Looking for children’s fantasy for your Amazon Kindle? Look no further. Click here for Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato, and The Santa Mysteries.

Sherman Oak has been doing quite well as of late.

I also see that Defective by Design has managed to tag my books as DRM infected.

Here is a review of The Santa Mysteries that a kind reader left on Amazon:

I was looking for something different for the holidays, and the description certainly sounded like this book fit the bill - although I have to admit that I doubted that anyone could successfully combine the elements in the book’s description into a coherent enjoyable story. I’m glad that I took the chance; Mr. Shaw has a genuine talent for spinning an imaginative, exciting and fast paced tale, however unlikely the individual elements may sound!

I think it’s hard for a children’s book to succeed when it lacks the exposure provided by one of the large national publishing houses like Scholastic, and this is a tragedy in many ways because writers like Mr. Shaw have to struggle for their voices to be heard, and we miss many great stories that simply never make it to the hands of the reading public. This book is superior to many of the offerings I’ve read from large national publishers that have been aggressively marketed over the years.

I highly recommend this book as a wonderful story for kids (boys and girls) in the 7 to 10 year age range. My compliments to Mr. Shaw for a great read that will be enjoyed by both my daughter and I for many years to come.

Thanks for the kind words. They mean more than you know.

And the winners are:

Terri R., Kenosha, WI
Justin D., Mena, AR
Aleta F., Rocky Ridge, MD
Terry P., San Francisco, CA
Christine H., Chicopee, MA

Congrats! I am shipping the signed books out today USPS.

Book sales for Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato and The Santa Mysteries have been increasing at a steady rate over the course of the last 4 months. Thanks to all who have taken a chance on a self-published author.

The Santa Mysteries has been holding its own at Amazon with some mid-list children’s fantasy authors. Small victories.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Free books. Visit THIS LINK at Amazon to find out how to enter.

Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato and The Santa Mysteries are now available for Kindle. Click here to take a peek.

The Santa Mysteries is doing quite well the last two months

The Santa Mysteries is now available on Ebay for a mere $0.99 as a digital delivery. Please click here for more information.

My wife and I celebrated our 10th anniversary by going to see Dan in Real Life. I laughed, I cried, and I left the theater uplifted and hungry for life. Go see it. Now! Run!

Thanks to those who volunteered to read my scribblings.

Though I have been on the “down low,” I still have been writing. I miss my writing friends, and will start posting here more frequently in the near future. I am writing again, looking to submit queries by January.

Speaking of down low, while I was down low, my weight went down low. Check it out here.

What’s new with you?

I bought this new toy to help me out.

Wish me luck, and tell a few friends about my books. I think they are pretty darn good, and garsh darnit, so do the reviewers.

Hi all!

Anyone interested in reading 3-4 chapters form 2 news books and telling me what they think? No in-depth critiques needed…just gut feeling, like - don’t like -feedback.

If interested, please email me…don’t comment on the blog…I may miss it.

Thanks to all you entered. Here are the winners. I will be contacting you via email. If I don’t have your address, please reply by the end of September.

Marie Mastracci

Christine Hebert

Kimmywitch

Diane Israel

Kristen Bear

Paul Liadis

Christine from Gotta Lose

Sayre

Madman Rayburn

Shawn/Dwight

The winners of my free book contest will be announced when time permits this weekend. I will email each of the winner, and ship your book choice in the next 10 days.

During the last month I have had endless entries, and given away hundreds of free e-books. Please keep passing the word, as this writer needs your help.

Also, I received this email:

“I talked to my sister-in-law, mother of my nephew Ian who I gave your books to for his birthday about how he liked the books. She said that he “loved” them! He doesn’t like to read. As a rule, she has to bribe him to read but he couldn’t put down those books of yours once he started reading them. He’d even come out of his room to have her listen as he read to her certain parts that he really liked.”

A review of Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato will appear in the August issue of Windows and Aisles, the inflight magazine of Paramount Airways. Deepa Kandaswamy is the reviewer.

Deepa is is an award-winning writer, political analyst, and engineer based in India. Her articles have been published in six continents and some of her writing credits include ABC News, Ms., Truth Out, Data Quest, and Middle East Policy. She is the founder–moderator of the International Gender Lobby, which is a global networking platform for individuals, organizations, and activists who are interested in working for human rights, peace, and development worldwide.

You can read the review by clicking this link.

…and don’t forget my contest.

Please check out Steven McEvoy’s review of The Santa Mysteries in Imprint.

Hi all. I am giving away free books. How many you ask? Unlimited. Unlimited? Unlimited! Yes…I will be giving away unlimited E-books of Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato, and The Santa Mysteries.

But this is not all. I will also be giving away 10 paperback copies of my books, with the winners of the contest being able to choose which of my 2 books they would like to receive. Contest? Contest!

