This and That

After several requests came in for advance reading copies of my December release Nightbred I checked with my editor, and it turns out that my publisher will not be printing any this time around. Instead NAL will be placing the novel up on Net Galley, which I'm told hands out e-book versions for reviewers and bloggers. I don't know how difficult it is to use this service, as I buy all the books I talk about here on the blog, but I'm sure you techno-savvy folks know all about it.

It's a little sad to see the end of printed ARCs, although it will be nice not to see them being sold on eBay or by used booksellers on Amazon for ridiculous prices. I've heard some authors get permission to print their own ARCs via short run printers, but at present I don't have the time or the room in the budget for that. I've done my own photocopied, unbound galleys in the past but they're a bit cumbersome.

I'm planning to do some online giveaways for Nightbred during mid-to-late November, and for these I'll use signed copies of the final edition (this assuming my author copies come in earlier than the release date.) It will also mean I have to do the promo a few weeks later than I'd planned, but this is part of the E-future, and it's time I got in step with it.

I've also received several e-mails from readers who noted the BBC's coverage of the unique tomb burial discovered beneath the ruins of Templo Mayor in Mexico City and how closely it resembles the tomb in my novel Nightshine.

It's not the first time my fiction has pre-empted fact, and I do understand why it kind of weirds out everyone when it does. While the newly-uncovered tomb is in the same (okay, the exact same) location of the fictional tomb of Sokojotsin in my book, which I wrote two years ago, no psychic visions on my part were involved. I attribute the coincidence to a lucky combination of research and imagination. I spent months studying the history of the Aztecs, their culture and how they lived in preparation for writing Nightshine.

As for the specific reasons I chose Templo Mayor as the not-quite-final resting place of this character, there were two: 1) it was one of the most important temples in Tenochtitlan, and 2) it was actually destroyed by the Spanish exactly when I needed it to be destroyed to fit in with the character's storyline. That archaeologists have now uncovered a significant burial beneath the same temple in the real world is yes, simply an odd coincidence, nothing more. I can tell you with 100% confidence that they won't find in their tomb what I put in mine in the novel.

Nightborn Preview

My editor kindly sent some ARCs of Nightborn, the first novel in my new Lords of the Darkyn trilogy. Usually I give away all my ARCs without asking for anything in return, but as this novel is the first book in a new venture, it's important to get the word out about it. Thus I'd like to send these ARCs to people who are willing to help me do just that.

If you're interested, in comments to this post write a pledge for what you'd be willing to do to help me promote the novel* by midnight EST on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 (and if you'd like some ideas, you might write and post a review** of it on the internet, feature the book in a blog post, talk about the new trilogy on a discussion board, or something along those lines. Be as creative as you like, too.) I will draw four names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners a signed ARC of Nightborn. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

*Please note that this is not a contest for who promises to do the most. That said, I do expect the winners to keep their pledges, so please be realistic about what you actually can do.

**In regard to writing reviews, there are no expectations here or any strings attached. If you don't care for the book after reading, you are not expected to lie and/or throw up fake gushing reviews; nor will I hate you forever if you rate it with three stars or less. I don't care about stars. Just be honest and we're good.

Added to clarify: Midnight EST on December 7th is the cut-off to enter the giveaway; winners can keep their pledges whenever they like after they've read the ARC. It would be most helpful to have your help with getting the word out before March 2012, when the book is released, but it's not an iron-clad requirement.

This and That

I've received several invitations (or possibly some weird kind of SPAM) from Goodreads asking me to "claim" my author page. Here's the problem: a while back I discovered that Goodreads was bootlegging my blog content and posting it on their site without my permission. I contacted them and politely told them to stop it. They didn't feel copying my content was wrong, but agreed to remove it. Only what they really did was move it elsewhere on their site by posting it under another of my pseudonyms. I guess they thought I wouldn't noticed. So anyway, in the event this isn't weird SPAM, no, I won't be claiming anything that has to do with Goodreads.

I have adjusted down my total published stats over there on the sidebar; the explanation as to why can be read on the Backlist/Bibliography page.

Finally, my agent kindly sent me a few extra ARCs for Nightshine, my fourth and final Kyndred novel, which will be released next month. As I already did a general giveaway for the ARCs my publisher sent me, I thought I'd do something different with these. Any suggestions? Let me know in comments.

