Giveaway! "Procession of the Dead" by Darren Shan

Courtesy of Grand Central Publishing I have a copy of Procession of the Dead by Darren Shan to offer for giveaway.

Young, quick-witted and cocksure, Capac Raimi arrives in the City determined to make his mark in a world of sweet, sinister sin. He finds the City is a place of exotic dangers: a legendary assassin with snakes tattooed on his face who moves like smoke, blind Incan priests that no one seems to see, a kingpin who plays with puppets, and friends who mysteriously disappear as though they never existed. Then Capac crosses paths with The Cardinal, and his life changes forever.

The Cardinal is the City, and The City is The Cardinal. They are joined at the soul. Nothing moves on the streets, or below them, without the Cardinal's knowledge. His rule is absolute.

When Capac discovers the extent of The Cardinal's influence on his own life, he is faced with hard choices and his own soaring ambition. To find his way, Capac must know himself and what he is capable of. But how can you trust yourself when you can't remember your past?

Just add your information to the form below to enter (all information is guaranteed confidential and will discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick a winner by Monday June 21st. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open everywhere.

Good luck!

**Contest Closed**

Winners! "Pinon" by Jay Lake and Dark Void Swag Packs

I have randomly selected the winners of the "Pinion" by Jay Lake and the "Lost Planet 2: Swag Pack" giveaways.


The winner of the contest featuring "Pinion" by Jay Lake is:

Charles Gramlich: Abita Springs, LA



And the 5 winners of the "Lost Planet" swag packs are:


Myra Castellano: Edinburg, TX


Thierry Tito: Clay City, KY


Abbi Wallarab: Matherville, IL


Thom Weeks: Burien, WA


and


William Barnes: La Grange, NC


Congrats everyone!

Giveaway! "Black Blade Blues" by J. A. Pitts

Courtesy of Tor Books I have a copy of Black Blade Blues by J. A. Pitts to offer for giveaway.

Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twenty-somethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for low-budget movies, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group.

The lead actor breaks Sarah’s favorite one-of-a-kind sword, and to avoid reshooting scenes, Sarah agrees to repair the blade. One of the extras, who claims to be a dwarf, offers to help. And that’s when things start to get weird. Could the sword really be magic, as the "dwarf" claims? Are dragons really living among us as shapeshifters?

And as if things weren’t surreal enough, Sarah’s girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase… “I love you.” As her life begins to fall apart, first her relationship with Katie, then her job at the movie studio, and finally her blacksmithing career, Sarah hits rock bottom. It is at this moment, when she has lost everything she has prized, that one of the dragons makes their move.

And suddenly what was unthinkable becomes all too real…and Sarah will have to decide if she can reject what is safe and become the heroine who is needed to save her world.

Just add your information to the form below to enter (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick a winner by Tuesday June 8th. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open everywhere.

Good luck!

**Contest Closed**

Book Review and Giveaway! "Roadkill" by Rob Thurman

The laptop dropped onto the ground in front of me.

Well shit.

When I refused to drop my head and read the screen, teeth nipped me hard over the ribs. I hissed, glared at the wolf and read what was typed on the screen. He'd used the caps lock again, either to get his point across or because he didn't believe much in my reading skills.

SUCKS TO BE ONE OF A KIND.

He rested his chin on my shoulder, sneezed at the dust and waited.

"Yeah," I commented after a long pause. "It does, Good Wolf or bad Auphe, it sucks to be the only one." Great. First Delilah, then him. They both had me pulling shit out of layaway early.

This time he nipped my shoulder before retrieving from the dirt the ink pen he'd dropped to bite me. He typed: ALL AUPHE WERE BORN BAD. YOU ARE NOT ALL AUPHE. YOU HAVE A CHOICE. YOU CAN BE GOOD. He considered, then backspaced, deleting the GOOD and changing it to NOT SO BAD. At least he was honest, the fur ball.

Then he punctuated the sentence. Joy. "I didn't know there was an emoticon for a dog humping another dog. Thanks for sharing." I took off the glasses and rubbed my eyes.

There was more typing. I glanced at the screen. At least now that he was sure he had my attention, he'd stopped with the capitalization. Cal smart monster. Cal can read. Good for me.

Knock knock.

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned.

Knock knock, he persisted, growling around the pen.

"Okay, just to shut you up: Who's there?" I gave in. Why not? At this point, it was almost ludicrous. An Auphe being counseled by a butt-sniffing pound reject.

No one. The Auphe ate everyone in the house.

"You son of a bitch," I growled.

Knock knock. This time he didn't wait for the "Who's there?" Twenty cocker spaniels the Auphe is going to skin to make a pimp coat.

Seriously, quit it or I will shoot your mangy ass."

Knock knock.

