Unkown God Tour at Chicago Comic Con

Hey gang, just wanted to share my thoughts and some pics from this year's Chicago Comic Con.


I had not did this event, (which has previously been known as Wizard World Chicago), since 2006. That year I was quite disappointed with the event, my sales and the lack of foot traffic...which probably explains why I stayed away so long.


But this year's show was quite a different experience for me. There was significant foot traffic in the artist's alley area all 3 and 1/2 days of the event and Saturday's crowds reminded me of a day at Comic Con International (in San Diego) with isles so filled with people it was difficult just to try to move through the hall.

In 2006, it seemed that the crowd was very indifferent to Eye Witness, which I basically determined by the few number of people that actually stopped to ask about it or grabbed a free poster. While during this year's show, it seemed many more people were interested in finding out just what the heck it was about, stopped to hear my pitch and gobbled up the free Unknown God Posters as fast as I could autograph them. And of course, when more people stop to take a look, that meant many more purchased.


There were a number of "brother creators" were in the house this year also, which gave me an opportunity to refer people I knew were in search of comics and GN's with Christian or spiritual content, to their tables. There was Dr. "Solo" Perry of Honors Studios, with his War in Paradise comic...which. if you haven't seen it, is a beautifully rendered story of Angels and Demons which is reminiscent of the widely popular Archangels comics of the '90's. Got a chance to briefly meet Marc Moran, who shared with me his massive Conqueror and Conqueris graphic novel...can't wait to give it a read. I also got a chance to touch base briefly with the gang over at Kingdom Comics...who had a whole table of different faith based comic offerings. Also a big shout out to Martin Oakly and George Macas, who were also in attendence selling (literally) tons of comics they had just purchased!



As with most major conventions this one was loaded with people in costumes. There was the requisite Joker in the Nurses uniform and Captain Jack Sparrow, groups of characters from the World of Batman and X-Men, as well as two guys who created home-made Iron Man and War Machine armor, that I would have sworn was the product of Marvel studios. But this was the only one I felt compelled to run out and get a picture of.

This young girl was the perfect Hit-Girl!








As with any of the Wizard promoted events this one had a real nice assortment of celebrity, movie and TV guests. But the biggest surprise along those lines was an appearance on Saturday morning by the newly convicted ex-governor of IL, Rod Blagojevich. He was there to sign autographs, have your picture taken with him and in general attempt to start building his new war chest for his second trial. Granted I did not leave my table to go see how many people actually gave this "character" their money, but when they announced his arrival most in the hall let out a thunderous boo!

But as this picture here shows, even pro. wrestlers enjoy the Eye Witness series! If you don't recognize him, this is the legendary, Raven, of the WWE, getting his copy of book one!


Overall this was a very fine show for me...the best outside of the Creation NW music festival...in amount of sales. Now I'm really looking forward to the next Wizard sponsored shows I'll be doing in the fall leg of the Unknown God tour, in Boston, Austin and Atlanta!


R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

Bob's Washington (and East Coast) Adventure

Hey gang,

I wanted to share a bit about what I've been doing between my convention stops at Heroes Convention and the Philadelphia Comic Con.

First of all I had an opportunity to get back on line, thanks to the generous offers from Best Buy and got a fairly decent Compaq laptop (which I believe in now a part of HP) for less than $400.

Then I've taken the four days between events to literally stop in each major city between Charlotte and Philly, to visit and leave book samples with as many comic shops as feasible (thank God for Google Maps....a few years back this kind of thing would have just been too labor intensive to put together)!

Being a former retailer myself, it's always a blast to see the very different character of shops around the county and how different they can be right within the same city...as well as how the store owners/mgr's greet and deal with people who walk into their stores. I'm happy to report that out of the 30 odd stores I visited, only one shop (and store owner) was rude to me and wouldn't even except my book sample (he told me he doesn't sell anything over $10...and all the Eye Witness books were $13.99 SRP). Yeah right! But as a professional courtesy I won't name the store, but only let you know it's in Raleigh.

