Hey, folks, remember that you can still enter a poem to win a copy of Rosemary and Rue! The entries we have so far range from the seriously silly to the seriously sublime, and I can't wait to see what else people will come up with.

Entries will close Sunday evening, and I'll be putting up a voting post with my favorites, plus a few random selections, on Monday. After that, you'll have all week to vote for your chosen winner, and see where the latest free-range ARC goes! (Also remember that everyone who enters is entered into a random-number drawing for a cover flat. So there are lots of ways to win!)

Hooray!

...who wants to win a copy of Rosemary and Rue? This time, we're raising the stakes a little bit, and requiring a bit more effort on your part. So here's the game:

You all know that I adore structured poetry, from the haiku to the virelai. (Actually, that's a lie; I abhor the virelai. But I respect people who actually enjoy writing them.) You also know that you're a pretty creative lot. So here: the gates are thrown open! Write me a structured poem about Rosemary and Rue. Since you haven't read the book, it can be about anything from what you think it's going to be about to pre-ordering to how much you want a copy—whatever makes you happy. Any structured form is allowed, as long as you can tell me what it is when asked.

Entries will be taken through the end of the week. Then, next Monday, I'll put up a voting post, and let people vote for their favorites. The winner will receive, naturally, a copy of Rosemary and Rue. Just in case that's not sufficient incentive, there will also be a prize for participation—just entering a poem will enter you in a random number drawing for a signed cover flat. I don't have very many of these, so this is something pretty spiffy for you to stick on your wall.

Game on!

ladyqkat, please pick up the white courtesy telephone (IE, send me an email, either via my LJ address or by using the "contact" link on my website) at your earliest possible convenience. You have won an ARC of Rosemary and Rue. You have seventy-two hours, starting now, to tell me where it needs to be sent.

For everyone else, thank you so much for entering, and I'll be starting another, slightly more effort-based, contest shortly.

1. The Rosemary and Rue ARC giveaway is still running, from now through Whenever I Happen To Get Up Tomorrow Morning. So assume that I'll be announcing the winner sometime between five and eight AM PST (which is when I'll be coherent enough to deal with complex things like "the random number generator" and "counting").

2. Because I'm doing the drawing so early in the day, if you win, and you're able to get me your mailing address with reasonable alacrity, your ARC may actually go out in tomorrow's mail. I'm just saying.

3. Late Eclipses continues to be finished, which has me rather at lost ends. I figure I'll finish this zombie short story that I'm working on, and then crack open Discount Armageddon, see what Verity and the gang have been up to while I was away. Nothing says "relaxation" like "getting straight to work on a different book."

4. I am officially sick. Thank you, coughing people on my plane and annoying small child whose parents refused to make you stop kicking the back of my seat. Thank you so much.

5. My play list consisting of nothing but versions of the song "Rain King" by the Counting Crows is now two hours long, and incredibly soothing. If you've ever wondered why that song was my current music so much of the time, well...this is why.

6. Zombies are still love.

Well, I'm about to get going; I've got a few last non-computer things to do around the house, and then I'll be off to catch the bus to get to the train station to take the train to get to the airport to board the big metal sky-bird and fly to Michigan. I'll be in Ann Arbor for the next two days for business reasons, getting back to California late Wednesday night.

(If I'm very, very lucky, I'll make it to my hotel in time for Fringe tonight. But I'm not counting on it.)

Entries will be taken for the random draw Rosemary and Rue giveaway through Friday morning, when I'll be selecting the winner. Remember, if your number comes up, you'll have seventy-two hours to claim your prize before I give it to somebody else, so it's a good idea to keep an eye on what's going on over here. There will absolutely be other giveaways over the next several months, since it's a great way to get copies out there into the world. Also, if you're attending the San Diego Comic Convention, word is we'll have a stack of the lovely things for handing out. A stack. How cool is that?

There have been a few alterations to the Appearances Page over at my website. The lovely folks from DucKon will be getting me my panel schedule in the next week or so, so you'll have plenty of time to plan our awesome adventures in discussing _________. I'm hoping for a nice plague, and maybe something that's dead, but still moving around.

I'm going to miss my cats, but I get to meet jimhines in the flesh for the first time. In all things there are balance.

See you when I land.

I have Rosemary and Rue galleys. You want Rosemary and Rue galleys. We're like the peanut butter cup of pre-release reading material. So how can you get what you want?

Simple: comment here.

No, really. The first giveaway is going to be a RANDOM DRAW. Comment on this post going "oooh, me, me," and I'll put you into a spreadsheet. At the end of the week (so Friday, May 8th), I will roll the random number generator, and we'll have a winner. (Although, as a footnote, the winner will have seventy-two hours to claim their prize. So if I post going "Yay, Kermit, you win!" and Kermit doesn't say "Yay, send it here!" within three days, I'll be rolling the random number generator again. That's how we roll.) Please only comment once. There will be other giveaways, some of which will be much more participatory and require actual effort to enter, but this week, I'm lazy.

Game on!