God, he was as relentless as Niko. "Last one," I warned. "Last one or your ass is grass." The threat didn't hold much weight when it was followed with "Who's there?" I went on, resigned.

You, and what happens behind the door is up to you.

~Excerpt from Roadkill by Rob Thurman

Urban fantasy is frequently an amalgam of certain ingredients using involving magic, werewolves and/vampires, an urban setting an a smart-mouthed protagonist. I'm usually drawn to most of the elements thrown into the mix, but I will often complain about the snarky one-liners thrown in when I review most paranormal fiction. But the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman is the one series that I think uses this element effectively-- and actually has me looking forward to seeing what the characters are going to say next.

"Roadkill" is the fifth book in a series about Caliban and Niko Leandros. Technically Cal and Niko are half-brothers, but you wouldn't say that to Niko's face. Cal is the result of an unholy union between an Auphe and a Gypsy mother. The Auphe are the monstrous creatures that somehow became the basis for the elf myth-- even if the only thing the Auhpe have in common with elves are the pointy ears. Cal has spent most of his life running from the Auphe who had planned to use Cal to wipe humanity from the planet.

After defeating, and hopefully destroying, the Auphe, Cal has finally found some peace in his life. Working for his brother as a kind of supernatural private investigator and spending time with a very attractive female werewolf have done great things for Cal's mood. Yet good times seem to be fleeting for Cal, and when he is attacked by a werewolf he realizes that the wolves may not be too happy that one of their kind is sleeping with a man who is half-Auphe--but relationship troubles turn out to be the least of Cal's worries.

An ancient evil, known as the Plague of the World, has been stolen from his prison and an old Gypsy woman hires Cal and Niko to stop the man that created the Black Death before he has a second chance to unleash Hell on Earth.

I'm going to come right out and say it-- I'm a huge fan of Rob Thurman. She's one of the few reliable authors when it comes to urban fantasy. Five books in and I like the fifth book as much as the first-- and every one in between are worthy of reading again.

The relationships are the thing. Most of the books are told through Cal's perspective, though the last two books have seen a shift to include Niko, and even a werewolf's point of view. But Cal is who it is really all about. He is one of a kind-- and not in a good way. And if he has a smart-mouth, it's driven primarily out of the fear of what he may become if he loses his touch with his human side. The Auphe aren't known for their sense of humor. Cal's life line, in a very literal sense, has been his brother Niko. And there is no doubt that Cal will do anything to make his brother proud-- well, as long as he gets to complain about it first. But there is still always the danger than Cal's Auphe side will lose control and he'll do something that isn't just stupid, but potentially deadly. Niko's faith in him has not completely eased Cal's worries that he may, one day, harm his brother-- So it's a good thing Niko can kick Cal's butt ten times out of ten-- as Niko is only to happy to remind him.

Much of "Roadkill" is told as a sort of road-trip story, just one that has a half-Auphe, two werewolves, a Puck and a human along for the ride. These are the times when Cal really lets the snark show, and it could be annoying if wasn't balanced against the personalities of the other characters. Fortunately, all of Thurman's characters are strong enough to hold their own opposite Cal. His brother Niko is a super-disciplined martial arts expert who never fails to remind Cal that Cheetos do not belong in a major food group and Robin Goodfellow (famously known as the puck from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream) is on the trip to test a vow of monogamy and act as a general distraction.

Thurman keeps up the action, but also throws in a few, slightly disturbing, interludes to keep the pace from being too fast. This dark fantasy isn't for the faint of heart, but it's as fun as it is grim. Thurman always adds intriguing mythology to her warped world and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with. "Roadkill," for my money, is as good as urban fantasy gets.

Courtesy of Penguin Books I have one copy of "Roadkill" to offer for giveaway. Just add your information to the form below to enter (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick a winner by Friday June 11th. No multiple entries please. All multiple entries will be discarded. Open everywhere.

Good luck!


**Contest Closed**

Winners! "Jane Slayer" and "Bitter Seeds"

I am quite the procrastinator, but I completely underestimated how overdue some of my contests were.

Yikes.

But I have randomly selected some winners, and I promise not to procrastinate on the shipping!

First up, I had 3 copies of "Jane Slayer," by Charlotte Bronte and Sherri Browning Erwin, up for giveaway and I have randomly selected the winners, and they are:

Teresa Warner; Berwick, OH


Jason Bradley; Fort Worth, TX

and


Aik Chien; Malaysia



And I have also selected the winner of the "Bitter Seeds" by Ian Tregillis contest I had up, and the winner is:


Michael Hying; Westerville OH


Congrats to all the winners!

Giveaway! "Bullet" by Laurell K. Hamilton

Courtesy of the ever wonderful Penguin Books I have a copy of Bullet by Laurell K. Hamilton to offer for giveaway.