But on the other hand here's a list of stores I would definitely seek out, if I needed my comic and/or GN fix and found myself in one of these cities:

Chapel Hill Comics (Chapel Hill, NC)
SciFi Genre (Durham, NC)
EG Comics (Vienna, VA)
Nostalgia Plus (Richmond, VA)
Laughing Ogre (Fairfax, VA)
Heroes Aren't Hard to Find (Charlotte, NC)

One final note. During one of my two days in the Washington area, I decided to do a bit of sightseeing, since I had never had the opportunity before in our nation's capital. Coming into the city I lucked into a parking place right along one of the main streets next to the Washington monument and better yet, it was free parking....score!

I went on my way to see the Wash. Monument, toured the Smithsonian Natural history Museum and made myself walk the approximate 1 mile distance to the Lincoln Monument(which I just had to see). During that last hike I made a point of making sure all was well with my vehicle and making sure there it was still where I left it. It was.

On my way back to my truck though, I noticed a lack of cars parked along the street I was parked on and became concerned. A brisk walk ended up becoming a jog, which turned into an outright sprint, when I saw several motorcycle cops along the block where I was parked and only a handful of cars still parked. Yikes!

I was in full panic mode as I was sure the spot where I left my truck was now vacant, but kept sprinting forward as I saw there was a blue vehicle up ahead (but it looked like a van). But I kept running forward just in case (rather than stop and talk to the cops) and to my relief it was my truck and the tow truck was lining it up to haul away next!!!! I ran up and told him in a breathless manner, "Dude, that's mine,"...and to my total surprise he just said, go ahead and take it!

I soon learned that where I was parked was legal parking, that is until 4:30 to 6pm...and at that moment it was 4:45pm. Wow...what a bullet I dodged. That would have put a serious black cloud over this trip if I would have just taken my time to get back to the spot.

Today starts the Philly CC...more to come

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

Unknown God Tour---Promo Poster

Here is hot image we'll be using as our Unknown God 2010 tour promotional giveaway poster.

The image was based upon my original cover design, which was re-envisioned and painted by artist supreme, David Rodriguez.

To get your copy, watch for the posting of my upcoming appearance schedule coming here soon...and simply make your way to my table!

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

...And The Future of Communication, Is?

I ran across a wonderful article by Readthespirit.com editor, David Crumm, entitled, "The Shape of Things to Come is...Well...Spiritual." The article is based upon David's impressions of information presented at the recently held, "The Tools of Change Conference, 2009", held in New York City. The Conference was attended by people from all around the world involved in the booktrade, publishing, magazines, journalism and marketing.

Some of the Headlines that caught my attention, were that coming soon to a major corporation near you, will be the creation of a new job title, called: Social Community Facilitator. This will be the person responsible for the companies presence on online communities, (I.E. facebook, twitter etc...), who will be separte from the marketing department and be more attuned to the concept of community, as made popular in the Christian church.

Another revelation from the conference is, that the furture of getting our daily fix of information, (is which is slowly moving away from our daily newspaper and weekly magazine subscription), is not going to be from our home computers or laptops, but rather through our cell phones or hand held devices. Book and newspapers publishers in the far-east are already using technology to deliver their content directly to the consumer through these tools.

This is just one part of a four-part series (links provided) and quite lengthy, but worth the read if your interested in the future of the media.

Go to The Future of Communication.

R.J. Luedke
headpress.info

Explaining the Graphic Novel

As someone who is out there in the media and bookstore trenches, attempting to explain to people who didn't grow up reading graphic novels (or comics, or manga) what exactly they are, I think I've developed an explanation that I think helps make better sense of the whole conversation and if you're a fan of the format...could help to better explain it to someone who may not yet be familiar with it.

For many years now, literary critics, book reviewers and pseudo-intellectual bloggers have been pondering the graphic novel and where it fits into...or even if it fits into...serious discussion about literature.

