And the winner is....

Well, you all had the contest hat quite stumped! So many thoughtful responses and so much fab fairy tale love. That, coupled w/my celebratory mood in having FINALLY finished my HAUNTED line edits today - has resulted in one winner and two runners up! Yay!! So- drum roll please!

Our two runners up, who will be receiving Dreaming Anastasia and HAUNTED bookmarks, are:

Lynsey Newton - who won my fancy w/ her British spelling of favourite plus her comment about how she loved that in Beauty and the Beast, Belle fell in love w/the beast despite his looks. Way to look beneath the surface, Lynsey.

Jennie Smith - who deserves props for publically fessing up to having stolen Rumplestiltskin from her school library 20 years ago!! And for giving her dad props for doing character voices.

And our grand prize winner, who will receive the signed copy of Dreaming Anastasia, both sets of bookmarks and DA postcards, is :

Jessica - who wrote a delightful thesis on fairy tales - Grimm and others vs. Disney - and who knew that in the original Snow White, the evil queen's punishment is to dance to her death in red hot slippers and in the original Cinderella, the crummy stepsisters try to fit into the glass slipper by cutting off toes and heels of their feet. Serious ick! (Does anyone remember - I think it's the original Sleeping Beauty - the evil queen there gets dragged through the streets after having been stuffed naked into a barrel studded with nails? Seriously - there's some fairy tale that ends that way)

But in any case - YAY!!! Jessica and congrats to Lynsey and Jennie too.

To collect your prizes, please email me at joy at joypreble dot com and let me know your mailing addresses and I will send!

As for HAUNTED, it's headed into copy edits now. Soon it will be in advanced reading copy form. I am profoundly grateful and excited.

Til next time...

And the Winner is....

Well, the truth is, I wanted everyone to win because collectively speaking, your answers were all so great. (okay, some of you are better explainers than others, but everyone really rallied behind their choice!) Ultimately, I culled out anyone who couldn't pick only one, although I do have to say that those of you with more than one were truly torn and you made some great points about why you couldn't choose. And I was fascinated by the characters - everyone should read back through the comments (some are on http://joypreble.livejournal.com which is where I cross post)! More than one of you chose some of my favorites - Veronica Mars, Buffy, Temperance Brennan, Rose from Vampire Academy. Scarlett O'Hara, Hermione, Sookie Stackhouse, and Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables were other picks that came up more than once. Captain Kathryn Janeway, Fiona from Burn Notice lots of sci-fi and fantasy characters... even an excellent shout out for Elizabeth from the picture book Paperbag Princess, and one for Lizzie Hexam from Dickens' Our Mutual Friend. And I was thrilled that more than one guy entered and some great things to say. (Read David N. Chang's comment about Buffy!)

But eventually, a winner had to be chosen. So into the Phoenix Suns cap went your slips of paper. Husband was pulled away from watching poker on the Travel Channel. (this was no great sacrifice. He sometimes watches these tournaments twice. I keep marveling at his ability to do this)

*Drumrolllllllllll please..........*

The winner of the autographed copy of Dreaming Anastasia is....... Cari_tx, who wrote:

"I would say Clary Fray from Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare. She's a teen who gets thrown into a crazy situation in a matter of weeks. Her mom gets taken away, her whole sense of being is shifted and instead of crying about it she fights to get it back. She learns the truth about who she is and she saves her mom, friends, love, and the world. She isn't a typical teen or a girly girl. She is awesome!"

Cari_tx - please email me at joy at joypreble dot com and give me your address so I can send you your book!

Thanks so much everyone for participating. This is seriously such an interesting discussion. As I guess you know, I like my women characters strong. All your characters faced adversity but didn't let it get them down -whether said adversity was battles, discrimination, love, family issues, or some combination thereof. And I loved your love for your choices. That's what good storytelling is all about - writing/creating characters so real that their struggles become our struggles, that we can't stop thinking about them, that we root for them and love them.

If even one person comes to love Anne or Tess or Anastasia or even Baba Yaga in Dreaming Anastasia in this way, how awesome would that be?!

Til next time...

Contest Closed!

Dreaming Anastasia contest #1 is officially closed! Check out the comments on the previous blog post. Such amazing answers and such great conversation about what makes a kick ass female character! You guys totally rocked this one! I will get back with the winner soon, so stay tuned.

Til next time...

Dreaming Anastasia Contest!

It's time for my very first Dreaming Anastasia giveaway contest! Seems only fitting since yesterday the folks at Amazon emailed me that my pre-ordered copy (yes, I ordered my own book. Why? Because I could) might be at my doorstep even before September 1st (that made my heart skip a couple of beats!)

Okay, so *drumroll please* here's how it works:

When I read or when I watch movies and television, I am a huge fan of strong women characters. I'm an even stronger fan of strong women heroes. Anne, in Dreaming Anastasia, is one feisty little female. So is Anastasia. And the witch Baba Yaga. And Anne's bff Tess. (who btw is one of my favorite minor characters because she just gets to say all the things she's thinking) And to some extent this was conscious because I like women characters who can kick some butt.

So how do you win your very own autographed copy of Dreaming Anastasia? Comment back to me here and let me know who your favorite FICTIONAL strong woman character/hero is and WHY. It can be from books, tv, movies. But to be put in the pool from which I'll pick the winners, you have to say both who and explain- briefly - why. Got it?

I'll keep the contest open until Monday night.

So let's get started! Tell me your favorite strong female character/hero (and remember it has to be FICTIONAL) and why and maybe you will win!

Start submitting!
Til next time...

Contest Coming! Blog Tour beginning!

Check back Friday for my very first Dreaming Anastasia contest! Ooooh... prizes!!

Things are getting crazy around here. Was at my Barnes and Noble yesterday, dropping off my foam board poster that the dear folks at Sourcebooks made up for me to use at the launch party on 9/12. And then I got an email from Amazon that my copy of Dreaming Anastasia that I'd pre-ordered (yes, I ordered my own book. Why? Because I could) was going to be at my doorstep early. Maybe even next week. This has made me a little crazier.

Working on a variety of guest posts and interview questions for the Dreaming Anastasia blog tour that's shaping up, aided by the very capable hands of Publicist Paul. I'll let you know where I'll be, virtually speaking.

But back to the first sentence - contest anyone? Who's excited along with me?

Til next time...