Catherine Ryan Hyde's Blog, page 4

Cover Reveal!

I think most of you know that my next release is BRAVE GIRL, QUIET GIRL on May 19th.

But in case you're wondering what comes next after that...

THIS LINK will take you out to the Amazon detail page for MY NAME IS ANTON, which is set for a December 1st release.

Just keeping you posted. Remember you heard it here first.

Happy reading!

A Different Kind of Giveaway

This is a giveaway for my blog subscribers only.

I did this once before, but unless you’ve been following this blog for a long time, you likely won’t remember. There’s a very nice company called USB Memory Direct who have twice sent me personalized custom USB drives to give away to my readers and fans. Here are some photos of what they gave me this time. Really above and beyond in design.

Now, this is a giveaway most useful to those who use computers rather than phones only. If that’s you, here’s what I’m giving away.

I’ve loaded ten of these with the .pdf version of my coffee table photo book 365 Days of Gratitude. A computer monitor is a great way to view the photos in color and full size. Then as a bonus I’ve loaded a folder of 60 of my astrophotography images. I’m not sure how many of you have noticed that I have a page on this site called My Astrophotography, but if you’re at all interested in astronomy (even if you know nothing about it but just enjoy seeing galaxies and nebulae) you might go take a look.

If you’d like to have one of the ten of these drives, just leave a comment in the thread below. Please be sure to leave your email address in the form (not a good idea to leave it in the body of the comment because it is, after all, the internet) so I can notify you if you win. As always, I promise I will never harvest or save your address, or use it for any other purpose. It may seem as though there’s no place to enter your email, but when you hit post that field should come up. If you have trouble you can go to Contact Me and let me know, and I’ll be happy to enter you manually.

I’ll leave this open for a week to ten days and then choose ten winners at random. Good luck!

Large Print Giveaway of LUIS VELEZ

Those of you who know me know this: When the UPS guy brings me a carton from my publisher, a giveaway is not far behind. If you saw how little storage space I have and how many books are crammed into it, you’d understand. Besides, I firmly believe that a book doesn’t belong in a dark box in the garage. It is meant to be in the hands of readers.

My last delivery was a carton of Large Print editions of HAVE YOU SEEN LUIS VELEZ? These are beautiful, big, shiny hardcovers. And I know a lot of my readers appreciate large print (though I have to stress that Kindle font can be adjusted to any size that suits you). Anyway, I’m putting three of these up for grabs.

I need to try to heal a disconnect around what it means to leave a comment on this original blog. Apparently that has caused some confusion. You should be able to look up at the address bar and see catherineryanhyde.com/blog. Lots of you see my blog on Goodreads, in which case you need to click where it says: “View more on Catherine Ryan Hyde's website.” Others of you subscribe and will read this in an email, in which case you need to click: “Read in browser .” Clicking on the post’s title should do it as well.

I need your email address in the comment form (people are putting them in the body of the comment, but that’s a lot less private—really think if you want to do that on the internet) so I can contact you if you win. I promise I will never save it or use it for any other purpose. It may seem there is no place to enter it, but when you hit post that field should come up. Feel free to contact me if it gives you any trouble.

And that’s it! I’ll choose three winners next weekend. Good luck!

PS: If you ever want to know who won previous giveaways, just go back to the post for that giveaway. I announce the winners as (usually) the last comment, then turn off commenting the following morning.

BRAVE GIRL, QUIET GIRL giveaway!

I don’t want the concept of giving away free books to get old. And yet I can’t help but assume that if I’m going to be doing too much of anything, you’d want it to be giveaways.

Anyway, the timing was decided for me because just days after the release of STAY I received two big boxes of ARCs for my May 2020 release, BRAVE GIRL, QUIET GIRL. When I get ARCs, I give them away. It’s just what I do.

So, okay. The “housekeeping.” I‘m sensing that the breakdown in communication regarding “leave a comment on this original blog” is happening because people don’t always know which one is original. It’s on my blog on my website. So you should look up at the address bar and see catherineryanhyde.com/blog. Lots of you see my blog on Goodreads, in which case you need to click where it says: “View more on Catherine Ryan Hyde's website.” Others of you subscribe and will read this in an email, in which case you need to click: “Read in browser .” Clicking on the post’s title should do it as well.

I need your email address in the comment form (people are putting them in the body of the comment, but that’s a lot less private—really think if you want to do that on the internet) so I can contact you if you win. I promise I will never save it or use it for any other purpose. It may seem there is no place to enter it, but when you hit post that field should come up. Feel free to contact me if it gives you any trouble.

And that’s it! I’ll choose three winners next weekend. Good luck!

PS: If you ever want to know who won previous giveaways, just go back to the post for that giveaway. I announce the winners as (usually) the last comment, then turn off commenting the following morning.

Yet Another Giveaway for STAY

As promised, here is my second STAY giveaway, this time for audiobooks. Believe it or not, STAY releases on Tuesday. This Tuesday. Don’t ask me where the time goes. I don’t know.

This is an ongoing issue for me in giveaways—when people don’t read the post no matter how much I beg them to. Then they “enter” in a way that doesn’t really enter them, and I have to individually let them know. So I’m going to make a bold statement here: This is a giveaway for people who care enough to read the following short paragraph.

Your entry is simply a comment ***ON THS ORIGINAL BLOG.*** If you are receiving this blog post via email, please click through to the original post on my site and leave a comment to enter. If you’re reading it on Goodreads, same. I need all entries together so nobody gets left out. And I need your email address in the comment form so I can contact you if you win. I promise I will never save it or use it for any other purpose. It may seem there is no place to enter it, but when you hit post that field should come up. Feel free to contact me if it gives you any trouble.

