NobleDead.org - High/Dark Fantasy Fiction by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Noble Dead Raffle #3—AND THE WINNER IS…

John Santose wins the final raffle in this series for a signed, hardbound, first-edition of S3B3: A Wind in the Night… and right before this novel’s official week of release. Sorry folks, this ends the current raffle series, but congratulations to John!

The Future of Raffles…

The only hint we will give you is that we are calling the next one a “Reader’s Choice Raffle.” You will have to wait until late in February to learn anything more, but we promise that it will be…

1. something you will like,
2. at least three raffles in the series, and
3. open to readers in the USA, Canada, and Mexico!

And as to other things news…

Noble Dead Raffle #4—NOW CLOSED!

The current and final raffle for a signed, hard­bound, first edition of S3B3 A Wind in the Night ended as of midnight last night. Hopefully all of you got your entry in before the deadline.

The winner selected via use of Random­.org will be notified shortly by email and has 48 hours to respond with verification of shipping address. If no response is received within the time limit, a new winner will be selected and verification repeats.

Come Wednesday Morning, we will announce either the winner or notification of a redraw process. And be assured that this is not the last raffle to come out of NobleDead.org. We will have more news on this and other topics coming soon.

And of course, A Wind in the Night will reach the bookstore shelves very soon!

Noble Dead Raffle #4—FINAL NOTICE!

This last raffle for a signed, hardbound, first edition of S3B3: A Wind in the Night ends tonight at Midnight, PST. You have 15 hours or less, so if you have not entered yet…

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions so your entry is confirmed in your first submission.

This raffle is open to participants in the USA… and now CANADA and MEXICO as well.

Noble Dead Raffle #4—EXTENSION!

Well, we certainly did not think through this last raffle’s schedule; it falls right over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day… obviously! Considering that the staff and Barb & J.C. want time off like everyone else, we are pushing forwarding the deadline for this raffle’s entries.

If you catch this notice after you have opened all of those presents and recovered from the feasting aftermath, you still have time to get your entry in. The deadline for this raffle is now Sunday, December 29th, Midnight, PST.

Please see the raffle Rules & Requirements if you are hearing about this for the first time. In fact, check them anyway when entering, even if you have previously entered a past Noble Dead Raffle.

And Happy Holidays from the staff and the authors!

Noble Dead Raffle #4—NOW OPEN!

First, the winner for Noble Dead Raffle #3 is…

Andrew Nigro has won a signed, hardbound, first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. Later today, the prize will be on its way to his doorstep. Congratulations Andrew!

Time for the fourth and final raffle for a novel in the Noble Dead Saga. The final prize is a signed hardbound first edition of the coming S3B3: A Wind in the Night…

More raffles will be coming in the near future and likely sometime in February. For now, this is your last chance to get a copy of this book before anyone else.

Please follow the instructions below so your entry is confirmed on the first submission. This raffle is open to readers in the USA… and CANADA and MEXICO…

Noble Dead Raffle #4—NOW OPEN!

First, the winner for Noble Dead Raffle #3 is…

Andrew Nigro has won a signed, hardbound, first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. Later today, the prize will be on its way to his doorstep. Congratulations Andrew!

Time for the fourth and final raffle for a novel in the Noble Dead Saga. The final prize is a signed hardbound first edition of the coming S3B3: A Wind in the Night…

More raffles will be coming in the near future and likely sometime in February. For now, this is your last chance to get a copy of this book before anyone else.

Please follow the instructions below so your entry is confirmed on the first submission. This raffle is open to readers in the USA… and CANADA and MEXICO…

Noble Dead Raffle #3—NOW CLOSED

The current raffle for a signed, hard­bound, first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark ended as of midnight last night. Hopefully all of you got your entry in before the deadline.

The winner selected via use of Random­.org will be notified shortly by email and has 48 hours to respond with verification of shipping address. If no response is received within the time limit, a new winner will be selected and verification repeats.

Come this Monday, we will announce…

• the winner or notification of a redraw process, and…
• the opening of Noble Dead Raffle #4 along with the prize to be given.

Stay with us and do not miss out on the next opportunity for a signed, hardbound, first edition of a book from the Noble Dead Saga shipped straight to your door!

Noble Dead Raffle #3—FINAL NOTICE

This third in a new series of raffles for a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark ends tonight at Midnight, PST. You still have 15 hours, so if you have not entered yet…

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions so your entry is confirmed in your first submission.

This raffle is open to participants in the USA… and CANADA and MEXICO.

Noble Dead Raffle #3—NOW OPEN!

This raffle is open to readers in the USA, and Mexico and Canada! That is correct, we have gone “continental” (for the most part) as a test for this raffle.

