Watering Heaven Book Giveaway

I’m giving away a signed copy of Peter Tieryas Liu’s short story collection WATERING HEAVEN.

Watering Heaven is available for purchase now–and I’m proud to say one of the selections, “Searching for Normalcy” was one we published at Kartika Review for our Spring 2010 issue. One thing I love about Peter’s writing is that it is quirky without being precious and self-conscious. And thus, so enjoyable.

The copy I’m giving away is a brand new softcover book signed by Peter Tieryas Liu.

As always, I will sweeten your intrigue with the opening lines of the giveaway book’s first story “Chronology of an Egg,” because for me one of the biggest deciding factors in choosing to read a book are the opening lines. In the end, no one can tell you which book to like–that’s between you and the book.

Opening lines of the story collection:

“March 6: I first met Sarah Chao in Beijing over tequila shots after a game conference. I tell her I think she’s beautiful and she tells me she has an unusual genetic quirk that scares off most men.

‘Every time I have sex, I lay an egg.’

I assume she’s joking, get her email address. She’ll be coming out to the States in a few months and and we agree to hang out then.”

Interested?

Here’s how to enter:
1) Leave a comment below. You can say anything you want–e.g., you can choose to tell me why you want a copy of the book, or share a little anecdote from your travels in the world (there is a lot of traveling in this book). Do fill out your email address when you fill out the fields in the comment box (it won’t be published to the world, but I will need it in order to contact you in case you win)!
2) 1 entry per person. If you tweet about this giveaway (please tag @czilka in your tweet so that I can track it), you get an extra entry.
3) The giveaway is open worldwide.
4) If you win the contest, I will email you for your mailing address.
5) Winners will be chosen by a random number generator.
6) I will be announcing the contest winner on the blog. None of your personal information will be posted, aside from your first name and last initial (or the nickname you choose to list in your comment). If you see that someone else has entered the same name as you, please try to pick a different nickname to call yourself, so as to avoid confusion.
7) If you are below the age of 13, please ask your parents to fill out the comment field with their information.

The deadline to enter a comment/tweet is Monday November 26, 2012 12:00pm PST. The winner (picked at random) will be announced here on this blog post on or before Tuesday November 27, 2012 9:00pm PST.

GOOD LUCK! And I hope you all find your way to a copy of Watering Heaven soon!

UPDATE:
There were 15 entries in the giveaway…

Thanks for all of you who RT’d the giveaway! And helped publicize it.

I had the Random Number Generator pick a number from 1 to 15…

And then, I pushed the button.

Which then produced the corresponding winning number (you each had a corresponding number in the order you either entered a comment or tweeted the giveaway)…

The winner is #7, Jamie Martin, whose extra tweeting entry nabbed her the book!

Who says 7 isn’t a lucky number?

Jamie: I’ll be contacting you for your snail mail address shortly. I hope everyone else finds their way to a copy of WATERING HEAVEN soon! Thank you all for participating.

Forgotten Country Book Giveaway

The month of book giveaways continues here at 80,000 Words…! I’m giving away a signed hardcover copy of my friend Catherine Chung’s amazing novel Forgotten Country.

Forgotten Country is out in stores now, buoyed by oodles of deserved praise from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, O Magazine, and some of my favorite writers like Chang-rae Lee, Justin Torres, Cheryl Strayed, and Alexander Chee. Cathy’s debut novel went on sale just a few days ago, and more rave reviews are imminent. (And I’ve also interviewed Catherine Chung for Kartika Review, which will have its Spring 2012 issue out in a couple of weeks).

This is the book that I’ve heard called “my favorite novel of 2012” so many times–and even several times during the course of one conversation at AWP in Chicago last week. To which I contributed, “Yes, me too! I loved it that much!” And yes, I am twisted, because I am loving a novel that made me bawl my eyes out at two o’clock in the morning; but why else do we read but to achieve some deep connection with story? This is an author who got it right–Forgotten Country is a novel that gets the technical bits right and yet does not forget heart.

