Prize 1: Not even a baseball card! But it’s so cool. It’s from the N28 series of 1887!!!! That’s not a typo: this card is 132 years old! It’s from one of my favorite sets of all time, from the Allen & Ginter tobacco company. The artwork is great. The people chosen for the set of 50 cards, including 10 baseball players, plus rowers, boxers, wrestlers, billiard players, sharpshooters including Buffalo Bill, and Annie Oakley. 

This card is worth about $20-$30, a small amount, in part because of the heavy crease going across it.



 The back of the card, listing all of the people in the set.



 Prize 2: 1911 T205 Gold Border, Frank Corridon.  Encapsulated and Graded 2 (Good) by the PSA company. The million dollar Honus Wagner is from the T206 Set of 1909-11. This is the set produced right after. Probably worth $20 - $30.



 Back of T205 card.



 Prize 3: Now we move along to a few cards from the HELMAR BASEBALL ART CARD COMPANY. Many of you know that I’ve been writing the backs of some of the Helmar cards for a few years. I love what Charles Mandel, the greatest baseball artist alive today, does with Helmar. The artwork for the cover of Going, Going, Gone! is made up of Helmar cards. All of the cards on the cover of the book are transformed into characters in Going, Going, Gone! 

This is a Helmar card of Jacob Rupert, owner of the Yankees in the Babe Ruth era. It’s worth $20 - $30, but has sold for much more.



And I’m proud to say, I wrote the text on the back. What fun it is to write the backs of Charles’ cards!
Here’s a link to the current Helmar auction on eBay.



Time out to consider pre-ordering more of GOING, GOING, GONE for every one of your baseball-loving friends! Each pre-order is another entry for prizes. Click on the book to pre-order. Thanks!

Prize 4: Another amazing Helmar card. A framed Helmar-T206. Yes, that’s right, FRAMED. With a cork matting and Japanese paper border and thin plexi cover and back and a wax seal on the back. Hello Joseph Cornell!!!! These sell for $20 - $40, depending on the player. But they should sell for hundreds! One day!



The thickness of this framed card! The detail on the edge!



The back of the card, with a gummed tag inspired by antique baggage tags, initialed by the person who constructed the card. And that gold, wax stamp!



Prize 5: Another Helmar art card. The series is Polar Night. The player is Charles Bennett, Hall of Famer, who revolutionized the catching position on the 19th Century. They considered it umanly to use mitts!



Prize 6: Three superstars from the Red Sox. Topps 1980. These cards are in pristine condition. I enjoy having cards professionally framed and giving them as gifts. These would look good framed together. Worth $40, perhaps.



Prize 7: Steve Carlton PSA 8, 1980 Topps. You can buy one just like it on eBay fro $9 plus shipping. Great condition.



Prize 8: 1978 and ’79 Topps Yankees, Dodgers, JR Richard, and Pete Rose (PSA 5). I’ll toss in some more cards from that era. I don’t know why PSA graded the Pete Rose 5...looks very nice, but knocks out much of the value other than COOL! Worth about $20. (It costs about $10 to have a card graded).



Prize 9: Back to HELMAR. This is an amazing card from an amazing set, Helmar Imperial Cabinet. This is Grover Cleveland Alexander. Ronald Reagan played him in the Winning Team. Look at the size of that card (JR Richard Topps card for size comparison). They sell for $20 - $40 and contain unlimited amounts of wonder.



Back of the card.



Prize 10: Mystery Prize worth at least $30.

Laura M., Brattleboro Yankees, Mgr.
David B., East River Fishermen, Captain/P
Charlie C., Tol Bros. Demolition, SS
Brian S., Prudential All-Stars, CF
Barnaby C., Washington Absinthe Sippers, P/2B
Jacqui L., Mill Valley Millers, SS-2B
Stefan, Smith, Sports Massage Marin (his real team), 3rd base coach
Bennett, J., Mill Valley Millers, 3B
Stephanie A., Dalton Tigers, 1B
Helen Y., Tiburon Sharks, SS
Karin T., Sausalito Winemakers, Mgr.
Adam T., Dalton Tigers, 2B
Duncan P., L.A. Guitar Riffers, P/OF
Ellen H., MVP Sister, DH
Kirk D., Arizona Tar Melters, LF
Adam K., Ontario Seal Pups, CF
Beth B., San Francisco Elites, RF

Every book pre-ordered will be entered into the weekly drawing for a very cool, valuable baseball card(s). If you purchase 5, you will have 5 entries. If you purchase 10, you will have 10. Entries roll over week to week until the pre-sales campaign concludes when we hit 750 pre-sales! 

Thanks to EVERY ONE OF YOU! (Please consider jumping up to SUPER STAR SLUGGER with a total of 5 orders or more!). Every person you know who loves baseball will appreciate the gift of GOING, GOING, GONE!

Alex S., Geneva Smeltwranglers
Jenny K.C., Philadelphia Royal Pythions
Andy B., Weston Yankees
David M., Inkshares Firecrackers
Kelsey R., Vermont Green Mountaineers
Carla P., Sausalito Sewing Crew
Jonathan W., Mitzi Potted Parrot Fan Club 
Tyler S., FC Frank Lloyd Wright
Jarom. F., 6th Grade Royal Spectators
Leo V., Chicago Inksharians
Ted S., NY Fightin’ Intellectuals
Laureen K., Inkskares Firecrackers
Richard P., Cleveland Warhols
Perry G., Team Polo Ground
Terry T., Laguna Brainy Loafers
Chris R., Dalton Tigers
Adam K., Ithaca Royal Palmists
Geoff P., New York Metropolitans
Scott K., Orlando Rooftop Solarians
Michael O., Inkshares Firecrackers

When you get to this page, SCROLL DOWN and look on the RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN, DOWN, DOWN and look on the RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE.


