Durham Author Donates His New Books, CDs To Duke Children's Hospital

J. Mark Boliek hopes “The Mahogany Door” book and soundtrack will help cheer young patients.

November 1, 2011 (Durham, NC) – J. Mark Boliek, the author of the new fantasy-adventure book for young readers entitled “The Mahogany Door,” has donated 18 books, along with the all-original CD soundtrack that accompanies them, to Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center at Duke University.

Duke’s Child Life Specialist Tracy Lamar, who is in charge of toy and book donations to the hospital, has placed the donated books in libraries at Duke Children’s Hospital: in the playroom for inpatient children and families, and a library in the classroom in the Children’s Health Clinic for outpatient visitors.

“I also handed out a book and CD to a patient who has been hospitalized multiple times recently,” she noted. “As an avid reader, she was excited to have a new book to read. Her mother was thrilled as well. She had heard of the book already.”

“The Mahogany Door,” which has been called “recommended reading” by Midwest Book Review, is the story of three friends who were separated for years by a tragedy, but who must now reunite to fulfill a destiny in the fantasy world of Bruinduer before that world collapses. One of the friends doesn’t remember Bruinduer, another has worked hard to forget it, and the other’s reasons for returning are suspect. Ultimately the fast-paced adventure book is about facing fear, friendship, perseverance, and trusting a higher power for guidance.

“I want children, young and old, to have as much fun reading this story as I had writing it,” Boliek said. “I also would like them to know that this is an allegorical tale about my life, and that circumstances happen that are beyond our control. But as the narrator says and I have come to believe, ‘…that hope always exists.’ “

“The Mahogany Door” and CD are available at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, the Moravian Books & Gifts shop in Old Salem, NC, Chambers Arts in Cary, and from the author’s website at www.jmarkboliek.com. The regular ebook is available for Kindle, Nook, and iPad users from Barnes & Noble (BN.com), Amazon, and from Apple’s iBookstore. The enhanced version, which features embedded music from CD, is also available from the iBookstore for iPads, iPhones, and the iPod Touch.

For more information on “The Mahogany Door,” visit www.jmarkboliek.com.

About Duke’s Children’s Hospital & Health Center:

Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center, located in Durham, N.C., is nationally ranked among the best in pediatric health care programs. Caring for children is our number one priority, from routine check-ups and immunizations to the treatment of life-threatening injuries and illnesses. At Duke Children’s, we provide hope and the most advanced health care available. Offering innovative procedures including stem cell and bone marrow transplants as well as a variety of support services for our patients and their families, Duke Children’s cares for children from around the world. We are also a critical local resource - taking care of 60 percent of Durham's children with more than 70 percent of patients coming from central North Carolina. For more information please visit www.dukechildrens.org.

The Mahogany Door Project To Perform During 2011 Carrboro Mlusic Festival

Showcasing all-original live music at Cat’s Cradle

September 20, 2011 (Carrboro, NC) – The Mahogany Door Project, a band comprised of the musicians who created the original soundtrack CD for the new fantasy-adventure book “The Mahogany Door” by Durham author J. Mark Boliek, will perform live at the legendary Cat’s Cradle on Sunday, September 25, during the Carrboro Music Festival.

The band’s set will begin at 4:30 p.m.

“Dark, happy, and hopeful” are the words Boliek uses to describe the songs the Mahogany Door Project will perform. Boliek developed the songs so that readers of his book can immerse themselves in the book’s fantasy world of “Bruinduer.”

The Mahogany Door Project’s live performances are laced with an eclectic style of music ranging from pop and rock to country and classical – from a mysterious and lonely rock anthem to heart-breaking country tunes, R&B acoustic compositions, and a powerful rock lullaby. And all of the songs are appropriate for all ages.

The members of the band are: Mark Boliek, guitar; Jill Boliek, vocals; Scott Jackson, lead guitar; Jon Murray, guitar and vocals; Evans Nicholson, drums; Jim Gilliam, bass; Mary Summerlin, keyboard and vocals; and Chris Summerin, guitar.

