Jim Brown and Carol MacLeod sent over the following announcement about the upcoming EPIC contest:
EPIC’s premier eBook competition needs YOU! How, you may ask? There are a few ways you can help this wonderful ebook contest out.

First, this contest is in need of entries. Last year you knew the contest as the EPPIEs but with the ever changing field of ebook publishing, EPIC has decided to revamp the contest and rename it more in line with what it has come to be to the industry as a whole. This is the best ebook competition out there and there are those within the finalist ranks who have gone on to become NYC authors. EPIC has been seen as an innovator in the ebook industry for more than ten years and wants to continue to do so for each and every ebook author!

With over 30 categories to choose from there is a category specific to your genre in the ebook field. This includes categories in children, poetry, fiction, romance, erotic romance and many, many more. Entries are still being accepted until August 15, 2009 for ebooks published between October 1, 2008 and May 31, 2009. Full details, plus entry forms here: http://bit.ly/M9NUc

Finalists will be announced November 2009 with the awards presented to the receiptents at EPIC’s 2010 conference in New Orleans, March 4-7, 2010.

Second, EPIC needs judges and if you feel you can qualify as a judge, please sign up immediately for participation! Only industry professionals need apply. Contact Anne Douglas at epic.competition.coordinator@gmail.com for more information. You will read some of the best books in the field…and love doing it!

More information about EPIC can be found at
http://www.epicauthors.com/

Bloodlines author Kathryn Casey announced via her Twitter feed that the HOUSTON CHRONICLE Book & Author Dinner (taking place Nov. 1st) had confirmed the attendance of #1 best-seller Lee Child (the Jack Reacher series). Congrats to the folks in Houston for scoring that catch.

To celebrate the launch of the new JasonPinter.com web site, the creator of the Henry Parker series is sponsoring a contest with a number of impressive prizes, ranging from a $100 iTunes gift card to having your name (or the name of a friend or relative you choose) used as a character in an upcoming Pinter novel. Hurry, though, entries must be received by midnight, August 31st. Kudos to Pinter for including audio captcha functionality on his new site for the visually impaired to confirm contest entry legitimacy.

Fans of Fred Van Lente’s graphic novel Cowboys and Aliens will be happy to learn that the screenwriting tandem of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have turned in their first draft of the script and are currently waiting for feedback from producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg.

Hellbound Hearts (Pocket Books), a tribute anthology immersed in the mythology Clive Barker created for his Hellraiser property, is currently available for preorder through Amazon.com, according to editors Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan. The lineup includes Hugo Award winner Neil Gaiman, Steve Niles, Mike (Hellboy creator) Mignola, Mick (Masters of Horror) Garris, Richard Christian Matheson, Nancy Kilpatrick, Tim Lebbon, Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, Kelley Armstrong and others, with a foreword and cover painting by Barker himself. Pocket releases Hellbound Hearts Sept. 29th.

A book trailer has been released for A POISONED PASSION, the ninth true crime book from Edgar-award nominee Diane Fanning, coming later this month from St. Martin’s Press. In an isolated town in the middle of West Texas, a veterinarian chooses murder over divorce and takes her husbands life using veterinary pharmaceuticals. You can find the trailer here: http://tiny.cc/h0oEG

Michael Petroni (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader) and Michael Bond (Passengers) have been tapped by SyFy to write the script for a 6 hour miniseries dealing with the 2012 doomsday scenario predicted by the Mayan calendar. The as-yet untitled series will have a lot of company mining the prophesies, as no fewer than four big-budget films revolving around the plot device are currently in, or entering pre-production.

Screenwriter and producer Rick Danford of Enigma Films broke the news via a press release that writer-turned-filmmaker Joseph M. Monks will be joining the production team behind Death Island, co-scripted by Danford and makeup F/X legend/actor Tom Savini (From Dusk ‘Til Dawn, Web of Darkness, Dawn of the Dead). Death Island revolves around a film crew stranded on the atoll of the same name, where things go terribly awry after they discover the island is inhabited by zombies, will mark the return to walking-dead films for Savini, who is attached to direct.

Christopher Thomas, editor of the non-fiction compilation Diabetes is a Funny Word, announced that the book will be translated and released in China, and that an as-yet unnamed TV celebrity will be penning the introduction, with an announcement forthcoming about the mystery contrib via the Diabetic Rock Star social networking site and Twitter.