Friday, December 19, 2008

PBW Holiday Giveaway #8 -- Golden Things

We're running behind again time-wise, but at last we've solved the upload/download problem.

First, the winners of PBW Holiday Giveaway #6 -- Cool Characters are:

Maithe (whose comment began with: Oh, there are several characters i just love reading.)

Kayla (whose comment began with: Talyn, from Holly Lisle's TALYN. Her first-person narrative is as much intriguing as it is entertaining.)

Laughing Gecko

Carissa

Holly M (whose comment was: Richard..nuff said :-))

JK (whose comment began with: Sayuri from Memoirs of a Geisha is one of my all time favorites, but it's very hard to pick just one.)

Michelle W. (whose comment began with: Faythe Sanders from Rachel Vincent's Werecat series and Luna Wilder from Caitlin Kittredge's Nocturne City Series are among my favorite characters right now.)

Winners, when you have a chance please send your full name and ship-to info to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your copy of Master of Shadows out to you now (just a reminder, your copy of Stay the Night will be mailed out to you as soon as my author copies arrive here, which will be sometime between now and January 6th, 2009.) Thanks to everyone for letting us know who some of your favorite characters are.

About five years ago I wrote a short story about the most unlikely and unlikeable character to ever hit my pages. She was based on a myth I didn't care for, involving a critter that usually scares the wits out of me in real life. She was dark, mouthy, lethal, obnoxious and pretty much everything you else don't want in a protagonist.

I fell instantly in love with her, of course, and wrote in a couple of days what is arguably the best short story I've ever written: Red Branch. Some of you may remember her from one of my LB&LI workshops that she taught over the summer (she'll never admit it but she wanted to, and like I was going to argue with her.)

Since 2003 I've written other tales set in Akela's world of Ravelin, always for my own enjoyment. Writing for yourself is a golden thing because you can ignore all the rules and really play. When you have a place like Ravelin that seems to keep building itself in the back of your head, I think that's important to do. As much as I respect making the Almighty Buck, sometimes this gig just needs to be fun.

Stories are also meant to be shared, so for the eighth PBW Holiday Giveaway, I have for everyone:



Click on the cover art to go to the Scribd document page, where you can read online, download or print Ravelin, my free e-book collection of five short stories set in the Red Branch universe, including Black Queen, the follow-up to the first tale of Akela and Jalon. And happy reading. *Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.


Cover art credit: © Bertrandb | Dreamstime.com

26 comments:

  1. I loved Red Branch. Thanks for this!

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  2. Anonymous4:55 AM

    Thank you!

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  3. Anonymous5:55 AM

    Yay! Free reads! You are _awesome_!!

    your copy of Stay the Night will be mailed out to you

    Uh yeah. About that...I got my copy in the mail the other day and wow. Pink. Like My Little Pony pink. With sparklies. Robin still looks super sexy though, and if he can look that rugged and manly all decked out in pink whiskers...he's gotta be delicious in real life, is all I'm sayin.

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  4. Thank you Lynn! Ooh, this sounds very good. See, this is another one I am going to download and save to read on December 26th...when I can hide in my home office with a mongo-sized cup of java...and where no one will dare to interrupt me. *L*

    Thank you for all the great gifts! Hope Santa is very nice to you too. *G*

    Happpy Holidays everybody!!

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  5. Thank you. :-)
    *drops a curtsy*

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  6. Ooh, Christmas! Thank you. I love Akela.

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  7. Thank you. This is almost as good as free chocolate.

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  8. Anonymous10:46 AM

    Lynn,

    My eBook reader and I thank you!

    Merry Berry

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  9. AwlrIghty! Downloaded and first few pages read-- Aryan just met Kalas. This is a wonderful read. clever and charming so far.

    Thank you!!!!

    Many Blessings, and have a wonderful and safe Holiday.

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  10. Thank you so much! I can't wait to read this. What a treat for a quiet night before the fire. Your generous spirit never fails to inspire. Holiday cheer to you.

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  11. Thank you so much, Lynn! May you have a joyful Christmas and a peaceful and creative New Year!!

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  12. Free reads...love it. Thank you. I really enjoyed Red Branch.

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  13. Anonymous12:58 PM

    oooohhhh... thank you!!!

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  14. Anonymous1:01 PM

    Thank you PBW! <3

    I loved reading Red Branch, Akela was such a fascinating character, I can't wait to dive into Ravelin and see what awaits.

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  15. Anonymous3:01 PM

    *murrs* Thank you! I was just complaining to my mate today that I'd run out of stuff to read...so this is a VERY welcome gift indeed! Many thanks! *gets to reading without further delay*

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  16. What a wonderful gift! Thank you for all the great posts of this past year. I enjoy reading your blog since I never know what I'll find but it's always interesting. Looking forward to continuing this reading adventure into the new year.

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  17. Anonymous8:27 PM

    Ohhh man, we ALL win! Fantastic!! Thanks so much, Lynn. :)

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  18. Thank you :). Just what I need to read for my trip in a couple days.

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  19. Thanks, Lynn! What a wonderful gift! I'm looking forward to reading them.

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  20. Thanks so much for sharing! I'm going to check it out. :)

    Happy Holidays!

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  21. Ooh cool contest. Count me in.

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  22. Thanks Lynn. I'm sure I will enjoy it as much as I do all your stories.
    c.

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  23. Thanks for sharing this with us Lynn! I'm looking forward to this. Too, looking forward to more set in this!

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  24. Happy Holidays, I will love to read your ebook, I have downloaded also the free ebok linked to the Darkyn series and I have enjoyed them very much.
    THanks so much.

    Happy Holidays to ALL!

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