“The Mahogany Door Project serves up a lot of fun, laughter, and good music,” Boliek said, noting that he will also have copies of “The Mahogany Door” and CD on hand to sell. “We’re extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such an exciting event as the Carrboro Music Festival.”

The band recently performed at Broad Street Café in Durham to a full house.

To hear a preview of the songs, go to www.jmarkboliek.com/the-music. The CD can also be heard through a variety of online sources including iTunes, Napster, Amazon MP3.

For more information on “The Mahogany Door,” a fantasy-adventure book for young readers, visit www.jmarkboliek.com.

Since its inception in 1998, the Carrboro Music Festival has drawn musicians and music lovers from all over the state. Performances take on 25 stages from one end of Carrboro to the other and the all-day event is free. The complete schedule can be downloaded at www.carrboro.com/carrboromusicfestival/.

Cat’s Cradle is located at 300 East Main Street in Carrboro, NC 27510 (919-967-9053). For more information and directions, go to www.catscradle.com.

Band Facts:

Musical Style/Genre: Pop, Rock, R&B, Country, Folk.

City of origin: Durham, North Carolina

Key Points of Interest:

· Recorded new CD together (in association with Split Rail Multimedia)

· Performs songs from the CD that are appropriate for all ages

· Recordings of the songs can be heard at www.jmarkboliek.com and at other online resources

· Facebook: www.facebookcom/jmarkboliek.

Quail Ridge Books, Moravian Books & Gifts Now Carrying "The Mahogany Door"

New fantasy-adventure book for young readers accepted at two more bookstores.

September 16, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) – Quail Ridge Books & Music, the award-winning independent bookstore in Raleigh, NC, and Moravian Books & Gifts, an independent bookstore in Winston-Salem, NC’s historic Old Salem district, are now carrying “The Mahogany Door,” a new fantasy-adventure book for young readers by Durham author J. Mark Boliek.

Moravian Books & Gifts is stocking the book, the all-original soundtrack CD that accompanies it, and the limited edition version featuring the book, CD and bookmark within a handcrafted, hand-etched wooden box. At a recent in-store event, the store sold both versions while Boliek was on hand to sign them.

Quail Ridge Books is just offering the limited edition version at this point.

“The Mahogany Door” is also being sold at The Regulator Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Durham.

“I’ve become a huge proponent of supporting local and independent businesses,” Boliek said. “They’re more representative of the independent author. And just like me, they have to compete with big name entities like Barnes & Nobel. Just as I try to find my space among a mountain of popular authors, indie bookstores have to find their space in the larger market. So they empathize more with an author who’s just trying to get his or her foot in the door. And local bookstores are much more personable, especially to local authors. They enjoy showcasing local talent.”

Boliek will return to Old Salem in November and December for two more in-store author/holiday events at Moravian Books & Gifts.

“The Mahogany Door,” published by Split Rail Multimedia, is the first book in a trilogy entitled The Bruinduer Narrative. According to Boliek, it represents his feelings about friendship, loss, perseverance, and about accepting help from someone larger than one’s self along the way. It is recommended reading for young and young adult readers by Midwest Book Review.

The book’s story surrounds three 20-something friends who were separated years ago by a tragedy but must reunite to fulfill a destiny. They must return through The Mahogany Door to the fantasy world of Bruinduer to retrieve a friend they left there before that world collapses. One of the three friends has suffered amnesia from a serious accident and doesn’t remember Bruinduer. Another wants nothing so much as to forget about Bruinduer. And the third’s reasons for returning are suspect. The adventures begin as soon as they reach the great door in the basement of an old mansion on the coast called Warhead Dale.

The ebook version is available on Amazon and through iBooks and the CD is available on iTunes as well as other online music sources. For more information on “The Mahogany Door” and CD, visit the author’s website at www.jmarkboliek.com.

This Kid Reviews Books.com: The Mahogany Door

Nine-year-old Erik (three months shy of his 10th birthday) writes a blog entitled "This Kid Reviews Books." It's read by other kids and their parents all over the globe. He reviewed "The Mahogany Door" -- and the CD -- and interviewed the author. Since he a member of the book's target audience, we couldn't be happier with his review. Enjoy!

