Message from the Blogmeister:
All the available free books have been spoken for. There were only eight available, so they will go to the first eight people who responded. I will notify everyone who came in later by email. Please don’t send in any more requests.
Phil Arnold
Second Message from the Blogmeister:
To the folks from Australia, Canada, Brazil, and France who requested a free copy , I am sorry. I can handle covering the postage to US destinations, but international postal rates are stupid high.
Phil Arnold
I cleaned out my office the other day and found four copies of BIG E and the SANTA MAN that can no longer be sold. They have the old front and back cover images that have been replaced on the latest printing with improved artwork. Small revisions have also been incorporated into the text since the first printing.
So, if you would like a free copy of my book, send an email to: philarnold@charter.net. Include your mailing address and I’ll send you one.
These books with the old cover also have two changes I have done to make the book more kid friendly. Remember how I said my vision for BIG E and the SANTA MAN was to see it made into an animated Christmas TV special? With that in mind, I had to clean it up a bit. I had to get rid of Santa telling Big E that Mama Claus sometimes gets frisky. Even worse was Big E giving Scrooge the finger. It was perfect for that scene, but sadly, it had to go.
The other thing I felt needed changing in these books with the old cover is the name of one elf in the rock band, the ELVI’s. As I revealed in my promotional posts last year, the elf band is modelled after the Beatles. Mac was Paul McCartney, Jonel was John Lennon, G.H. was George Harrison, and Ringo was Shooter. Not many folks matched up Ringo Starr with Shooter (shooting star), so his name has been changed to Sunny. Star – Sun, get it? Not great, but better.
Even though I paired the ELVI’s up with the correct instruments (like G.H. with the bass guitar above), and gave them the same attributes (Mac was the cute ELVI, etc), not many folks figured out my coded references. And almost no one figured out that the songs each one wrote had a title based on a Beatle hit (for example, Jonel’s song was “I am the Egg Man,” a take-off on “I am the Walrus”). So, now the new version has the songs replaced with Christmas-theme titles.
As you can tell, these minor changes in the text do not appreciably distract from the fun of reading the story. So, let me know if you want a free copy.
I ask just one thing in return. After you read the book, would you please go to Amazon and post a review of the book. There are currently eleven 5-star ratings counting one each on Amazon in England and France.
How about that – a super wee book that brings balm to the heart. Love it.
You can never have too many 5-star reviews. And, I’m pretty confident every new reader will love the story, too, so please do an Amazon review if you get one of these copies.
When I ordered my first proof copy with the new cover, I somehow did it with the old text, so it had the stuff mentioned above that was supposed to be corrected. Stupid. That one is available for free, too.
There are also three advance-reader copies of BIG E and the SANTA MAN – Part 2 available.
These copies will give you an idea what writers go through in the editing process. Two copies have extensive hand markings pointing out little problems in the manuscript. One proof-copy never got sent out to one of my writers buddies, so it has all the mistakes but they are unmarked. These copies should distract little from the enjoyment of the story. Of course, the typos, etc. have been fixed in the final edit that went on sale.
So, if you purchased the Part 1 and would like to see how the team of Elvis and Santa handle a new challenge to ruin Christmas, get a free copy of Part 2. And remember to do an Amazon review, please.
Thank you,
Phil Arnold
philarnold@charter.net
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