Here's a current example of this kind of discussion, (by journalist Seth Sommerfeld for the online Gonzaga Bulletin), which is typically created for those who might new to the medium, by those who are vaguely familiar with it. Usually these kind of Graphic Novel 101 pieces, involves invoking one or more of the works that everyone knows since they have been successfully developed into other mediums, (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the upcoming Watchmen, 300, Sin City etc...). Within this competent piece, Sommerfeld restates the stock answer to the question, what is a graphic novel? "A graphic novel is a book-length comic. Everything one would expect in a traditional novel is present, they just happen to add illustrations to correspond with the story."

While much of that is indeed true, (and for the purposes of discloser...I've used a version of this explanation myself in interviews), I've grown to feel that much of that description is not only too simplistic, but just plain out and out misguided. First of all, what he's explaining here, is more akin to an illustrated novel, which adds illustrations every few pages or chapters, that "correspond with the story," and help flesh out the look of the characters for the reader. With a graphic novel, the illustrations don't just add to the story, they are integral to it. Ask anyone who's spent significant time reading or purchasing graphic novels (or comics) and more often then not, their buying decisions are based upon the artist (or art team), rather than the writer. There are exceptions of course, (Neil Gaimen, Alan Moore, Frank Miller to name a few), but typically if the art does not appeal to the reader he might as well be reading a novel (no pun intended)!

You see, when you break it down, a graphic novel is much closer in structure to the format of a screen play, than it is a novel. While you may find some GN authors who write their "scripts" similar to a novel outline, you find a greater majority create a document that looks and reads very much like a screenplay. This is because the creation of a graphic novel parallels the developmental course of a screenplay, more so than a novel.

With a novel you have the writer and then the editor (or team of editors) who help craft the story into a marketable form. But as far as the foundation of the story goes, (the creation of the characters, their descriptions, the settings, the mood), unless there is a ghost writer involved, the writer is the sole person responsible for the creation and vision of the work and he gets the lion share of the credit (not to mention the royalties).

With a graphic novel, you still start with the writer (and also most likely an editor) to craft the story into a usable form. But from that point, the progress of the work will veer into the direction of what happens with a screenplay. With a GN script, the writer is responsible for pointing out what is taking place not only in each scene, but on each page of the scene and depending how they work, sometimes in each individual frame within that page.* With some exceptions when a graphic novel script is completed, it then goes to an artist (some times one person, sometimes a team of people) who take the script and break it down into layouts based upon the descriptions in the script; then pencil illustrations are done; then fully inked renderings are created from these illustrations; and then (in some cases) fully colored-painted artwork. In that case the writer of the script is closer in definition to the writer of a screenplay, since this is the basis on which to total presentation is built. The penciler, inker and colorist (sometimes all the same person) are akin to the cinematographer, director of photography, casting director and director...in that what the writer has indicated in the script, is now translated through their eyes onto the page. The process then comes full circle as the words are then added to the artwork, to create a whole that is now much greater then the sum of it's parts.

So unlike most novels, graphic novels are the result of the vision of more than one person (unless of course you work like me with Eyewitness...actively involved on almost every level). And like movies the final appearance of a graphic novel, can drastically deviate from the original story as envisioned by the writer in his script...because after all, we all visualize a bit differently. How many times have you read a good novel and had a real solid visual image of what a character looked like (based upon the writer's description) only to have him/her look dramatically different on film. That's similar to the impact that a casting director has on a screenplay and/or your pencil artist has on a graphic novel.

Now, when you have one person who is not only the writer, but also the artist and editor of a GN project, you have what could be related to in the world of cinema, as an indy film...one that is driven by the creative vision of one man who not only writes the screenplay, but is also director and cinematographer...rather than an ensemble cast of participants.

So the next time you hear someone trying to talk down graphic novels, because as a literary form, they do not adhere to the basic tenets and accepted practices of a prose novel, politely correct them, that graphic novels are more closely related to movies than they are novels, (which is why they are so easily adapted to that format, since a lot of the work of the director, cinematographer and director of photography has already been done), and so should be judged accordingly! You'll not only most likely "smack down" a literary snob, but you'll sound darned prolific doing it!

