variant: by robison wells

I'm trying to think of the first time I met Robison Wells and I don't think I'm positive about when it was. The inaugural Whitney Banquet, when I was enormously pregnant? It had to be before then but that's my first concrete memory of talking with him, although I'd known about Rob for a long time before that. I'd been reading a group blog in which he participated and always found his posts hysterically funny/incisive (you can find an example here).

At the time, Rob and I were both writing for regional publishers, and I remember when I talked with him I thought, "This guy is going places." And when I read his books, I knew it too. We exchange manuscripts (he was supremely helpful with CROSSED in particular) and, when I read VARIANT a yearish ago, I was blown away. So clever. So interesting. The kind of book that kept both my husband and me up all night reading it.

It's a fast-paced, exciting, twisty, intelligent book that takes place at a boarding school where all is not as it seems. And that's really all I'm going to say. I don't want to spoil anything for you. Part of the joy of reading this book is starting on page one without any preconceptions and just going along for the ride with Benson, Rob's fantastic main character.

To celebrate Rob's upcoming release, I'm giving away a hardcover copy of VARIANT. To enter, you need to leave a comment (just one!) here that includes:

*your name

*a way to contact you if you win

*the freakiest name for a boarding school you can think of (yes, I'm going to make you work just a tiny bit for this)

*you get an extra entry if you blog about it AND post the link in your comment

Contest is open internationally and you need to comment by midnight (MST) on Tuesday, October 4th (Rob's release date). And if you are lucky enough to live near the King's English, they'll be hosting Rob's launch party on Thursday, October 6th at 7:00 p.m.

Congratulations, Rob!!