As Dave Garroway once said, “Well, here we are. Good morning to you.” I’m thrilled to see you guys here at my “Excelsior” blogspot page, and I’m excited to be a part of the “Get Loaded” Blog Tour de Force. Some of you may know this, but for those of you who don’t, this story is a true labor of love that goes all the way back to 1992 with me. I spent over 15 years developing the character until I started writing the first draft in June of 2008. Two years later, the finished draft was sent to Infinity Publishing and Smashwords, and both the paperback and eBook editions of “Excelsior” were born into the world in July of 2010. I have to give eternal thanks to many people for getting me where I am now. First, to my editor JeriAnn Geller for helping me make sure this book is the best it can be, and to my 3 beta readers Susan Yacker (who also served as proofreader), Karen Mead and my wife Cheryl for pointing out any plot holes that needed plugging. Also, thanks to Claudia Jackson (@Novelhelp) for putting me on the path to getting my eBook set up! Thanks to Andrew Mocete (@AndrewMocete) for suggesting that I sign up with the Indie Book Collective (and for suggesting I change my Twitter handle to my full name @GeorgeHSirois), and finally to Amber Scott for letting me come aboard and be a part of this incredibly talented group of writers. The tour has gotten off to an amazing start, right from the start, when Carolyn sent out over a hundred copies of her eBook in just ONE DAY! To quote Joe Rogan, “WHOA! W-W-W-WHOA!“ (You have to say it really loud to make it sound like him.) I was so thrilled to see so many people leaving their comments and the writers deservedly feeling the love. Now, this may sound corny, but I don’t care. My fellow writers don’t know me face-to-face, and I don’t know them. Hell, I may never be in the same room with them, but I want you ladies to know that because we are the first class of the Blog Tour de Force, we will walk together for the rest of our lives. Now that we know the kind of success this can be, there will only be more blog tours making their way to the Internet, but we will all have the satisfaction of knowing that we were there at the beginning. And it wouldn’t have been a success without the content YOU wrote! Speaking of thanks, a special shout-out to my sponsors on the tour: Mark of the Stars Brighter Scribe Para Your Normal Your Need to Read Bonnie Jean Adams Quills & Zebras Perilously Precocious I Eat Words Please check out all of my sponsors for their opinions on “Excelsior” and for the extra chances to enter the drawings for the 12 gift baskets and the Amazon Kindle grand prize. HOWEVER, they’re not the only places where you can pick up entries into the contest. You can get plenty right here! Here are all the ways you can enter… - Every comment on this blog post will get you a FREE eBook of “Excelsior” and one entry into the drawing for the Kindle grand prize, as well as the drawing for his Gift Basket. - If you download the free sample of “Excelsior” and post your favorite line of dialogue, you will earn four additional entries into both the Kindle drawing and the Gift Basket drawing. (So now, you’ll have five entries!) DOWNLOAD YOUR SAMPLE HERE! - If you submit a question – this could be anything, whether you want to know about how he wrote one of his books, about the characters’ backstories, about what’s going to happen in the sequel, etc. – then you will earn five additional entries into both drawings. PLUS, you’ll earn an entry into my “From Audioboo to Your Mailbox From Parts Unknown” contest, where five winners will receive a personalized autographed paperback copy of his first novel, “From Parts Unknown.” (Now you’ll have 10 entries + one entry into another contest and the question can be submitted to [email protected].) - For each suggestion you make to the “Casting Call” segment of this post, you get one additional entry into each contest! (See how many entries you can get???) - You also get one additional entry by following my blogspot page, 1 for following my Twitter account (@GeorgeHSirois) and 1 for following my Excelsior Facebook Fan Page, which you can access here. By the way, the next stop on the tour is going to be very special. Ann Charles’ novel “Nearly Departed in Deadwood” is a terrific read that is equally funny, suspenseful, invigorating and, at the right times, very sexy. Violet Parker is a really special character that made me appreciate the art of first-person narration. She is a believable woman who is just trying to keep her head above water while dealing with pain-in-the-ass co-workers, kids who don’t know when to listen to her and a growing mystery involving missing children in the legendary town of Deadwood. When the time comes for Violet to play detective (it is a romantic mystery, after all), Ann makes sure that she doesn’t become an instant pro. She relies more on luck and her wit to get her out of situations, which only makes her more endearing. It’s no wonder why this great piece of work captured the 2010 Daphne du Maurier award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. Make sure to stay on the tour de force tomorrow when it’s Ann’s turn in the spotlight. You can access her site HERE. Now, before I leave you, I want to mention the Casting Call section I need your help on putting together. I’ve always looked at this story as a film – actually, the first part of a trilogy – and I’m curious to know who you see in certain roles. Of course, you’ll have to read at least some of my book for you to comment on this so that you'll know what kinds of characters are needed. All I ask is that the actors you suggest to play certain characters still be alive and still be active in the film industry. If Leonard Nimoy hadn’t announced his retirement from acting, I would have started a petition for him NOW to play the role of the Highest Elder, Acerus. So throw me some great suggestions to fill these parts, let your imagination wander, and please don’t try to raise the dead. Remember, for each actor you suggest, you get an additional entry into the Amazon Kindle / Gift Basket drawings. Well, that’s it from me for now. I’ll be posting some other items to the blogspot page later today, and since you’re here, you can click on the Blog Talk Radio widget on the right for the ParaYourNormal radio show at 10am EST. I’ll be a special guest on the show, and you can call in to ask me anything: (619) 639-4626. Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in my segment of the Blog Tour de Force! I’m really looking forward to your feedback, your suggestions and your questions. Until then, Ever Upward! -- George H. Sirois

Yesterday, I got the e-mail from Infinity Publishing. THE e-mail, the one that states: “This is confirmation that we received the materials for your new book.” Ooooh, boy. This means that in 4 to 6 weeks, I’ll be getting my proof book back from them and, if the proof looks great (and I’ll be looking over the .pdf before it gets here just to make sure there are no mistakes), then it’ll be available on Amazon just a week later. In my mind, all that I heard was, “That’s it! No more changes. This is as good as it’s going to get.” And when that happened, as expected, the rush of fear came in with a bunch of “what if?” questions. What if this could have been a little better? What if nobody gets this? What if people condemn me for “ripping off” a bunch of other things? The one thing that I can take solace in is the fact that EVERY WRITER thinks these things. One of the greatest screenwriters of all time, William Goldman, has said on more than one occasion that he’s convinced the “fraud police” will come for him one day and arrest him. Now, does this mean that “Excelsior” should be compared to something like “The Princess Bride?” Hell, no. But the more I think about how many other writers think the same exact things I do, the less those thoughts seem to bother me. And now that I’m dealing with them (and I will continue to deal with them on a daily basis), I can move on to the next step: the marketing. And this is where YOU come in! If you have a blog that deals with science-fiction books, young adult books, self-published books, small market books, books in general or writing in general, and you need someone to interview for material, then look no further! And if you know of someone in the New York media (newspapers, television, public access, etc.), then I’d love to get that contact information. As afraid I am of the book missing its mark, I’m just as excited that a character I have been nurturing since 1992 is being released to the general public. My e-mail address is: [email protected], and if you have any questions, I’m here for you!

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