Because I am an avowed Star Wars fan it is my duty to hand on the sacred knowledge that George Lucas has given us about the Force and those keepers of it-- Jedi Knights. 

So in order to facilitate the world becoming a better place--- It is time for all of my readers to begin their Jedi Training via night school.  (Hey some of us do have jobs and some have families!)   But it's all good, Master Yoda understands. 

Young Padawan it is time to begin your training.  Click on the link below.

http://www.brunching.com/jediquote.html

AudioLark is open to submissions for romance shorts (10,000 – 20,000 words), novellas (20 – 40,000 words) and novels (40,000 words and up) in a multitude of genres and heat levels. Your story is the key to being published by AudioLark. Ask yourself; if every sex scene was cut out of my novel, would my story still be compelling to readers? If so, we want to take a look.

AudioLark ONLY publishes audio books. We only contract audio rights. We match your manuscript with the perfect narrator and create a seamless, professional audio book to sell on our site and through our distributors.

AudioLark offers authors 15% of gross sales on our site, and 25% of net sales through distributor sites. Royalties are paid quarterly within 30 days of the end of the quarter in which the sales were made.

We prefer manuscripts that have already been published as ebooks or in print. At this time, we do not have the capability to edit novels. We will make an exception for unpublished works by previously published authors (for example, we’ll gladly take a short story if you’ve published novels and novellas before). Authors should realize that publishing with us first may make it hard to find an electronic or print publisher afterwards for their manuscript. Most ebook publishers, however, do not mind if you retain your audio rights.

Authors MUST have audio rights to their work or we will not consider it. Do NOT approach us if you haven’t yet secured audio rights to a published manuscript.

We are interested in all sorts of romance genres, from contemporary to historical, chick lit to paranormal, suspense to science fiction to novels with romantic elements.  We are not accepting young adult at this time. Check back to see if this changes.

We are accepting all heat levels, as well, and would like to offer our readers a full range of story options, from ultra sweet to scorching hot.

Our guidelines mirror most other romance publishers. Erotica is fine, pornography is not. We reserve the right to draw the line where we will. We will not accept stories that include rape, bestiality, sex with anyone under 18, incest, necrophilia, racism, sexism, intolerance of others’ religion or sexual preference.

Please submit all manuscripts to support@audiolark.com. Include in your email your name, pen name, manuscript length, genre and steaminess level.

Manuscripts may be submitted as a pdf if published (preferred), or as a MicroSoft Word 2003 doc file. If we encounter any errors, we will ask for another format. Please send the entire manuscript as we make decisions quite quickly. Our response time is generally one – two weeks.

Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert

Bones, jewelry and weapons found in Egyptian desert may be the remains of Cambyses' army that vanished 2,500 years ago.   By Rossella Lorenzi

The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.

According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimize his claim to Egypt.

After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.

"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear," wrote Herodotus.

A century after Herodotus wrote his account, Alexander the Great made his own pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun, and in 332 B.C. he won the oracle's confirmation that he was the divine son of Zeus, the Greek god equated with Amun.

To read more click on the link!

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/cambyses-army-remains-sahara.html

Submission Guidelines

Champagne Books publishes novel length fiction in both electronic and trade paperback formats. 

Only original works please.  

At this time our current needs include:

We are accepting submissions from all genres, specifically steam punk, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery/thrillers. 

Romance -- we are looking for fast-paced, character driven novels where romance is integral to the storyline.  Novels can be in any era, any location and can have fantasy/paranormal elements, however our historical line is limited to the 19 century or earlier. Sensuality levels should be on the higher end of steamy, while remaining tasteful. 

We are also actively acquiring the following novella length stories for an upcoming series: Vintage Volumes

• Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
• Science Fiction/Fantasy
• Romance

These novellas should be approximately 15,000 to 20,000 words in length and should be complete on query. While our guidelines remain the same as full length submissions, we ask that you attach the completed novella in place of the sample chapters (see below) and indicate that the submission is for the Vintage Volume series. Note, we accept attachments in .rtf only.

Email your submission to: submissions@champagnebooks.com

NOTE: We do not accept snail mail submissions at this time.

Submissions not adhering to the guidelines will be deleted unread.

for more info:  Go to the Champagne Books Web Site http://www.champagnebooks.com/submissions.htm

Harlequin Enterprises has announced they will launch Carina Press a digital publishing house that will be separate from the main publishing business. 

Carina Press will publish a broad range of fiction with an emphasis on romance and its subgenres. We will also acquire voices in mystery, suspense and thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, erotica, gay/lesbian, and more! Whether you’ve never been published or are multi-published and are interested in exploring the potential of digital publishing we are interested in hearing from you. Our philosophy is: no great story should go untold!

To learn more about the passionate people behind Carina Press, "  http://carinapress.com/?page_id=9 as we share news about acquisitions, showcase covers in development and give readers a sneak peak at our launch plans.

For those who have been reading this blog for while may know that I am an obsessed fan of Star Wars.  Always have been and always will be.... but that's besides the point. 