Coming Home

In a few months Nightshine, the fourth novel in the Kyndred series, will hit the shelves. Normally I would say that this is also the final book in the series, and as it happens I did wrap up as much as possible with the Kyndred in this story. But as I am currently back writing in the Darkyn universe again, who's to say what the future will bring? I have to leave it in the hands of the publisher and the readership.

I'm quite happy with what I got on the page while writing Nightshine. I had a lot of fun with the storyline, the cast and the world-building. As with the other books in the series it's definitely not the usual thing, but for all the exotic aspects involved in the story, writing it reminded me of how it feels to come home after a long road trip.

I don't think everyone should have to wait until November to read the book, though, so I've got a stack of Nightshine ARCs to give away today. If you'd like a chance to win one, in comments to this post name the title of a book you felt was a particularly satisfying reading experience (or if you can't think of one, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Saturday, July 16, 2011. I'll draw ten names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners a signed ARC copy of Nightshine (if you win and have not read the first three books in the Kyndred series, or would just like to have a matched set, I will send along signed copies of Shadowlight, Dreamveil and Frostfire as well.) I will also be including a Nightshine-inspired BookLoop in every winner's ARC. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Early Frostfire Redux

One of the ARCs I had reserved for the Forecast: Early Frostfire giveaway back in September remains unclaimed to date, and I've been unable to contact the winner. Rather than let it sit here and gather dust I thought I'd do another drawing for it (if I ever hear from the original winner I'll send a signed first edition as a replacement.)

In comments to this post, name the title of an upcoming release you're looking forward to (or if you're presently in a reading anticipation void, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Monday, November 29, 2010. I'll pick one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner the unclaimed Frostfire ARC (which I will sign for you.) This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Dream Books

I received a nice box of ARCs for Dreamveil, my second Kyndred novel, and got to work on a giveaway post for them this morning. I deleted it and rewrote it, and deleted and rewrote it, and kept that up until at last a shampoo manufacturer called to see if he could hire me to ghost-write instructions for his product labels.

I generally avoid painting a bullseye on myself by talking about how I feel about my work, but this book happens to be a tough one for me to fling into the world. I won't go into all the reasons why (because then I'll have to delete this version, too) but I can guess that some of the anxiety comes from working on it during what was for me personally a very grim part of 2009. Call it a Dickens of a novel; the best of writing experiences at the worst of times.

While I know what I'm supposed to do -- emotionally disconnect and let it go -- sometimes you can't do that. Some books are important to the author for reasons the reader will never know. For these books I don't think we should have to attempt to do the usual grinning authorial soft-shoe dance of pretending they're not, even for the sake of self-promotion.

I also see no reason why I should hide under the bed with these babies, so I'd like to hand them over to some of you guys. If you'd like one, in comments to this post name a book or story that helped you get through a difficult time in your life (or if you'd rather not for your own reasons, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Thursday, March 4, 2010. I will draw ten names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners a signed ARC copy of Dreamveil. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Updates

According to my SF editor, Dream Called Time, the tenth and final StarDoc novel, will be released in August 2010.

The pitch for my third Kyndred book (title pending approval) has been accepted, and it will be a crossover Kyndred/Darkyn novel (and to avoid spoilers that's all I'm going to say about it for now), tentatively scheduled for release in late 2010.

Last but not least, I feel that the Shadowlight e-ARC experiment was a great success. I've never had a book place so high on the Times list, and I'm sure a nice chunk of my sales were due to the immediate response from my visitors and their help spreading the word about the book, which was simply outstanding. Here is the last round of reviews and write-ups that were sent in to me:

Amazon.com reviews: Margaret Fisk ~ Zeek ~ Nina Paules ~ C. Stone ~ C. Vandehey ~ Harriet Klausner

Amazon.com.uk/Margaret, also on The Book Depository

B&N.com reviews (the ones I could view): Margaet Fisk ~ Npaules ~ 4kidsmom ~ Debra_ Saturday ~ Nemhain ~ harstan ~ Zeek319 ~ lxz ~ CatsMeowAZ ~ Chad ~ Pandababy ~ Madonna_lily

The Drabbler/Robin

Erotic Horizon, also on Goodreads

Literaturely Speaking/Breia

Shiloh Walker

The Writing Playground/Danniele Worsham

E-xperiment Ten

Ten Things About the Shadowlight E-xperiment

Amelie Markirk's Blog/Amelie (off topic note -- Amelie's review of Rob Thurman's Trick of the Light proves I'm not the only one who was floored by this book.)

