Suvudu Universe

Double A to Z Challenge shot today!

I’m a guest at Curiosity Quills Press, explaining why the Challenge is a great opportunity for writers and authors. (It's live now!)

I’m also at the A to Z Blog with tips on how to make friends.

Caught these first two items at Edi’s Book Lighthouse:

From Web Urbanist - The Capital: Egypt Plans Largest From-Scratch City in History.
Slated to be constructed in just 7 years and cost $300 billion (more than the GDP of Egypt), this ambitious design for a brand new capital city of 5 million people is unprecedented – if completed, it will be a record-setting endeavor. And it is not just a conceptual vision, or at least not entirely- the site has been selected and a 100-square-kilometer test section has already been approved by the Egyptian government.

Edi also posted this from Dark Roasted Blend - Futuristic Concept Cars of the 1970-80s. Check it out – not as far-fetched as you might think.


And in a similar vein, Dark Roasted Blend had an article about Videophones from Future Past. Some of these really are far-fetched!

New clue today at What Are the Kargrandes? This is clue number eleven. (Why eleven? Because it’s higher than ten!) New clues every Monday until the release of Dragon of the Stars on April 7.

Sample Tweets for this week:

What are the Kargrandes? Can you guess? What are their powers? http://whatarethekargrandes.com/ #whatarethekargrandes @alexjcavanaugh

What are the Kargrandes? Solve the mystery by April 7! http://whatarethekargrandes.com/ #whatarethekargrandes @alexjcavanaugh

The Thunderclap campaign is a go! Thanks to all who signed up. If you are on either Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr and want to help me spread the word on April 7, click HERE.

I also have an awesome (and easy) Scavenger Hunt planned for that day that involves Mini-Alex. Many thanks to the bloggers who have volunteered to participate. (I’m sure the promise of an exclusive Mini-Alex photo was the deciding factor!)

DL Hammons is looking for volunteers to read through the entries of the upcoming round of Write Club. See his site for details.

Mark Koopmans signed a book deal!
REVIVAL: The Donald Braswell Story will be published Nov. 3, 2015 by Pen-L Publishing. Way to go, Mark!

The giveaway for The Great Time Lock Disaster by C. Lee McKenzie is coming to an end soon. Register to win at Goodreads.

Double book release!
There’s a Goat in my Boat by Pat Hatt



AND…

Vault of the Gods by Pat Hatt

Seducing Fortune by Brinda Berry
Book 3 of the Serendipity novels

I pitted Dream Theater against Redemption with Elton John’s Love Lies Bleeding. Ironically, several voted for Elton John. For those who voted for the two featured songs, this is how it all came down:

Redemption - 5

Dream Theater - 21

And, no surprise, my vote went to Dream Theater. Both are good, but Dream Theater took it to a much higher level.

And now, the day we’ve all been waiting for–the Great Challenge Theme Reveal!

My theme–Cult Classics!

Cult classic movie.
Cult classic album.
Cult classic science fiction book. (Boy, that was tough!)
And of course, a featured blogger buddy. (Or two or three.)
Plus, a term from Dragon of the Stars.

All alphabetically!

In choosing blogger buddies, I tried to select those who hadn’t been featured in the past two years. I hated that I couldn’t feature everyone, but my goal was to keep this year’s Challenge posts short. Some will go by name, some by blog, and some by a crazy Ninja equation. So you’ll have to check every day to see who I’ve featured!

And I know a lot of you have your posts scheduled and ready to go for April. I have mine in Word, html formatted and ready, and all of the images sized properly – but I won’t schedule each post until the night before. (Everyone do a collective gasp.) I still intend to run the Ninja News, announcing any new books, movies, news, whatever. I’ll probably throw in a movie review now and then. Or a cult classic image. So I can only plan ahead so far. But I’ll manage.

Even though the Challenge opens on Wednesday, April 1 is still Insecure Writer’s Support Group post day. Plan accordingly and prepare for a wild ride that day.

Plus, my next book releases on April 7, right in the middle of the Challenge. There will be a Scavenger Hunt Blitz that day, with lots of Mini-Alex photos and a chance to win an autographed copy of Dragon of the Stars, bookmarks and swag, and $20.00 in iTunes gift cards. There’s also an extensive blog tour (which begins next Monday at Stephanie Faris’ site) and other cool stuff to win.

I’m also posting at the A to Z Blog and the Insecure Writer’s Support Group next month.

Yeah, it's a lot! I’ll survive. At least that’s the plan…

If you’re participating in the Challenge, what’s your theme?

What do you think of Egypt building a new capital? Get a kick out of the concept cars and phones? Figured out the Kargrandes yet? Battle of the Bands’ result surprise you? Does my Challenge theme sound interesting? What’s yours…?

Be sure to visit Curiosity Quills Press and the A to Z Challenge Blog!