Time for the third in our current raffle series for a novel from the Noble Dead Saga. The up is a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark…

Please follow the instructions below so your entry is confirmed on the first submission. And read these again, for there additions and changes…

Noble Dead Raffle #2—NOW CLOSED

The current raffle for a signed, hard­bound, first edition of S3B3: A Wind in the Night ended as of midnight last night. Hopefully all of you got your entry in before the deadline.

The winner selected via use of Random­.org has been notified by email and has 48 hours to respond with verification of shipping address. If no response is received within the time limit, a new winner will be selected and verification repeats.

Come this Monday, we will announce…

• the winner or notification of a redraw process, and…
• the opening of Noble Dead Raffle #3 along with the prize to be given.
• and this next raffle will be open to entrants in Mexico and Canada as well as the USA.

Stay with us and do not miss out on the next opportunity for a signed, hardbound, first edition of a book from the Noble Dead Saga shipped straight to your door!

Noble Dead Raffle #2—OOPS AND CORRECTION

Apologies from the staff, for there was an error in the last post. We mentioned 15 hours left in the current raffle… but we were a whole day off the mark.

The deadline for entries remains the same as listed in the opening of this raffle: Friday (tomorrow), Midnight, PST.

And thank you to the few readers who pointed out this error.

Noble Dead Raffle Update: A Winner, a Reminder, and Something Special

First, the winner for Noble Dead Raffle #1 is…

Whitney Seger has won the signed, hardbound, first editions of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. By this coming Monday at the latest, the prize will be on its way to her doorstep. Congratulations Whitney!

Next, there are less than 15 hours left in Noble Dead Raffle #2 for a signed, hardbound, first edition of the upcoming S3B3: A Wind in the Night.

The deadline is still tomorrow, Friday, at Midnight, PST. If you have not yet submitted your entry according to the rules and guidelines, then you had better get to it. Entries received with timestamps past the deadline with not be entered into the raffle.

Something Special

Last but not least… the upcoming Noble Dead Raffles #3 and #4 will be open to entries from Canada and Mexico as well as the USA.

This will be part of a test to see how well shipping and handling can be done on a continently basis. International S&H is still too complicated at present, but investigation into making it workable is still ongoing.

So bear with us, and this is certainly not the last series of raffles to come from NobleDead.org.

Noble Dead Raffle #2—REMINDER

A quick second notice as of Midnight this Wednesday. This second in a new series of raffles for a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: A Wind in the Night ends this coming Friday at Midnight, PST. You still have 48 hours, so if you have not entered yet…

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions so your entry is confirmed in your first submission.

This raffle is open to only participants in the USA.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Based on comments and queries received:

• Entering one raffle does not automatically enter you in all subsequent raffles in a series; you must enter each raffle separately.
• Entering and/or winning one raffle does not exclude you from entering others. You may enter any raffle according its rules and deadlines.

Sorry if we were not clear about this. These notes will be added to the instructions for all future raffles.

Noble Dead Raffe #1—NO WINNER YET…

This has never happened before. The second drawn winner for a raffle has failed to reply to a confirmation notice. While raffle #2 continues, we will proceed to drawing a third winner for raffle #1 and the prize of a signed, hardbound, first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. 

With this in mind, we would like to point out one detail that some may not have noticed or forgot. In all email from NobleDead.org, including raffle confirmations, the follow footer is included…

NOTICE: Due to spam generated by Yahoo.com, its mail server has been blocked at our server. If you use a Yahoo email account and wish to reply to this message, please return to our web site and use the “Contact” page.

Even today, J.C. tracks spam hitting our email server. Most spammers use illicitly acquired mailing lists; over time, all server sources but a few have fallen off in count. Yahoo remains at the top of that list for the major free email services.

Our policy in blocking that server will not change, but you can still use your Yahoo email to submit a raffle entry. Unless you are generically filtering replies based on HTML/RTF content, you should receive the confirmation email if you win a raffle. Users of Yahoo are responsible for taking steps to (1) be certain a confirmation email can get through from “nobledead.org” and (2) use our “Contact” page to reply to that confirmation email.

Now back to our regularly scheduled raffles!

Noble Dead Raffle #1—NOW CLOSED!

The current raffle for a signed, hard­bound, first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark ended as of midnight last night. Hopefully all of you got your entry in before the deadline.

The winner selected via use of Random­.org has been notified by email and has 48 hours to respond with verification of shipping address. If no response is received within the time limit, a new winner will be selected and verification repeats.

Come this Monday, we will announce…

• the winner or notification of a redraw process, and…
• the opening of Noble Dead Raffle #2 along with the prize to be given.

Stay with us and do not miss out on the next opportunity for a signed, hardbound, first edition of a book from the Noble Dead Saga shipped straight to your door!

