Ever wonder what it would be like to have a character in a novel named after you? Ever secretly harbor that need to be 'famous'...or 'infamous'?

Well, here's your chance!

In conjunction with Family Productions Inc. the show producers for the Edmonton Woman's Show, mystery author Cheryl Kaye Tardif is participating in a...

Become a Character in a Novel Contest.

Cheryl is about to start her new thriller...SUBMERGED. It is the story of a man submerged in his past--a past of weakness and drug addiction. It is the tale of a man haunted by his own failings and SUBMERGED in guilt after the death of his wife and child. SUBMERGED explores our human failings and the possibility that our 'sins' can be forgiven. Maybe there is redemption after all.

Enter the contest here.

Contest rules.

NOTE: When you enter this contest, you have the chance to have your name selected as a winner for either Cheryl's novel or for one of the other authors participating. You cannot specify authors. But regardless, you will be able to see your name in print! Good luck! :)

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song, Divine Intervention and The River
http://www.cherylktardif.com

Art grew up in Syracuse, New York, and spent summers at Selkirk Shores State Park on Lake Ontario. In 1974 he founded a retail business in Oswego NY, which continues. He's a respected competitive sailor with many seasons of racing experience in Lightnings and other types of sailboats, and a keen observer of wind and weather and their effect on the lake he loves. He writes character-driven adventure. The Secret Ever Keeps is his debut novel and the first in the Eastland series. The second, as yet to be named, is well advanced.

The Secret Ever Keeps:

When marine engineer Laurel Kingsford meets ninety-two year old ex-rumrunner Jake Eastland at his small hotel on the shore of Lake Ontario, the reader quickly learns – although she does not - that he is her grandfather. Jake’s stories of the Prohibition years capture her imagination. Enlivened by her interest, he brings her to the grave of his ancestor Joshua, where he reveals a family legend involving a storm, a shipwreck, and a lost treasure.

Laurel doesn’t believe a word, but when her search for a load of whisky abandoned in 1925 by Jake, who seems to enjoy having her address him as “Grampa Jake”, also turns up an old cannon on the lakebed, she changes her mind. She and Jake recruit diver Mike McCune. Foreword Magazine describes what follows as, “a high-seas thriller replete with...killer storms, sabotaged equipment, and a race-against-time quest for sunken treasure”.

Indeed, there are forces at work our heroes do not understand. A hidden enemy plots to kill Laurel, and deep in the cold dark water, unknown to anyone, awaits a centuries-old secret so powerful it will change the way America views a national hero.

If she can overcome her deep-set fear of the depths, wrest the secret from its hiding place, and find the key to unlock it, Laurel will prove her worth to the men she loves and at long last earn her legacy - the sense of belonging that’s always been missing from her life.

Check out Art Tirrell's exciting novel The Secret Ever Keeps.

Over the next few weeks, I'd like you to meet some very wonderful and talented authors that I have the privilege to launch with--the Spring 2007 Kunati authors. I hope you will check out their books. ~CKT

Part 1: GET REAL READY FOR SOME SOUTHERN FRIED GOLF MISCHIEF ... IN THE HILARIOUS NOVEL, TOONAMINT OF CHAMPIONS, BY TODD SENTELL

"Hilarity for adults . . . perhaps the funniest novel of the year." —Films and Books Magazine

Todd Sentell is an Atlanta native and award winning golf writer whose wildly comic novel, “Toonamint of Champions: How LaJuanita Mumps Got to Join Augusta National Golf Club Real Easy” will be published in mid March, 2007 by Kunati Publishing. The book has already been hailed as a social satirical masterpiece and its style and tone has been compared to Mark Twain's. In other words, those who scream for attention really get a lot of it.

BOOKLIST LOVES THE TOONAMINT

Reviewed by Bill Ott, Senior Editor

Golf inspires its share of mystical celebration, but it also provides fertile ground for low comedy—take Caddyshack, or the novels of Dan Jenkins and Rick Reilly. When it comes to over-the-top slapstick, though, golf journalist Sentell makes Jenkins and Reilly look like somber social realists out of the Emile Zola school.

Summarizing the plot of a farce filled with fart jokes is treacherous, but here goes: Waymon Poodle, the best damn bank teller in Mullet Luv, Georgia, dreams of playing a round of golf at Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters. Sentell’s novel purports to tell us how Waymon tries to achieve his goal, but its real purpose is to expose “what goes on behind the gates of ootsie tootsie private clubs.” Are we really expected to believe that the chairman of the ootsiest-tootsiest private club in America goes by the nickname of Huge Pecker? Well, not exactly, but thousands of otherwise sensible, workaday golf fans will jump at the chance to pretend it’s so.