The Mahogany Door and Interview with Author J. Mark Boliek

by Erik

What would you do if you could save someone who was lost in a different world? Years ago, JT, Kali, Michael and Charlie traveled to the world of Bruinduer through The Mahogany Door, a magical portal. The friends thought Charlie died in Bruinduer, but he didn’t. He is just trapped and the others now realize it and they vow to get him back. JT, Kali and Michael have to travel back through The Mahogany Door. They’ll face old enemies, fight in a war, cross a desert, have to find trust in Billy (their guide in Bruinduer) and convince Charlie (who wasn’t happy to see them) to come back home.

I have to say, when I first started into the story I thought it was going to be too much like the Witch, Lion and the Wardrobe, but it wasn’t. The story of The Mahogany Door is unique. The story really kept me reading (seriously, I couldn’t put the book down (see my Dad’s comments below)). I like how the book is told by a narrator telling the story to young kids. The reading level was good for 9+ readers and there really are no parts that are slow. There are also some nice illustrations throughout the book. I recommend it to everyone!!!!!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF ERIK'S REVIEW

Press Release: J. Mark Boliek Featured on "The Bookworms: Young Adult Book Reviews" Blog

To discuss the songs on his new book’s soundtrack CD

August 19, 2011 -- J. Mark Boliek, the author of The Mahogany Door and composer of the book’s accompanying all-original soundtrack CD, was the featured guest on "The Bookworms: Young Adult Book Reviews” blog.

The Mahogany Door is a 353-page urban fantasy-adventure novel about three friends – JT, Michael and Kali -- who have been separated for years by a tragedy, but who must reunite to return to the fantasy land of Bruindeur beyond the mahogany door to fulfill a destiny before that world collapses. The journey back to the world behind the door leads to self-discovery and to the realization that things in life are not always as they seem. The songs on the CD capture themes and emotions from the book.

For The Bookworms blog, Boliek focused on his three favorite songs from the CD: “All Alone,” “In The Afternoon,” and “Goodbyes.”

“All Alone” is the theme song of the book, he said. The main characters “find themselves alone in their own little space in the world, and it is not until they are able to reunite will they be able to face the demons from their past and conquer them.”

The song also speaks to the reason he wrote the book: “Many bad things have happened in my life, and along the way I have felt very much alone. It is when I started to find my true inner self that I could move forward, in some cases dealing with the mundane of everyday life.”

“In The Afternoon” addresses the way a single event can drastically change one’s life in just a few hours. “For JT in the book,” Boliek said, “he wakes up on his farm bee-bopping around, and by the afternoon his whole world has been turned upside down by a little boy who comes to him and tells a crazy story about his past.”

Boliek told The Bookworms that “Goodbyes”, however, is the most special song on the CD to him, yet it’s also the most difficult for him to listen to even today.

“I wrote it during one of the worst times in my life. It is so hard to say goodbye to the ones you love, but sometimes it is closure that humans need to move on,” he said. His character Kali “wants closure to everything that has happened to her, but it will not be easy for her to find.”

The Bookworms blog provides audio files for listening to the three songs from the CD. To see the entire post, go to http://thebookworms.org and click on “Guest Post: J. Mark Boliek” under Recent posts.

The Mahogany Door is currently available at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC, on the author’s website, and in e-book versions at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. For more information on the book and the accompanying CD, visit www.jmarkboliek.com.

Industry woes : what some authors need, but don't get

Hey guys-
I have read so many great blogs with so many great tips, that I had to put my own two cents in. Author Jody Hedlund has a great post on her blog http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/ about why publishers and agents are so picky. I have to agree with her - though like a lot of authors I DON'T WANT TO.

It is a huge risk for publishers and agents to take a risk on a no-name, but you also have to remember that the heavy weights at the top were no-names themselves - that is very important to remember as to what I am about to say.

As an author myself (I like to think so - but a no-name nonetheless), we believe our stories are so fresh and exciting that how could any agent or publisher turn us down? I mean I won the whatever award for best children's book of the century, certainly that gives me the right to an agent.

The problem I see is that there is just so much stuff out there. Everywhere you turn, people want to become writers, and it is an open market. By trade, I am a SAS programmer - haven't heard of that? Well that's good, because what I do partains to a very small group of people with a particular set of skills and good ones are hard to find. There is your answer to the publishing problem.

