Of This and Other Worlds

To celebrate the North American release of Listening Library's unabridged Ultraviolet audiobook read by Justine Eyre, I'm giving away 3 copies to readers in the US and Canada!

If you're eligible and want to enter, just comment here, or tweet with the hashtag #UVGiveaway on Twitter. I'll choose the winners randomly in the New Year.

The random number generator has spoken, and the winner of a signed hardcover of Wayfarer is etlhoy. Who was zealous enough not only to tell me she really wanted the book but even to write a poem about it, so I think the prize will be going to a good home.

Thanks to all who entered, and all those who've sent notes of congratulation on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere as I celebrate today's official release date of Wayfarer. The book is now widely available in Canada and the US, and I hope those of you who haven't read about Linden and Timothy's adventure yet will enjoy it!

The lovely claudiagray is giving away a three-book package that includes a copy of Wayfarer! So if you're in North America and want an early peek at the story, be sure to pop over there and enter before Monday, May 17th.

Claudia has also posted a hot-off-the-press conversational interview with yours truly, in which the two of us chat freely about inspiration, process, the difference between premise and story, writing romances, upcoming projects, and the horrors of the Molasses Swamp.

Can you believe 2009 is almost over? I can't. But thanks to my fellow MG/YA authors at debut2009, it's been an exciting year with lots of new friends and good reading in it!

So here's our parting gift to you, dear readers:

I am happy to announce that in just a couple of weeks (well, three to be exact), I will be flying down to the AASL Conference in Charlotte, NC to do a signing for many lovely school librarians, and while I am visiting I will also be doing this:

Meet the Debs! Where: Park Road Books, Charlotte, NC When: Friday November 6, 2009 at 5 p.m. Who: R.J. Anderson (Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter) Lauren Bjorkman (My Invented Life), Jennifer Jabaley (Lipstick Apology), Neesha Meminger (Shine, Coconut Moon), Shani Petroff (Bedeviled: Daddy's Little Angel), Cynthea Liu (Paris Pan Takes the Dare), and Erin Dionne (Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies).

We will be signing copies of our books and chatting to all comers -- if you're in the area, please drop by and say hello!

I am especially excited about this trip because not only do I get to meet a bunch of terrific fellow authors and hang out with my wonderful agent, I will be jaunting up to visit my dear friend cesario while I am there. Whee!

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Next, I am exceedingly excited because today -- yes! today! -- I am going to have tea and hang out with the lovely and hilarious Adrienne Kress, author of two of my favorite middle-grade books of the last few years -- Alex and the Ironic Gentleman and Timothy and the Dragon's Gate. More people need to read these books. Seriously. They are adventurous and fantastical and witty and insightful and just plain fun. And so is Adrienne. So this too is made of WIN.

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There may also be some very, very good news brewing on the writing front. I cannot say what about, exactly, not yet, as the details are yet to be confirmed. But I will tell you as soon as I can.

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And finally, something for you lot -- it's Debsness time again!

First, the good stuff:



And now for a long-overdue heads-up on what I've been doing. Namely, working on my paranormal YA Touching Indigo every spare moment I get. I was delighted with my 12K progress for the first week -- especially since about a third of that was new material -- but this week it's slowed down considerably due to a houseful of bored kids and my participation in London Book Camp (that's London ONTARIO, FYI -- nobody has offered to fly me to the UK yet!). Still, I have hopes of catching up to my target of 20K by Monday.

To help me stay motivated without an Official Editorial Deadline, I've told myself that if I get the first draft of this book finished by the second week of October at the LATEST, I can buy myself a new laptop. Which, considering that my current laptop is an eleven-year-old refurbished Toshiba with zero Internet capability and a busted hinge, is a pretty good incentive. Now I just have to think of an extra treat I can give myself if I get it all done by the end of September...

In the meantime, I've been delighted to find three Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter reviews in the past month from major US publications. First Booklist came through with some very nice words in their July issue, and then just this past week I got the nod from School Library Journal and VOYA, both of which you can check out on the Barnes & Noble page for Spell Hunter if you're curious.

I'll be offline for the next week, doing family stuff and focusing on getting caught up with Touching Indigo, but I look forward to catching up with everyone when I get back!

Come escape with us - and win all seven of our books! A US prize pack that features all 7 with our US covers, or the UK prize pack that features all 7 of our books with our UK covers when available! Enter once, win twice because we’re giving away secret surprise prizes too! But enter by midnight EST tonight, because at 12:01, it will be all gone! Escape with the 7!

All content shamelessly poached from anywherebeyond, because I'm lazy like that this morning.

This week I'm featured in the Author Spotlight on AuthorsNow!, and I'm giving away a signed hardcover copy of Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter as part of the deal. If you want to throw your name in the hat, check out the interview here and leave a comment!

I'll also be doing another giveaway here on the LJ some time next week, so if you don't win over there, you can always stay tuned for that one.

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On a related note, recently I've been hearing from folks who've tried to find my book in their local Big Bookstore and were surprised/disappointed not to see it there. There's a simple explanation for that: for their own mysterious reasons, the two major US chains have opted out of carrying Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter in their stores. That doesn't make it impossible to find, but it does make it a bit harder, as it's only being physically stocked by independent booksellers.*

Still, if you're not in the habit of visiting your local indie, why not give them a try? I used to think I could get a better deal by shopping elsewhere, so it's only in the last year or so that I started visiting my local indies on a regular basis. But now I've come to see what a great bunch of people independent booksellers can be, and how well they know and love the books they sell. So if you're thinking of picking up a copy of Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter, please consider looking it up on IndieBound first. You can even order the book online through the IndieBound site if you prefer.

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And speaking of book-buying, I should also mention that sarahcross's fabulous, funny, action-packed, utterly charming teen superhero novel Dull Boy just released today. Don't be misled by the title, because it's definitely tongue-in-cheek: Avery Pirzwick's story is anything but dull. You can visit Sarah's website to learn more about her and the book. Or you could just go ahead and buy it!

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* Canadians don't have the same problem, though -- Chapters/Indigo/Coles are giving the book some great support up here, bless 'em.

I have good news! My local indie bookseller has informed me that they got two extra ARCs of my book that I could have if I wanted, so I am now going to give away three ARCs of Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter!

*drumroll*

Using my Aforementioned Mysterious Criteria I narrowed down the list of candidates to eight, and assigned them all numbers. Then I used the Virtual Hat of Randomness to pick three of those numbers, and voila!

The winners are:

1. YAtheneum
2. Becky's Book Reviews
3. Angieville

Please e-mail me at rjawriter at gmail dot com with your mailing addresses and I will send those ARCs out to you early next week.

Thanks so much to all of you who entered! You all have great blogs that I enjoyed visiting and reading very much, and I really appreciate your interest in my book. I'm sorry I didn't have enough ARCs to give you all one!

And I would invite anyone interested in reading some great reviews to check out all the blogs that entered the contest -- the winners are linked above, and you can also drop by the following sites:

Beyond Books
Frenetic Reader
Kidliterate
Kiss My Book
Naptime Writer
Reverie Book Reviews
Ticket to Anywhere