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Ratha's Creature Graphic Novel Sample Page

I'm excited to announce that, after months of planning, we've launched a Kickstarter project to fund a graphic novel version of Ratha's Creature. My company, Imaginator Press, is the current publisher of the Ratha series, and last year author Clare Bell and I started discussing the possibility of creating a graphic novel version, both as a gift to the loyal fans, and as a way to bring Ratha to a new generation of fans. We put out a call for art submissions and selected a fantastic art team, who have been working to develop characters and create samples. But to make this dream a reality, additional funding is needed, so we turned to Kickstarter.

The Kickstarter project launched yesterday, and significant momentum is building. Already, on the second day, we are 16% funded, and today we were delighted to discover that Kickstarter selected our project as a Staff Pick for the Comics category! Ratha friends and fans have heard the call, and helped to spread the word, on social media, on DeviantArt, and elsewhere around the Interwebs. On Ratha fan, Jessica Alvis (*seasaidh on DeviantArt) issued a challenge to Ratha fans: post a drawing every day the Kickstarter project is running and include a link to the project.


We're off to a great start, but we need all the support we can get if we want to reach our funding goals. (On Kickstarter, projects are only funded if they reach their goal. If the amount pledged by backers falls even a dollar short of the goal, the project creators get nothing.)



Check out the project, watch the video, read about the great rewards, then please consider backing this project, and helping us to spread the word. We have some great rewards for backers, but the biggest reward is knowing that you helped to make this project a reality.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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