New B&N.com reviews ~ Npaules ~ 4kidsmom ~ Debra_ Saturday

BlogCritics/Robin Kavanagh

Book Crazy Scrapbook Mama/Pamk

Dreaming in Rhyme/Joely Sue Burkhart (Joely wrote a very cool poem about the story.)

From This Day/Rhienelleth

It's My Blog -- It's My Opinion/MarnieColette, also on Facebook and MySpace and in a discussion on amazon.com's Shadowlight sales page

Raine's Secret Garden/Raine Weaver

Web Petals/Marjorie M. Liu -- Marjorie not only says many kind things I don't deserve, but she's also giving away three copies of Shadowlight and three copies of a surprise Darkyn novel. Stop by her blog today and leave a comment to have a chance to win one.

Wife of Monobot/Little Bits

Shadowlight E-xperiment Update

While dodging work taking a break from my latest round of edits on two novels, I thought I'd do a new update on the Shadowlight e-ARC experiment.

Silver of Silver's Book Reviews coaxed me into doing an interview at her place as well as posting a review of Shadowlight here. She makes me sound a lot more interesting than I am, btw.

More on the latest reviews I've read:

B&N.com reviews/Nemhain ~ harstan ~ Zeek319 ~ lxz ~ CatsMeowAZ ~ Chad ~ Pandababy

Blogging by Liza/Liza

Chocolate Reality/Steena Holmes

Items of Interest/Mad Scientist

Just Erotic Romance Reviews/Mireya Orsini

The Collected Ramblings of Keita Haruka/Keita

Library Thing reviews/miap45 ~zeek319 ~ csayban ~ Pandababy

Maryse's Blog/Maryse

A Multitude of Books/Milady Insanity

Pandababy/Pandababy (I think Pandababy was the first blogger to post a review; I just didn't get to the e-mail and linkage because of the inbox shuffling that sometimes happens when I hit the wrong sort key)

Reality Bypass/Jana

Smexy Books/Mandi

The Top 5 Reasons I Do What I Do/Sherri, also at Powell's and Paperback Swap

Welcome to the Strange Frontier/sakinah ; also at Symetry of Old Pain; Pomme de Sang and Good Reads

The e-mails that have been coming in have been almost unanimously friendly, supportive and helpful to me, especially the constructive criticism and the exchanges I've had with those of you who wanted to discuss some point(s) from the book. I know I don't volunteer a lot of info, especially when my editor's choices are involved, but I like to know what didn't work and why (especially as I'm finishing up the edits on Rowan's book this week.)

Some of the e-ARC readers were kind enough to post reviews on more than one site, and this is what I consider effort above and beyond what I asked in return for the e-book. I also appreciate all the booksellers out there who are handselling the book and/or are featuring the novel in Staff Picks, end cap displays or a prominent place in their stores. While my internet following is strong, the majority of my sales still come from the brick-and-mortar stores, and no one can help you there better than an enthusiastic bookseller.

To my knowledge there have been no bootleg copies of the e-ARC posted on the internet; I really doubt there will be. I think the readers and bloggers in the online writing community have a lot more integrity than they get credit for.

Some of you have asked me about how the book will fare on the lists given the absence of print ARCs and the way-early shipping. Don't worry about it. It's nice to have a book appear on the lists, but I'm paid according to my sales, and that's where you've all helped the most. I care about earning out. Besides, I made the top twenty last year with a book that shipped out late during a holiday week; I figure that was the one miracle I'm entitled to as an author.

And that's the latest. I'll do one more update after the print edition releases, and then I'll see if I can put together some useful stats on the results.

