Indie Love Winners!!

Before I announce the lucky winners, let me say thanks again to Lisa and Laura Roecker for spearheading the 'spread some indie bookstore love' event. As much as I love my local B&N and Borders - and all the wonderful CRM's and managers and booksellers who support me - I have a soft spot for the small, independent stores that champion books, readers, and authors. They are my heroes!

Also, your responses made it clear that many, many people are not close to *any* bookstore - chain or otherwise. If it's not stocked at Walmart, you're getting your books on line... or not at all. This speaks volumes - and not in a good way. I hate that just this handful of buyers is controlling what we read. The Dreaming Anastasia series has gotten - admittedly - amazing placement in the big box chains. (Sbooks marketing team, you are gods!) But if there's not a B&N or Borders (whatever is left) near you, then you don't get the choice to choose these books unless you stumble into them on line. (yes, my 1,000 Twitter followers are obviously not as powerful as my fantasy brain would like to think.)

Food for thought...

But now..... drum roll please.....

THE WINNERS!!!!

The signed copy Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall goes to Emmie, who hangs out the Hastings in Witchita Falls. Emmie, in the words of Rachel herself (yes, we are friends! Feel free to be in awe), "Amazeballs!"

The signed copy of Sarwat Chadda's Devil's Kiss goes to Chey, who loves a store called DowntownBooks and worries that it will stay open. Chey, Sarwat (yes, another friend! I am so popular. Yep, that's what you're thinking) wants to tell you, "Brilliant!" and offer to buy you a cuppa cream tea next time you're in London. (oh wait, that's what he promised me)

I will be emailing both winners later today.
Congrats!

And stay tuned later this week for my fabulous post ever when I let Anne from Dreaming Anastasia and Haunted interview Piper from PJ Hoover's new YA Solstice. This interview is HOT!!!

til next time..

Winner of Bettina Restrepo's Illegal signed ARC

is Pam Zollman!!!

There were many great responses and Bettina and I thank you for your participation!
Pam's response to the question: Would you cross the border illegally to find your family? reflected bravery on many levels!

Enjoy Illegal!

And the rest of you - make sure to get your own copy as well.

Other books to put on your list:
Janet Fox's Forgiven - out now from Penguin
Crystal Allen's How Lamar's Bad Prank Won Him a Bubba Sized Trophy - out now from Harper Collins
and of course - if you haven't read Haunted, my sequel to Dreaming Anastasia, it's out now from Sourcebooks. A little magic. A little romance. A really crazy, malevolent Russian mermaid.

And check out previous post for ongoing contest to win signed copies of Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall and Sarwat Chadda's Devil's Kiss!!

of book tours and authors and other stuff

Sarwat Chadda entertains the crowd with Templar Knight tales and Billi SanGreal's story
Rachel Hawkins reading a chapter from DemonGlass and Sophie Mercer's further adventures

Mundie Mom Kathy and me.

As my Borders signing for this weekend was postponed (yes, not cancelled but postponed while my local Borders waits for the banks to finish doing whatever needs doing before they can order books for bigger events again), had some time to pop by my favorite Houston indie Blue Willow, where I not only got to say hi to Valerie and Cathy (who have asked me to be part of Houston Teen Book Con!!) but stayed for the reading/signing of the dynamic touring duo - my pal Sarwat Chadda (Devil's Kiss and Dark Goddess) and Rachel Hawkins (Hex Hall and Demonglass), both being toured by Disney Hyperion.

I loved hearing both of their author journey stories - had not known that Rachel used to be an English teacher until it began to suck her soul (teaching has a way of doing that...) Plus she's funny. Really funny, actually. As is Hex Hall, which I've just started reading and am totally enjoying! And Sarwat hinted to us about his recent trip to Hollywood...big doings coming for this deserving chap, methinks.

Let's just say that a good time was had by all and that I also got to meet and chat with various booksellers and bloggers, including Mundie Mom Kathy and cariblogs - who introduced me to Cynthia from A Blog about Nothing and Lena from Addicted to Novels and others! This is my favorite part of book events - talking with people who love books, support authors and books, write about books... well you get the picture!! Books rock. And book bloggers - you rock even more!! Thank you Cathy Berner for graciously introducing me as a Teen Book Con author.

Okay. Must write now. Really.

Til next time...