OPTION 3: SUPER READER

THIS IS YOU (I DEEPLY HOPE)!

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN TO THE BOX, BELOW

Pay attention to: Quantity: 3


CLICK IN THE BOX!



CHANGE 3 TO 5 OR 10, (or whatever you think is best for your circumstances right now)



CLICK the pre-order button!

You Will Be Added To The List of Going, Going, Gone! Star Sluggers!!!!!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for helping make the dream a reality--seeing GOING, GOING, GONE in print!

Many thanks,

Steve
 
SteveHermanos@yahoo.com
www.SteveHermanos.com
@SteveHermanos
415-497-4480

It’s a little late for Happy New Year, but nonetheless, I wanted to provide an update on my progress with “Gumshoe Rules.”  My goal was to finish the fourth draft in January. I am happy to report that I met that goal and submitted the manuscript to my publisher Inkshares last week. There are a few other books in the editing hopper ahead of me, so I expect it may be late February before I get feedback. 

The fourth draft is much improved over earlier versions with more developed character arcs, stronger atmosphere and faster pacing. I received especially valuable input from my editor and a couple of beta readers. Most of these changes occur in the second half of the book when things get, ah, a bit weird. I have also made minor changes in the first twelve chapters that have been posted online at Inkshares.com under the READ tab. These changes help establish the 1950s noir mood and hint at some of the strange things that happen later on. 

I knocked and was greeted by a shapely silhouette in a black dress lit from the hallway behind her. “Well if you’re not the fuzz, I don’t know who is.” She said the word fuzz with a few extra Z’s on it and the effect was like Lana Turner blowing a kiss at you. She tipped me for a moment, but I was all business.

She was a student at Miskatonic University, that never-quite Ivy league school to which the rich forwarded their less ambitious offspring in the hopes of educating, drying out or marrying them away. But there was always something a bit off about the school and Arkham in general. Amidst the bucolic colleges of literature and late-rising frat houses shaded by the city’s famous Dutch elms, there was a sanitarium for the criminally insane. Every college had it’s share of misfits and pranks, but Miskatonic always seemed to rise to the top when it came to unexplained scandals, secrets and suicides. 

In the meantime, it’s been cold and snowy in Michigan. Now that I’ve put the novel aside for a few days, I thought I might see if I can create a short story about Jack Waters, set between his return from the war in 1945 and 1950 when Gumshoe Rules takes place. I have some ideas that tie to a still unsolved case set in Adelaide, 1948. We shall see what that leads to.  

Thank you everyone who supported this creative project. It’s because of your support that Gumshoe Rules is being published. I’ll keep you posted on any updates from my publisher in the coming months. 

Thank for all your support on this project.
—Z.Z. Traver
PS. I don’t know why I committed to Dry January while editing my book. Nonetheless, I put an early end to that on January 30 when I submitted my manuscript. Cheers!  

February! 

I’m still working on my second developmental rewrite. I’m on chapter 13 of 42 and this draft is much harder. As I’m learning more and more about what it takes to make a book exceptional, I’m working more slowly to try to incorporate what I learn. 

I woke up around 5am for about a week to try to get writing in before the kids woke up, but then my daughter started waking up at 5am. Lately I’ve just been squeezing in writing time wherever I can. 

Inkshares had me read a manuscript of another in-production book an an exercise. I wrote a letter about the idea, characters, theme, conflict, plot, prose, and setting, and soon they will send me the official editor’s letter about those same things. It should be really interesting to see what  I caught and what I missed and then apply that to my own book. It’s not a book I would usually pick at all, but I loved it. Writers, read outside your genre!

I usually ask y’all to send encouragement, but this month...send babysitting!

Thank you, as always, for following along and for all of your support!

Greetings wonderful followers, 

Guess what! As of Jan 30/19, it has been a full year since my first novel, Beyond the Code, was published and sent out into the world. And what a year it has been. Just for fun, let take a look at my author journey so far. 

I got Beyond the Code on the shelves of Indigo Books and did several book signing events at Indigo and Chapters all over the city of Edmonton. Actually had a kid want to take a picture with me because I was an author. Really cool. 

I was a guest panellist at panels on character development and Urban Fantasy writing at the When Words Collide writers convention in Calgary. 

Beyond the Code has been given great reviews from Roll Out Reviews, Literary Titan, The San Francisco Book Review, Readers Favourite, Opal Publishing, and Delusion of Literacy. These are people who know what they’re talking about. Also, from the reviews of my readers, Beyond the Code is running at a 4.23/5 rating on Goodreads and a 4.8/5 rating on Amazon.com. 

I was a guest on several podcasts talking about my writing and other geeky stuff. I’ve been on Spilling Ink, Just Joshing, Functional Nerds (this was my favourite one), Stories by Nerds, Alive after Reading, and Go Indie Now. You can check out these episodes through the kelseybarthel,ca website or the Beyond the Code Facebook page. 

And, last but not least, Beyond the Code was a featured book with the Scifi and Fantasy Network. 

Like i said, it’s been one hell of a year. So far it’s been a pretty good showing for my first novel and I am very happy with it. As for the future of Beyond the Code and me as an author, that’s still very much in the planning stage. Right now, I’m working on Beyond the Code’s sequel Beyond the Masquerade (working title) and like always, i will always endeavour to keep my readers informed. 

Thank you all for staying with me on this journey and I hope I can continue to deliver, 

Kelsey Rae Barthel