Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts

Monday, 18 May 2009

The Devil Can Wait wins a Bronze IPPY Award


The Devil Can Wait (2008), published by BeWrite Books (UK), is one of three finalists selected to win the bronze medal in the 2009 Independent Publishers Book 13th Annual Award (IPPY).

Muncie, IN, May 18 - From the Vatican to the jungles of South American, a cursed black pearl ring, the demonic prophecy it represents, and the men who pursue its powers find their unfortunate way onto Harper’s turf.

Author Marta Stephens, a new voice in crime mystery, has gained a steadily growing readership for her gritty, complex plots and likeable protagonist, Sam Harper. The Devil Can Wait, released in November 2008, was selected as one of seven finalist from among 120 entries in the 2009 IPPY mystery/suspense/thriller category.

The Devil Can Wait, written in the traditional detective mystery style, has drawn the attention of readers and critics alike with such comments as, “Stephens’s protagonist, Sam Harper, is a genuine, somewhat imperfect, thoroughly human personality ... it is this character that breathes vivid life into the pages of her books.”

“... She (Stephens) writes with a forensic authority that makes these pages bleed with real world angst. Detective Harper is a well-realized, no-nonsense cop, a streetwise guy who refuses to give up despite the odds. When the going gets rough, everyone else has given up, an easy option looms, and the race becomes overwhelming, Harper is just getting started. He is the original it ain't over guy.” Thomas Fortenberry for Midwest Book Reviews.

The Devil Can Wait by Marta Stephens, paperback, ISBN 978-1-905202-86-7, $15.99, is available online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and numerous other online and traditional bookstores world wide. For more information, contact Marta Stephens or publisher Cait Myers at .

About the author:
Marta Stephens resides in Indiana, USA with her husband and two children. The first novel in her Sam Harper Crime Mystery series, Silenced Cry (2007) received honorable mention at the 2008 New York Book Festival and ranked among the top ten in the 2007 Preditors & Editors Reader Poll. The Devil Can Wait ranked top ten in the 2008 Preditors & Editors Reader Poll. Stephens holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism/Public Relations from Ball State University (IN) where she is employed in human resources. She is a member of Sisters in Crime International, Sisters in Crime Speed City Indiana Chapter, and the Midwest Writer's Workshop. Stephens’s collective authors’ blog, Murder by 4, was selected by Writer’s Digest among the 2009 101 Best Websites for Authors. View additional reviews of her novels at www.martastephens-author.com.

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards Semifinalist Results announced


Congratulations to author, Marta Stephens, whose novel, The Devil Can Wait, has been shortlisted in the highly competitive mystery/suspense/thriller genre for the 2009 IPPY awards. http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1294

Winners are announced on May 29th, fingers crossed!

Monday, 23 February 2009

Please Vote


The Devil Can Wait has been nominated for Book Cover of the Year 2008 at Erin Aislinn's site.

All votes will be entered in a draw for a copy of the winning title.

Please cast your vote for this great cover before April 15 2009.

Book Cover of the Year

Monday, 11 August 2008

Silenced Cry at New York Book Festival


Congratulations to Marta Stephens.

Her debut novel, Silenced Cry, has been awarded an Honourable Mention at the 2008 New York Book Festival.

Tuesday, 20 May 2008

International Writing Award Honours Sleep Before Evening

Sleep Before Evening, a fast paced coming of age novel by Magdalena Ball, has been named as a Finalist in the Regional Fiction category of the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The heart-wrenching novel, released last July by BeWrite Books, tells the story of the teenager's struggle against a self-centred artist mother, a succession of drive-by stepfathers, her desperate escape into a nightmare of drugs and degradation. Set in and about New York, the gritty tale unfolds with the same cool detachment that motivates the central character to peel back the layers of her life and expose the painful scalding within. There are lonely vigils in city parks and subway journeys to oblivion. In the city she meets Miles, a hip musician busking the streets and playing seedy venues with a rock band. Her new, exciting, dissolute world challenges Marianne's preconceptions about art and life. Here, in contrast to her prescribed upbringing, she finds anarchic squalor, home grown music and poetry, substance abuse, sex and crushing disappointment and fear; but above all, exhilarating personal freedom. Addictions - of all kinds - and the redemptive power of art and music, love, loss and beauty are all explored in a young girl's difficult journey from sleep to awakening.

The Next Generation Indie Book Awards were established to recognize and honour the most exceptional independently published books for the year and is presented by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group in cooperation with Marilyn Allen of Allen O'Shea Literary Agency. Additionally, Sleep Before Evening will be listed as a Finalist in the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards catalogue which will be distributed at Book Expo America in Los Angeles.

In addition to her novel, Magdalena Ball is the author of a book of nonfiction, and a book of poetry. Her fiction, nonfiction and poetry has appeared in a wide range of magazines, anthologies and review journals, and she has won numerous other awards for her work. She has been a guest on radio stations worldwide, and remains available for additional appearances.

Magdalena Ball may be reached at here. Complete information on Sleep Before Evening can be obtained here.


Information on Magdalena Ball, including publications, awards, and recent appearances can be found in downloadable media kits in the media room at http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/images/MediaRoom.htm