Fantasy Book Critic: Winners of the Alison Goodman/The Two Pearls of Wisdom Giveaway + Misc. News...

Congratulations to Den Golby (Alton, UK), Gillian Shiels (Selkirk, UK), Cristina Alves (Amadora, Portugal), Darren J. Lockwood (Crawley, UK), and Andre Vock (Milton Keynes, UK) who were all randomly selected to win a COPY of Alison Goodman's “The Two Pearls of Wisdom”, courtesy of Bantam Press UK!!! “The Two Pearls of Wisdom” is officially out today for UK readers. The US version, titled “Eon: Dragoneye Reborn”, will be published on December 26, 2008 via Viking Press.

In news, just a couple of tidbits. Firstly, Robert Bennett's “Mr. Shivers”, a dark fantasy set in the Great Depression American West and in the vein of Stephen King's “The Gunslinger”, has been sold to DongWon Song at Orbit Books in a two book deal by Cameron McClure at The Donald Maass Agency (World). You can find Song’s thoughts on the deal HERE. Speaking of Orbit, the website has a report HERE on five other books that sound interesting including a new book from Jeff Somers starring Avery Cates, “Monster” by A. Lee Martinez and a few others…

And secondly, Suvudu is hosting a pretty cool contest HERE. Basically, all you have to do is submit a manga or anime-styled self portrait along with a photo of your real selves for comparison. There will be FOUR First Prize Winners. Each First Prize Winner will receive TWO weekend passes to the New York Anime Festival and three Random House manga books!!! Contest ends on Thursday, September 18, 2008 – Midnight. Official rules can be found HERE.

On the subject of contests, the giveaway for Jeffrey Overstreet’s “Auralia’s Colors” and “Cyndere’s Midnight” ends next Tuesday, September 16, 2008 – 11:59AM PST, and as a special treat to the THREE WINNERS who are selected, both books will be SIGNED by the author! So if you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for :)