Robert James Luedke
Author and Illustrator
http://www.headpress.info/


*There are basically two different formats most GN writers work in...the Marvel Style and Full Script. Peter David, in his seminal work, Writing for Comics, explains it this way, "In the Marvel Style, (Made popular by industry icon, Stan Lee), the story is presented in a general manner , like a short story written in present tense. It includes some, but not necessarily all, dialog and gives the artist much latitude in how he visually paces the story. Once the artwork is done, the writer then scripts the story, adding dialogue, captions and sound effects. When you write in full script, you're telling the artist everything that's going to be on the page...how you want it framed, at what angle, what's in the background, what's the character's expressions, where are their hands...by their side or in their pocket, what's the weather like, etc..."

Scribes of the World, Take Heart!

Here's another one of those stories from a writer who's made it big that can help prop up the spirits of all us writers (or wanna-be writers) who are still waiting for their big break.

Stephenie Meyers, ( http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/), the Phoenix mother of 3 kids, whose Twight series (about Vampires and Werewolves...so take heart Sue Dent/http://www.shoutlife.com/profile_view.cfm?uid=2236...LOL), has become a bonafied hit among teen and young adult readers, has sold over 5.5 millions copies in 28 countries. Last month she was named one of the 100 Most Influencial People of 2008, by Time Magazine.

Her original idea for the characters in Twilight came in a dream back in 2003. Her sister encouraged her to submit the idea to publishers. A year later, after being rejected by nine agents, the story was discoverd in a "slush pile" of unsolicited manuscripts at Writer's House (the Literary agency responsible for Nora Roberts, Neil Gaiman among others/http://www.writershouse.com/content/independent.asp ).

Four years later, Meyers has been dubbed "the next J.K. Rowling", as her Twilight is now being developed for the big screen. The final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, will release this August with a first printing of 2.5 million copies.

The moral of the story?...don't give up on your manuscript, just because it may have been brushed aside by a publishing house or agent or two, or nine! Of course this may not happen for you, like it happened for Ms. Meyers, but if you don't believe it can, who will?
(source: Edward Nawotka/Dallas Morning News).

bob luedke
inspried writer of graphic novels
www.headpress.info

Following the Company Line?

I was forwarded this link to a recent PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY article, about Buzz Dixon's line of graphic novels, (Serenity, Goofy Foot Girl) currently published by Thomas Nelson:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6544434.html?nid=2789

Having first met Buzz back in 2004, when he was shopping the concept of Serenity and I was releasing the first Eye Witness graphic novel, (See: http://www.headpress.info/) , we seemed to both be on the same wave-length about bringing more books with a Christian foundation into the market of comics, manga and graphic novels, (from the subtle to the overt). Therefore, it somewhat saddens me to see him basically speaking the Thomas Nelson company line, "that our graphic novels are not necessarily Christian"...in the hopes of gaining wider reconition in the secular book trade, (see my blog from 2/12 on Thomas Nelson, to more fully understand how I view this stategy).

But then again....Buzz has high hopes for his properties, (as adressed in the article), being tranferred to other media and has partnered (ironically) with this "Christian publishing giant" to help make that happen.

It's funny but this very situation is one I've sat and talked about with brother Christian creators (of all of the arts...music, movies, comics etc...), for years and years! What if one of us created a book/movie/song that became widely popular and was offered a deal with a major company/publisher to make some serious dollars with it, would we be willing to tone down its Christian themes to make it more widely accessible? It's a fork in the road anyone wishing to create works with overt Christian themes, or messages, must deal with when working in a pop culturish industry. Do I stay my course and not sacrifice my desire to expand the kingdom through my works, or do I go down the path for more sales, more exposure, more money, in exchange for potentially having to give up some of my editiorial control of my creations to do so?

Is this moral conumstrom unique to Christian creators?...of course not, think of how many tales of creative types "selling out to take the big money" you've heard in your lifetime. It's just that with those who profess a goal larger than earning money or fame, (re: the great commission), it seems like the decision becomes magnified.

