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Jack of Hearts Giveaway

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Jun 10th, 2013
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Click the “Enter to Win” link for a chance to win a copy of Jack of Hearts.

And if you already have a copy and have read it, I’d be forever grateful if you would write a review on Goodreads, Amazon, etc! :)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Jack of Hearts by Ricardo Bare

Jack of Hearts

by Ricardo Bare

Giveaway ends July 10, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Hurray for Jack!

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Jun 22nd, 2010
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Around spring I entered Jack of Hearts into a few Novel/First Chapter type contests. Just got the results in from the last one (I think, unless I’ve forgotten about one) over at the The Write Helper. As far as I can tell this contest was open to all genres. I’m happy to report that Jack of Hearts ended up in 4th place out of 68 entries.

I saw the result on their website, but I’m looking forward to reading the editor’s official critique when it shows up in the mail.

And with that, I think I’m done with contests from here on out. It’s great to get the feedback (when it’s offered) and some validation (when you do well) but I think I’ve gotten all the value out of them I can at this point. A few more tweaks remain and then I’ll be sending my first batch of query letters out to agents. By carrier pigeon. Agents like that, right?

Another Near Success

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Jun 3rd, 2010
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Since I posted about “Near Successes” last week, I suppose that’s what I should call this one. Earlier this year I entered Jack of Hearts into the Writer’s League of Texas manuscript contest. (I also entered into the Houston Writer’s Guild  contest which I posted about here). The contest is based on the first 10 pages and a synopsis. Just got the result back in the mail.

Unfortunately, JoH didn’t win in its category. However, there’s a bright side–it did score a 9 in almost every category being judged (out of 10 possible). Which must mean the winners got 10’s, so congratulations to the winners. The judge(s) also wrote some very nice comments about the story. Here’s a quote:

“I am not sure how far along the author is in the drafting of Jack of Hearts and the second book in the series, but these first nine pages are polished and professional and warrant a further read by an agent/editor. Much potential for publication.”

The judges are anonymous, but whoever you are, thanks for the great comments! I’m about to begin submitting to agents, so I hope they agree with your assessment.

Good News

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May 6th, 2010
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Earlier in the year I submitted my novel  Jack of Hearts to the Houston Writer’s Guild novel contest.  Recently, I received an envelope in the  mail from them. Looking at any Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes from places I’ve submitted always makes my stomach churn for a second. What’s it going to be? Of course, as any submitting writer knows, it’s likely to be bad news. But, you never know.

The results were kind of bizarre in this case.

When I opened the envelope it contained only the two judges’ scoring sheets. Nothing else. No, “Thanks, but you didn’t place” or “Congratulations, blah blah.” So, my first assumption was that JoH didn’t do too well, and they hadn’t bothered to put a note in because it was obvious. But then I looked at the scores. The first judge gave me 148.5 out of a possible 150. And the second judge gave me a 139. Both had very nice and glowing things to say about the story.

Still assuming I hadn’t placed, I at least knew that the margin of victory must have been slim (within 12 points out of 300). I was a little bummed at not winning anything, though. Later, it was still kind of nagging me–probably because I’m too optimistic or vain (how could I not have won something with that score! haha)–so, I decided to email the head of the guild and ask how I’d placed, just to be sure. I’m glad I did. He emailed me back five minutes later, and said he was about to email the results to everyone, but had misplaced my email. I’d contacted him just in time.

Jack of Hearts won an honorable mention. Only 13 other contestants scored higher than me out of a total of 140 entries. And this was a wide open competition; it wasn’t genre specific. So, all in all, I’m pretty happy with the results.  Feel free to read the first chapter here, if you’re interested.

About Me

Ricardo Bare
Austin, Tx
USA







Ricardo Bare is a writer and game designer living near Austin, Texas. Currently he works as a game designer for Arkane Studios, which in 2012 released Dishonored. Ricardo started his career in the games industry working on the Deus Ex series, winner of the BAFTA and numerous other Game of the Year awards.


Ricardo is the author of Jack of Hearts and Fool of Fate, the first two books in a young adult fantasy series.

JACK OF HEARTS

Amazon [paperback & kindle]
Barnes & Noble [paperback & nook]
iBooks [ebook]

FOOL OF FATE

Amazon [paperback & kindle]
Barnes & Noble [paperback & nook]

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