Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

The 2011 BSC Review Book Tournament is over, and An Artificial Night is the winner, stomping The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by a mere 5%! Yes, it was 55/45 when the polls closed, and Mark Hodder's tale of gaslight London and the monsters therein came very close to victory. But in the end, there could be only one, and your tireless devotion to clicking little boxes meant that Toby walked away with the gold!

Also, you know. Some heads. Heads are awesome.

Thank you all for clicking, and for putting up with my random fascination with online contests. It was a lot of fun, and I deeply appreciate it. We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense.

We have reached the last round of the BSC Review Book Tournament. It has been a hard battle; Toby has faced both strangers and friends on the road to the finals, and now only Springheel Jack stands between her and victory.

Springheel Jack is technically a monster. Toby knows what to do with those.

So go forth! A vote for Toby is a vote for a world where the monsters don't eat us in our beds!

Seriously, though, if you could take a moment to vote, I would appreciate it. Toby and I are both counting on you, and right now, we're losing.

To victory!

Toby has managed to navigate the wilds of the Kingdom of Prestor John, smacking down The Habitation of the Blessed in round three of the BSC Book Tournament and proceeding to the quarterfinals, where it's An Artificial Night against Elizabeth Bear's Chill. Bear and I have been enthusiastically attacking each other on Twitter in anticipation of this match (I have predatory dinosaurs, she has balrogs and the forces of logic), and now it's finally here!

You have what you have to do.

Go ye forth, get thee funky, and vote like your life depended on it! Which, given the number of monsters we have merrily marching around here, it just might. Toby has smacked the crap out of three challengers in three different bouts. This is your chance to help her smack the crap out of challenger number four, and proceed to the semifinals, where she can begin to merrily swing her sock full of butter* at challengers from different brackets.

(*Sock full of butter: makes a great bludgeoning weapon, and when you're done, you have a sock full of nicely softened butter, ready to be turned into cookies. Everybody wins! Except maybe the people you hit with the sock full of butter.)

Thanks to everyone who participated in my recent massive drawing for free copies of my books! After feeding everyone's names into an Excel file (to sort them) and then into a random number generator, the winners are...

Rosemary and Rue winner #1: amber_fool
Rosemary and Rue winner #2: bahnree

An Artificial Night winner #1: Dayle Dermatis
An Artificial Night winner #2: myre_angel

Late Eclipses winner #1: gwyd
Late Eclipses winner #2: lilysea

And now, the fine print! Each of you has twenty-four hours to contact me, via my website contact link, with your mailing information. If you're outside North America, we can work out postage payment at that time. If I do not hear from you within twenty-four hours, I will draw another winner for your prize. I kept the file just in case this happens.

Thanks again to everyone who tossed their name into the hat; watch this space for more giveaways and drawings.

I feel like giving things away (I know you all love it when I do that). Specifically, I feel like giving away copies of the Toby Daye books. Want to win a book? Then come play my game. What game are we playing today?

Six word biography.

It's simple: leave a comment on this entry with a six word biography of yourself. They can be serious, silly, or anything in-between. Here are some examples for me:

"I've always been a cornfield girl."
"Halloweentown princess seeks candy corn, companionship."
"I did it all for dreaming."

Indicate which of the three books you're interested in. On Saturday, I'll use the random number generator to select three winners, one for each book. You can only win once, but you can ask for all three books, if that's what rings your chimes.

Game on!

First up, sageautumn to the white courtesy telephone; sageautumn, please pick up the white courtesy telephone. You are the third and final winner of an ARC of An Artificial Night! To claim your prize, please email me via my website contact form within the next twenty-four hours. If I don't hear from you by this time tomorrow, I'll draw another winner.

Secondly, the winners of a free copy of Rosemary and Rue are...

markush
jeffreycwells
dragonsflame71
the_liz666
evaleastaristev

All of you, please follow the directions above. Again, yadda yadda, twenty-four hours OR THE ICE WEASELS COME.

(Administrative foo: No, people cannot win more than once, even if the random number generator wants them to. No, you cannot contact me through any other means. I'm not allowed to unleash the ice weasels without Kate's permission, you can't message me through LJ. If you do, I won't see it, and you'll miss the window.)

kerimaya to the white courtesy telephone; kerimaya, please pick up the white courtesy telephone. You have won an ARC of An Artificial Night. To claim your prize, please email me via my website contact form within the next twenty-four hours. If I don't hear from you by this time tomorrow, I'll draw another winner.

(Administrative foo: No, people cannot win more than once, even if the random number generator wants them to. No, you cannot contact me through any other means. I can't visit Ireland by flying rainbow dragon, you can't message me through LJ. If you do, I won't see it, and you'll miss the window.)

More to come tomorrow!

After much debate (and some random number generation), your contestants are...

[Poll #1591813]

Voting is open through July 15th. Vote! Mix drinks for your friends (or bake them pies), and get them to vote! Winner gets an ARC of An Artificial Night.

Game on!

It's time for another ARC giveaway here in my weird little corner of the world. This time, it's going to be a two-fer. Specifically, we're having both a contest and a random drawing. If you comment at all, you'll be entered in the random drawing for an ARC of An Artificial Night. If you comment and participate in the contest, you'll be entered both in the random drawing, and in the judged portion of the giveaway. Ready? Awesome.

Suggested by talkstowolves, our contest for today is:

"Design signature cocktails or desserts for major characters/places in the Tobyverse."

What does the Luidaeg drink on a Friday night? What's Toby's favorite way to get wasted? How many virgin cocktails can Quentin down before he reaches legal age? Whip up something intoxicating and put it in the comments for the world to see.

The random drawing will be held Monday, July 12th. Voting on the cocktail/dessert competition* will begin the same day, and continue through July 15th. As no actual drinking is involved, you don't have to be twenty-one to enter, and there are lots of websites happy to help you out.

(*If we receive fewer than five entries, I won't do open judging, and the prize will be awarded based on how much I want to drink your cocktail or eat your pie.)

Game on!

First order of business for today: the winner of our random ARC drawing! Statistically speaking, all numbers are equally likely when you're talking about random selection, but it's always a little bit surprising when the result is between one and ten. So today was definitely surprising, as the random number generator chose "four." So today's winner is apocalypticbob! Bob, please send me your mailing information via my website contact link. You have twenty-four hours. After that, I'll choose another winner if I haven't heard from you!

Second order of business for today: It is now nineteen days to the official "anywhere you go, you will be able to buy a copy of Feed for your very own, and isn't that terrifying?" release of Mira Grant's first novel. In addition to being hugely important in Stephen King's epic Dark Tower saga (say thankee), nineteen is a pretty awesome number in and of itself. It's the eighth prime number, following seventeen and preceding twenty-three. It actually forms a twin prime with seventeen (I like twin primes). It's the seventh seventh Mersenne prime exponent, and the aliquot sum of two odd discrete semiprimes, sixty-five and seventy-seven. All these things are awesome.

Nineteen days. By the time we finish this countdown, Amy will be here to keep me from flipping out on people, the final touches will be put on party planning, and I will hopefully have been able to pick up my Mira wig from the hair shop (I am so the Hannah Montana of horror). The cupcakes will be ordered. My reading will be chosen (yes, there will be a reading this time). Prizes for the raffle will be arranged. And I will hopefully still be breathing. Nineteen days.

When will you rise?