By Steve Windwalker

Three score and seven days ago, or thereabouts, we here at Kindle Nation Daily had an idea. And if I say so myself, while a lot of our ideas here are reasonably good, this one was brilliant.

We had noticed that there was a great deal of enthusiasm building about the new Kindle Fire tablet among Kindle Nation Daily readers, and we decided that it would be a nice thing if we could start giving away one Kindle Fire each week here at Kindle Nation. The trick for us was to try to make it part of our single most important recurring theme here, which is to help to build connections between writers of distinction and our readers, who we believe have distinguished themselves month after month as the greatest readers in the world.

Great minds often think alike, and what we found was that some of the most distinguished writers that we work came forward quickly and offered to sponsor our weekly Kindle Fire giveaway sweepstakes. Within days we were able to get the party started, and so far we have given away 7 Kindle Fires in a recurring weekly event that makes Mondays the most fun day of my week — it’s almost like I get to play Santa Claus, and we’ve had so much participation by authors that we’re going to be able to continue giving away a new Kindle Fire every week well into 2012. Who knows, maybe we’ll continue forever!

This proposition called for us, of course, to challenge our readers to reciprocate in an entirely appropriate way.

No, we weren’t going to ask our readers to start buying Kindles for the sponsoring authors. But we were hopeful that enough of our readers would find books they wanted to read by these same authors, that over time the exposure would work for the authors as well, as a kind of voluntary business proposition.

What I’ve learned so far is that our readers continue to earn kudos as the greatest readers in the world, and in addition to the chance to win a Kindle Fire, they have had the pleasure of connecting with, buying, and reading some terrific books at great bargain prices.

This week should be no exception.

We’ve set new records for participation in every single week of the sweepstakes,and of course you can find the entry details at the end of this post. Meanwhile, I am very hopeful that all of our participating Kindle Nation Daily readers will want to check out Lords of Rainbow, a truly distinctive novel by this week’s sponsoring author, the very talented Vera Nazarian. I believe you’ll consider it $2.99 well spent, and when you help to propel Ms. Nazarian’s novel up the Kindle Store sales ranking ladder, there’s a very good chance that your momentum will help persuade other authors to participate as sponsors in 2012 or 2013 and, very possibly, provide a Kindle Fire which one of these weeks could have your name on it!

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.

Here’s the set-up:

A unique fantasy world in which lost colors hold the key to salvation. . . . Fluid storytelling and vividly drawn characters. — Library Journal

Readers may find themselves heralding a new star of fantasy fiction. — Romantic Times Book Club

Imagine a world without color, illuminated by a gray sun …

An unrequited love…
War… mystery… exultation…

An epic fantasy of unspeakable wonder…

LORDS OF RAINBOW

Imagine a sudden brilliant flash — an artificial orb ignites, filled with peculiar impossible light…

The nature of this light bears no description. It lingers in dreams, inciting an unrequited love for a goddess.

A corrupt city is shaped like a perfect wheel, and is ruled by a sister and brother, Regent and Regentrix, by perverse desires, and by a secret…

A loyal warrior woman swears to serve a mysterious lord. At the same time, an epic invasion is precipitated by a being of utter darkness, who is the one absolute source of black in a monochrome silver world.

And amid all this, flickers an ancient memory of a phenomenon called Rainbow and of those who had once filled the world with an impossible thing called color…

Lords of Rainbow.

PRAISE FOR… LORDS OF RAINBOW

“In a world devoid of color, the woman warrior Ranhé swears herself to a mysterious nobleman traveling to the exotic city of Tronaelend-Lis, the City of Dreams, where a decadent brother and sister rule as co-regents in the absence of the land’s true ruler. When an evil being representing true Darkness threatens the safety of the colorless world, Ranhé is drawn into a spiritual journey in search of a legendary phenomenon known as Rainbow in an attempt to find a way to defeat the dark. The author of Dreams of the Compass Rose brings to life a unique fantasy world in which lost colors hold the key to salvation. Nazarian’s fluid storytelling and vividly drawn characters make this unusual fantasy a good choice for most libraries.”
— Library Journal

“Nazarian creates a unique civilization and populates it with heroic archetypes who stand on their own. Extravagant language reminiscent of Dunsany and even Tolkien adds to the legendary feel. . . . an innovative premise, consistent world-building, and appealing heroes mark this as the work of an emerging talent . . . readers may find themselves heralding a new star of fantasy fiction.”
— Romantic Times Book Club

“To read Vera Nazarian’s Lords of Rainbow is to be immersed in a dream, wandering through a wondrous, shifting landscape where the sun shines silver and the world is rendered in an infinite palette of subtle grays, filled with glimpses of sublime loveliness and glorious color.”
— Jacqueline Carey, author of KUSHIEL’S DART

“…like all of Vera’s stories—strange, poignant, and exquisite… her novel about a world without color—strange when what she writes is so colorful.”
— Marion Zimmer Bradley“Vividly described in rich prose that entrances like a magic spell, Lords of Rainbow will resonate with readers like the stories of childhood. It is not only prefaced with a lovely and accessible poem, it also reads like poetry. Thus, when taken as fable, there is much in this book to love. For in the end, we find a twisted Cinderella tale where an ugly, common girl can be elevated by noble spirit, and a city can be transformed by magic.”
— Stephanie Dray, Strange Horizons