Rai Aren's Blog, page 284

Hi valued readers, friends & fans,

I wanted to share our latest happy news for our archaeology adventure novel, Secret of the Sands. Our publisher, Bristlecone Pine Press, has graciously agreed to lower the price of our Amazon kindle edition to $4.99 (from $6.99). It was very important to me to have our novel be affordable & accessible to all of our interested readers. If you have a kindle, or use the (free!!) kindle apps for PC & Mac, I hope you will consider adding our book to your virtual shelves :)



Happy reading always!!

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel SECRET OF THE SANDS

For 12,000 years a dark and deadly secret has been hidden deep below the Great Sphinx of Giza. In present day Egypt, a frightening, yet awe-inspiring story unravels as archaeologists race against time to decipher an ancient truth...


"A deep probing mystery riddled with prophecy and danger, Secret of the Sands uses Egypt and her mythology as a backdrop to delve into the meanings of life and religion." -McNally Robinson

"Rai Aren and Tavius E. have crafted a fast-paced, exciting novel overflowing with mystery and intrigue. The tension is constant. The characters fully developed. And the plot gripping. Ancient history and present day relevance are so expertly intertwined, that you might forget you are reading a work of fiction." -- Thomas Phillips, author of The Molech Prophecy

Hey Goodreads friends & fans,

First I want to say that I am grateful for each & every one of you. Goodreads is a fantastic place for us book lovers, avid readers & scribes. I enjoy learning about cool new books here, meeting fun folks, and participating in interesting & helpful discussions.








I also love to write reviews of quality books that I read. If I can give it an honest 4 or 5-star rating, I do, and I enjoy telling you why. I find reading well-written & thoughtful reviews of potential reads quite helpful, so I like to try and add to that value, too.

I also want to say how honored I am at the tons of friend requests I've been receiving lately - it's great to meet all of you! Book peeps are amongst my favorite kinds of peeps :)

Stay tuned for a series of cool & jazzy upcoming announcements I will start making soon. I've got lots of interesting new things in store for you avid readers out there...

Until then, happy reading always!

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning archaeology adventure novel SECRET OF THE SANDS

It's the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, so I wanted to wish you all a very...























...and let you know how grateful I am for your friendship, and for all of our readers & fans :)

Rai

I would like to recognize the amazing talent that was Stephen J. Cannell. He passed away last night at the age of 69, which was far too young to leave us. He was a prolific creator of so many interesting things & multi-talented man. He will be sorely missed. Here is a link to his official site with the announcement:

http://www.cannell.com/

You can also find his page here on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

Here is an article that lists some of his numerous achievements:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/10...

My deepest condolences go out to his family & friends on this sad loss..



















Rai

Hey everyone,

I was fortunate to be invited for an author interview and feature for our award-winning archaeology adventure novel SECRET OF THE SANDS , on publisher/author/real-life CSI Kent Holloway's blog. Kent gave me a very warm & fun introduction & it was a great interview. I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I'm also honored to be in such great company, previous features have included authors Steve Perry (of Indiana Jones & Star Wars fame!), Scott Sigler, Jim Butcher, Steven Saville, Sean Ellis, David Sakmyster, Kristina Schram, Rick Chesler, Stacey Kennedy, amongst many others. My tbr pile certainly grew checking out all of these interesting features! Here's the link:

http://kenthollowayonline.blogspot.com/

I invite you to stop by & have a read. Feel free to leave a comment, too, for myself, Kent, or any of the other authors, we'd love to hear from you :)

My thanks to Kent for his hard work and efforts! Kent is the author of Primal Thirst, a "spine-chilling suspense" novel. It's on my list!

Happy reading always!

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel SECRET OF THE SANDS

G-day book peeps!

Like a proud parent, I wanted to share a couple of cool news items about our adventure novel Secret of the Sands . For the last several months, the novel has been a consistent feature on the Historical Fiction Bestseller list for Amazon kindle, and today I noticed that we have reached one of our highest positions on the list - #29, and we are now appearing on a second Bestseller list for kindle - "Genre Fiction, Historical". That is really thrilling!! We are deeply grateful to all of our readers!! Here is a screen shot of our proud moment, of which I'm all aglow :)







This is doubly wonderful news, because our terrific publisher, Maine Desk/Bristlecone Pine Press, has just recently made the ebook edition available in the UK as well. We are so jazzed to be branching out around the world. Here is a link:

Secret of the Sands adventure novel - Amazon kindle UK

Secret of the Sands is actually a multi-genre novel, suitable for young adult to adult audiences. It is a mix of adventure, mystery, suspense, action, alternative historical fiction & speculative sci-fi (the kind of story that is catnip to me!). It has both light-hearted aspects, as well as serious moments and events. The description that sums it up is that the book is a little Indiana Jones meets The Mummy meets National Treasure .

