I’m going to try to keep these kinds of posts down to once-a-week, so here’s everything going on with HIDDEN THINGS at this very moment.
Free Things
Are you on Goodreads? You are? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME ABOUT IT? I’m a new arrival, but I kind of love it — I spent most my spare time this weekend scanning in books on my shelves, sticking pretty gold stars on those I’ve read, exclaiming over sequels I didn’t know were out already, and staring wistfully at everything on my virtual shelves I haven’t read yet. Also, it seems like a really nice community — by typical internet standards, it’s a quirky, book-loving Utopia.
And, not for nothing, they were cool enough to work with me to do this:
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Hidden Things
by Doyce Testerman
Giveaway ends July 11, 2012.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Check that out! Already had eighty-some people sign up for it, so it’s maybe not the best odds, but it’s free, so who could complain? I didn’t actually think I was going to have enough ARCs to do this giveaway until one of my first readers turned down her copy and instead pre-ordered a couple finished copies from Amazon and told me to give this one away, so this is actually kind of a bonus ARC giveaway, courtesy of one of the fine folks (Stacy) mentioned in book’s lengthy acknowledgments.
Next week, at right about this time, we are going to unleash the power of weird microfiction for the next giveaway, but in the meantime, I suggest you make with the clicking.
Things In the Wild
It’s very, very strange to me to see copies of Hidden Things out in the world, being read by… people — sometimes (often) people I don’t know. It’s like looking up and seeing your five-year-old driving a new mustang past your house, except a little scarier.
Stephanie Perkins was the first person to freak me out. I found out later that she ‘acquired’ the book while visiting a local bookseller who’d got the ARC that day and had foolishly left it out where people could reach it. I hope the booksellers at least got to write down the ISBN before Steph ran off.
Chuck is reading it and seems to have survived. I’m very curious to hear what he has to say, then sit down with him and compare notes on our tough, semi-broken heroines.
Mur also picked up a copy at BEA. Dunno if she’s had a chance to read it yet, but she looks happy. Maybe that’s a new line of twitpic-based book reviews: just pose with the book while making a face that appropriately reflects your opinion of the thing.
Did I just invent a new Twitter thing?
Finally, this last one is somewhat more complicated to explain, but makes me very happy. Book Expo America 2012 (which took my lovely wife away for almost a week) hosted the Fourth Annual Librarian Shout & Share. The deal with this thing is that a half-dozen librarian panelists sit down and recommend new books coming out that they love.
It took me awhile to sort through what the article was actually telling me, but what I was able to figure out was that Library Journal‘s “Books for Dudes” columnist Douglas Lord recommended Hidden Things when he got his turn at the microphone, and (according to the special bold-facing) Hidden Things was initially picked for mention by more than one panelist, “necessitating some horse trading” (I’m assuming to determine who got to mention the book and who didn’t).
Seriously, though: considering how much libraries and librarians have meant to me over the years, how could this do anything but make my day?
That’s All for Now
No more book news stuff until next week (unless I just can’t help myself, or it’s time-sensitive or something), when I will try to explain the Hidden Things Microfiction Contest… Thing.