Kim Harrison's Blog, page 63
October 10, 2013
First of Harper’s Read-Along give-away
The first of Harper’s read-along give-aways has started over at the Harper pages. Entry looks easy, and there’s a place you can make a comment if you like to tell them what you like about the books or how you found them. This one will go on for a while, but they’re giving away an entire set of the first five books and some mystery merchandise. I think they will be hard-cover except for Fistful of Charms, which will be mass market.
Here’s the link: [Harper read-along sweepstakes]
Me, I’m kind of sleepy this morning. I took last night to decorate, and the house looks kinda spooky. I still have a few things to set up outside, but that’s for the weekend. Is it the weekend yet? Feels like a Friday . . .
October 9, 2013
October: scare-a-palooza
Some of you might remember a brief post from me a while back about Guy giving me a Halloween scare early. Now, I will admit I saw the boxes at the front porch. I saw the glint in his eye. I recognized that he was up to something, but like a lamb to the slaughter, I innocently fell right into his trap, walking into the living room and finding Mr. and Mrs Harrison having their morning tea.
Crap on toast, I think my heart stuttered, finding them there in the usually dark front room.
But truly, I love this time of year when I lurk on “on demand’s” Halloween menu. It doesn’t have to be scary, in fact, I don’t really go for the horror slasher stuff. But it’s the one time of year that it’s okay to think about black cats and headless horsemen, and I eat it up with a spoon.
Even when Guy scares the peas out of me.
I’m hoping to have a link to the first of Harper’s contest, slated to start today. If It doesn’t show by noon, I’ll give it to you tomorrow. Unlike mine, this is a long-running contest, so don’t freak out. 
October 8, 2013
Winners of the Dead Witch Walking flash-give-away
We had a whopping 1754 entries in 24 hours, many of who had never posted before on my pages, keeping me busy unmoderating everyone. Fortunately you only have to be unmoderated once, so if you’re planning on entering in the following give-aways, your comment will pop up normally.
Just as a reminder, Harper’s first contest will be going online tomorrow, (I’ll give you the link then) but my next 1-day, flash give-away won’t be after we’re done reading THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD. (we start next Tuesday when the e-book goes on sale) If you want to take part, I’ll be posting my thoughts here and at Goodreads. [goodreads threaded conversations]
But you came to see who won. The first two winners get the Harper hard cover of Dead Witch Walking, Into the Woods, Ever After cover flat, burning bunny pin, and Hollows bus token, and they are Shirley Traynor and Christina Grove.
The second two get the SFBC hard cover of Dead Witch Walking, Into the Woods hard cover, Ever After cover flat, burning bunny pin, and Hollows bus token, and they are Chelley Kraft and Amber Blount
Congratulations, ladies! You should have an email from me in your inbox right now asking for your shipping address. If I don’t hear from you by Friday, I will be giving the prize pack to the next on my random generator list.
Thank you everyone who entered. I run these myself, so I see all your comments and opinions, and I want to thank you again. This was a lot of fun, and I really appreciate you sharing this with me.
October 7, 2013
DWW flash give-away
Rules and Regs. I will open the blog page for comments Monday, 9:00 a.m. EST, and close it Tuesday 9:00 A.M. EST. I will then use a random number generator to choose the four winning comments.
Stuff to know before commenting:
Guy will ship overseas, so international is okay.
Chances of winning are dependent on how many enter.
My decision is final, even if you quibble over it.
I will contact the winners Tuesday afternoon using the email address they used to comment with, so please check it in the next day or so. If you don’t respond to me by email by Friday, I’m giving the prize pack to the runner up, also chosen by the random number generator.
The prize packs are all the same except for one detail. Two of them have hard covers printed by Harper, two were printed by the Science Fiction Book Club. The rest of the prize pack: pin, token, cover flat, and hard cover of Into the Woods, are all the same. The first two numbers chosen from the random generator get the Harper copies, the last two will get the SFBC.
The e-book of Dead Witch Walking is still on sale for 1.99 in the US markets. [ http://www.harpercollinsapps.com/book... ] I'm holding off on starting reading The Good, The Bad, and The Undead until next Tuesday when that e-book goes on sale, and give everyone a chance to catch up with DWW.
Dead Witch Walking Give-Away
Phew! Contest is over, and everyone who posted has been unmoderated and included in the running. I’m generating random numbers right now for the winners and one runner up in case someone doesn’t respond back to me by Friday. I’ll have a post later today with the winner names, but watch your email as I’ll be contacting you there first. This was a lot of fun for me! Thank you, everyone who entered. We’ll be doing this again after we finish THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD. (read along starts next Tuesday when GBU ebook goes on sale.)
I’ve given it a lot of thought on how to run the contest for the Dead Witch Walking prize packs, and to help keep it simple, all you have to do is drop down to the comment box at the end of the page and tell me in less than a sentence who surprised you most in Dead Witch Walking. (If you’ve not read the book, then tell me what you think of the cover.) Your post is your entry into the random drawing, so please comment only once–on your honor!
Rules and Regs. I will open the page for comments Monday, 9:00 a.m. EST, and close it Tuesday 9:00 A.M. EST. I will then use a random number generator to choose the four winning comments.
Stuff to know before commenting:
Guy will ship overseas, so international is okay.
Chances of winning are dependent on how many enter.
My decision is final, even if you quibble over it.
I will contact the winners Tuesday afternoon using the email address they used to comment with, so please check it in the next day or so. If you don’t respond to me by email by Friday, I’m giving the prize pack to the runner up, also chosen by the random number generator.
