Newsletter – January 2011          First of all, all my best wishes for 2011! I have a feeling that this will be a year with great opportunities. The future is there for the taking, as they say! But we have to take it! Ancient Aliens It’s becoming something of a – short – tradition to open the newsletter with Ancient Aliens. “Season Two” of “Ancient Aliens” is now completed too and I was very impressed with the airtime I was given in some of the shows. The show remains The History Channel’s most favourite and watched show, which is why they are constantly repeating it. The subject went to number 1 on Crystalinks.com, echoing the tremendous interest that currently exists in the subject. In fact, my mother-in-law takes notes during the series, and asks me questions afterwards!

Alas, there is little else out there and because the show is so popular, it also means that certain aspects and dimensions of the debate cannot or do not receive an airing on television. This is why Giorgio Tsoukalos and I are working on ideas on how to expand the offering. You will soon receive more information about this, but be warned, and prepared, for exciting new and more information on the subject!

Also be prepared for a Season Three of Ancient Aliens, which should under normal circumstances see more of me. It is envisioned that Season Three will be sixteen episodes, which begin airing from late spring 2011 onwards. 2012 For more than a decade, I worked for some of the largest publishers in the world helping them prepare for the future: digital publishing. Most of the changes in that timeframe actually occurred behind the scenes, in the production process, as the digital book market itself remained very niche. In 2010, however, it is clear that “the revolution” is finally beginning, largely because of the commitment of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, together with the launch of the iPad. The way forward is not in a one-on-one conversion from a book into a digital print title. There has to be a value-add, which digital products can offer, in the form of more photographs, video, links to internet sites and more. Well, I am very happy to say that I am working with a leading innovator in the field and on March 15, the first in a series of titles will be launched as an ePub, “The Mystery of 2012”. Other titles will follow afterwards.

I am very excited about this development, as it is cutting edge and hopefully groundbreaking! The video segments were filmed in a very cold and wet Amsterdam on January 18, but it did underline that such video material is an essential ingredient in ePubs. More information closer to the publication date. On the cover of… 2010 saw a steady appearance in Atlantis Rising and for 2011, it seems there is going to be little change there. 2011 started with me submitting an article to NEXUS, a publication I did not offer much to in 2010. Some articles, like those on the discovery of a new crystal skull, appeared in Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. If you have information or material that you feel should receive more attention or about which you can offer unique perspectives, but need help with, do not hesitate to contact me. On the road… Kathleen and I briefly visited Denver in early December to hold the first Writer’s Grail Seminar, co-hosted with John Major Jenkins. It was a very exciting trip, meeting up with friends, as well as realising that Kathleen and I have a mission in transforming the lives of aspiring writers. So much… rubbish is written and circulated out there about writing, publishing and more, that we often wonder who writes these things. Over the next year, Writer’s Grail will slowly but definitely expand.

We next spent the New Year period in Scotland and England, on the trail of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII – though I also had great pleasure in showing Kathleen Rosslyn Chapel, which she had tried to see for the past fifteen years, but each time, fate had decided differently. Well, it was clear that fate now felt it was timely, and the result was a series of insights and revelations, which has kept our head spinning to this very day. We will need time to process all of this and “package” it for the world out there, but that time will come. The time will also come shortly for more work on Anne Boleyn, which will become a large percentage of our 2011 focus. So watch out for her!

However, in early December, we were both flabbergasted by the response we got to our Sacred France trip. Indeed, our Chartres hotel – though it is small indeed – was sold out in a few hours. The trip itself in a day. So we put a second trip on for a few weeks later, and that was sold within the week. We then added a local bed & breakfast on as extra lodgings, and those too are sold out and we still have people on a waiting list. In short, the response to this is massive and we are very thrilled about this, of course! It also means that we will do more of these initiatives in 2012, though we will make sure there is variety, both in what we visit in the Languedoc region, but also visiting other sites, like Italy, England and more. New, and continuing developments 2011 will see change and more new developments. One of them is the addition of a blog to my website, the first of which goes live today. The blog should be a weekly or bi-weekly occurrence. Other changes and additions to the site and offering, including this newsletter, will follow shortly too. If you are reading this newsletter online, please subscribe your email address to the mailing-list, as under normal circumstances my website will have a members only section. To be developed in 2011!

Meanwhile, The Spirit Revolution radio show continues to grow – a development we are most happy about – and we are still as always looking for great guests. If you know of any, please let us know.

Please also know that I read all the emails I get and that I try to respond to each one of them. If I do not reply and you feel I should, just send the email again, until I do. I will not be offended… but you cannot give up! It is one of those facts that a short email normally needs only a quick reply and is therefore easily done, whereas longer emails require more time, often some thinking time, and that is not always a given. Until next time…