using a separate hashtag,

#rathalink

to post links to related information and fan art. You can catch up with the story so far at the archives on

Clare's The Scratching Log Blog

or

the Ratha and the Named forum.

More information about Ratha's Island

Many of my blog readers probably know that I recently published Clare Bell's newest book, Ratha's Courage, book five in the Named series and the first new book in the series in 14 years. Clare and I have been working together on a new project, an experiment in Twitter fiction. Clare has written a brand new Ratha story - a novelette, really, by word count - specifically to post on the Twitter microblogging service. She'll be posting the story, titled Ratha's Island, in snippets of 140 characters or less, with several snippets each day, starting this Saturday, March 14. Each day's posts will also be collected and posted as daily installments on the Ratha and the Named Facebook page, and also on Clare's Ratha's Courage web site.

More information about Ratha's Island, including links and a downloadable press release.

I'm very excited to announce that Ratha's Courage is now available in large print in five different sizes! Ratha's Courage is the fifth book in Clare Bell's Named series, about a clan of sentient prehistoric cats and their female leader, Ratha. My company, Imaginator Press, recently published Ratha's Courage as an original trade paperback, the first new book in The Named series in fourteen years.

The new large print editions are published through an agreement with ReadHowYouWant, a company pioneering the use of new technologies to create books in accessible formats. Ratha's Courage is available in EasyRead Large (16pt), EasyRead Large Bold (16pt), EasyRead Super Large 18, EasyRead Super Large 20, and EasyRead Super Large 24. You can find out more about the formats, view samples, and order copies from ReadHowYouWant on their web site here.

ReadHowYouWant titles can also be ordered in Braille and Daisy formats. More information on their Braille and Daisy formats can be found here.

Information for libraries here, or email [email protected]

The Large Print editions can also be purchased from Amazon.com:

Easyread Large Edition

Easyread Large Bold Edition

Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition

Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition: Volume 1 of 2

Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition: Volume 2 of 2

Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition: Volume 1 of 2

Easyread Super Large 24pt Edition: Volume 2 of 2

More information about Ratha's Courage on the Imaginator Press website.

Although the first four books in the series are not yet available in large print, Ratha's Courage should stand alone pretty well for readers who haven't read the other books. I had only read the first book, Ratha's Creature, when I read Ratha's Courage for the first time, and I had no problems with it; we've also had good feedback from other people who were able to read it without having read any of the other books.

The good news is that Ratha's Courage has been selling well. The bad news is that it's running out of stock in many places, including Amazon.com. If you're trying to locate a copy, it is still possible to find one. Here are some suggestions:

• Check your local independent bookseller with IndieBound
• Authorsbookshop.com currently has 1 copy in stock, with more on the way.
• Powells.com has some copies in stock
• Buy direct from the distributor, Beagle Bay Books
  
• BarnesAndNoble.com shows shipping in 2 - 3 days
• If it's not available in your local bookstore, any bookstore should be able to order it for you. The wholesalers are also having difficulty keeping it in stock, so your bookseller may say that it's out of stock and they can't order it. If that happens, ask your favorite bookseller to backorder it so that it will come in when it's back in stock!
• If it's not available in your local library, ask your library to order it! Most libraries will order a book that isn't in their collection if enough patrons ask for it!

This week is Teen Read Week, an annual event created by YALSA, the young adult division of the ALA. In honor of Teen Read Week, I'm going to be giving away a set of three books from the Named series, by Clare Bell: Ratha's Creature (book 1), Clan Ground (book 2), and the newly published Ratha's Courage (book 5).

For a chance to win, all you have to do is to write a limerick relating to this year's Teen Read Week theme, "Books with Bite," and leave your limerick in the comments. Your limerick could be related to the theme in general, or it could be about your favorite book with "bite". To get you started, here's a limerick written by Clare Bell, author of the Named series:


With October comes Halloween night
When we dress up to give folks a fright
Costumed as bats
Or black Named clan cats
And read all the best books "with bite".

Entries must be posted by this Saturday, October 18, at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. The winner will be selected by random drawing, 'cause, well, I was recently a judge in a writing contest and I know how hard it is to pick one winner from so many good entries. I'd rather celebrate and enjoy all your limericks rather than having to choose one as "best".

The winning entrant must be able to give me a shipping address for review copies, so anyone under 18 should check with your parents first. You don't need to give me your address unless you win (please don't post it here!) and I promise I won't do anything with your address other than ship you the free books!

So limerick away! I look forward to reading your entries!