Noble Dead Raffle #1—REMINDER

A quick second notice as of Midnight on Wednesday. This first a new series of raffles for a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark ends this coming Friday at Midnight, PST. You still have 48 hours, so if you have not entered yet…

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions so your entry is confirmed in your first submission.

This raffle is open to only participants in the USA.

Noble Dead Raffle #1—NOW OPEN!

We have yet to receive the two promotional copies of S3B3: A Wind in the Night, but considering this is Dec. 1st, we think it is time to get started.

Here we are again for the first in four new raffles for a novel from the Noble Dead Saga shipped to your door. Our first prize up is a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark…

Please follow the instructions below so your entry is confirmed on the first submission. This raffle is open to only readers in the USA…

Site News: Spam, Closures, and Raffles, Oh My

Time for a general update on things present and future at NobleDead.org. We will save the best for last… you know which one that is.

Victimized by Spam… and Google

The Google Blogger system on which we currently run NobleDead.org has one of the worst, non-customizable anti-spam systems ever seen. Even now, we process up to a dozen spam comments per day on the site, though most of our real followers now use our social satellite pages to comment.

Turning on required logins for comments is also not an option. Google only recognizes its own system logins and those of blog systems it has absorbed. We will not do that to those who drop by. And so…

Reader’s Corner: Making a Virtual Household Library [Part 1]

Or How to Share (not Lend) eBooks with Your Household

One drawback to ebooks is that unlike with printed books they are not sitting on shelves for other household members to pick out for a cozy read. And no, “lending” or “gifting” ebooks is not the same, not even close. Hmm, well, one of those might serve for a new use.

Among other reasons, lack of sharing books in the household is why some people still prefer physical books, aside from that wonderful feel of an actual book in your hands. Then again, most of you who follow the non-promotional stuff out of NobleDead.org know that I [J.C.] am a tech-head and technophile. I now do most of my (limited) leisure reading on a device.

There is a way to regain the home library through ereaders. In fact, there is more than one way, but we will stick with something obvious for a start…

Writer’s Corner: You Don’t Have to Pick Your Poison

There was a time when several of my peers had story ideas rejected by pub­lishers for this marketing reason: “The bookstores will have too much dif­fi­culty deciding where to shelve this novel.”

In essence, the author submitted a fantasy cum la western, mystery, horror, etc. which the publisher feared might confuse the book­stores as to where to shelve it. There was a time when nothing drove fear into the hearts of publishers as much as confusing major book vendors. In more recent years, though, this problem appears to have vanished for the most part…

Tales Update: “The Game Piece” for the Sony Reader

HW1: The Game Piece by Barb, our past first release in T·N·D·S, is now available through the Sony ReaderStore. It is also available through Inktera, Versent Books, and Diesel, though the latter reroutes ebook purchases to the Kobo ebook store. New vendor links for this title have been added at NobleDead.org

If you have not tried some of these (pseudo) independent bookstores, have a peek at your leisure. It never hurts to browse, and the old joy of stumbling upon a new corner bookstore is something missing from the online world.

All of this was accomplished through the use of an aggregator; something we have been opposed to in the past for (among other reasons) the lack of a direct contract between vendor and publisher (namely, us). An ebook aggregator is the only way to achieve access to certain vendors lacking a direct epublishing portal. Whether we continue this experiment through Smashwords has yet to be determined, as there are problems — for us and our readers…

Reader’s Corner: Back-up Your eBooks! [Part 1 from J.C.]

Nearly all major e-book vendors have a so-called “cloud” service attached to purchase accounts. What many readers do not know is that this is not adequate protection against loss of your purchases. This technology (first conceived and born in the 1990s) is not all that we think it is. Nor does it always give you completely unaltered access to your e-books when and where you wish. Your e-books are not fully and safely yours… until you take control of them yourself.

FACT: Cloud accounts have legal loopholes; these holes have not been fully plugged by legislation at either the national or international levels. This applies to more than just e-books, and some of the plugs applied so far may not favor you, the reader.

Laws have not caught up with ownership rights for the present status of virtual / electronic property of all types. Your rights are not completely protected. Any claims to the contrary are false in generalization. And such are generalizations.

In addition, new “leasing” models for online web-based software “suites” are catching the eyes of a few e-book vendors. Some wish to toy with terminology, looking to imply that “purchasing” an e-book is permanently “leasing data” for a one-time fee. A “lease” is not outright ownership of your copy of an e-book. Further details on these matters is a topic for another time.

Whether you have a few e-books or a big e-library, it is time to archive them locally. Yes you can, even ones that are DRM protected [encrypted]. First and foremost, you do not have a true backup of your purchases if they are not under your exclusive control. Just like with (expensive) software purchased by download or installed directly through an “app” store, that is a misconception, so time to correct it…

Now Available (Finally)… For Kobo and Nook…

SC1: Puppy Love has finished its commitment in KDP Select. While we evaluate the impact (if any) in testing that exclusive program, we want to get it out there for those on other ereader platforms who may have been waiting for it.