The prize packs are all the same except for one detail. Two of them have hard covers printed by Harper, two were printed by the Science Fiction Book Club. The rest of the prize pack: pin, token, cover flat, and hard cover of Into the Woods, are all the same. The first two numbers chosen from the random generator get the Harper copies, the last two will get the SFBC.
The e-book of Dead Witch Walking is still on sale for 1.99 in the US markets. [links to sale] I’m holding off on starting reading The Good, The Bad, and The Undead until next Tuesday when that e-book goes on sale, and give everyone a chance to catch up with DWW.
Also, if you’ve not seen it, The Undead Pool has gone up for pre-order! Yay! Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million (ship date is wrong)
IndieBound
Harper’s first give-away begins later this week, so check back on Wednesday.
October 4, 2013
Dead Witch Walking give-away:How we’re going to do it
Phew! I tried to read as slow as I could, but those last few chapters? No stopping.
As part of the read-along, Harper will be having two large give-aways. (More info on that as I find out.) But I’ll also be giving away a few things here at my site at the end of each book. For Dead Witch Walking, I scrounged up from my closet two hard covers, and two Science Fiction Book Club hard covers. I’m going to give them away to random posters on a SPECIAL thread I will open on MONDAY, 9:00 A.M. Monday, not today. The contest will run to Tuesday, 9:00 A.M. and I’ll contact the winners for their mailing addresses that afternoon.
Included in each prize pack will be a hard cover of Into the Woods, a burning bunny pin, bus token (The freebie for Dead Witch Walking) and a signed cover flat of EVER AFTER.
I’m still amazed at the things I have in that closet, even after all the Manic Mondays we had last year.
Again, this all happens Monday, so mark your calendar and stop back then. I’ll be sending out reminders on FB, twitter, and Goodreads. Oh, and we’ll ship overseas, so no worries on that.
October 3, 2013
I forgot about the pinky ring! (DWW to end)
I tried to prolong it, but once I got to the bus station, I just kept reading, all the way to the blown up van, burned charms, and cookout. You know, I think Rachel felt sorry for Frances at the end.
And Trent? He is not a nice person here. Not at all. I personally didn’t like how callous he was, even knowing why he was doing this, and it really was my intent at this point to keep him the big-bad-beautiful to the end. I think it was when Al began to show up and take on that roll that I was able to start modifying Trent’s past and future actions so that they could be seen in two lights. He killed a man, but it was to save his species. Rachel thought he sent the demon to kill her, but we find out he was a fellow victim. He stole Rachel’s pinky ring, but he didn’t harm her when she was vulnerable. He is honorable, but his moral compass is just a little . . . skewed right now. And that makes for an interesting character.
Just as a reminder, DWW is on sale until the 14th, and I’ll be having my own smaller give-away on Monday. More on what it is and how to enter tomorrow.
October 2, 2013
Edden, one smart cookie (read-along to cp 29 inclusive)
Edden was one of those characters that, unlike Ceri or Kisten, was intentionally created to fulfill a need for the story. He is my contact to the FIB, my burly captain, somewhat stereotyped down to the loose tie and coffee stain on his lapel. And that was okay, because you know immediately who and what he is. There is no hidden plot, no ulterior motive. He is exactly who he appears to be, and in a cast of characters who have a hidden agenda, Edden is a much needed relief. That’s not to say he’s cardboard. Least, I never saw him that way.
But I can’t help but like the guy. He’s ex military, and frustrated with the bigotry in both the FIB and the IS. He just wants to get the bad guys, and when Ivy goes to talk to him, he goads her into getting herself jailed–just so he can talk to the witch who just survived a demon attack. He wants to use her, but he wants to use her to help his own department bring in the bad guys.
I just finished proofing a chapter in The Undead Pool where Rachel is invited to talk to a shift change meeting down at the FIB. Is the bigotry still there? Yep. It would be a true fairytale if it wasn’t. But she is there, too, and they listen to her. That feels pretty good to me.
As part of the read-along, the e-books will be going on sale as we discuss them. Dead Witch Walking is on sale right now.
And an early heads up. Harper is going to have two large give aways in conjunction with the read along, but I’ll have my own, smaller giveaways in between, one for each book. The first will be on Monday where I’ll give away three signed hard covers of Dead Witch Walking. More on how to enter, on Monday morning. Monday. Not now, Monday. (grin)
October 1, 2013
Revolving e-book sale:Hollows
http://www.harpercollinsapps.com/book...
Big Al (DWW read-along to cp 27)
I quit reading the day before yesterday because I wanted Al to have today’s post all to himself.
Oh, my.
I’d forgotten how bad he could be. And I love him for it. Al was one of those beloved characters that I intended to trot on stage to move the story forward and up the stakes. In that aspect, Al did it in spades, not only in trying to kill Rachel, but doing it in a way that ripped her carefully constructed blindness aside and showed her fears bare to the world. He developed Rachel’s character in that one pivotal chapter. A walk on/walk off. And when that happened, I knew he was going to be there to the bitter, happy end.
I like Al. I like his insecurities, (that we don’t see here) his power and class (which we do) his bitter disregard and hatred that stem from his own brutal evaluation of himself (which you guys won’t see until the last couple books)
When he tore out Rachel’s neck, I had no idea of all these things, but I saw something in him, and I kept my thoughts close, letting unfold as he would.
He remains to this day one of my very favorite characters.
And I’m sorry, but I don’t have the name of the reader who drew this. She signed it, but I can’t read her signature. (head hits desk)