There’s no explaining why golf slapstick is funny, just as there’s no reason why anybody should like licorice ice cream.

Learn more and laugh more at www.kunati.com

Check out Todd's novel Toonamint of Champions!

Ok...first, I must confess that I am a reality TV fan. Ok, don't shoot me or call 911 just yet. I have my favorites and can live without the rest. For me, the hit TV show Survivor has reigned supreme since it's inception. And I will even admit to following along with The Amazing Race for a few seasons--especially when Rob and Amber from Survivor were on. And I'm an Idol Fan--Canadian and American. And yes, I voted for Eva Avila!

Reality shows are big! And they're addictive.

But there's a new kid in town! A new kind of "Survivor". And it's one I can identify with.

The 3-Day Novel Contest: The Series. "12 Writers, 12 Novels, 72 Hours".

The 3-Day Novel contest is the most grueling challenge a writer can face. I've heard it be said that one would have to be "crazy" to want to submit themselves to that kind of mental anguish and stress. Well, grab me a straightjacket! Purple preferably.

Last September, over the Labour Day weekend, 12 contestants gathered together at the South Point Chapters in Edmonton, Alberta, which by the way is the same store that will be hosting my Whale Song Book Launch in April. (See? I knew I could segue that in!)

I had entered the contest last year and applied to be a contestant, but (maybe mercifully) was not selected to participate. Instead, I appeared on the new TV reality show series, A Total Write-Off, which was a total blast. However, I did attend last night's special screening of the first episode of the 3-Day Novel Contest reality show, which premieres on BookTelevision, one of my sponsors for the Whale Song Book Launch (segue #2), on Sundays at 7:30 MT/9:30 ET.

In the back of South Point Chapters, rows of chairs were set up in front of a big screen TV and we enjoyed an excellent array of catered munchies. And then the show began with an introduction from Tate, the show's producer.

My first impression was: Wow, awesome photography and a great mix of suspenseful music! My second impression was: Oh my God...what those poor people endured!

Well, since I won't be giving away much here, you're just going to have to check it out for yourselves. This aint your momma's reality TV show...and it aint for woosies!

Ok, so there weren't the physical challenges, like running an obstacle course as in Survivor or racing through a muddy swamp as in The Amazing Race. But the mental challenges that faced these writers are not to be taken lightly.

[]Imagine trying to write a novel in three days.

[]Imagine living with 12 other people (ok, Big Brother move over!) while trying to write.

[]Imagine sleeping in bunk beds in one room...with a snorer, or two. (They have no idea what life would have been like if I had been accepted because apparently--although I will deny it--I snore like a forest filled with logging trucks.)

[]Imagine being in a huge bookstore overnight that is haunted by a ghost! Hey, the people working there claim it's a co-worker who passed on and doesn't like people disturbing the books. So she knocks them off the shelves herself every now and then and unplugs the vacuums just to be mischievous.

[]Imagine staring at a blank computer screen, waiting for the right words...any words...one word.

[]And imagine sitting next to someone who constantly hummed (and not in tune apparently) while working. (Ok, another reason why they should be damned happy I wasn't accepted...but at least I can hum and sing in tune! And you know who else can sing in tune? The wonderful, fabulous Alexia Melnychuk, who will be performing at my Whale Song Book Launch on April 7, 2007...yup, another segue.)

