Hi All,
 
We at Team Nibiru have waited several months since the last post about our “Name the Wand” contest, to give more readers a chance to exercise their imaginations and submit their entries. At last, we decided the suggestion we’d selected earlier was still the best – so now we’re ending the contest…and declaring the winner!
 
The winning name for the noble wand is “Mutuum,” submitted by Jim Kinnear and his son Seumus, of Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Here they are, with their dragon-sculpture prize!

Mutuum is a word from the Latin language, where it means “a loan or a borrowing for the purpose of consumption by the borrower.” That is, it is understood the borrower will consume the item borrowed, and instead of returning it, “repay” the loan with something of similar value, whether an object or a service. We love the sound of the name, and think its ancient meaning quite appropriate to the themes and messages of our stories. I’m excited to see how the tale of Mutuum evolves, and the roles the wand plays as the series unfolds.  

We decided we had to award a runner-up prize to Taelah Thomas of Penticton, BC, for the great name she submitted, complete with imaginative back-story. David Zerbo also earns honorable mention, for the name “Vindicator’s Wand,” and his intriguing explanation of how the name came to be.
 
And finally, a “Nibiru Ha-Ha” acknowledgement goes out to Jay Gould of Japan, for the name he suggested: “Wanda McStick.” Ha! Jay is a fellow author who’s also working on his third novel. His first, The Fang of the Dragon, is a great read. Check it out on Amazon!
 
Congratulations to all our winners!! You rock!
 
And thanks to all my fans and readers for your creative suggestions, and for taking the time to send them in!
 
We’ll be conjuring up even more contests down the road, so keep checking the website! At the moment, there is still time for you artistic types to enter photos of your drawings, paintings, sculptures, etc., for possible inclusion in future books. Remember, though: any work submitted must be a good fit for the story, following and forwarding the same sorts of “feel,” tone and messages as what you’ve read so far. Winning entries will be purchased from their creators, and included in an upcoming book, along with the creator’s name. Have fun!!
 
Lorna

Hi All,

What a blast I had on my August tour! It started with a great signing at the Coles bookstore in Nelson, BC.  It was so good to see everyone – including a couple of awesome ladies I graduated high school with, Sharon and Shauna. They came down to say hello and purchase their own copies of the second book in the Dragons of Nibiru Series, Dragons of Earth – just released. It was great seeing you two; thanks for your continued support!

Next I traveled over to Hill Spring, Alberta. This stop wasn’t about book signing, though; it was to visit with some Carleton relatives and enjoy a fun-filled family reunion. I arrived in time for the reunion dinner and dance at the Great Canadian Barn, then continued on my tour the next day.

My eleventh straight day of signings took place at the Coles store in Northgate Mall, in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was a fun day, and the Coles staff were amazingly helpful and cheerful. The event was made even better by a momentous event: selling the five-thousandth copy of The Dragons of Nibiru. A fabulous milestone for me. Adding to the excitement was the fact that buyer of #5,000 was one of the terrific Coles staff, Lacie. Big, big thank-yous to Kelsey, Lacie and Alisa for making it such a memorable event. You guys are awesome!

The tour’s last stop was the Dino-Con convention in Drumheller, Alberta. I had a blast – and met some truly interesting characters! Several were interested in my books, as you can see in the photos below.

I hope all who have their copies of Dragons of Earth are enjoying the continuing adventures of Celine and her friends. I’d dearly love to hear from every one of you. Send me a note, eh?! As for the future, I’m planning to release the third book in the series, Dragons of Remini, later this year. Stay tuned!

Lorna

Hi All,

I have a big, big, dragon-sized thank you to deliver today. It goes out to Sophie—one of my new young followers—and her marvelous mother, for their kindness and bravery.

Here’s what happened. Just a few days ago, during a book-signing event at the Chapters bookstore in South Calgary’s Chinook Shopping Mall, would-be thieves snuck off with one of the pewter-and-crystal wands from my display table. (Retail value: $240. Magical value: who can say?)

Sophie and her mother were at my table at the time of the theft. Recognizing what had happened, the intrepid pair dashed out into the mall after the thieves, to retrieve the wand. They succeeded! The wand was recovered, and I am so happy.  

And, if that wasn’t quite enough for one day, Sophie even presented me with a beautiful painting she had made! Here it is:

Thanks, Sophie!! It’s beautiful! And for your help, I couldn’t thank you enough.
 
Happy reading and magical days,
Lorna

Hi All,

Many thanks to all of you who submitted names for the "Name the Wand" contest! There was a lot of creativity on display in your suggestions - impressive!

I've now had time to give each entry careful consideration. And although there were several that were very close indeed, I couldn't settle on one that felt like just the right fit for the stories. I hate to have to say that, but at the same time, I do want the name that finally appears to have just the right ring to it, and make you faithful readers say, "That's it! Perfect!"

With that in mind and at heart, I've decided to extend the contest until December 15 (this year, 2019). This will give you even more opportunity to apply your creativity and inventive spirit. It also gives you the chance to read Book Two in the series, Dragons of Earth, if you haven't already, for even better insight and involvement with Celine, Fianna, and their friends and foes. And, as always, you may suggest as many names as you like.

By the way, a few of you submitted some back story to go along with your name suggestions. Details like the wand's composition, origins, special powers and the like. I've loved every one of these! Such details aren't necessary or required, certainly, but they will help in making my ultimate choice—and they're good exercise for your "creativity muscles," too; always a good, good thing.

Just as a refresher, here is the wand you'll be naming:

And your prize will be one of these handsome dragon sculptures—your choice!

How should you submit your entries? Just go to the "Contact" page and send me a message using the form you'll find there. I'll receive it right away.

Good luck and good naming!

Lorna

Hey! Dragons of Earth is here!

At first reading, that might sound like awful grammar. You might think it should say “Dragons of Earth ARE here." But, no! I’m talking about the second book in the Dragons of Nibiru series: DRAGONS OF EARTH. It has arrived!

Here’s a quick account of the book’s arrival, and its first adventures:

It all started when the long-awaited copies of the second book in the Dragons of Nibiru series arrived on my doorstep—literally—on Thursday, July 11. Yippy!!!!

I have to thank my good friend Lara Smith for their safe arrival. The delivery truck carrying the new books actually showed up the night before (the 10th), in the pouring rain. I was out of town at the time; the delivery driver phoned me to say he couldn’t make it up my steep driveway in all the wet, so he would  be leaving the shipping cartons (1000 books worth!) at the foot of my driveway. Disaster!

I called my neighbour, Lara, told her what was happening, and asked if she could give me a hand. With no hesitation whatever, she jumped to the rescue. First, she drove over to my place, met the delivery guy at the foot of the treacherous driveway, and together they loaded the books into the back of her pickup. She wasn’t finished being a super-neighbor, though; she went two steps further!

Knowing there was a good chance the rain would continue through the night, Lara drove the books back to her home and covered them with a sturdy tarp. Next morning , she returned to my house—all the way up the steep driveway—and unloaded those 1,000 books onto my back porch. Solo! Then, just to be sure they’d be safe until I got home, she covered the cartons with a sheet of plywood. 

Now, from the magnitude of this good deed, you’d think Lara and I had been neighbors and friends for years. Not so. I only moved into the area a few months ago! I have to say that I’m touched and truly grateful for all she did. I wanted to give her a token of my appreciation, so when I finally met up with her a day later, I gave her a signed copy of the book she’d rescued, and its predecessor too: The Dragons of Nibiru. All accompanied by assorted other goodies. Thanks again, Lara!!

Before I was able to catch up with Lara in person, the very first signed copy of Dragons of Earth went to my friend Tawney, as a birthday gift. Tawney has been waiting patiently to read about the continuing adventures of Celine, Fianna and the rest; I surely hope she enjoys the read!

 
The first store to receive copies of Dragons of Earth was Bookingham Palace,  in Salmon Arm, BC. I drove over there on Friday morning to deliver them to the store’s manager, Peter Marsan. Peter has been a terrific source of encouragement and support, which I appreciate enormously.

The first copy of Dragons of Earth sold was purchased by Maggy Davidson, owner of Spirit Quest Books, also in Salmon Arm. It was from Maggy’s store that I purchased the wonderful dragon statues that figure prominently on the display table at all my signing events. I also want to thank Maggy for her faithful support throughout the adventure of creating this series. At Maggy’s invitation, I’ll also be joining her at a book convention next June, in Denver, Colorado. I hear some big publishing companies attend that convention—so it will be fun to see what might develop. I’m sure it will be educational, interesting and fun, no matter what.

Then, to wrap up the first few exciting days with Dragons of Earth in hand, I held the book’s very first signing event at the wonderful Chapters store in Kamloops, BC. Manager Peter Pagnotta and his staff have been helping me right along on my journey as a new author, going all the way back to the days before the first printing of The Dragons of Nibiru. The signing at their store was thoroughly enjoyable. It was particularly great to greet fans of the first book, eager for their copies of the second in the series. Special thanks to Daniel, Devon, Holly and Tasha: I so appreciate your support, and your loyalty to Celine and her friends. It was great seeing you again, and getting a chance to talk with you. I look forward to seeing you again soon, for the release of the third book in Celine and Fianna’s saga:  Dragons of Remini.

Very soon, you’ll be able to get your own copies of Dragons of Earth—print and e-book—from bookstores across Canada, and from Amazon.com.

Come on back here soon, for more news. I know there’s going to be plenty.  :D

Meanwhile, all the best, happy reading, and happy sharing!

Lorna

Hi All,
 
I had a great book-signing tour in the Lower Mainland over the long weekend just past (June 28-30). I met many great people and had a lot of fun. I discovered I have a new fan, too. He’s not yet a fan of my books (too young to read them yet), but he surely seems to be a fan of dragons and dragon treasure. And I’m now a big fan of his! His name is Maximus.
 
Here’s how it happened: During a book-signing at Indigo (bookstore) in the Metrotown Mall, Burnaby, BC, a young boy came to look at some of the dragons, crystals and other items on my signing table. After a little while, he left with his favorite of my bookmarks. Now, at signings, I often give visiting kids a handful of the jewels and gems I use to decorate my display: their own special dragon treasures to take home. I didn't have the opportunity to do this for Maximus, because his family was in a bit of a hurry.
 
Several minutes after he left, Maximus returned to my table and showed me a handful of colorful beads he had found on the floor. He wanted me to display them on my table with the rest of the treasures!
 
In more than 250 book-signings, over the last 1½ years, this is the first time anyone has brought me anything to display on my table. The flow has always been the other way: people happily take things away. That’s completely fine—the things on my table are meant to be given away. This was just a pleasant new experience.
 
I love my little Maximus treasures, and I’ll proudly display them, front and center, at all my book-signings in the years to come.
 
Thank you, Maximus, for your thoughtfulness and generosity. I know you will grow up to be a remarkable young man, and I would be honored if you would visit me again at a future signing event. You should know that I also plan to name a planet after you, in one of my future books; it will be called Maximus IV. Your name (as you might already know) comes from the Latin language, where it means “greatest.” I would say you are already living up to that name!
 
It was a pleasure to meet you, Maximus.
 
I wish you nothing but a wonderful future.
 
Lorna

Hi All,
YIPPY!!! The long-awaited second book in the Dragon of Nibiru series is finally at the printers. WOOT! Dragons of Earth will be available soon.

Sorry for not keeping my blog up to date, but day-to-day life has been getting in the way lately. I’ll have to learn a spell to keep that from happening in the future. I also apologize for not getting Dragons of Earth out to you sooner. I hope when you read it, you enjoy it enough to forgive me for the delay! I promise you that the third book, Dragons of Remini, will be out in a much timelier fashion, as will the rest of the series.

I hope all is well in the worlds of Dragon lovers. Some of you may be wondering what happened to the Name the Wand contest, and its dragon statue prize (see dragon statues below). I’ve extended the contest, so you still have time to send in more names. The winner will be announced July 31.

Here's the winner's wand, awaiting its name:

How do you enter? Just name the wand shown above, which is to soon appear in the series. You can even suggest whose wand it should be, and why. Email your entry to me: lorna@lornajcarleton.com.

Here are those dragon statues. The contest winner will have the choice of one of these:

Many of you have also let me know you would love to be able to win a wand. That sounds like a great idea, but would you help me out with it? Just do this: Send me an email, suggesting what the contest should be - that is, what people should do to enter. I'll consider all your suggestions, and announce the contest rules in a future blog post and on Facebook. (I hope you're following us on Facebook! If you aren't yet, come check out our page, like us, and get on board as a follower!) Just email your contest suggestions to: lorna@lornajcarleton.com. I will send a surprise gift to the person who suggests the idea I use. Good luck!!

I have been doing regular book-signings in 2019, but took June off to get Dragons of Earth finalized, and Dragons of Remini ready to go to the editor. I will be doing some signings in July and then almost the entire month of August I will be on tour in my new Dragonmobile. Just in case you haven’t seen the Dragonmobile, here’s a photo:

As I have mentioned to many of you, I would love it if you would send drawings for possible inclusion in the third and fourth books in the Dragons of Nibiru series. I have already received some terrific drawings, and a few are already slated for purchase and inclusion. Anyone, of any age, is more than welcome to send drawings that relate to the stories in some way. Down below, you can see a couple of lovely dragon drawings from ten-year-old Jordyn of Red Deer.

And here is a lovely water dragon from nine-year-old Katrin of Prince George, BC:

The drawings Team Nibiru chooses will appear in one of the upcoming books, along with the artist’s name—and their school’s name, if they’re a student. Happy drawing!!

Well, it’s time for me to get back to preparing Dragons of Remini for the editor. Have an awesome day!

Lorna
 

Hi Dragons of Nibiru fans,

I imagine many of you are excited about the holiday season. I hope it’s your best yet!
Remember when I mentioned I would be seeking illustrations from readers of all ages, for the third and fourth books in my series? Well, the time has arrived; I need those illustrations!

How to Submit an Illustration
The best way to send me your illustrations is by email. Just scan them or take a photo of them and email them to me: lorna@lornajcarleton.com.

What I’m Looking For
I’m most interested in images of characters from the stories, of course. A character or characters in action, or in an interesting location or scene, or a portrait of your favorite character. (Or the one you dislike the most; there are plenty of bad guys to choose from!) 

From among the images you submit, I’ll choose: 

1. Ones that I feel best suit the stories
2. Ones that inspire me in some fashion - make me want to sing, dance, write another book, or even just smile
3. Ones that I just plain love, and want to share with all my readers 😊

Of course, if I know me (and we are rather well acquainted, me and I), many, many of the works you submit will fit under one or more of those categories; especially number 3. That means I have a tough job ahead, because there has to be room in the books for a little text, too. You know how it is with stories.

Here are a few more categories I’ll be looking at. I’d like to feature at least one of each:  

1. Drawings or paintings by young people, up to age 12
2. Drawings or paintings by slightly older people, between 12 and 25
3. Drawings or paintings by people 25 and up.
4. Child-and-parent or child-and-grandparent collaborations.
5. Sibling collaborations.

Along with scans or photos of the illustrations themselves, I’d be delighted to see photos of the artist(s) holding their work. I’d like to post such photos on my blog, if you’ll grant me permission to do so. 😊
Once I’ve chosen the illustrations I’d like to include in the books, I’ll contact the artist(s) to arrange to purchase their work.

So, please: fire up your creativity and give me a hand – and give readers of books 3 and 4 a treat.
Happy drawing!!

Lorna

Thank you everyone, for the many great names you sent in for the Name Mia’s Baby Contest! I loved receiving your entries and hearing how much you're enjoying the adventures of Celine and her friends.

It was very difficult to choose a final winning name – so we didn’t choose one.

We chose three!

That’s right – we have three winners!!

That's because Mia will be having twins.

But now you’re thinking, “Wait a second, Lorna! Don’t you mean triplets?”

No, just twins. :) The third winning name goes to a dragon you’ll meet in the third book in the series, Dragons of Remini, to be released this coming year.

Here’s a bit more good news: If you didn’t win this time, please don’t give up. There are more contests to come! And the prize in at least one of them will be another wand!

Now there you are, reading patiently, and I’ve kept you waiting for winning entries. Okay! Back to that.

Mia’s twins will be a girl and boy. Their names, as chosen by Team Nibiru (and with Mia’s approval, of course) will be: 

                             Kai – submitted by Kai Brozuk from Victoria, British Columbia
                                                                        and
                         Rita – submitted by Maureen Sullivan from Apache Junction, Arizona.

The surprise third winner is:

                        Fallon - submitted by Fallon Martens from Penticton, British Columbia.

The winning names were chosen based on meaning and on sound – integral elements in writing The Dragons of Nibiru.  

Kai – pronounced “Kye” – means “warrior” in Frisian and “victory” in Chinese.
 
Rita means “pearl” in Italian; in Persian it means “child of light.”
 
Fallon means “leader” in Irish.
 
Congratulations, winners! I hope you love your new wands. Use them well!
 
And thanks again to everyone who entered. As I mentioned, there are more contests on the way. The first one, coming up this spring, is “Name Celine's Wand.” The prize will be a large dragon sculpture, similar to the one in the image below.

I really look forward to your suggestions, and wish every one of you the best of luck!!
Lorna

1. Dragons of Earth will be available for purchase in a store near you Feb 1, 2019.
2. Dragons of Remini is scheduled for release May 1, 2019.

In the photo above, Maureen’s wand is on top; Kai's is on the bottom.
Here's another view, with Kai's wand on the top this time:

Here are the winners, with their new wands:

That's Fallon's new wand above. And just below you can see Fallon herself!

Hi!

I wanted to send a big thanks to all of you who have sent in name suggestions to the Name Mia’s Baby contest we’ve got going here at Team Nibiru. We’ve received so many great names, I don’t know how we’ll ever be able to choose the best. What a tough decision it’s going to be!

Contest Deadline
The latest contest news is important: we’ve set a deadline! That’s right. The deadline for sending us your name for Mia’s first-born baby is Saturday, December 15, 2018. That’s December 15 at noon, Pacific Standard Time. So, there’s still time to send your suggestions, for a chance to win the prize!

“Prize? What prize?! I didn't know there was going to be a prize!” you might be saying.

Well, of course there’s a prize. You can’t have a proper contest without a prize! And the prize in this contest is…a wand! A wand similar to the beauty shown below.

The winning name will be the one we at Team Nibiru feel best suits the characters involved. The most important of those characters are the parents – Mia and her husband, Hyatt – and of course the baby, too! The way the name fits in with the story will be a factor, too.

Some of you have asked me whether the new baby will be a boy or a girl. Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait and see. At this point, we all have to wait and see – because I haven’t completely settled on an answer to that question. So, the name you choose could be a boy’s name, or it could be a girl’s. And, if you like, you're also welcome to suggest the baby's gender, too, along with why you think it should be a boy or a girl.

Of course, since we’re talking about a baby and family who belong to a society on an alien planet, light-years away from our own, the name you choose could be one that none of us Earthlings would particularly identify with any gender. So, in truth, your choices are as wide open as the galaxy!

Remember, when you send in your name suggestions, we’d love it if you’d tell us the reasons behind your choice or choices. You don’t have to, though. After all, sometimes a name is just right because it’s right!

Winner Notification and Prize Presentation
Once the contest is over and the judges have reached their decision, we’ll notify the winner by email. Then the prize will be delivered by courier, right to their door. And if YOU are the winner, we surely hope you’ll send us a picture of yourself with your new wand. (Special wand-wielding attire is optional.)

We’ll also post a story about the winner and the winning name on our blog – along with photos, if the winner is willing. 😊

Powers
There’s just one more important thing I should mention about the contest prize. Beautiful though it will be, we can’t say for certain what magical powers the Winner’s Wand may have. That will be for the happy winner to discover! 🐲

Happy naming, everyone! And good luck to you!

All the best – and adventurously yours,

Lorna