Monday Book Giveaway (February 9, 2009)

Time for a new winner: S. Krishna! S. Krishna chose The Pluto Files by Neil Degrasse Tyson. Congratulations! If you’ll send your shipping information to katrina (at) stonoff (dot) com, I’ll get your book on its way to you!

Now, for this week … OH! OH! OH! Remember I said it was killing me to decide whether to go to Keri’s CD release concert in Minneapolis or go to the Panama Hotel in Seattle and see Jamie Ford, the author of The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet?

I made the responsible choice to stay home to take care of my children (well, to stay in Washington and see Jamie Ford rather than fly to Minneapolis). Sometimes, the fates reward you for doing the right thing.

I was working away on my manuscript today when I got an email from my local bookseller. Jamie Ford had called to say he was going to stop in while enroute from Seattle to Portland. I brought in two copies — one for me and one for you — and he signed them both. 

Best of all, I got to meet both Jamie and his lovely wife Leesha. We had a delightful half hour or so talking about writing, books, and how they met (it’s a very sweet story: they met in a library and he proposed in a bookstore — how apropos is that?!). They couldn’t be nicer people. Genuine and warm and wonderful. I was already a big fan of The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, but now I’m a lifelong fan of both Jamie and Leesha too.

(Updated) Even better, Tuesday I saw Ford speak at the historic Panama Hotel, the hotel mentioned in the title, and he signed TWO COPIES with the date and note, “Panama Hotel.”

So, for next week, I have TWO autographed copies of The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford to give away! The author’s website says Hotel is definitely going to a second printing, so this autographed, first edition should be highly collectible, especially since it was signed at the Panama.

To win an autographed copy of The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, comment below before noonish Sunday. Then come back Monday to see if I’ve pulled your name from one of my hats. Contest open to anyone on the planet who has access to reliable mail service. Good luck!

You can read my review of the book here.

Now, Hat #36.

This hat isn’t conducive to drawing winners from because the veiling is rather fragile, so I chose S. Krishna at random.

This was one of the abandoned hats I adopted on ebay. I’m sure it’s vintage, though it doesn’t have a label, so I know nothing about it.

It’s made of cloth-wrapped wire with silk flowers and netting. I don’t wear it often, but when I do, I usually tuck the veil underneath and wear it as a headband.

The picture stinks because I don’t have PhotoShop on my loaner computer, but at least you can see the hat!

Edited to add information about the books I’ve giving away.