A couple of things, look for Star Wars In Concert in an Arena Near You!  I recently saw a special on my local pbs station on the making of it and it was incredible.  It's everything a junkie like myself would want and apparently good enough to make new fans-- at least that's what some of the audience members said coming out of the show.  So look for it! If you are unsure go the Star Wars in Concert website and look for showtimes or go to Ticketmaster Online and check there!

Second, I stumbled upon (truly did) The Sound Design of Star Wars.  Excellently cool stuff on how Ben Burtt and his crew came up with the sound for the Laser Fire, Imperial Walkers and everything else.  It's a very cool website you should check it out!  http://www.filmsound.org/starwars/

Well that's all have on the Star Wars front today!  I'll keep my eyes peeled.  Rebel Scum out!

-Clare                                                                        

Newborn Babies Cry in Native Tongue

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience

From their very first days, the cries of newborns already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, scientists now find.

French newborns tend to cry with rising melody patterns, slowly increasing in pitch from the beginning to the end, whereas German newborns seem to prefer falling melody patterns, findings that are both consistent with differences between the languages.

This suggests infants begin picking up elements of language in the womb, long before their first babble or coo.

Prenatal exposure

Prenatal exposure to language was known to influence newborns. For instance, past research showed they preferred their mother's voice over those of others.

Still, researchers thought infants did not imitate sounds until much later on. Although three-month-old babies can match vowel sounds that adults make, this skill depends on vocal control just not physically possible much earlier.

However, when scientists recorded and analyzed the cries of 60 healthy newborns when they were three to five days old — 30 born into French-speaking families, 30 into German-speaking ones — their analysis revealed clear differences in the melodies of their cries based on their native tongue.

for more click http://www.livescience.com/culture/091105-baby-language.html

Anthony Hopkins has been cast in “Thor,” the Marvel Studios production that begins production in January.

Hopkins will play Odin, the king of Asgard and the father of Thor and Loki. Chris Hemsworth is playing Thor, and Tom Hiddelston plays his nemesis, Loki. The pic is directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Natalie Portman is also set to play Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster.

Tentative release day July 16, 2010

thanks to Variety!

Peter Berg is attached to direct a bigscreen adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel "Dune" for Paramount Pictures.  Herbert's 1965 novel is a sweeping, futuristic tale set on the remote desert planet Arrakis, which produces the interstellar empire's sole source of the spice Melange -- used for distant space travel. An empirewide power struggle ensues over the control of the spice. Berg would be the latest helmer to take a crack at the property, which spawned a 1984 David Lynch film as well as a 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries starring William Hurt.

The project is out to writers, with the producers looking for a faithful adaptation of the Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning book. The filmmakers consider its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely.

Actor-turned-helmer Berg most recently directed the upcoming Will Smith starrer "Hancock." His directing credits include "The Kingdom" and "Friday Night Lights."

He is also set to direct the film adaptation of the fantasy novel "Bran Mak Morn" about an adventure that mixes the historical with the fantastical as the title character, a mythical king of ancient Britain, who forges an alliance with supernatural troops to contest the unstoppable forces of the Roman Empire.

Thanks to Variety for the info!

Everyone, I think NASA is in trouble again.  I tell you, if JFK were listening he would probably turn over in his grave. 

Here is an article from the Washington Post on the Blue Ribbon Panel on NASA's future.  It is my understanding that the basics of the report is as follows:   the 10-person committee says that we must either add a LOT more money to NASA or forget about manned flight right now.

Here are some of the highlights: 

On the Ares 1 Rocket and the Space Station--

"It's a very expensive vehicle," Augustine said after a news  conference in Washington. Under current budgets, Ares 1 won't be ready  to take astronauts to the International Space Station until 2017 at 
the earliest, the committee estimated.   Instead, the committee reported, NASA could pump billions of dollars into a public-private partnership to build a simpler, cheaper,  no-frills spacecraft that could ferry astronauts to orbit by 2016.  Such a "commercial" program would be a break with tradition at NASA  and controversial in the aerospace industry. But NASA should be  devoting its money and skills to building spaceships that can travel to distant destinations "rather than running a trucking service to low  earth orbit," Augustine said.

Suggestions on where we should go--

"Going to Mars, the most attractive target for exploration, would be cost-prohibitive given today's technology and plausible NASA budgets, the committee found. "Mars is the ultimate destination for human exploration of the inner solar system, but is not a viable first destination beyond low-Earth orbit," the report states.

 The committee said a Moon-first option is a viable strategy, but the report cites the advantages of what it calls the "flexible path" approach, in which a heavy-lift rocket would blast astronauts millions 
of miles into space, perhaps to a near-Earth asteroid or even to one of the moons of Mars.  "It is likely that the Flexible Path approach would engender more Public Engagement than the Moon First approach. In every flight, the  Flexible Path voyages would visit places where humans have never been  before, with each mission extending farther than the previous one, potentially leading to a full dress rehearsal for a Mars landing," the report states."

I want you to read it for yourself.  Here's the link:  http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/science/documents/HSF_Cmte_FinalReport102209.pdf

A nation without exploration is a nation mired in its past.