Shadowlight E-xperiment

Last month I committed to trying an e-ARC experiment for my October release, Shadowlight. I thought I'd provide some stats on how that's gone so far:

Distributed: 73 e-ARCs via e-mail.
Labor (preparing/converting the manuscript into the e-ARC, responding to e-mails): 17-1/2 hours

Reviews posted that I've read so far:

(Another) 52 Books/Bibliophile

B&N.com's Shadowlight sales page (Eight reviews)

Bellwood Farm/Laura

Beyond the Invisible/Soleil Noir

Blue Heron Creek/Debra Saturday

The Book Book/Chad

Chapters, Canada/Bookworm

My Writing Existence/Anne

One Book Away from Heaven/Pattepoilue

Stray Thoughts Of Margaret Fisk

There are definitely more reviews out there, and a bunch of links waiting for me to check out in my e-mail box. I do want to read them before I post them here, not to screen them but as a courtesy to everyone who took the time to request the e-ARC, read it and write them up.

A couple of people have e-mailed me about the possibility of e-ARCs resulting in lost sales of the print novel. While I don't expect everyone who received an e-ARC will end up buying the print version of the novel (nor would I), many of these readers had never read any of my books before, and several have commented via e-mail or in their reviews that they're going to buy or check out from the library more of my backlist. Basically what I lose in sales of the print novel I'll likely double or triple in backlist sales. Since all of the Darkyn novels are still in print, as well as most of the StarDoc books, this helps keep more of my books in print. I'll sacrifice a few current-release sales for that.

Most popular/universal comment so far: some form of "I loved Rowan!" Which is good, because originally I pitched Delilah's story, not Rowan's, as the second book in this series (and that is what ended up on the contract.) As I was writing Shadowlight, however, Rowan came out so strong on the page that I asked my editor if I could instead write book two about her. She agreed, I pitched a new synopsis, and wrote Dreamveil, Rowan's story, as book two. Which now seems like a pretty good decision all the way around (reason #999 as to why you should listen to your instincts.)

My thanks to everyone who is participating in this experiment. So far, so good.

Stunning

The only word I can use to describe the e-mail response to yesterday's post. You guys are just the best. Thank you.

e-Shadowlight

Thank you all for sharing your opinions yesterday on my idea to make e-ARCs of Shadowlight available. After much thought, I've decided to give it a go, although I will be imposing a time limit for e-ARC requests mainly to prevent this from going viral in the bad way.

So: readers and bloggers who are willing to commit to writing up a blog post or review of Shadowlight, the first novel in my new Kyndred series, can e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com to request a .pdf or Microsoft Word 2007 copy of the book before midnight EST on Saturday, August 22, 2009.*

As I mentioned yesterday, favorable opinions are not expected and there are no other strings attached; all I ask for in return are two things:

1) Everyone who receives the e-ARC agrees to write up a post or piece about the book on your weblog, web site, or appropriate forum (this includes forums like discussion boards or online bookseller sites for those of you who don't blog or have a site) before October 6, 2009.

2) Everyone who receives the e-ARC agrees not to sell, distribute, redistribute, post on the internet or otherwise pirate copies of the novel.

With the e-ARC of Shadowlight I've also included the initial draft of the first chapter from Dreamveil, the second Kyndred book, so you'll also get an exclusive preview of what's next in the series. Also, if this works out well, I will likely do it again with future novels.

I really appreciate everyone helping me out with this.

*Added: this e-ARC offer is now closed. Thanks to all my visitors who responded for offering your support for this experiment.

Opinions?

I'd like to ask for some opinions on my latest problem. Shadowlight, the first novel in my new Kyndred series, is due to be released in a few weeks. As far as my planned promo for the book goes, I have in the works a parallel e-book, Rain Lashed, which I'll be posting for free on Scribd next month.* Sasha was also nice enough to let me post an excerpt from Shadowlight over on the group blog, and I'll probably do the usual release day announcement here.

Still, I feel I should personally do something about the lack of ARCs. The publisher promised to send out bound galleys, but I don't think they'll get them out fast enough to make a difference. At the moment I have my hands full with finishing up the final book in the StarDoc series, so the time I can spend doing additional promo is severely limited.

One option is to make available e-ARCs of the book to readers and bloggers who would be willing to commit to writing up a blog post or review of the novel before the release date (no favorable opinions expected or other strings attached; just a write-up of some kind.) The e-ARC would be a .pdf electronic copy of the novel manuscript, formatted to look similar to the print novel, minus the DRM and accompanying B.S. I'd probably include some bonus material to make it extra tempting, like the first chapter from the next book, Dreamveil. Naturally the recipients would be on their honor not to pass around the e-ARC or post it anywhere on the internet.