Disclaimer: Since I have not talked to Buzz about this yet, don't be mislead that I'm inferring that this is the course Buzz has taken with his books...it's just that this interview, coming on the heals of a similar statement from his publisher a month earlier, has caused me to wonder out loud. Buzz Dixon is a wonderful person, an honorable businessman and to date Serenity has been one of the more pleasant and well received Christian themed american-manga published and my hope is that his core mission for his properties does indeed stay the same.

RJ Luedke
Head Press Publishing

Is Thomas Nelson Moving away from the CBA?

A very interesting article was brought to my attention this morning from fellow author, Sue Dent, (www.shoutlife.com/suedent), that Thomas Nelson had gone on the record with the trade publication, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, that they are not a publisher of Christian Fiction!

Wow...that would be news to the publishing world indeed. Before going any further, read the entire article to understand the context: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6530751.html?industryid=47140

Now that your back ....Let me explain what I think this all means, from a position of one who's been in these Graphic Novel publishing trenches.

Thomas Nelson (http://www.thomasnelson.com/) is indeed a company that people look to for quality "Christian based Fiction" (which I define as stories that go anywhere from overtly Biblical, to those with spiritual or Christian principles or ideas at their core), but a company who is now attempting to make headway into the GRAPHIC NOVEL MARKETPLACE, which is not so friendly to Christian based works (partly due to a bias created by years of persecution from the politically Christian Right, over freedom of speech issues with the product...among other issues).

With their upcoming line of GN's they are attempting to parlay the success they've found with their prose fiction (re: Dekker's works) to their GN lines...which is you read the orginal article talks about that 70% of their prose fiction sales come from outside of the CBA, while only 50% of their current GN sales are outside of the CBA (re: Dekker's trilogy and Serenity).

For those of you who are not in the know, GN's represent the largest catagory of growth in Publishing over the past few years in the USA. Outside of the USA it represents the top catagory of publishing worldwide and now we in the states are catching up in sales, beause the US book market is finally understanding that ANY KIND OF STORY can be told in this format, not just kids stuff or superhero's, but serious literary works of all genres.

So far the CBA has been kind of resistent to the GN format for a number of reasons, (a. don't really understand the format or it's potential to attract teens into their stores... and b. don't really understand how to display and market it, etc....). So TN, is being proactive to all book retailers by making this statement. They are in essence announcing...HEY, we're not just publishing illustrated Bible adaptations or tracts...this is serious fiction here FOR ALL BOOK RETAILERS, not just the CBA! But that does indeed kind of put them in a rocky place where their membership with the CBA is concerned. But, in the big economic picture they realize there is much more money to be made outside the CBA then their is inside. They just have to have a internal sitdown, I'd guess and decide what kind of publishing house they really want to be!

Footnote: We here at Head Press Publishing have been traveling down this Christian Graphic Novel path and clearing the brush for these larger publishers to follow. Through the publication of the AWARD WINNING Eye Witness graphic novel series, (which premiered in August of 2002), we have experienced and worked through many of the same barriers to our product in both the CBA and secular book trade that TN now is attempting to overcome. As they are finding, given the format, it creates challenges that are unique and quite different from prose only works.

But unlike TN, (or other very large publishing concerns), our bottom line goal with Eye Witness is not to generate the most income possible, but rather to impact the most people with the story of the Gospel shared within it who may not hear about it otherwise. Now don't get confused and think we're socialists (LOL)....if the books sell big-time and generate a healthy profit, we won't complain, but on the other hand that is not what spurred us to create this work, that would just be a nice benefit.

And when all is said and done, staying centered on that goal is what will keep the series on track through it's conclusion (all four books of the tetralogy published)!

Bob Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

WARNING: AOL DICARDING LONGTIME CUSTOMERS

I discovered last evening that my AOL account, (of almost 12 years) had been arbitrarily terminated. I say arbitrarily, since I cannot find out why this even occured or do ANYTHING about it.

