NEWS/EVENTS
June 27, 2008
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•Soldier Audio to be Broadcast on XM Radio
The unabridged, full-cast audio recording of Soldier of the Legion is now scheduled for broadcast once again on XM Radio. If you are a subscriber, tune in to XM Radio’s Sonic Theater on Channel XM 163 beginning on Monday June 30. The program will be broadcast in half-hour segments, Monday through Friday, at 5 AM, 1 PM and 7 PM (Eastern), featuring the same segment repeated three times each day. For Central time, that’s 2 AM, 10 AM and 4 PM. Broadcasts will continue until the full nine-hour recording is completed. This national exposure should familiarize new listeners with the Soldier series. Soldier was last broadcast on XM Radio in 2006, and we can thank Elaine Davenport of the Writer’s Audio Shop for making it happen again.
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•New Soldier MP3 Audio Disk
The unabridged, full-cast MP3 CD of Soldier of the Legion is now available for ordering in addition to the downloadable version, for those who prefer a hard copy. Please click on PURCHASE at left and then on Writer’s Audio Shop.
June 1, 2008
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•Chesapeake Bay Writers Club
I recently joined the Chesapeake Bay Writers Club, and I’ve been very happy with them. They are very active and have a large membership. Their June 2008 website has a Members’ Showcase on me and the Soldier series. Any writer who lives in Southeast Virginia should consider joining. They’re a friendly bunch. In addition to the Showcase article they’ve given me a personal website on their site. Please see http://www.chesapeakebaywriters.org/
May 31, 2008
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•BaltiCon
BaltiCon is a very popular con and one of my favorites. The latest was held May 23-26 in the Hunt Valley Inn Marriott, and I was invited. I met several old literary friends there and made some good new contacts as well. I sat on a panel about future space weaponry and moderated another panel on old-time SF. Both panels were well-attended and there was a lot of interaction with the audience. I also had a table in the Dealers Room to sell my books and wish to thank everyone who bought copies. My thanks to the BaltiCon people too. It was a fine con! Now all I have to do is pay the People’s Republic of Maryland the tax bite of 6 percent for every book sold. It seems a bit high to me, especially since I’m not a Maryland resident.
My next SF convention will be MarsCon in my home town of Williamsburg, VA, January 16-18, 2009. Please see http://www.marscon.net/
May 3, 2008
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•Thanks to my Readers
Recent sales figures confirm that there are a whole lot of people out there who like the Soldier series and are buying the books. I genuinely appreciate your interest and wish to thank everyone who bought a book. If you like the series I would welcome any comments. I will soon be receiving book reviews of Slave of the Legion from SF professionals, but I also welcome any comments/observations from my readers. If you have the time and would like to do it, please type up a para or two with your thoughts on the series, or on the latest book. I love feedback and may post it here if you agree. Please send any comments to andrion2@cox.net Thanks, Marshall.
April 27, 2008
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•RavenCon
Well, that was fun! I attended RavenCon on April 25-27 in Richmond, and met with many of my con friends. Thanks to everyone who bought my books and I’m glad we had a chance to chat in person. I enjoy these cons in part because they’re so unusual. It’s as if cultist gangs of bizarrely dressed space pirates swoop in periodically to lay waste to some target world while carousing, celebrating past outrages and trading rare and exotic goods. Outsiders can only stare and ask “What’s a RavenCon?” Thanks to Michael Pederson and Tony Ruggiero for organizing everything while keeping the troops in line.
April 20, 2008
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•RavenCon and BaltiCon
I will be attending both RavenCon on April 25-27 in Richmond, VA and BaltiCon on May 23-26 in Maryland. I’m very much looking forward to both, and hope to see some of you at these conventions. Please stop by the Dealers Room and look for me.
RavenCon: http://www.ravencon.com/
BaltiCon: http://www.balticon.org/
March 30, 2008
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•Amazon Chaos
Having grown into what is probably the largest and most successful bookselling company on earth, Amazon.com has apparently decided it can now bully and intimidate publishers and authors at will. They have recently announced (quietly) that the “buy” buttons for POD books being advertised on Amazon.com will be deactivated for books not published by Book Surge, an Amazon-owned POD firm. I have always been a faithful Amazon customer, buying thousands of dollars worth of books from them over the years, but that may soon change. My three books in the Soldier series are still for sale on Amazon but if those “buy” buttons are deactivated, Amazon will get no further business from me. Newton’s third law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Truth is, I don’t need Amazon to buy books or to sell my own books. A firestorm against Amazon’s action is already beginning. Please see Writer’s Weekly at http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html
March 28, 2008
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•Purchase Options
You can now purchase Books 1, 2 and 3 of the Soldier of the Legion series from my publisher BookLocker, from Amazon.com or from Barnes & Noble.com. You can also download the audio version of the first book. Just click on PURCHASE from the menu at left and choose your link.
March 15, 2008
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•Audio News
I have a few audio copies of Soldier of the Legion (book 1) still available, at a bargain price. At present you can download the audio version for $19.95 (see PURCHASE at left). If you prefer to get a hard copy rather than download, I have the following available:
Soldier of the Legion unabridged full cast audio, 9 hours on 8 CD’s. These are original Timberwolf audios that used to cost $49.95. I always thought that price was far too high These CD’s are for people whose computers don’t take MP3 CD’s. My price: $20.
Soldier of the Legion unabridged full cast audio, 9 hours on 7 cassette tapes. These are also original Timberwolf audios for those of you who can play cassette tapes but not CD’s. These were originally priced at $44.95. My price: $20.
If you wish to buy either the 8 CD set or the 7 cassette tape set, please write me with a check for $20 and I’ll mail you the product. I will pay postage. My address: Marshall S Thomas, 4929 Westmoreland Dr, Williamsburg VA 23188.
We will soon have MP3 hard copies of Soldier of the Legion available for purchase on-line (9 hours on one disc). Stay tuned for that.
I continue my efforts to record all future books in this series on audio. No progress so far, but I’ll let you know!
February 4, 2008
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•Slave of the Legion
At last! The third book of the Soldier of the Legion series is now available for purchase as a paperback or downloadable e-book. Slave of the Legion can be bought by clicking PURCHASE on the menu at left. My thanks to BookLocker for making this possible. Slave of the Legion is quite a story and I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
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•New Website
At first glance, this may look like the same old website, but it’s not. I am now using Apple I-web to construct and edit this site. It’s a lot easier to use for me, and you have a lot more choices with the many images/pix/photos on the site. You can view them in small, medium or large views or as a slideshow. If you click “download” you can see the largest view. Please look over the site.
