Shira Anthony's Blog - Posts Tagged "aids"

Encore release day! I'm over at Melanie Marshall's "Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words" blog today to start off the Encore and Symphony in Blue Blog Tour! Symphony in Blue (December 25th release date) is my 10th Dreamspinner Press release, so I'm celebrating the release of both books with a great blog tour contest!
The Blue Notes Series contest ends on New Year's Eve. You can enter each day, and you can earn more entries for commenting, tweeting, and Facebooking. Special extra entries if you purchase books, too. Here are the prizes:


Grand Prize: A Kindle loaded with the first 4 Blue Notes Series books and some of my other back titles (and a few other Dreamspinner Press authors' books)




 


1st Place: A sterling silver music themed necklace


2nd Place: Winner’s choice of one of my back titles in paperback (i.e., not including the 2 new releases)
3rd Place: Blue Notes t-shirt, cover of the winner’s choice

You can enter the contest here: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Encore , the fifth Blue Notes novel, is chronologically the first. It begins in the 1970s, when Roger Nelson and John Fuchs meet in high school, and ends in the present day. The story of modern day star-crossed lovers, Encore is both a coming of age and, later, an adult romance. I hope you enjoy the story. -Shira

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Blurb: A Blue Notes Novel

Cool kid violinist Roger Nelson doesn’t give a damn about anything. Wannabe conductor John Fuchs is awkward, effeminate, and just figuring out he’s gay. Despite their differences, they become friends—then lovers—and after college, they try to make it work. But it’s the 1970s, and Roger can’t bring himself to admit he’s gay. Worse, after his brother is killed in Vietnam, Roger tries to live up to his memory and be the perfect son. Then after suffering one tragedy too many, he makes the biggest mistake of his life: Roger pushes John away.

Through the years, they dance around the truth and in and out of each other’s lives, never quite able to let go. Twenty years later, Roger still carries the pain of losing his dream of a brilliant career with him, while John is a superstar conductor with a wild reputation. John’s off-stage antics get him plenty of attention, good and bad, though deep down, he wants only Roger. Finally determined to hold on to what really matters, Roger asks John for another chance, and when John panics and runs, Roger has to convince him to listen to his heart.

NOTE: Encore is chronologically the first book in the Blue Notes Series and a great place to start if you've never read the other books. All Blue Notes novels are standalone books that can be read in any order.

You can purchase Encore at Dreamspinner Press by clicking here.

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Yesterday, December 1, 2013, was World AIDS Day. And although many of us here in the U.S. were headed back home from the Thanksgiving Day Holiday, there were candlelight vigils and remembrances for the 25 million men, women, and children who have died worldwide since AIDS was first discovered. It's almost too many to really wrap your brain around: 25 million people! And although many people live with HIV/AIDS thanks to amazing breakthroughs in medicine, the goal is ZERO new infections. Zero. Now THAT's a number I can wrap my brain around.

To me, the fight against AIDS is personal. Not only did I know men who died of AIDS in the 1980s (and have dedicated my latest book to them), my husband's work is in part focused on preventing the transmission of HIV from mother to child in the developing world.

The Pratt Pouch, my husband's project, has garnered a great deal of attention from our government as well as from other countries. The pouch is something like a ketchup packet (see photo), but this packet is filled with anti-retroviral drugs that an HIV-positive mother can give her baby in the first day or so of his/her life to prevent the baby from being infected by HIV. Because in many developing countries, mothers give birth to their babies at home, where there are no medical professionals to administer the medicine. Armed with the liquid medicine, which will remain stable in the pouches without refrigeration, Duke University engineers are helping to decrease the number of new HIV infections worldwide.

From an even more personal place, I can speak to the toll the AIDS epidemic left on the community of musicians I was a part of when I was singing opera professionally. My most recent release, Encore , is dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS, and in particular to one of my accompanist/coaches, who died of AIDS in the late 1980s. What an incredible loss of talent and youth the musical community suffered as a result of AIDS! Famous musicians such as Freddie Mercury, Liberace, and Tom Fogerty, and those who will only be remembered by their friends and colleagues, like my accompanist/coach, David.

So while we celebrate the holiday season, I felt I needed to stop and consider what a better world this would be without AIDS. A world with ZERO infection. An end to the mounting death toll. In honor of World AIDS Day, I personally pledge to donate $1.00 per book sold from my Dreamspinner catalog on the Dreamspinner website from December 1st through December 7th to Save the Children's Global Action Fund. Buy a book, donate to your favorite charity, but do SOMETHING to make a difference in the fight against AIDS. Zero is the best number of all! -Shira

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Just a reminder: the Blue Notes 2013 Holiday Blog Tour giveaway is still going on. Enter to win great prizes including a Kindle loaded with ebooks, a sterling silver music-themed necklace, and other fun stuff. You can enter more than once by tweeting, liking on Facebook, buying books, and commenting on tour posts. Click here for the Rafflecopter entry form: a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway ends on New Year's Eve!

 

Thank you everyone who voted yesterday in the final round "Author of the Month" over at Mrs. Condits and Friends! I won! This is me doing a totally geeky happy dance! I can't thank everyone enough for their support and encouragement.

Mrs. Condit's gave Symphony in Blue and Encore both 5-star reviews in the month of December, which is a huge honor in and of itself. Having all my wonderful readers come out to support me and vote is even better! You can find Becky Condit's review of Encore here. The post with the review of Symphony in Blue is here, along with my own post to celebrate its release.

That said, there were lots of wonderful authors in the running for the contest, and they're definitely worth checking out, including Dreamspinner authors like Grace Duncan, Andrew Grey, and Rhys Ford. You can find my books as well as theirs at the Dreamspinner Press store!

Thanks, everyone who voted ! You guys rock! Thank you! -Shira