You can find it in T·N·D·S: Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga at Noble­Dead­.org or simply use one of the links provided above.

This will likely be our one T·N·D·S release for this month. We are quite backed up on work for the 2015 volume of the Noble Dead Saga, and that must proceed. If you drop by for a direct look at Puppy Love, be sure to peek at past “tales” you may have missed. More news and/or special features forthcoming before the end of the month, so stay tuned.

Now Available… on Smashwords…

This is an experiment, so we are starting off with our oldest title in T·N·D·S: Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.

HW1: The Game Piece (by Barb) is now available at Smashwords.com in EPUB (only) format. So go get it if you do not have it yet.

We tried Smash­words­.com once in the past and quickly abandoned it for a list of reasons. In our effort to expand “tales” distribution into other markets, we will try it again.

Our primary purpose for testing it this time is two-fold: to make our ebook-only works available for the Sony eReaderStore and as an alternative distribution system for future “tales” into iTunes / iBookStore (without Apple’s proprietary nonsense in direct distribution)…

The Writer’s Corner: The Writing Cycle [from Barb]

Because the initial manuscripts for our books are due at the same time each year, JC and I have fallen into a cycle regarding which stage of which project we work on in each season. Cycles are a part of life for authors working under contract. Until last month, I never realized how comfortable I was with this, or how much I had come to depend upon it…

Q&A: About Releases for “Tales”

All authors with an online presence receive questions from readers about themselves and their works. We are no different in this.

Since the inception of T·N·D·S: Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga, and its first release, we as well began receiving queries specific to this project… and not always about individual tales.

We thought we would share some of those submitted questions and, of course, the answers we gave.

Book News: Future of the Saga and More [from Barb]

Hi Gang. Although we’ve been a bit quiet these past weeks, there has been a good deal going on. Time to share a few things.

First (and most exciting)… J.C. and I have signed a contract for three more books: the final two books in the Noble Dead Saga and the first book of a new yet-to-be-named series.

Yes, you read that right. After The Wind in the Night is released this coming January, we will complete the saga in two more books: First and Last Sorcerer and The Night Voice [working titles]. We promise both will be heart-stopping and reveal long-awaited secrets. At present, we cannot talk about the upcoming new series, but stay tuned for more news down the road. We are very excited about the schedule and the upcoming books.

Second… I received some welcome news from my editor: The Mist-Torn Witches has gone into a second printing! I was doing a happy dance around the house. Witches in Red comes out next May, and I will soon have more news to share about the future of that series.

Finally, I wanted to say how glad I was that JC put The Forgotten Mistress up for sale this week and with such a lovely cover. The Forgotten Lord received more fan mail than any other Tale I have written, but everyone was unhappy with the ending. Hah! Fear not. The ending of this new Tale is quite different. That’s the scoop!

—Barb

Linkage to Tales and the Latest Release…

Please pardon this repeat announcement, as we are conducting a test. We know the count of “tales” has grown to the point that it is hard to present all (or the most recent one) in a convenient way for our visitors. Drill-down to find the one you are after can be tedious.

Solutions are being sought. For now we will see how links to multiple vendors pass through our social network. Likely this will not work, but we want to find something that does not cause us to burn extra time in manually posting to all social accounts. Bear with us a little longer until we can figure out the best solution.

NOW AVAILABLE: THE FORGOTTEN MISTRESS (“Tales of Misbelief”) Collection

Details and purchase points are now available for this new release in T·N·D·S: Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.

THE FORGOTTEN MISTRESS
sequel to The Forgotten Lord
Barb Hendee
$2.99 USD
Short story, 19k words

For more information please visit the “Tales” section at NobleDead.org. While you are there have a look at previous “Tales” in the “Misblief” and other collections. Though set in the world of the Noble Dead Saga, all “tales” and their collections do not require knowledge of any books or series written by Barb and/or J.C. Hendee. You can easily pick up and read one as your first venture into this world. And one more detail….

Other Recent Released in T·N·D·S

Social Update: Hello Tumblr, Bye-Bye Squidoo

Minor changes are being made in how we make our news available for the convenience of others. For those who like Tumblr.com, you can now follow NobleDead.org, Barb, and J.C. over there.

Squidoo was a no hassle experiment we set up a while back. As a social system, it has become more of an environment where the owners want their users doing the work of building “expert” and “information” pages for free. Obviously, we do not fit into that world. Our news delivery through Squidoo has been terminated permanently.

Other changes to our social networking may come in the near future, but right now it is time to get back to drafting the next novel. Oh, and there is another “Tale” coming, so watch for further news coming this week.