Thursday, February 23, 2012

First Round Fiesta

(DOH!  And posted 3 hours early... sorry...)

You may or may not know, but yesterday was the posting of the first round winners in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel award. It's so fun. Every year I read those lists, I know more and more people on them. This year was an impressive list, so I thought I'd share the people I know who made it. [disclaimer: there were 2000 winners this round, so undoubtedly missed a friend or two (or five) PLEASE don't take it personally if you passed and I didn't catch it.]

But first... a GIFT my friend Joris made for me. Legacy, the first of these listed, is my ABNA entry. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this poster for the trilogy. A part of me really wants to self-publish these so I can use these covers (though books 2 and 3 need SERIOUS rewrites—in fact the 3rd probably needs to start from scratch)

Individual covers and poster designed by Joris Ammerlaan


Okay, so now to the winners! (full lists are here)

In the General Fiction Category

Charity Bradford, Sendek: The Magic Wakes


Christine Beth Reish, Façade


Dana Brantley-Sieders, Waking the Dead in Music City

Jessica Bell, Bitter Like Orange Peel

Stephen Swartz, The Dream Land

Sue Maynard, Carving the Light


In the Young Adult Category (I know many more of these... I will ponder WHY later)

Brigid Gorry-Hines, Unraveling

Catherine Stine, Fireseed One (look familiar?--she was here Wednesday!)

Emily McKeon, Mothers of Monsters

Hart Johnson, Legacy ← do you see me? Right on top of Fielder *shifty*

J Allen Fielder, Four Dogs

HK Savage, Whispers

Johanna Garth, Orchard Girl

Lisa Koosis, Resurrecting Sunshine

Michael Di Gesu, The Blinded Gardener

PK Hrezo, The 49th Parallel

Roland Yeomans, The Bear With Two Shadows

Tamara Hart-Heiner, Shadows Fall

Theresa Milstein, Naked Eye (which gets bonus points for having naked in the title)

Tracy Walshaw, Paper Tigers



What is the rest of this process, you ask?

In March, 2000 will become 500 based on our excerpts. These winners will be called Quarter Finalists. In April 500 will become 100. This is based on a Publisher's Weekly editor read of the WHOLE book. Winners will be called Semi-Finalists. In May, 100 will become 6 and ALL of these finalists will get a trip to the finals. So we've only chipped the tip of the ice berg, so to speak... and a lot of GREAT books were knocked off because either the pitch wasn't quite there or there was a mismatch with the reviewer by genre or voice. Still... the step had to be passed to go on. So it is worth a party for all!

So YAY!

23 comments:

Cherie Reich said...

I love the covers too. Congratulations to everyone you made it to the next round!!

dolorah said...

Awesome. I know several of those authors. Congratulations to you Hart, and all the others that made the cut.

........dhole

Carol Kilgore said...

Ooh, I know a few, too. Congratulations to all!
But especially to you, because I just saw your post on Facebook and came over to see. Happy Dancing for you :)

Old Kitty said...

OH it's so great to see bloggie friends I know too who've made it to this round!! YAYAYYAYAYYAYY!!

And lovely Tart! Your poster for your book is beyond NAKED!!

Take care
x

Theresa Milstein said...

Hart, thanks for posting the list of people you know. I'm in good company.

As for the "naked" part, now I fear my title may be insinuating more than it delivers!

Good luck, everyone!

T. Powell Coltrin said...

Hart, Very exciting. Yay!

Teresa

Anonymous said...

Congrats to all my bloggie friends who made it through!

-Vicki

Unknown said...

Big Congrats to all these talented writers! YAY!

Tonja said...

Congratulations! I love the poster.

Hart Johnson said...

Thank you so much everyone! Always a better party when lots of friends show up!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I just saw your name on someone else's list - congratulations, Hart!

Arlee Bird said...

That poster for the covers is outstanding--a real graphic grabber.
This Amazon gig is immense. I should set my sights on next year. All of you who managed to enter this are to be congratulated.


Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge

Johanna Garth said...

Those covers are uber-cool!

Michael just sent me a message that he saw my name here or I would have missed it so thanks to Michael and to you for the shout out!

Hart Johnson said...

Thank you, Alex!

Lee-you definitely should! It is fabulous as a polishing deadline and a very nice way to meet a lot of great writers.

Johanna-I managed to forget for most of a month, but by Wednesday was primed again...

Luanne G. Smith said...

I do like that cover...rule of three and all. ;)

Happy, happy dance for you. Says something when you consistently make the cut year after year.

Congratulations!

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hello your Royal Tartness ... Congrats to you too! I am so happy Legacy made the cut. YAY!

I LOVE THE COVERS. I see why you'd want to self pub. They are AMAZING.

I have a feeling this will be a very exciting year for many of us.

Helena said...

Yay indeed, and hold on to the covers for those trilogies because I think there's a good chance a publisher will want to use them.

Jan Morrison said...

What a gorgeous poster! And YAY! To all of your friends and to You dear tartlette.

Jenny Milchman said...

That poster for LEGACY et al is fantastic, Hart!!

Congratulations to all :)

Talli Roland said...

WOW! Look at all those names of people I know - how fantastic! And a massive congrats to you, too, Hart.

I do LOVE that artwork for the trilogy, too. So striking, and very professional.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Yay! Congrats you guys!
And i totally love the trilogy covers

Charity Bradford said...

It truly is a beautiful list. Congrats to all, and I hope for the best for all of us.

LTM said...

WOW! I know all but like two of those names, too! SUPER CONGRATS to them and to you as well, my friend! Keep us posted when it's time for the readers to weigh in--this month? :o) <3

P.S. I love those covers, too!