Free! Everything’s free.

Here’s the deal:

To receive a free e-book of Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato or The Santa Mysteries, simply send me an email via my contact page, and include “Free Book” in the subject line of your email. In the body of your email include which book(s) you would like to receive. I will email the book(s) you request within a few short days of receiving your email. Remember, this is an E-BOOK, and not a paperback copy. But, please, tell all your friends. I will email a bazillion free books if the requests pour in…and I hope they do.

To enter the contest to win one of 10 free paperback books, simply feature this contest on your blog or website, and email me a link to that page via my contact page. Please include the words “Book Contest” in the subject line of your email. All valid links to this contest will be entered into a pool of names, and on August 31st, 2007 I will draw 10 random names from that pool. The winning 10 names will be emailed notifying them that they have won. It’s that simple. No cost to you, and I ship everywhere…even to the North Pole!

Also, when sending an email to enter this contest, please include your address, so I know where to ship the book if your are a lucky winner. And, don’t forget to include which book you would like to receive if your name is picked.

All personal information I receive remains personal. I will not share your information with anyone, nor will I spam your home address or inbox with junk emails.

Why am I doing this? Simple. Writing a book is a very hard thing to do, but spreading the word about your book is even harder. I have been humbled and amazed by some of the great reviews my books have received so far, and like every writer, simply want more people to read my books.

Thanks, and have a fantastic adventure of a day!

August will be free books month. I will announce this weekend the how’s and when’s.

My June book sales of both The Santa Mysteries and Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato have both far exceeded my expectations. I am happy to say that both are selling quite well, and my total June sales approached 100 units. This might not seem like a vast volume of sales, but to a small-time author such as myself, it is like selling 50 times as many books.

The Santa Mysteries, in particular, has been selling well on a daily basis this week. My Amazon sales rank for both books has been under 100k for the majority of this week. I feel excited and humbled at the same time.

Thanks to everyone who has purchased my books, and to all those spreading the word. I hope you are enjoying my stories.

Imprint will be featuring a review of The Santa Mysteries on July 27th. I look forward to seeing how my second book compares to my first.

Sayre awarded me with the thinking blogger award. Much love back to Sayre. Check her blogs out here and here. Besides being a great person, her blogs are always an interesting read.

I received this letter in my email today:

Good Morning,

I just finished Sherman Oak & the Magic Potato. It was fantastic!! I feel the open doors you left for a sequel? Hope it’s coming soon. I am 59 years old & loved it (I will start the next book …The Santa Mysteries…later today)! The fanciful escape was wonderful!!

I plan to give both of your books to my nephew Ian for his 11th birthday next week. I know that he will love them, too. By the way, I bought 2 copies of both books so far. I want a copy for my own! I know that I will be buying more. I’m also telling everyone I meet about them. I hope it helps!

You have a real gift, Steve. Thank you for sharing your imagination with us. You have a wonderful flair for description. I have to ask, though - why a potato? Is that linked to some experience or disgust or fondness for baked potatoes? Your answer doesn’t matter. I loved the story for whatever reason prompted you to write about a magic potato & I truly loved your Sherman Oak character.

Keep up the great work.

My response about why a magic potato:

And why a potato? To be honest, I don’t really know. For children’s books I often brainstorm crazy sounding titles and sometimes the story just comes to me from this. I have a ton of crazy titles sitting in a file on my computer. The story I am currently working on came from a title that I found catchy.

One of the realities of performing manual labor for a living is that you body takes abuse. Today I nearly lost my right index finger between two 75-pound hunks of steel. 6 stitches, and 3.5 hours in the emergency room later, I emerged without physical restrictions and ready for work tomorrow.

On the flip side, I nowe have another intimate memory that may creep into a story someday.

Well, I purchased two print subscriptions late last year, and am fed up with both of them. From my daughter’s school fund raiser, I bought a year of the Sci-fi channel mag. I received two issues, and then nothing. Sci-fi Channel missed two issues in a row. I emailed, and whammo, one arrived at my door a week later.

My next disappointment was for Superman Confidential. Being a huge (HUGE!) Smallville fan, I decided to try a comic book. Well, 7 months later I have received only one issue. It took three emails just to get my first issue in April. I haven’t received one since. Last week I emailed DC Comics asking for my money back.

Chirp. Crickets chirping.

We live in a “right now, high speed world.” Stick a fork in the magazine industry. (unless they change and adapt)

I am now also hiding over here, blogging my health back. Be warned - what you will see when you click the link will be shocking and scary.

It’s nice, and unexpected, to browse Amazon and see my book sales rank spike down into the 50k’s every now and then. Selling a few books a week feels wonderful. I am glad someone (other than my family) is reading something I wrote.

I was in desperate need for some new books, so (ka-ching, ka-ching) I hit the local bookstore. I walked away with the following reads:

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