Check it out! The link for the mp3 podcast is on the bottom of the page!

I have also added a Posthumous Postings category on her links section as  a quicker way to see the most recent dedication postings + her Lightning Sliced Press Release video. I'm sure more links will be added as time goes by! 

Book sales are still rising, little by little! 

Much love to all of the Zellie Fans! Thank you for all you continue to do for her Legacy! 

Just so you know, because of you and all of your efforts, the American Cancer Society will get its first royalties check from Zellie's book sales.  Since I posted yesterday, the book sales JUMPED! She has now sold 32 print and 11 eBooks.  The check is pending– I will let you know when the first donation has been made! 

Second-

I've been emailing back and forth with one of Zellie's good friends who she called Tramz. He had some happy news to report, too! Here is his message verbatim! (back note- she has been fans of Super Number One [had done some work with them- they do podcasts about things like games, books, music, etc]:

I heard back from the Super Number One Podcast btw. They are going to have a special dedication to Zellie at the beginning of next episode, and Kevin (Rad Bear) let me preview (to see if it was appropriate) a song he wants to play there that both he and Zellie were working on. I don't know if you want to put up a post on either Zellie.info or Facebook once the new episode goes up, but it might be a cool way to let those who wouldn't normally listen to that podcast know that something about Zellie is going to be said there.

It can either be gotten on iTunes or directly from here

i am posting this now so you all can keep going to their page and look for it!! I'll do the same and when I know for sure it's up, I'll post the link as well. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up!!!!

I have also been reading your comments. Thank you to everyone who has ordered a book and who have promoted it! 

In other news, I was informed that Absolutewrite.com put Zellie's post in a remembrance section and her fans have been writing condolence notes here:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5314165#post5314165

The timestamps on the Zellie posts confuse me a lot, but anyway, this was one of the forums that Zellie worked on posting about LS right before she died. The times are wrong though, because she had already passed by then…

Anyway, keep your comments/suggestions for marketing coming! I like the idea about the cards, as someone suggested (Orin I think?).

Hugs to everyone

1) I wrote to JC Hutchins who kindly emailed me back. Not only did he have wonderful things to say about our beloved Zellie. He also blogged about her. He promoted her book. Savannah Writing Group Friends- you know her and her love for JC Hutchins and her love for writing more than anybody else. I hope you enjoy this post by him! I hope EVERYONE enjoys this post. 

Click here

2) I logged into her LuLu page to see how things were going. So far she has 5 eBook orders and 22 paperback copies sold! No! Wait! I just checked again- 23 books sold now! 

We still have a lot of work to do to double, maybe triple this number. Zellie ordered 20 copies when it was first published (this is not counted in the 28 sold), and once those arrive, we can 'approve' it so it can be sold on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. With enough pestering, we could get it into brick and mortar stores. You will all be posted on the book's progress.

In other news, just to update you, Zellie's body will be cremated and her ashes will be spread somewhere beautiful since she liked to travel. A bunch of us Zellie fans will be planning her memorial. The date for that is TBD. You will be updated.

I am sorry I am not as good a writer/blogger as Zellie. But please know I have every tiny ounce of her interest in my heart and I am doing everything i can to keep her dreams alive. 

So many people have stepped up- many of you are responsible for these book sales. You have made her smile, laugh and continue to dream. You have given her good memories. You have supported her during her worst time. She appreciated all of you, and as her JenTwin, I appreciate all of you too.

She passed away with her boyfriend at her side. Her friends and family were close by. Through everything, she had a sunny attitude. Despite her pain, she kept a smile on her face. As you saw on our previous post,  she held on very tight to make sure her book would be published and shared to the world. Please remember Lightning Spliced. 

Never forget Zellie's voice. Her smile. Her bubbling personality. Her love for Ninja Turtles, writing, voice acting, Nintendo, puppies (especially Blazer!), pillow fights and of course, her friends. Never forget her laugh. While she has passed from this physical life, she will always be in everything around us. 

If you have any questions, please contact me (Madeline) at spiersjph@gmail.com. 

Please please please take a look at our previous post and help us market her book, for this is something she wanted more than anything else.

Madeline here. Just writing to let you know that Zellie's book LIGHTNING SPLICED  is finally available for purchase on Lulu! You can get it as a paperback ($20) or an eBook ($7.99). What makes this even more awesome is that all proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society. So be sure to get your butt up and buy your own NOW!

If you prefer to order this book from another online outlet, such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble, this option will become available 6-8 weeks from today. FYI- purchasing from Lulu sends more proceeds to the American Cancer Society.

