Broken Frontier

Archaia Studios Press (ASP) and Caption Box announce that THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS has racked up another award nomination, this one from ForeWord Magazine. The graphic novel, which recasts the story of the Book of Exodus from the point of view of the Egyptian royal family, is among nine finalists for ForeWord’s annual Book of the Year Award in the Graphic Novel category. The Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be announced at BookExpo America in Washington DC on May 19, 2006.

This is the 3rd straight year ASP has had one of its books nominated for the awards “established to bring increased attention to the literary achievements of independent presses and their authors.” Previously, Artesia and Artesia Afire won Gold and Silver Awards, respectively.

“Just three months into 2006 and three nominations for the book already?” said A. David Lewis, writer of THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS. “That’s wonderful! One for each of the people who worked on this book: Marvin Mann with his amazing artwork and Jennifer Rodgers whose coloring added so much to this book. It’s a thrill to have our hard work recognized. Of course, there were hundreds of friends and family who worked on the book too, so we don’t have to stop the awards now!”

This year marks the 7th annual ForeWord BOTYA contest. Winners for Gold, Silver and Bronze will be determined by the magazine’s readership of booksellers and librarians. The BOTYA program was designed specifically for them to share in the process of discovering distinctive books across a number of genres with judgments based on their own authority in each category and on their patron/customer interests. For a complete list go to: http://www.forewordmagazine.com/botya/

THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS (Archaia Studios Press (ASP), ISBN: 1-932386-12-2, $17.95, 160-page hardcover graphic novel, full color) presents a retelling of the Book of Exodus through the eyes of Pharaoh Ramses II, the man who is perhaps either its greatest leader or its worst villain: a man trying to rule wisely, love his family well, and deal justly in the face of a divine wrath. Laced with subtle messages for our time and exhaustively researched, Lewis and Mann drew from the Bible---both Old Testament and New Testament---the Qur’an, Egyptian mythology, anthropology, archeology, and even modern pop presentations of the story of Pharaoh and Moses in preparing their version.

THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS is recommended for Young Adults and up.