Writers partain to a very LARGE group of people with word processors - AND - wait for it - good ones are hard to find.

It is very rare that there is an overnight success, and it is very hard to guess at what the next story in the market will be. Anyone even see the vampire thing coming? I did not. The last thing about vampires I even remember was the movie "The Lost Boys" from 1987. You will never predict what the mass market will clamor for. The next thing I knew the YA bookshelf at B&N turned black (the color of the millions of vampire books that came out).

So it is hard for writers to accept the fact that a larger audience goes for one story, but not theirs, but in turn think to themselves - I write better than that person. But the masses my friend do not owe you a thing.

Jody is very clever in mentioning the "branding" word - but it is a very delicate matter. As new authors we need to build our branding one brick at a time, and that involves knowing our audience. You must remember that our audience is not a large number of folks - for example, the United States has over 300 million people, the world over 6 billion. If you sell 50 thousand copies being a first time author - then that is pretty big, but a very very very (infinite "very's") small part of the population, but that is the population you must focus on. Your audience is NOT the population of the world.

Every once in a while you will grab folks from another demographic, but your focus remains on your targeted audience. Go where they go and be where they be --- I mean are.

The children's market in the 90's was stagnate at best when Harry Potter hit. I only mention Harry Potter, because that seems to be the bar. JK Rowling couldn't have asked for better timing with a great new book. And even though her demographic is accross the board, she always focuses on her target audience - young 8-12 year old, working to middle class English readers (readers from England - not those that speak English). There is always a luck factor involved in what will be the next big thing, or if you become successful or not, but only one person can determine your success, and that is you.

If an agent passes on you, then go to the next one. You and her may not have been a good match anyway. Build your branding enough to where agents cannot help but notice you, because in such a picky industry, if you are standing out from the crowd and are a bright new face, and people are talking about your book, even picky people are inclined to look twice.

Try to have fun anyway. The internet and social outlets has made it possible for people to believe there is a super highway to the top - there is not. The road should start in your own backyard.

The Mahogany Door Now Available at The Regulator Bookshop

August 15, 2011 (Durham, NC) – “The Mahogany Door,” a new fantasy-adventure novel for young and young adult readers by Durham-based author J. Mark Boliek, is now available at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham.

Published by Split Rail Books, “The Mahogany Door” is the first of a trilogy of books entitled The Bruindeur Narrative and it comes with an all-original-music soundtrack CD created by the author and other musicians.

“The Mahogany Door” tells the story of three 20-something friends, separated years earlier by a tragic event, who must reunite to return to the fantasy world of Bruindeur to fulfill a destiny before that world collapses. As they pass through the mahogany door in the basement of an old coastal mansion that leads to Bruindeur, they become children again and a series of fast-paced adventures begin.

Boliek worked on the book off and on for nearly 10 years. During that time he found California artist Lauren Gallegos, who provided the full-color cover illustrations and the black-and-white interior illustrations.

“The Mahogany Door” book and CD have been available on the author’s website, www.jmarkboliek.com since May. The e-book versions, both regular and enhanced with embedded music, were more recently released via a host of online sources. But The Regulator Bookshop is the first brick-and-mortar bookstore to carry it.

Boliek delivered the books and CDs to the store this week, along with a handcrafted, limited edition wooden box that contains the book, CD, and bookmarks behind a “mahogany door.”

The Regulator Bookshop is a 35-year-old independent bookstore, located at 720 Ninth Street in downtown Durham, that “contributes to the cultural life of our community by creating a space for authors -- from the Triangle, from North Carolina, from around the country and from around the world -- to meet with their readers,” according to the store’s website.

“This is a dream come true for me, as it would be for any first-time author,” Boliek said. “To actually see your book on the shelves of an actual bookstore is beyond exciting. I can’t thank the folks at the Regulator enough for giving me this opportunity.”

For more information on The Regulator Bookshop, go to www.regulatorbookshop.com.

For more information on “The Mahogany Door,” visit www.jmarkboliek.com or the book’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/JMarkBoliek.