"Journeys on the Silk Road" By Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters

Click here for more contests & giveaways!



Prize: One winner will receive "Journeys on the Silk Road"
Number of winners allowed: 1
Ends: Monday September 17th 2012

Enter here to win "Journeys on the Silk Road, A Desert Explorer, Buddha's Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World's Oldest Printed Book" by Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters.

When a Chinese monk broke into a hidden cave in 1900, he uncovered one of the world's great literary secrets: a time capsule from the ancient Silk Road. Inside, scrolls were piled from floor to ceiling, undisturbed for a thousand years. The gem within was the Diamond Sutra of AD 868. This key Buddhist teaching, made 500 years before Gutenberg inked his press, is the world's oldest printed book.

The Silk Road once linked China with the Mediterranean. It conveyed merchants, pilgrims and ideas. But its cultures and oases were swallowed by shifting sands. Central to the Silk Road's rediscovery was a man named Aurel Stein, a Hungarian-born scholar and archaeologist employed by the British service.

Undaunted by the vast Gobi Desert, Stein crossed thousands of desolate miles with his fox terrier Dash. Stein met the Chinese monk and secured the Diamond Sutra and much more. The scroll's journey -- by camel through arid desert, by boat to London's curious scholars, by train to evade the bombs of World War II -- merges an explorer's adventures, political intrigue, and continued controversy.

The Diamond Sutra has inspired Jack Kerouac and the Dalai Lama. Its journey has coincided with the growing appeal of Buddhism in the West. As the Gutenberg Age cedes to the Google Age, the survival of the Silk Road's greatest treasure is testament to the endurance of the written word.

Author Bio
Joyce Morgan, co-author of Journeys on the Silk Road: A Desert Explorer, Buddha's Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World's Oldest Printed Book, has worked as a journalist for more than three decades in London, Sydney and Hong Kong. Her writing has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Guardian and The Bangkok Post. She has written on arts and culture since 1994. Joyce is a senior arts writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and a former arts editor of the paper. She has also worked as a producer with ABC Radio. Born in Liverpool, England, she has travelled extensively in Asia, including India, Pakistan, China and Tibet.

Conrad Walters, co-author of Journeys on the Silk Road: A Desert Explorer, Buddha's Secret Library, and the Unearthing of the World's Oldest Printed Book, has worked in the media for more than thirty years in the United States, where he won awards for investigative journalism, and in Australia, where he is a feature writer and book reviewer at The Sydney Morning Herald. Conrad was born in Boston, educated in Europe and the Middle East and has lived in seven countries. He has travelled widely through North America, Europe and Asia. He has a master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney.They live in Sydney, Australia.

For more information please visit http://www.journeysonthesilkroad.com, and follow the author on Twitter


OFFICIAL RULES
Eligibility/Availability This sweepstakes is void where prohibited by applicable law. The sweepstakes is open and offered only to legal residents of the United States age 13 or older. Winners may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility as a condition to the delivery of the applicable prize. Employees and their immediate families/household members of Starpulse.com and their respective parent companies, affiliates, and subsidiaries are not eligible to enter the sweepstakes. How to Enter No purchase necessary. To enter, submit all required information on the entry form. All entries must include the entrant's name, age, a valid email address and shipping address (no P.O. Boxes) for any potential prize shipments. The first and last name provided by online entrants will be the identity of the entrant and, if selected for a prize, the identity of the winner. We reserve the right to disqualify any entries that we believe in good faith has been generated by a so-called spam or automated e-mail program or via scripts and automated submission. By participating, all entrants agree to abide by these rules. Prizes Prizes are specified on the entry page. Entries and prizes are nontransferable. No substitutions are permitted, except that sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for the grand prize. Winners shall be responsible and liable for any federal, state, and local taxes on the value of their prize. Selection A random drawing will take place within 10 days of the end of the sweepstakes. The number of eligible entrants will determine odds of winning. In the event of a dispute regarding the identity of the person submitting the entry, the entry will be deemed to be submitted by the person in whose name the email account is registered. The decisions of Starpulse.com are final and binding in all matters relating to this sweepstakes. Winner will be notified by email and/or telephone, as determined by Starpulse.com or its affiliated contest host. If a winner is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may be also be selected from the pool of eligible entries. There is a limit of one entry per person per day. General Conditions and Releases An entrant or winner may be disqualified from the sweepstakes if he or she fails to comply with each provision of these official rules, as determined at the discretion of Starpulse.com. Starpulse.com shall not be liable for: 1. Failed, returned, or misdirected notifications based on inaccurate information provided by the winner on the sweepstakes entry form, 2. Entries, and responses to winner notifications that are lost, late, incomplete, illegible, unintelligible, postage-due, misdirected, damaged, or otherwise not received by the intended recipient in whole or in part or for computer or technical error of any kind, 3. Any electronic miscommunications or failures, technical hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incomplete or delayed computer transmissions which may limit an entrant's ability to participate in the sweepstakes, 4. Any technical malfunctions of the telephone network, computer online system, computer equipment, software, program malfunctions, or other failures, delayed computer transactions, or network connections that are human, mechanical, or technical in nature, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to entrant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from downloading any part of this sweepstakes or 5. Any warranty of fitness or merchantability of any prize or the function or operation thereof, which shall be the sole responsibility of the manufacturer of the prize. Unless prohibited by applicable law, entry constitutes permission to use an entrant's name, address (city and state) and testimonials in all media, in perpetuity, in any manner Starpulse.com deems appropriate for publicity purposes without any further compensation to such entrant. By entering or accepting a prize in the sweepstakes, winners agree to be bound by these official sweepstakes rules and to conform to all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. When applicable, the winner will be required to execute and return to Starpulse.com within five business days an affidavit of eligibility and a liability and publicity release to be eligible for the prize or an alternate winner will be selected. Winner may be required to furnish proof of identity, address, and birth date in order to receive prize. By entering, an entrant agrees to release and hold harmless Starpulse.com the artist, and their parent, subsidiary, and affiliated entities, directors, officers, employees, attorneys, agents, and representatives from any damage, injury, death, loss, claim, action, demand, or other liability (collectively claims) that may arise from their acceptance, possession and/or use of any prize in their participation in this promotion, or from any misuse or malfunction of any prize awarded, regardless of whether such claims, or knowledge of the facts constituting such claims, exist at the time of entry or arise at any time thereafter. Any person attempting to defraud or in any way tamper with this sweepstakes will be ineligible for prizes and may be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Starpulse.com reserves the right to modify the rules of the sweepstakes in any way or at any time. Starpulse.com reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel or suspend this sweepstakes should viruses, bugs, or other causes beyond their control corrupt the administration, security, or proper play of the sweepstakes. This sweepstakes shall be governed by Connecticut state law. By participating in this sweepstakes, entrants agree that Connecticut courts shall have jurisdiction over any dispute or litigation arising from or relating to this sweepstakes, and that venue shall only be in Connecticut.

DISCLAIMER