Book Signing

Book signing at Page One books tomorrow from 3pm to 5pm.
Just got an e-mail from them offering to let all authors show up and sell their books. Really nice of them.

Good News

Publish America has been kind to us poor authors trying to get books to sell in bookstores. They've dropped the price for Optimus from $27.95 back down to its original $21.95.

Anyone interested can order it on amazon.com, barnsandnoble.com, publishamerican.com or special order from a local book store. My offer of $15.00 is still open for any who wish to leave a comment with an e-mail address so I can contact you.

Great Deal

Publish America has just offered all authors a really good deal on books. Optimus is now retailing at $27.95. With this deal I can sell the books for $15.00 each and I'll even pay the shipping. This is the price I usually have to pay for it.
Anyone interested leave me a comment.

Two Years

Two years since the Optimus: Praetorian Guard has been published. Hard to imagine that I started putting pen to paper fourteen years ago. The idea came to me in a Sunday School Class when the church we attend was meeting next door to a Hastings in a shopping mall. The church now has a permanent location and Hastings built a separate building.

To all interested in purchasing a signed by the author book I'm lowering my price to $15.00. They're still retailing at $21.95 so it's a good deal for a collector's item just in time for the Holidays. E-mail me at jtenebrae@yahoo.com for details. Be sure to mention Optimus in the e-mail so I don't delete it as spam.

Chapter 1

For those interested, but not sure if you'd like the book here's the opening sequence of the story.

     "Battering ram, battering ram, don't fail me now?" Optimus wailed. The girl beside him stroked his broad shoulders, and kissed him passionately. There was no response.

    The frustrated man looked at the woman he had worked all night to bed. Pale blonde hair, real blonde, not dyed. (Roman law required all prostitutes to have blonde hair, most women around the Middle Sea were dark haired, and their attempts at becoming blonde were sometimes ludicrous.) But she is a real blonde, like spider silk when he touched it; long hair--down to the middle of her back. Eyes the brightest blue he’s ever seen, with arching eyebrows, the kind of eyes that a man could look at for an eternity. Skin almost translucent, the palest white, alabaster was dark by comparison. A small button nose and red thin lips. Truly this was a face that could cause wars. "Then why do my loins refuse to be stirred?" he asked himself.

     She shifted her body to rub up against his in another attempt to arouse the sleeping. He felt her large round breasts with tender but firm, youthful skin against him. Such a touch would normally make him rigid for an hour, or send him into the throes of ecstasy instantly. Tonight nothing.

     "Jupiter Optimus Maximus, what is wrong with me?" he thundered.

     "Master, it is the drink," she whispered in his ear. Her Latin strained, having a guttural accent to it. "We sleep now--try again in morning."

     He gently hugged the beauty that the night’s gambling bought, still a virgin the tavern owner had promised (as if you could believe such a preposterous statement). Suddenly the girl’s face shifted. The hair turned an auburn color, the eyebrows flattened over dark brown eyes and he was looking at his beloved Octavia. The woman he had killed just a few weeks earlier on Caesar’s order.

     Tears streamed down from his eyes. He gripped the girl in his arms tightly trying to ease the pain constricting his aching heart.

     At first the frightened girl thought he would squeeze the life out of her, but after the initial tight hug he merely sobbed into her pale fine hair. She held the sobbing and heartbroken soldier for nearly an hour when a movement on the other side of the curtain screen to her cubicle caught her attention. Slowly the drape was drawn aside and a soldier with a sword entered. She tensed at the sight, and in an instant the giant holding her was on his feet grabbing the intruder by the throat. Another man came up from behind and struck him on the back of the head with the butt end of his sword. The big man crumpled. A third soldier came in to help drag her first customer away. All three stood and gazed on her nakedness, their lust boring into her. The tavern owner shoved one of them out of the way, throwing a cloth at her in order to cover up, and then hurried the men out of the room.

A Whole Year

Hard to imagine that it's been a full year since I received two copies of my first novel in the mail.
To anyone just coming across this site you can e-mail me (jtenebrae@yahoo.com)to work out the details of obtaining an autographed copy for $22.00
The book may be special ordered at any book store, or you can order a copy at Publish America and Amazon.com, but you'll have to pay postage and handling.

Book Signings

The first major book chain to purchase and sell Optimus was B. Dalton's in Cottonwood Mall the day before Easter 2007. I sold three books and when they called me to let me know the store was closing, which was a real shock, I purchased the rest so they wouldn't be sent back.
I've had book signings so far this year at Bibles Plus, and three Hastings in Albuquerque. Slowly but surely I'm getting the word out and generating interest.
I've held off doing any more book signings while the situation with my sister in Texas has been touch and go. It seems now that she's getting better and after we go out to see her later this month I'll try to set up more book signings during the Holiday season.
I gave the new Public Relations head at Wayland my card at a dinner a couple of weeks ago. He's e-mailed me asking for particulars and will most likely be putting information about the book in the alumni magazine that comes out every four months.