Some writers think using electronic ARCs as promo is too risky, but I believe it's part of our E-Future; the only economically sensible alternative to continuing to print and ship paper ARCs. Readers are always saying that the industry should trust them enough to strip DRM from e-books; I'm willing to to extend that kind of trust (for one book, anyway) and see what happens. It would be an interesting experiment, I think.

What do you guys think? Good idea, bad idea, stupid idea, don't do it PBW, or other? Let me know in comments.

*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 no longer use or recommend using their service. See my post about this scam here. Rain Lashed can be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs here.

Why No ARCs

A couple of people have written to me to ask for ARCs for Shadowlight, my October release, and I have some unhappy news. My publisher informed me this week that they did not print any for the novel.

As it was explained to me, moving the release date up four weeks on the schedule evidently made it impossible for them to produce any ARCs for the book. They have agreed to make up and send out some bound galleys, but they have not yet done that and I've not been given a date as to when that will happen or who will be receiving them.

Naturally I'm disappointed, as this is the first book in a new series for me, and there has been quite a bit of interest in getting ARCs for it. This also means none of the trades will get a look at the novel before they finish production on their October issues. But look at the bright side: at least no one will be selling them on eBay, right?

I have been promised a limited number of these bound galleys; if/when they arrive I'll e-mail the reviewers and bloggers who have requested ARCs from me and see if you all will settle for these instead. Allison, my very patient LB&LI winner of the Darkyn series set, you will definitely get one of them. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes anyone.

Early Robin

Thank you all for putting up with my lousy blogging this week. To get back on track and do something fun, I have seven ARCs to give away of my January '09 release:



Stay the Night features Robin of Locksley from Evermore, and is the seventh and final novel in my current Darkyn series. If you want more Rob, and/or to know how I wrap up things, this is the story you'll want to read.

If you'd like a chance to win one of the seven ARCs, in comments to this post name one of your favorite novel series in any genre (or if you're not a series fan, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight on Saturday, September 20, 2008. I will draw seven names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners a signed ARC copy of Stay the Night as well as a surprise. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Fall Winners

You all really outdid yourselves listing risk-taking writers for the Take the Fall giveaway; I've added at least a dozen names to my shopping list.

We put the magic hat in action this morning, and the names of the winners are:

Darlene Ryan

Saint Andie

drpepper2531

Holly (whose comment began with I'm in. I NEED that book...I thought I would be the only one to name Gaiman and Pratchett as two of my favorite risk takers...)

lesleen

observations from the couch

Robin Bev

Fritzz

Adele

Amy (whose comment began with Almost all mine are already taken... I'll see your bets of LKH, JR Ward, Anne Bishop, Mercedes Lackey's Herald Mage books...)

Winners, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your ARCs out to you. Thanks to everyone for joining in.

Take the Fall

When readers ask me which of the Darkyn books is my favorite (and hold a gun to my head to make me answer them) I think I usually say Dark Need. Writing Lucan as I actually envisioned him versus serving up the expected romance wonderbread version was an amazing experience. I never had so much fun, or colored so far outside the lines. It definitely helped me prepare for what I wanted to do when I set out to write Valentin's story in Twilight Fall.

No one but my editor has read TF yet, and she didn't say much, other than fix this and explain that (when you get to my stage of the game, they rarely do.) So I don't really know how it's going to be received. I try not to over-analyze my work, but in my head I keep making up these little novel billboards, and seeing myself in July on TF release day planting them down the length of the bookstore V aisle, like those old Burma Shave road signs:

Caution: Unconventional Protagonists

And Multiple Plot Lines Ahead

Exit Now, Militant Feminists

Because This Sure Ain't Wonderbread

and maybe a nice big shelf sitter, right in front of Twilight Fall, because I know I'm going to get grief for it:

Warning! Ends on Series Cliffhanger*

Sure, I probably could have saved myself a lot of hassle by penning a vanilla-pop version of Val, or churning out a clone of Night Lost or Evermore. But what fun would that be to write? And what would I do with all my nifty new signs?

