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When it comes to blending the cutting edge of technology and helping unpublished writers get a chance of landing a major book deal, Penguin Group (USA) leads the pack. Working in conjunction with Amazon and Hewlett-Packard, Penguin has helped launch the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. From today through Nov. 5th, the first 5,000 contestants to submit an unpublished, English language novel to Amazon will have a chance to secure a publishing contract and a $25,000 advance from Penguin, along with a full HP media suite worth nearly $7,000 from Hewlett Packard.

Sound too good to be true? Well, it won't be easy; the first 5,000 submissions will be read by Amazon's editors and top Amazon customer reviewers who will select the best 100 submissions. At subsequent stages, reviewers from Publishers Weekly, editors from Penguin Group (USA) and a panel of seasoned publishing professionals—a critic, agent, publisher and author—will help narrow the field of entries. In the final month, 10 finalists will be selected, and Amazon.com customers will then vote to choose the grand prize winner.

“Books connect people, change lives, inspire, inform and entertain,” said Susan Petersen Kennedy, president, Penguin Group (USA). “We’re delighted to be a part of a competition that brings writers and readers together. We’re also very pleased to work with Amazon.com as well as Hewlett-Packard, both of whom share our commitment to bring this competition to everyone, everywhere.”

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“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.”

Will Rogers (1879-1935)

The genesis of The Dead Guy Interviews came about after running into Beethoven at a RiteAid. I was trying to use one of those damn photo machines (straightforward my ass) and the Boy Genius was refilling the batteries in his hearing aid. Well, it looked like Beethoven, anyway (must have been the ruffled collar and bouffant that threw me off…). Point is, it got me to thinking: what if I could track down the most famous folks in history and ask obnoxious and intrusive questions about their lives: Did Napoleon really have a complex, or was he just French? What was up with Thomas Jefferson’s hypocritical stance on slavery (not to mention the DNA tests), and did Washington inhale? Might Frida consider a brow wax or J. Edgar Hoover a bigger bra size? And what the hell was Van Gogh thinking with the whole ear episode? Edutainment, you might call it, but with a little theatre and pop-off pop-culture thrown in for good measure. If you ever wondered what it would be like to have dinner with anyone in history – now you’ll know.