Hello Everyone,

I was very happy to get a clean bill of health from both my bone marrow transplant doctor and my ophthalmologist this week. I feel like I'm back to a normal life, and I'm working hard at getting back to full strength, stamina, and energy.

Writing Contest

To celebrate--well, it's not really to celebrate my improving health, but it's a nice event marker--we are going to start our writing contest July 1 and run it through September 30. I have written up a rough draft list of rules and prizes. Here are the highlights:

1. Submissions must be 10,000 to 70,000 words long and concern some aspect of Christian history.

2. We are looking for non-fiction or historical fiction. Historical fiction means a fiction story set in an accurate historical context and which also teaches history.

3. Must be your original work, and it must be a first submission.

3. Winner will get a Kindle Fire HD, publication through Greatest Stories Ever Told (our small publishing company), and 5 author copies.

4. Promotion of your book/booklet through Christian-history.org and our social media outlets. (Like our page at https://www.facebook.com/christian.history.for.everyman!)

5. Author keeps copyright. Publisher gets "first rights" to publishing.

6. Author gets 50% of profits on book. Author and publisher will work together to decide price and profit margins. All sales and profits will be accessible online by both publisher and author.

More details will be forthcoming as the rules go from rough draft to final copy. I think those six items cover the most important questions, but please feel free to email paul@christian-history.org if you have questions.

Specials

My first book, In the Beginning Was the Logos (IBWL), will be featured on the KindleBooks blog at http://kboards.blogspot.com ... tomorrow! It is available for just 99 cents for Kindle throughout the month of June. We are working on making it available on Nook as well, and we will try to pull that off before the month is out, so that Nook can participate in the special.

This is an excellent opportunity. IBWL is not an amateur book. It has had nothing but excellent reviews, the most common being, "I can't believe how much research went into this book!" The second most commmon is, "I didn't know church history could be so interesting."

It is over 400 pages long, and there are twenty years of research that went into it. At the end, you will not only know my conclusions on Constantine, the Council of Nicea, and the vast changes that occurred in the churches of the fourth century, but you will know your own conclusions as well because the book will teach you to understand and enjoy history.

We have two more edits to do on The Apostles' Gospel, and the same on a rework of How to Make a Church Fail (HTMCF). Those should both be out in booklet form and on Kindle by July 1. We will do introductory specials on both booklets.

You will love the cover on HTMCF! I am so proud of the work of Esther Pavao--my daugher-in-law and assistant at Greatest Stories Ever Told--in graphic design.

Admittedly, that last sentence is in modern lingo. Professionally, it should say "I am so proud of her work that such and such." Still, it's the modern age, so modern lingo works: I am so proud of her work, and I can't wait for you to see it.

I'll email again when the contest rules are finalized and when the special on the two booklets launches. At that point, we will also set a date for the contest winner to be announced.

We will probably have two consolation prizes as well for second and third place finishers. "Consolation" sounds like a sad word, but an official second or third place finish in a writing contest is worth something in a query letter or proposal if you are trying to get published.

If you know friends who are writers, spread the word. As a writer myself, I know there are not many free writing contests.