I do have a nice stack of ARCs to pass along to those of you still willing to take TF for a test drive, so in comments to this post, name a writer who you think takes interesting risks with their work (or if you only read the safe and predictable sort, just throw your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Monday, March 24, 2008. I'll draw ten names at random from all the daredevils who participate and send the winners a signed ARC of my sixth Darkyn novel, Twilight Fall. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something at PBW in the past.

*Val's story is resolved in the book, but someone else's gets much more interesting.

Magic Hat Ten

You saw this coming, right? Ha.

Ten Bloggers Who Won an Evermore ARC

1. Pamk

2. Charlene

3. Rosie

4. Marjorie

5. Ann

6. Rosina

7. Erin

8. Molly

9. Joely Sue

10. Mackan

Winners, please send your full name and ship-to info to LynnViehl@aol.com, so I can get these ARCs out to you.

But wait, there's more.

I have a consolation prize to offer to the other bloggers who entered the drawing but didn't win an ARC this time. If you don't mind reading an unbound version of Evermore, send your full name and ship-to info to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I will send you a signed copy of the galleys. This way everyone doesn't win, but everyone sort of wins.

Some of what's upcoming this week on PBW:

September Biz Post

Voice vs. Style

Novel Outlining 101

Lost and Found

Winners & Announcements

Judging by the entries for the RW: Take Me Away giveaway, you all soak up a lot of interesting things from the authors you read. We made the magic hat give us some names this morning, and the winners are:

Megha (whose comment started with Sherwood Smith - that you can take a fairly cliched plot and make it into a novel . . .)

MyFlyAwayMoment (whose comment started with I just gotta say that bran fan cracks me up . . .)

rox (whose comment started with 1984 by George Orwell taught me that Big Brother is not good . . .)

Anna (whose comment started with Johanna Lindsey taught me medivial history facts . . .)

tetewa (whose comment started with I'm currently reading an ARC of When I'm Not Myself by Deborah J. Wolf . . .)

Winners, please send your full name and ship-to information to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get your packages in the mail. Thanks to everyone for joining in.

I also have a couple of announcements:

StarDoc news: Ace/Roc decided they didn't care for the original title of StarDoc book eight, Drednoc, and asked me to come up with a replacement. We agreed on Omega Games as the new title. If all goes well, Omega Games will be released in August 2008.

Darkyn news: I have an extra ten ARC copies of Evermore, Darkyn book five, which will be released in January 2008. This time I've decided to give them away to bloggers who can't get ARCs but want to read the novel (people without blogs, don't worry, I'll be giving away some copies of the final edition in December.) I don't expect anything in return, but if you enjoy the story and want to write about it on your blog, and/or tell everyone you know to buy it, I won't stop you.

So, if you're a publishing industry blogger (writer*, reader, reviewer or other), you do not already receive ARCs of my novels from my publisher, and you're interested in reading the novel, leave a link to your blog in comments to this post by midnight EST on Sunday, September 9, 2007. I'll draw ten bloggers at random and send the winners a signed ARC of Evermore. This drawing is open to any publishing industry blogger, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Added: *At any stage of the game -- published, as-yet-unpublished, or self-published is fine.

ARCs Away

I appreciate everyone coming up with so many terrific ideas on how to handle extra ARCs. I wish I had enough to send you all a copy. But names have to be drawn, so the winners of the Take My ARCs, Please giveaway (along with the suggestion they made that I'm going to use) are:

1. Applejacks0711, who suggested: "I like the idea of donating it to a cancer treatment center (my grandmother and mother would love to read stuff like that when they're there)."

2. Jason, who suggested: "You could donate them to a soldier. I'm pretty sure that they need something to get their minds off of their current situation."

3. Firebrand, who suggested: "New reading material would be much appreciated here at the Burn Unit."

4. Karen W., who suggested: "I'm always all for donating to a women's shelters..."

5. Edie, whose comment read: "Send them to the amputee ward of military hospitals for severely injured troops."

Winners, please send your full name and ship-to information to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get these ARCs out to you. Firebrand, if you would also send the address for the Burn Unit, I'd appreciate it.

I'll have a post later on in the week (with pics if possible) as I distribute the other ARCs according to your suggestions. Thanks again to everyone for joining in.