The all-new novel in the #1 bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series.

The triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude, necromancer Anita Blake, and werewolf Richard Zeeman has made Jean-Claude one of the most powerful vampires in the U.S. He's consolidating power in himself and those loyal to him, doing in America what Belle Morte did in Europe when she was at her height of power. She almost owned Europe, and there was those who are determined that Jean-Claude won't do the same in America. Jean-Claude's motives may be kinder, but as any lawyer will tell you: motives matter, but you're just as dead.

Assassins are coming to St. Louis to kill them all. Anita knows they're coming, but even being forewarned doesn't mean you can win.

Just add your information to the form below to enter (all entries guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick a winner by Wednesday June 2nd (give or take a few days with my tendency toward procrastination). No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open everywhere.

Good luck!

**Contest Closed**

Winner!- Debut Giveaway

I'm late to get this up, as always, but I have randomly selected the winner of the "Debut Giveaway" featuring "and Falling, Fly" by Skylar White, "Touched by an Alien" by Gini Koch, and "Deadtown" by Nancy Holzer and the winner is:

Judi Szabo; Canada


Congrats Judi!

John Sandford Book Tour--Extra Giveaway!

Woo hoo! Thanks to the ever wonderful people at Penguin Books, I just found out that I will also be able to offer an ARC (advance reading copy) of Storm Prey -- the latest release in John Sandford's "Prey" series.

The brilliant new Lucas Davenport thriller from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.

"Sandford's track record as a best0selling author is amazing, but it's not an accident," wrote Booklist of Wicked Prey. "His plotting is sharp, his villains are extraordinarily layered, and his good guys are always evolving.

And this time, there's a storm brewing...Very early, 4:45, on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out. But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck-and find themselves for just one second face-to-face with a blond woman in the garage: Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, wife of an investigator named Lucas Davenport.

Did she see enough? Can she identify them? Gnawing it over later, it seems to them there is only one thing they can do: Find out who she is, and eliminate the only possible witness...

Just add your information to form below to enter (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick a winner by Friday May 28th. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open in the U.S. and Canada.

Good luck!

**Contest Closed**

John Sandford Book Tour: Review and Giveaway Featuring "Secret Prey"

I don't often do reviews that aren't 'genre' as it relates to this blog. But when I do, it's frequently detective fiction that I feature-- specifically books by John Sandford. He's easily my favorite author when it comes to that genre and when I was given the opportunity to be part of a book tour spotlighting the twenty books in Sandford's "Prey" series I jumped on it. If you haven't read Sandford yet, be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of this post-- you won't be disappointed.

As part of the book tour, we were asked to fill out questionnaires about the book we chose to review-- neat idea don't you think? The book I selected was the ninth book in the series, Secret Prey.

Year published: 1998

Tell us about Lucas Davenport:

Lucas is a Minneapolis cop, whose current rank is that of Deputy Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department. He has a well deserved reputation as a tough guy and a tenacious investigator. He's not the stereotypical cop though. He made a bunch of money designing web games, drives a Porsche 911 and loves nice clothes-- but he also plays hockey and doesn't back down from a fight.


* What is Lucas doing when he first appears in the book? Set up the scene.

Lucas is fighting off a lingering depression that's the result of a break-up with his fiance after another one of his cases spilled over into his personal life. He's called in to investigate the murder of a bank president and begins to feel a flicker of interest in the case-- which helps to fight off the malaise he's been dealing with.


* Give us a sense of time and place.

The book is current to the time-frame it's set in-- the late 90's. Cell phones are common but you don't have the characters texting each-other. The investigation starts out at a hunting lodge where the murder takes place, but moves back to the Cities pretty quickly. The main suspects are very wealthy bank executives, so the story tends to move from the bank boardroom, Lucas' home, the wealthy neighborhoods of the suspects and the police station.


* Lucas’s occupation or professional role?

Lucas' title is that of Deputy Chief. He takes lead on any investigations that his boss, Chief Rose Marie Roux, assigns to him.

* Lucas’s personal status (single, dating, married):

Lucas starts out single, and he's really only interested in being with Weather, the woman he was going to marry. But he does start seeing a female detective he's always had chemistry with.


* Lucas Davenport is a known clothes-horse; did you notice any special fashion references?

He said that he prefers Italian suits. American suits are utilitarian and British suits aren't quite right-- definitely Italian.

Let’s talk about the mystery:

* Avoiding spoilers, what was the crime/case being solved?

Right in the middle of a big bank merger-- one that could set up certain executives as millionaires and see others unemployed-- the CEO of one of the banks is murdered and the main suspects are the executives in line to take over the bank.

* Does the title of your book relate to the crime?

