OTHERSPHERE Launch Giveaway!

I can't believe OTHERSPHERE will be out in just over a week on December 31!

To celebrate, I'm having a big ol' giveaway. Two people can win, and each of them will get:

A signed ARC of OTHERSPHERE. (I also promise to hand-write in the final five words of the book, which are missing from the ARC.)

Earrings with one of my favorite quotes on them, from Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN. One earring says "Beware for I am fearless," and the other says "And therefore powerful."

The quote makes me think of my main character Dez, when she's in her tiger-form. And maybe a little of that fearlessness and power will transfer to you when you wear them (or, if you don't wear earrings, to the person you give them to!) The background behind the quote in the earring is literary text. The earrings are nickel-free, for pierced ears, made of brass and clear magnifying glass, and are 21mm wide and 45mm long from the top of the earwire. (I had three sets made, kept one for myself because I love them so much, and am giving away the other two.)

A set of tiger notebooks (also pictured above in a patch of sunlight on my rug), one small and one medium. These are thin, soft-back notebooks made from 100% recycled materials featuring a tiger on the front and back from Eberhardtpress.org. The small one is 3.5" x 4.75" with 40 unlined pages. The medium one is 5" x 7"with 44 unlined pages. (I have two sets of these and kept a set for myself too!)

The contest starts tonight at midnight and ends at midnight on Monday, December 30. Sorry, but it has to be US only because I'm tapped out on shipping this holiday season.

You can enter by commenting on this blog, liking my Facebook page, or tweeting about the contest, via the Rafflecopter widget below. You'll get the most points for commenting, less for tweeting, and even less for Facebook. I figured that way it's a bit fairer for those who are not on Twitter or Facebook.

Voila!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks so much for a wonderful 2013, everyone! Ending it with a book launch ain't half-bad for me. And in a way it's the launch of my new year as well. Here's to a fabulous 2014 for us all!

Othermoon ARCs!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Got the advance reader copies (ARCs) of my second book today! Fanned them out of my floor all pretty and green!

I can't stop looking at them. The second ARC's just as thrilling as the first. It's a confirmation that yes, I am a writer and I have books coming out and -- woo hoo!

Trying to figure out how to change my widget so I can do a countdown to Othermoon next. But first  there will be eating of turkey and stuffing and pie! I'm off to see our closest family friends for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I hope my old lady cat Lucy doesn't murder new kitten Marlowe while I'm gone... Here he is, a few weeks ago. He's grown since then! As I type, he's carrying around his stuffed orange toy "Chandler," proudly, as if he killed it himself.

So far Lucy's only whacking him irritably when he gets too rambunctious. Good thing he's so cute!

Winners of the ARC Giveaway!

*Drum Roll*

To hell with waiting any longer! Without further ado, the winners of the two advance reader copies of Otherkin are:

Leo Bullock

Karen (Commenter #15, your favorite animal was a turtle. I love turtles too!)

Congratulations to Leo and Karen!



Both of you, please send me your mailing addresses at ninaberrybooks [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll send them to you right away. (My email addresses is printed that way to avoid spam. It works!)

So sorry to all those who didn't get a copy. It was hard for me to type the names of the winners because I knew that meant excluding most of you! The winners were chosen by a random number generator using the order in which you commented to establish your number. If a person left more than one comment, I used only their first comment as their number.

I will be doing another giveaway in about a week. If you want to enter again, follow me on Twitter, "like" me on Facebook (see the right hand side of my blog to do that), or check back here in a week or so to enter.

That giveaway will feature another question in the party game, but first l have to tell you that the words you used to describe your favorite animal actually describe...

...your ideal life partner.

No really! Well, okay. It's just a party game, but still!



I love the variety of the words chosen. I totally get how those words could apply to a very cool life partner.

My own three words were: cuddly, playful, and sleek. Used to describe a cat. I can still remember how I felt when someone at the party revealed what those words indicated. It took me aback, but when I thought about it - yeah. A partner with those qualities would be pretty great! I can think of a couple of guys I dated who qualified. Ahem!

And I'm not the only one who chose the word "sleek!" We should start a "Sleek Appreciation Club."



It's amazing what a variety of animals this small sample of people chose: unicorns, dragons, ducks, cats, dogs, pandas, crows, lions, tigers (yay!), ravens, elephants, panthers. I'm a huge lover of all animals (well, except maybe ticks and fleas) so it was a ton of fun to see how YOU saw these animals.



If you've already found your significant other for life, I can't help wondering if the words you chose seem like an accurate description of that person to you. If you feel like letting me know, please do in the comments! And of course, it's just a party game, so you should take it with a wee grain of salt.



Thanks for coming by and taking the time to enter this contest. You guys rock!

Giveaway: An ARC of Otherkin

UPDATE: June 19, 2012, 9:37pm PST.

And now, because you're all so awesome, double your chance to win!

I've so been enjoying all your animal choices and descriptive words! Can't wait to tell you what they mean, according to this party game.  I'll post that information along with the names of the winners  the morning of June 21. Morning my time, here in Hollywood, Califonia, that is.

But I've also decided to give away not one but TWO ARCs of Otherkin!

Yes that's 2, deux, due, dos, iki (that's Turkish. I can count to 29 in Turkish. Long story.) つ (that's Japanese, according to Google translator) copies of the book will be mailed off to two of you lovely folks, selected at random.

If you haven't entered yet, what are you waiting for? Read the original post, below, to see what you need to do.

The deadline to enter is Midnight (Hollywood, California time), June 20, 2012. Winner announced the next morning. This is open to everyone in all countries anywhere mail can be delivered. I love to travel. If I'm lucky maybe some day I'll come visit you and the ARC and we can chat. Maybe have a nice cup of tea, or whatever they like to drink in your country.

And if you don't win, don't worry. I'll be doing another giveaway at the end of June, with another party game question to celebrate my and my Dad's birthdays.

Thanks, everyone!

ORIGINAL POST
In celebration of my Mom coming to visit this weekend, and to thank you, the readers of this blog, I'm giving away a personally autographed advanced reader copy (ARC) of my book! Woo hoo!

Unlike the giveaway on Goodreads, this is open to international folks. The winner will be chosen randomly.

All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me:

1. Your favorite animal;
2. Three adjectives describing that animal.

Why? Because it's fun, and because Otherkin is about people who shapeshift into animals. I'll choose the winner from among the commenters using this random number generator.

This is actually part of a party game, and it supposedly says something interesting about you. Hee hee. I'll reveal what that is (and if you know, don't tell!) when I announce the winner, next Thursday, June 21.

For the record, when I was asked this question at a party (before I knew what it supposedly meant about me) I said that my favorite animal is a cat. (It's actually a tiger, but I went more general rather than specific for some reason. You should feel free to be as general or specific as you like.)

And the three adjectives I chose were: cuddly, playful, and sleek.

There is no right or wrong answer! If you don't really have a favorite animal, just try to think what cool animal skill (flying, stalking, camouflage) you'd like to have and brainstorm from there.

The contest is officially open now and will close at 12am Pacific Time on Wednesday, June 20, 2012. I'll announce the winner the next day, get your info, sign a book, throw in a cool bookmark, and mail it off to wherever you are.

Can't wait to see what you guys post!