In further electrifying news, this book can be available at brick and mortar stores!  How? Marketing! So with a lot of work, we can get this done! But we won't just wait for them to notice us. We'll MAKE them notice us! Be sure to spread the word so bookstores can find this novel as awesome as we think it is.  We can go into independent book sellers, comic retailers,  Borders, and more. Once there,  we can speak to the person in charge and request that they stock copies. LET'S MAKE ZELLIE FAMOUS!

For ordering purposes, here is the ISBN: 978-0-557-65205-1. If the person in charge needs any further information, contact us at zellieblake@gmail.com.

For more about the book, you can read the cover flap, subscribe to audio chapters as a podcast and/or read the first three chapters for free. 

For more about self-publishing see  Should Self-Publishing be a Dirty Word? and  Marketing Options for self-publishers

Below find the link for the Official Press Release V-Log

LIGHTNING SPLICED Press Release

For fun, here is the outtake video

Outtakes

Love,

The A Team

With the worst/best timing, Jennifer and john had already been planning to visit me so they've taken on the grunt work while I dictate my needs.  We're setting this up as a softcover, e-book, and audio book.  I'm not sure how much of the audio I can do but Will Ross has already volunteered to do some ass kicking.

Jennifer's got the video blog announcement on her computer and we're ironing out Lulu.com's counterintuitive formatting issues.  The book will be available for purchase at Lulu.com–in which case a greater percentage of proceeds will go to research–Amazon and it has the capability of being purchased for brick and mortor stores like Barnes and Noble, just get into the store and make the request.  I understand if you want to read the book first before putting in that effort so just email us and we can send a larger sample.

Jennifer  is the head of our street team and the go-to girl for those who want to help so we'll post her contact info ASAP.  For now, send anything to mine, she's got accsss to it.

If you have any promotional ideas, let us know!  Some ideas so far

- press releases in local (to you!) stores

-print out your favorite quote with the website address and stick it inside a book or games or movies etc  that might relate (7th Son, Heroes novels, X-men books or comics, Iron Man stuff, TMTNT, Blade

-Get creative–draw the characters, make a diorama of a scene, be eye-catching a fun, make pins

-Challenge people…..whose side are you on?  The doctors or the patients?

-Write fanfiction!  I'll feel like I've made it when there's slashfic on fanfiction.net ;)

-Go around videoblogging…. ask people  what they'd do if  their touch killed people but so did their reputable doctor?  What other questions could you ask?  Go for tings that are open-ended

-Send us your creations so we can post them!!

He said they didn't have any treatment options.  That it's progressing too fast for the chemo, any form of it, to work.  They discharged me with hospice care.

I'm in shock and don't really understand the idea of just…waiting for it devour me.  On the other hand, I know I feel worse so know they're right about the chemo.  Still…….we've only tried two chemical sets and they were acting before like there were more that could be tried.  Why stop now?  It wasn't perfect but it was helping!

Jennifer has ordered me to get a second opinion or even third opinion.  She and John just arrived today on a trip we'd had scheduled a month or so in advance.  She's my one–foot-shorter twin who had stomach cancer.  It's really awesome to see them, to have friends around through this news.

They brought me home by mini-bulance and stretchered me up to the hospital bed now set up in my room.  Once things settled, Blazer was set free.  He leapt up–not onto the bed, onto my LAP!

She came bearing the most amazing project I have ever seen.  1,000 paper cranes–technically, 1,500 since my boyfriend went above and beyond the call of duty!  It's one of those concepts that sounds great, but I always think would never actually happen.  I mean, people are flakey and that's one THOUSAND cranes!  I don't think I could fold one single crane!!!   Thanks guys, for proving me wrong and being fantastic friends (:

Not only that, but she set up photo frames to hold special signed cranes.   She got the puppeteers from TMNT!!

And wow, J.C. Hutchins my favorite author!  He's been an absolute inspiration, especially now.  I still haven't gotten an agent for Lightning Spliced and obviously I can't wait around forever.  He's shown me that I don't have to leave the book buried under my bed.  I can share it, it can find its audience.

We stopped by the oncology office to get some oxygen at home to tide us over to the PET scan results / likely changed chemo.  We talked to the nurse but had some extra questions and the doctor was able to squeeze us in.  My shoulder feels better but is definitely more inflammed and she was concerned about how fast my breathing changed, whether I had a blood clot.  So she sent us to the ER for a CT scan.

No visible blood clot but there's a bunch of activity around my liver, enough that they think it's shooting off crap (yes I'm articulate about my medical terms) which is screwing everything else up.  Of course, this is really shitty news in the disease's already shitty progression so the doctor had us talk about my wishes / extreme techniques vs. quality of life.  

They're going to run more tests and work on treatments to hopefully get me turned around.