The Dragoneers advanced to the 5% round on 23 March.  Even though my novel is much better than it has ever been, advancement is based on individual judges’ expertise and the strength of the overall field of entries.  The next round of eliminations will be between March 24 and April 27, which will reduce the field to 1%.

Amazon has made all the 250 quarter-finalists’ excerpts available online for no charge.  You can access the download page for a Kindle Edition of The Dragoneers[1] excerpt here.  If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download free software in the same location for your PC to read Kindle books.

While you’re there, you can read whatever reviews have been posted and you can even post your own comments.  Most excerpts were given two reviews from the Amazon Reviewers, but for some unknown reason, The Dragoneers only received one, and if you read it, it’ll leave you wondering how the novel made it to the quarter-finals. At least it ended with some encouragement for me to keep trying to get better at writing and then recommended I read some books on writing.

The review may foreshadow what will happen to The Dragoneers as the quarter-finals come to an end.  Or maybe, not.

Either way, The Dragoneers will receive an updated Publishers Weekly review.  When I get it, I’ll share it here.