And that’s it! I’ll choose three winners next weekend and you’ll have your choice of MP3 disc or CD-set audio. Good luck!

A Giveaway for STAY

This is where I hope I add some value for those of you who follow my blog.

It’s only a little more than two weeks until the December 3rd release of STAY, and I have my author’s copies. And there are hardcovers. And everybody loves hardcovers. Right?

So I’m going to give away three of these to my blog followers, and when this giveaway is over I’ll do another giveaway for three audiobooks.

That should help keep us busy until the release.

If you are receiving this blog post via email, please click through to the original post on my site and leave a comment to enter. If you’re reading it on Goodreads, same. I need all entries together so nobody gets left out. And I need your email address in the comment form so I can contact you if you win. I promise I will never save it or use it for any other purpose. It may seem there is no place to enter it, but when you hit post that field should come up. Feel free to contact me if it gives you any trouble.

I’ll choose a winner next Sunday. Eight days to enter. Good luck!

A Cover Reveal and What's Next

I think you all know by now that my next release, STAY, is due out on December 3rd.

But now you might want to know what comes after that.

This is the cover for my May 19th, 2020 release, BRAVE GIRL, QUIET GIRL. You can go to its Amazon Detail page HERE.

It’s already available for preorder in Kindle, hardcover, paperback and audio CD. And you can read what it’s about.

I love this cover! I mean, more than most of my covers, I just love this cover.

More news as it becomes available.

A Great Month for Deals

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a deals post, but this September is a great month for price promotions, including even my latest release.

 Before you read the following list, please be aware that this is all Kindle and all in the US marketplace.

I have seven books included in the Kindle Monthly Deals promotion, each for only $1.99. They are: HAVE YOU SEEN LUIS VELEZ?, JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT, THE WAKE UP, HEAVEN ADJACENT, SAY GOODBYE FOR NOW, TAKE ME WITH YOU, and ALLIE AND BEA. 

I also have four books included in the Literature and Fiction Kindle Book Deals for September. ASK HIM WHY and WHEN I FOUND YOU are on sale for $1.99 and WALK ME HOME and THE LANGUAGE OF HOOFBEATS are on sale for only 99 cents.

If you’re missing any of these titles, now is the time to grab them. But you don’t need to be in too much of a hurry. You have all month. Plenty of time to recommend titles to friends. :-)

Happy reading!

ARC Giveaway--My Favorite Kind

This is where giveaways, in my opinion, really get good.

My next book comes out on the 3rd of December. Most of you have read HAVE YOU SEEN LUIS VELEZ? by now, and you want to know what comes next. Then the UPS guy drops a nice big carton of advance readers’ copies of the new book, STAY, on my porch. And I can not only show you what you’re waiting for, I can give you a crack at an early copy.

I have three of these to give away on my blog.

Once again I BEG YOU to read the paragraph below. A percentage of people won’t, which usually results in my not being able to enter them, for reasons such as not being able to contact them if they win. So, please, for your own sake. It takes seconds.

***PLEASE READ BELOW!*** 

Leave a comment below to be entered. Please DO leave your email address in the comment form (even though it will say it's optional). I promise I won't use it for any other purpose but to notify you if you win. Please DON'T leave your email address in the body of your comment unless you want everybody to see it. (It will seem there is no place for your name and email. But when you hit "Post Comment," you'll see those fields come up.)

And if you're reading this on Goodreads, or if you’re a subscriber reading an emailed version of this post, please click through and leave your comment on my original blog. Otherwise I worry I'll forget you when the time comes to draw names.

I’ll leave this open for entries for about ten days or so. Then I’ll choose three winners at random.

Good luck!

Remember The Bet?

My pick is in here somewhere, losing.

For those of you who say you’re all caught up with my novels and can’t wait for something new, here’s some free reading.

Fellow author Brian Farrey invented The Bet. In case you’re wondering who’s to blame. He linked to this Atlantic article about a Stephen King short story, “Herman Wouk is Still Alive.”

“Every year my son Owen and I have a bet on the NCAA March Madness Tournament,” King said, “and last year the stakes were that the loser would have to write a story [with a title] the winner gave to him. And I lost. Except I really won, because I got this story that I really like.”

Along with the link, Brian tweeted, “Anybody wanna make a bet with similar stakes w/me?”

He got two takers. Foolish me and fellow YA author Kimberly Pauley.

Here are the rules. We each pick a horse in the Kentucky Derby. Maybe none of our horses win, but they have to finish in some kind of order. The one with the best showing of the four gets to dictate a story title to the person whose horse had the second best showing of the four. That person not only writes a story, but dictates a title to the person whose horse had the third best showing of the four. And that person not only writes a story, but gives a title to the person whose horse had the worst day.

Andrew Smith came in for a time, but dropped out again. David Lubar came in, then out. This year we were joined by Gail Doggett.

In case you’re wondering why you haven’t heard about this, for the last two (possibly three) years, my horse has not only won the bet, but the actual Kentucky Derby. This year my luck ran out in a big way. My horse was fourth of the four.

Gail Doggett assigned me my title: A CATHEDRAL OF BEES.

All of my Bet stories are about the lives of the same characters, a young gay couple named Brian and Tim. About Brian’s crazy family and unsteady career as an artist, and Tim’s ability to stand like a rock through all of these changes. Nobody said I had to use the same characters in each story, but I grew to love these guys.

They do tend to work best in a progression, so I’ll link to the earlier stories here:

THE ART OF BEING STUCK HERE

UNCLE MO HOLDS A GRUDGE

EVEN PIGEONS CAN SING

GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY AT STEVIE’S

And this year’s offering: A CATHEDRAL OF BEES