Absolutely. As the story evolves it becomes clear that many crimes have been committed surrounding a particular person that have remained secret for years. The sequence of events slowly unfolds and layer after layer they are revealed as the book progresses.


Who was your favorite supporting character, good or evil?

That's a tough one. This book has a lot of good supporting characters-- one of the things I think Sandford does best actually. Oddly, it's one of the smaller roles (I guess you could call it) that I liked. One of the executives, James T. Bone, whose status as good or evil should remain a mystery, is one I liked. His rapport with Lucas seemed very natural.

What was your favorite scene or quote?

That's another hard question. I like the small moments, the ones that make a story seem real. Lucas is kind of a flirt, so it's fun when he banters with the women he meets. But he's also a guy's guy, so I also appreciate how Sandford includes the trash talk between him and the other cops. If I had to pick one scene though... I think I'd go with the part where two small-town sheriffs are trying to intimidate Lucas and he goads them into a fight. It's not super important as far as the story goes, but it's set up in such a way that it really shows how Lucas handles himself as a cop and as someone who won't be intimidated. Like I said-- it's the small things.

Finally, how do you envision Lucas Davenport? If he were to be portrayed in a movie, what celebrity would play him?

It's so hard to put the face I've created in my head to one particular actor. If Clint Eastwood (in his heyday) hadn't already played "Dirty Harry" he would have been a great Lucas Davenport. Now I lean toward Hugh Jackman because Lucas is a big, good looking guy. But Jackman would have to be somewhere between his clean cut look and "Wolverine." Maybe grow his hair out a little bit.

If you're interested in checking out the rest of the book tour (and maybe a chance at winning some other titles in Sandford's "Prey" series), here is the book tour schedule.

John Sandford and the DAYS OF PREY Tour Schedule

Monday, May 3rd:

Rules of Prey: Rundpinne

Shadow Prey: Boarding in my Forties

Tuesday, May 4th:

Eyes of Prey: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Silent Prey: Chick with Books

Wednesday, May 5th:

Winter Prey: The Bluestocking Guide

Thursday, May 6th:

Mind Prey: Jen’s Book Thoughts

Sudden Prey: Starting Fresh

Friday, May 7th:

Secret Prey: Fantasy & SciFi Loving News & Reviews

Certain Prey: My Two Blessings

Monday, May 10th:

Easy Prey: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Chosen Prey: Reading with Monie

Tuesday, May 11th:

Mortal Prey: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Naked Prey: Dan’s Journal

Wednesday, May 12th

Hidden Prey: Novel Whore

Broken Prey: You’ve GOTTA read this!

Thursday, May 13th:

Invisible Prey: Booktumbling.com

Friday, May 14th:

Phantom Prey: The Novel Bookworm

Monday, May 17th

Wicked Prey: A Bookworm’s World

Tuesday, May 18th:

Storm Prey: Bermuda Onion


And, finally. courtesy of Penguin Books, I have a copy of "Secret Prey" to offer for giveaway. Just add your information to the form below to enter (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once the contest ends) and I will randomly pick a winner by Friday May 28th. No multiple entries please -- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open in the U.S. and Canada.

Good luck!

**Contest Closed**

Exclusive Look at "Lost Planet 2" and Swag Pack G

As part of the ongoing roll out of "Lost Planet 2," Capcom games is allowing me to share a sneak peek -- with some exclusive footage-- of "Lost Planet 2" (5/11 release date!) and a chance to giveaway 5 swag packs of goodies to some lucky winners. The cool thing about this video is that it's pretty much 'real time' and lets you see what the actual game play looks like.




The swag packs include: a t-shirt, stickers, a T-ENG branded aluminum bottle and 2 posters (sent separately as they are in tubes). Prizes are as shown here. I have FIVE sets of swag packs to offer some lucky winners. Just add your information to the form below to enter (all entries guaranteed confidential and all information will be discarded once contest is over) and I will randomly pick FIVE winners by Thursday May 20th. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. U.S. entries only (sorry!)




**Contest Closed**

Good luck!

Giveaway! "A Taint in the Blood" by S. M. Stirling

Courtesy of Penguin Books I have a copy of A Taint in the Blood by S. M. Stirling to offer for giveaway.

Eons ago, Homo Lupens ruled the earth. Possessing extraordinary powers, they were the source of all of the myths and legends of the uncanny. And though their numbers have been greatly reduced, they exist still- though not as purebreds.

Adrian Breze is one such being. Wealthy and reclusive, he is more Shadowspawn than human. But he rebelled against his own kind, choosing to live as an ordinary man. Now, to save humanity, he must battle the dark forces of the world-including those in his own blood...

Just add your information to the form below (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) to enter and I will randomly pick a winner by Sunday May 30th. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open everywhere.

Good luck!

**Contest Closed**