Meet the 12 contestants of the 3-Day Novel Contest: The Series
* Timothy Anderson, a "starving artist", student and published novelist, worked on a novel titled Juggernaut. I'm thinking that Timothy may have reeked a little havoc on his fellow writers...a bit of troublemaker, perhaps? Guess we'll have to watch and see.
* Ali Riley, a community rehab worker and book reviewer (hmmm, maybe I can get her to review Whale Song) from Nanton, AB, wrote a novel titled Hag. This is one witty woman!
* Darren Zenko, a freelance writer and radio host/DJ (If you interview me on your radio show I'll give away a copy of Whale Song:) from Edmonton, AB, who wrote a novel titled The Perpendiculars. This young man has a penchant for drinking out of goblets--and I don't think it was water!
* Catherine Ford, a retired journalist for the Calgary Herald from Calgary, AB, wrote The Pine Street Conspiracy. Now she knows how to write a 25-word tagline or synopsis!
* Tyler Morency, a copy editor, proofreader and journalist from Edmonton, AB, wrote The Strange Ballad of Curtis Aberdeen. He's the young puppy of the group.
* Mar'ce Merrell, a writing teacher and children's chapter book author from Edmonton, AB, wrote Drive Carefully. Entering this contest was her 40th birthday gift to herself (uh, Mar'ce, you may want to try a root canal next time; it may be less painful and stress free :)
* Felicia Pacentrilli, a student, poet and actor from Calgary, AB, wrote Quote Me. This bubbly redhead had never entered this contest before.
* Mark John Hiemstra, a cook and avid blogger from Jasper, AB, wrote The Most Beautiful Noose. Here is a guy who has risen above a past of drugs and living on the street. KUDOS, Mark John!
* Jill Battson, a poet born in the UK who now resides in Guelph, ON, wrote The Design of Everyday Things. This woman is one tough cookie!
* Wayne Arthurson, a writer and published novelist from Edmonton, AB, wrote Fuzzy Logic. This guy's done everything from working as a security guard to a house painter to a clown and a punk rock drummer.
* Laura Kjolby, a graphic artist from Vanocuver, BC, wrote Cured. I'm wondering if it's the story of a writer who entered a grueling writing competition and decided never to do it again.
* Ron Yamauchi states his profession as a Crown representative. This "ex-punk musician/government officer/freelance critic" from Vancouver, BC, wrote MEOW: A Thriller on Four Legs. He has attempted the 3-Day Novel contest twice in the past.

And then there are the three judges: Todd Babiuk, a novelist and journalist for the Edmonton Journal; Jenn Farrell, author, freelance writer and editor; and Minister Faust, author and freelance writer.

And last but not least, the host of the show, Kim Clarke Champniss, whose successes include being cast in the role of the alien child in the sci-fi classic Village of the Damned, managing the band Images in Vogue, and interviewing varaious bands such as U2 and The Sex Pistols.

On behalf of the viewers who were invited to this private screening, thanks to Rachel Sentes, the wonderful manager of Chapters South Point. This gal knows how to put on an EVENT! I don't know where she gets her energy, but as an author who's had the pleasure of working with her, I admire her dedication to everything she plans. I can't wait until my book launch! Oh, and in case I forgot to mention, it's the Whale Song Book Launch, held at Chapters South Point, Edmonton, AB, on April 7th from 7:00 - 9:30 pm. It's going to be Edmonton's BIGGEST and BEST BOOK LAUNCH ever!

For more information on air dates and times for the 3-Day Novel series, please go here.

View the trailer here.

And check out my new website for information about my Whale Song Book Launch!

Well, I must tell you that I just finished an extremely exciting interview tonight on Authors-First with Tony Kay, at www.artistfirst.com. ArtistFirst Radio Network, an independent, online radio broadcaster, is celebrating their 10th year and I wish them all the best.

I found Tony's questions to be very insightful, and he did a great job of keeping me in line and on topic! (Because anyone who knows me also knows that if you ask me about writing or my novels, I could talk forever. :)

If you've come to my site because of ArtistFirst Radio, please sign my guestbook and let me know. I was very pleased at the opportunity to share just a bit of my passion of writing, and give you a sneak peek at Whale Song, which releases April 2007.

Don't forget to pre-order and reserve your copy now. Right now, it's on sale! (And it isn't even on the shelves yet :)

To order Whale Song, go HERE.

To check out my main website, please visit http://www.cherylktardif.com.

My blogs:

http://www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com

http://www.writetype.blogspot.com (I think I goofed in the interview and said 'the writetype.blogspot...sorry)

http://www.criminalmindsatwork.blogspot.com

If you are a fan or aspiring author, please don't hesitate to email me at cheryl@kunati.com.

If you are looking for self-publishing options, please see these companies:

http://www.infinitypublishing.com

http://www.trafford.com

I have the honor of being both self-published and traditionally published. Please check out my new and fabulous publisher, Kunati Books, the publisher of Whale Song. http://www.kunati.com

Thank you, TONY! That was fun! I had a great time and would love to come back. Perhaps once I hear back from Hollywood that they're taking Whale Song, giving me a cameo and paying me an unheard of amount for a Canadian author...lol :)

My motto: Dare to Dream...and DREAM BIG!

And if that doesn't work, DREAM BIGGER!!

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif