This newsletter is mailed only to people who have subscribed through our opt-in subscription form at http://ecfans.com and contains news and updates about Jean Auel and her Earth's Children series. Diane in Cincinnati http://ecfans.com * * * * * 5 Copies of Book 5 in 5 Days! * * * * * The competition for the 5 proofs contributed so generously by Kerry of Hodder & Stoughton has ended. I received 381 nominations from, literally, all over the world! Our 5 Hodder & Stoughton winners are: Utika - France - board sponsor: Utika was nominated for a number of things, including organizing the first summer meeting in France and translating Fan Fiction stories into French so her fellow French ECfans can enjoy them, also. She has learned to knap flint, tan hides, and make bone needles and clay donii's, and collects wild plants for food - and is generous about sharing her knowledge and experience - as well as her results with others. She basically lives the books and enjoys bringing them to life for others through her posts, her website at http://www.angelfire.com/ut/15thcave/, and the fun games and activities she creates! Don - Australia - board member: In addition to Don's intelligent and thought provoking posts, he has been nominated by a number of people for his website - http://hominids.com/donsmaps - a truly wonderful resource for all ECfans. He's spent hours creating wonderful maps to help bring Jean's EC world to reality for us, as well as gathering pictures and information about the locations and artifacts in the books, and a great collection of articles on Jean. We're all the richer for his contributions! Vanja - Serbia - board member: Vanja has opened more of the world to us - and brings joy and enthusiasm to the board that can't be missed! She was overwhelmingly nominated to receive a copy as books are very difficult to obtain in her corner of the world. She brings with her an opportunity for all others she touches to understand and appreciate how alike we are - regardless of our surroundings. She's probably the happiest lady on the planet right now - as she had advance notice of her coming award! AnnDee - US - moderator: AnnDee has the longevity record for The AuelBoard. She has been quietly contributing since 1998 and is a wealth of knowledge. She helped open the eyes of many of us to the artifacts and actual prehistoric sites Jean has incorporated in her books. Her posts are not measured in quantity, but in quality. She's an intelligent, caring, giving lady - and we're all the richer for her being among us! Crozie - US - board member: Crozie was nominated by me for correctly guessing an important detail in The Shelters of Stone - over a year ago!! She not only guessed correctly, but stood by her guess in later AuelBoard discussions. After I read my advance copy (thank you Pamela/Crown Publishers!) and saw her post, I emailed Kendall to tell him. He had already made that discovery this past summer after Jean finally let him read the draft of The Shelters of Stone! So - if things work out as planned, she'll be calling her mom for the news. I emailed her and told her to call her mother - who has some exiting news for her! :-) We shall see! Two of our AuelBoard Moderators - Thalion from Germany (moderator of EC Fan Fiction and The Hot Zone - former moderator of Ayla's Herbs) and Walkhound from the UK (moderator of Phoenix Camp) were honored by Kerry of Hodder & Stoughton with their own Advance Reader Copies this past week, as well! They are definitely two giving, caring women who contribute so much of themselves to our ECfans Community! Congratulations, ladies! * * * * * Actually... 10 Copies of Book 5 in 5 Days! * * * * * Pamela from Crown Publishers offered to contribute 5 completed copies of The Shelters of Stone - in response to the Hodder & Stoughton offer (Crown ran out of their 1,500 advance copies.) :-) We have the most generous publishers! These 5 books will be awarded from the 381 nominations I received last week. I will be announcing the other 5 winners this coming weekend. * * * * * Een Vuurplaats in Steen from AW Bruna * * * * * Petra (Netherlands), our AuelBoard Shelters of Stone forums moderator was also treated to an advance copy of The Shelters of Stone - but in Dutch! Not only did she have the treat of being the first member to preview an edition in another language, but now she can moderate without fear of spoilers! :-) * * * * * Online Video Interview Clips of Jean Auel * * * * * If you haven't seen it yet, Crown Publishers released a third set of web video interviews of Jean Auel last week. That leaves 2 more sets of interviews to go! If you know someone named Ayla in North America, it's not too late to enter the Great Search for Ayla sweepstakes. Deadline for entry is April 30, 2002. See http://thesheltersofstone.com for this and more! * * * * * Jean Auel Author Tour Dates for the US & UK * * * * * Pamela from Crown Publishers provided dates for Jean's US tour (more details to be added as they're available), and I have an additional date for Jean's UK tour from Kerry - Hodder & Stoughton. You'll find this information at http://ecfans.com/aueltour.htm * * * * * Shelters of Stone - Inside Scoop * * * * * If you've read the first chapter or two of The Shelters of Stone, you may have noticed - as many other fans have - that there is a change in the spelling of Marthona's mate's name. In the earlier books, though we never 'met' him, we knew him as 'Willomar', the traveler - the man from whom Thonolan got the urge to make his own journey. I wrote to Kendall to see what Jean could tell us about the name change. Here's his response: Concerning the spelling change for Willamar: First of all, she was kind of surprised that anyone had even noticed. There were only a couple of references to him in the earlier books. While writing The Shelters of Stone, Jean thought that the pronunciation she had in mind was more like "Willamar" than "Willomar". So, she made the spelling change for this book, and hadn't given it much more thought since then. - Kendall * * * * * LionCamp is Back! * * * * * Jacob recently brought http://lioncamp.com back online with a new discussion and chat format. If you're not familiar with the Lion Camp Earth's Children website you might want to stop in and take a look around! * * * * * AuelBoard Upgraded April 6th * * * * * One final note for AuelBoard users - I completed a major upgrade on the AuelBoard scripting this past weekend. If you experience any troubles, please visit the Board Questions & Comments forum at the bottom of the main page to report problems and see what others may have done to resolve problems they experienced. * * * * * Subscription Changes * * * * * Reminder - This mailing list is 100% self serve. All email addresses are kept private and are not used for anything other than mailings such as this one. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please use the unsubscribe link below - or use the form at http://ecfans.com and select 'unsubscribe'. It will take effect immediately. If you have an email address change, please unsubscribe your old address and subscribe your new one using the sign-up box at http://ecfans.com All changes must be made by you - as you are one of over 7,600 subscribers to this newsletter!