Calling AOL's customer service number, I got to jump through the usual hopes, having to talk to the customer service department which is outsourced to some far-off land, where many times you cannot even understand the operators due to their heavy accents, (no racism intended here Time Warner, but if you are dealing with English speaking customers it behoves you to have support people that can fluently speak the language). Then I was told my account was terminated by something called a "MESH TEAM"...and that the reason for this action would not (could not) be discussed by anyone in customer service. If I wanted answers my only option was to "write a letter" to this Mesh Team at AOL's Dulles, VA address. WRITE A LETTER?!

Besides the obvious irony of having to attempt to communicate with this corporate giant, the slowest, most technologically ancient of methods, when it's focus is speeding communications and the flow of information...I find it particularly disturbing that this is how they choose to deal with customers that have been loyal to them for so long. It's obvious this method is meant to totally cut off any option on the part of the long term AOL customer to discuss this action, or for that matter, see if it is even justified in any way!

SO USE THIS AS A CAUTIONARY TALE....do not sign up for AOL, or if you are already a subscriber, I would take steps to begin transferring your data, address book and any mailing lists to a new provider, since scanning the web I find this behavior of terminating of long term accounts by this MESH TEAM, with no explaination proveded (even if you do choose to write them), seems to be happening at an alarming rate all over the country. This unethical action by AOL has locked me out of over a decade of my contact information, and allows me no recourse or action to retrive it at this point! Having been a client of AOL for so long I stopped making hard-copy duplicates of contact information long ago, since I had total confidence in their service.

So if you have been trying to contact me through any of my normal email channels and have gotten it returned, please resend the information through the "CONTACT US" page on our website: www.headpress.info ....and I will respond through a new email address.

I apologize for any inconvience this may have on the hundreds of people we communicate with monthly, but hope my sharing this information helps other people abandon the AOL ship, figurativly speaking, before this happens to them.

If you have a good referal for a email, group mailing provider, feel free to pass it on to me. I've been locked into AOL so long, truth be told, I don't know what's all out there.

Bob Luedke
Head Press Publishing

Head Press Publishing Making Waves at CCI '07

Beside selling copies of the graphic novel series, Eye Witness (books 1 & 2: http://www.headpress.info/ ), Head Press Publishing will be offering a convention exclusive at this year's Comic-Con International 2007, in San Diego from July 25th-29th, (to purchase advance tickets go to: http://www.comic-con.org/ ).

But this years booth promises to be even more special than in year's past, because HPP will also be the home for a handful of carefully selected RED-HOT Christian themed entertainment items, that will available nowhere else at the convention!

Here's a quick list of what you'll find this year at our table in the Small Press Pavillion (Table P8 Aisle 1900):

-The EXCLUSIVE COMIC-CON ashcan edition of, EYE WITNESS: DESTINY ROAD. This is an advance sneek peek at the third and final book in, Robert James Luedke's, Award-Winning Eye Witness Christian graphic novel series. There will be a limited edition of 100 signed and numbered copies available on a first come first serve basis....so visit us as early in the con as you can before they are gone. The finished 160+ page graphic novel will be ready in time (hopefully) for CCI '08.

-NEVER CEASE, a novel by Sue Dent (http://www.shoutlife.com/profile_view.cfm?uid=2236 ). A vampire and a werewolf....can the two who were wronged make it right by their faith? Find out in this highly praised horror novel with a Christian foundation. Never Cease, was on the peliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker awards, (http://www.horror.org/stokers.htm ), in the catagory of Superior Achievement in a First Novel & was named Book Club Choice of the Month (in April '07) by the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW: http://www.americanchristianfictionwriters.com/).

-T-Shirt creations by Life Co Brands (http://lifecobrand.com/shirts.php) ...featuring their NO EVIL & I KILLED JESUS designs.

-The wonderfully irreverant and cutting edge anthology magazine, MEGAZEEN (http://www.megazeenonline.com/ ), which features some of the most talented creators working in the genre of Christian comics today.

