giveaway

Well.

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Today I’m writing at Austin Chase Coffee, which is right next door to the Fisherman’s Terminal. There’s a big glass wall on one side of the room, with the coffee roaster right on the other side. So shiny! So many colored lights! So many turning machines! It’s hypnotic, like an episode of HOW IT’S MADE without the v/o.

Anyway, here’s some big news: The official title for book 3 is going to be CIRCLE OF ENEMIES. Yay! I like it, not least because there isn’t another book on Amazon.com with that title. Also, Google Alerts won’t be sending me links to people who’ve posted Queensryche lyrics.

All CIRCLE OF ENEMIES posts will still be tagged with the working title, MAN BITES WORLD, just like GAME OF CAGES is tagged EVERYONE LOVES BLUE DOG.

Also, I want to talk a little about the book giveaways I’ve been doing. I want to clarify a couple of things: You can enter once for each item, but you can request as many books as you want. I don’t care if you ask for all 31. You can also win as many times as luck allows; you don’t have to stop requesting books after you’ve won one.

I’m not actually picking any winners. Here’s what happens: I receive comment notifications for every LJ and blog comment. Each day’s contest has it’s own folder in Thunderbird, and I drop the email notifications into the correct folder. Once three days have passed since the blog post went live, I make sure there have been no requests within the previous 24 hours; I don’t want to cut things off if people are still actively asking for the book.

Once both conditions are satisfied, I open the folder in Thunderbird and my 8 yo son rolls a die. Whatever the number he rolls, we count down that many emails and that’s the winner. (If he rolls a number higher than the number of emails, he rolls again.)

So far, all the winners have been LiveJournal people, and none on the blog. In part, that’s because LJ comments outnumber blog comments four or five to one in some cases. I’m sure there’ll be a couple of blog commenters getting books at some point–random chance can’t keep favoring LJ forever.

And as of yesterday, all of the claimed books had gone into the mail. The first five, I believe. The giveaway for day six, Ombria in Shadow, will be chosen tonight (as long as no one new jumps in to ask for it.)

If anyone has any questions about this, or if I’ve been unclear, let me know. But one thing I did want to emphasize is that I’m not picking winners of each book. It’s all random chance.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day 10

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

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At one point, so long ago, I’d planned to write a pre-agricultural/”caveman” fantasy novel, but it never came together. Interested?

Update: This book has been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day 9

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

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Old fashioned nudie pictures of beautiful, zaftig women, many of them wearing flesh-colored body stockings. You know what’s in these books. (FYI, the larger book has had one corner chewed by a mouse.) Interested?

Update: these books have been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day 8

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

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Songbooks! Folk music! Burl Ives! I don’t like any of it (except Burl Ives–I’m not a monster) but would you like it? Just leave a comment letting me know.

Update: These books have been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day seven

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Today’s book:

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This is old-school horror, and while it’s been a while since I read it, I remember it as pretty damn scary (but not gross–I hate gross). Want to give it a read?

Update: This item has been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day six

Standard

Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Today’s book:

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I read this book. It’s well-written, but I barely remember anything about it. Are you a fan of her work? Want to give it a try?

Update: This item has been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day five

Standard

Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Today’s book:

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Yep, it’s a book about Jewish gangsters. No, I haven’t read it. Do you want to?

Update: this book has been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day four

Standard

Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Here are today’s books:

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The book on the left is the sequel to the book on the right. They’re detective/thrillers, and the protagonist is pretty much the maskless version of Batman–she’s good at pretty much everything and more than a little crazy. In book one she hunts and art thief and killer and falls for the woman she’s supposed to protect. In the sequel… well, I didn’t read it. My favorite part of book one was the travelogue of the couple’s visit to Norway, and that left me cold for the second one.

However, I’m a fussy, idiosyncratic reader (unlike everyone else, ‘natch) so maybe you would like them! Speak up!

Update: These have been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day three!

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Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient. U.S. residents only, please.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Today’s books:

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No explanation necessary, yeah? Who wants them?

Update! These have been won.

Announcing a month of book giveaways! Day two!

Standard

Game of Cages will be coming out on the last day of the month, so I’ve decided to hold a special month of book giveaways. Every day (unless I screw up, which I probably will) I’ll give away a book or themed set of books to someone who asks for it. To enter, you have to comment on this blog or on my LiveJournal–email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t count, and if more than one person speaks up, I’ll roll a die to determine the recipient.

You get a new book every day, and on the last day of the month I’ll give away my own.

Here’s today’s book:

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Writing a book set in the Regency period? Love reading those books? Here is a history of crime and the criminal underclass of that time, as well as a look at how a modern(ish) police force was built to combat it.

Is it comprehensive, accurate and interesting? I don’t know! I haven’t read it. It hurts to give this one away, actually, because it sounds so damn interesting. But it’s sat on my shelf for about 12 years w/out being cracked open, and it’s time to accept facts. Who wants it?

Update: This book has been claimed.