From the back cover:

A Prophecy was Told…

An ancient prophecy, thousands of years old, told of the coming of the Chosen one, but she will be both loved and feared, and some will stop at nothing to defy everything she represents.

A Secret Long Buried…

A secret power that once proved too deadly, was hidden away deep beneath the sands of Egypt, only to be revealed by its sworn guardians when the time came that the knowledge would be safe.

A Deadly Riddle is Unlocked…

Two young archaeologists fatefully unearth unusual artifacts dating over 12,000 years old. The exhilarating find however, is wrong - very wrong. The artifacts shouldn’t be there…they shouldn’t even exist at all.

A Power Unleashed…

Now after remaining dormant for 12,000 years, the secret has been uncovered, and its true purpose suspected. What will be the greatest discovery in human history will either change us forever or destroy us for trying…











Happy reading always my friends! Thank-you once again to our readers - you mean the world to us!!!

Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands

Hi there,

I've been on Goodreads for sometime now, and as I've said many times, it's one of my favorite online places (Goodreads rocks!!!). During this time, I have been continuously delighted to see how many of you fine folks have taken the time to read & review our best-selling, award-winning adventure novel, Secret of the Sands, added yourselves as fans, as well as the oodles & oodles of people who have added it to their to-be-read lists. I want you to know that I sincerely appreciate it & I am grateful for each & every one of you!






As any author will tell you, having your work find interested & engaged readers is a dream come true & a big honor... :)

Read on my friends!

Your fellow book addict,

Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands
www.secretofthesands.com


For 12,000 years a dark and deadly secret has been hidden deep below the Great Sphinx of Giza. In present day Egypt, a frightening, yet awe-inspiring story unravels as archaeologists race against time to decipher an ancient truth...

"Rai Aren and Tavius E. have crafted a fast-paced, exciting novel overflowing with mystery and intrigue. The tension is constant. The characters fully developed. And the plot gripping. Ancient history and present day relevance are so expertly intertwined, that you might forget you are reading a work of fiction." -- Thomas Phillips, author of The Molech Prophecy

"A deep probing mystery riddled with prophecy and danger, Secret of the Sands uses Egypt and her mythology as a backdrop to delve into the meanings of life and religion." -McNally Robinson

I just wanted to pass along my sincere thanks to the organizers/moderators Renee & Erma, of the "I Love Canadian Authors" group, for the wonderful opportunity to be featured in their Author Q&A this past Friday. I had a great time! They organized everything and made it a very fun experience. Here is the link to the group, there are lots of interesting threads to check out, so do stop by:

I Love Canadian Authors Goodreads group









Cheers,

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel Secret of the Sands

Yippee! Our award-winning mystery novel Secret of the Sands has been on the Historical Fiction Bestseller list for Amazon kindle for several weeks now. I am thrilled to bits, as you can imagine, so I just had to share our good news.

Thank-you so much readers for making this possible!! We wrote the book to make you happy, and give you an entertaining escape... :)

Cheers,

Rai Aren, co-author of SECRET OF THE SANDS

In the shadow of the Great Sphinx of Giza, two young archaeologists unearth extremely unusual artifacts over 12,000 years old, but the find is wrong - very wrong. The artifacts shouldn’t be there…they shouldn’t exist at all. The greatest discovery in human history may turn out to be the deadliest…

"A deep probing mystery riddled with prophecy and danger, Secret of the Sands uses Egypt and her mythology as a backdrop to delve into the meanings of life and religion." -McNally Robinson

"Rai Aren and Tavius E. have crafted a fast-paced, exciting novel overflowing with mystery and intrigue. The tension is constant. The characters fully developed. And the plot gripping. Ancient history and present day relevance are so expertly intertwined, that you might forget you are reading a work of fiction." -- Thomas Phillips, author of The Molech Prophecy

Hi there fellow readers & Goodreads peeps,

I am proud to be a member of the Goodreads group "I Love Canadian Authors" & was honored to be invited to participate in their Author Q&A. My turn is this Friday, June 25th, and I will be here to answer your questions throughout the day.

Here is the link to the group:

I Love Canadian Authors group

And here is the link to the Author Q&A thread:

Author Q&A

I am following on the heels of some very cool authors, so do stop by & check out the previous Q&A's - there's lots of interesting things being asked & shared.

Of course, like many of the other participants, I will keep an eye on my thread after my day and respond to addition questions that come in.

I am looking forward to this & thank the moderators very much for this opportunity. Talk to you soon!

Rai Aren, co-author of the award-winning mystery novel SECRET OF THE SANDS