-and....For the gamers out there we will feature the PRINCIPALITY collectable card game by EPOS, (see: http://www.epos-ent.com/Principality/). We will have both master decks, (which has everything you need for a 2 player game) and also the A CHOIR OF ANGELS EXPANSION PACKS.

So don't miss out on stopping by and taking a look at all these wonderful products.

Like last year Head Press Publishing be located right next to the Christian Comic Arts Society (CCAS: http://www.christiancomicarts.com/ ), so our little corner of the Small Press Pavillion will be guarenteed to be the center of the Comic-Con universe for Christian oriented products and creators! And speaking of the CCAS, they will be sponsoring a SPIRITUAL THEMES IN COMICS PANEL, (on Sat. 7/28, from 10:30-11:30am and the CCAS PANEL & CHAPEL SERVICE (Sun, 7/29, 10:30-11:30a).

And Finally:

Author and Artist of the Eye Witness series, Robert James Luedke, (http://www.headpress.info/about_luedke.html ), will be on hand for the entire convention, signing autographs, working on pages from Destiny Road, drawing sketches and in general talking to fans about: creating comics, writing, inking, composition and using graphic arts in ministry....so make sure to stop by and say hi.

Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit, wins Nat'l Book Award

Got some stunning news today, that I wanted to share with all of your out there that have supported the Eye Witness series to date:

Press Release, 5/21/07....

It was announced on Friday May 18th, that Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit, will be awarded the silver medal at this years IPPY Award presentation, for the category of dramatic graphic novel .

Acts of the Spirit, written and illustrated by Robert James Luedke, (see interview: http://readerviewskids.com/InterviewLuedke.html), is the second book in the Eye Witness graphic novel trilogy. Eye Witness premiered with book one ( A Fictional Tale of Absolute Truth), in August of 2004 and Robert is currently in production on the third and final book in the series, (Destiny Road), which will be released in late 2008.

"To have a Christian based graphic novel recognized in this fashion by the media is a wonderful blessing to this developing genre, " states Luedke. "The whole purpose of this series was to bring the story of the birth of the Christian faith to a new generation of readers who might not be interested in going to church or reading the Bible...but love a good action-thriller presented in the graphic novel format. Though winning awards is not what we set out to do...if doing so provides the books with more viability and can get them into the hands of more young people, then we're ecstatic about it!"

The IPPY Awards presentation, (sponsored by Independent Publisher Magazine/Jenkins Group), will be held in conjunction with this year's Book Expo American (BEA), at "Books Off-Broadway", on Friday June 1st, from 6-9pm at the Triumph Room of Provdidence. (for more information, visit: http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1157).

The second Book of the Year Award which Acts of the Spirit is in the running for, sponsored by FOREWORD Magazine, will be announced at the BEA on Friday June 1st, from 2:30-4pm, at the "Live on Second Stage" event, on the main show floor, (for more information, see: http://readerviewskids.com/InterviewLuedke.html).

For more information about the Eye Witness series or to order, visit: http://www.headpress.info

Acts of Spirit, Finalist for Nat'l Book Award

FOREWORD BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

ForeWord Magazine is pleased to announce the finalists in the eighth annual Book of the Year Awards. These books represent some of the best work coming from today's independent press community.

Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit (ISBN-13 9780975892428) by Robert James Luedke, (published by Head Press Publishing), was announced as one of the finalists for the Graphic Novel catagory. According to Luedke, "Just being included as a finalist for this award, is obviously an honor and hopefully it will go a long way to opening the eyes of retailers, librarians and the reading public about the genre of faith-based graphic novels."



Nearly 1,400 books were entered in 59 categories. These were narrowed to 698 finalists, from 419 publishers. The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers, selected from our readership. ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards program was designed specifically for them to share in the process of discovering distinctive books across a number of genres with judgments based on their own authority in each category and on their patron/customer interests.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor's Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America at the Javits Center in New York City, June 1st from 2:30pm at LIVE@ Second Stage located on the main show floor.

For a listing of all finalists, go to:
http://www.forewordmagazine.com/botya

For more information about the Eye Witness series, visit:
http://www.headpress.info