The copy I’m giving away is a brand new hardcover signed by Catherine Chung. Dudes, this cover: I love it. Also, it fits right into my rainbow spectrum bookshelf. Yes, I’m one of those assholes who arrange their books by color. (But that’s only because I’ve only got a few books in NYC–my Berkeley bookshelf is a mad chaos of color kowtowing to alphabetical ordered books).

Berkeley bookshelves…

And the rainbow NYC bookshelf…

So like, if you need pink/light blue on your bookshelf, this will serve an additional purpose.

As always, I will sweeten your intrigue with the opening lines of the giveaway book, because for me one of the biggest deciding factors in choosing to read a book are the opening lines. In the end, no one can tell you which book to like–that’s between you and the book.

Opening lines of the novel:

“The year that Hannah disappeared, the first frost came early, killing everything in the garden. It took the cantaloupe and the tomatoes; the leaves of lettuce turned brittle and snapped. Even the kale withered and died. In front, the wine-colored roses froze, powdered gray with the cold, like silk flowers in an attic covered with dust. My father and I had planted the garden over several weekends, and tended it carefully. Then it had overgrown itself, the tomatoes winding themselves up the wall of our house and stretching out to span the distance to the fence. After the frost we’d left it all winter without trimming anything back. Now we stood on the lawn, surveying the ruin, tracking damp patches of ground wherever we stepped.”

Interested?

Here’s how to enter:
1) Leave a comment below. You can say anything you want–e.g., you can choose to tell me why you want a copy of the book, or tell me something wonderful about a sibling, or a trip to the place of your origin. Do fill out your email address when you fill out the fields in the comment box (it won’t be published to the world, but I will need it in order to contact you in case you win)!
2) 1 entry per person. If you tweet about this giveaway (please tag @czilka in your tweet so that I can track it), you get an extra entry.
3) The giveaway is open worldwide.
4) If you win the contest, I will email you for your mailing address.
5) Winners will be chosen by a random number generator.
6) I will be announcing the contest winner on the blog. None of your personal information will be posted, aside from your first name and last initial (or the nickname you choose to list in your comment). If you see that someone else has entered the same name as you, please try to pick a different nickname to call yourself, so as to avoid confusion.
7) If you are below the age of 13, please ask your parents to fill out the comment field with their information.

The deadline to enter a comment/tweet is Wednesday March 14, 2012 12:00pm EST. The winner (picked at random) will be announced Wednesday March 14, 2012 by 9:00pm EST.

GOOD LUCK! And I hope you all find your way to a copy of Forgotten Country soon!

UPDATE: Time to announce the winner!

Methodology:
As always, I assigned each of you a number in the order you commented. If you RT’d my tweet, or tweeted about the giveaway on twitter, I gave you an additional entry, and I assigned additional numbers in the order you tweeted.

There were a total of 18 entries…and I used random.org to generate the winning entry number. I totally didn’t feel like going on camera today, so there is no live drawing, but this is kind of how it went…

• Type in each of the entries.
• Pull up random.org
• Tell random.org to pick a number from 1 to 18.
• Savor the moment. Ahhh. THE MOMENT.
• Still savoring. Who will the winner of Forgotten Country be?!
• Click the “generate” button.
• Wahoo! There’s a winner!

The winnner is commenter #3, aka Naomi J. Williams! Her comment was:

I’d love to read this book. But I’m also curious about why you have *two* copies of IQ84, especially as I know you also have an electronic copy of it…? It’s worth a read & all, but takes up an inordinate amount of shelf space! Anyway, enjoyed this post & the opportunity for a free book & your willingness to share photos of your bookshelves!

I totes have two copies of 1Q84, because my husband dragged home an extra copy. Long story. I know. And I have it on my e-reader. The extra copy is going to a good friend of mine, soon.

Congratulations! And I hope you all find your way to a copy of Forgotten Country soon.

One more Update: Cathy gifted me an extra signed copy of her Forgotten Country! So I did another random.org drawing and the winner was #4…which is rachel!

The Disenchantments Book Giveaway (and winner)

I’m giving away a signed copy of my friend Nina LaCour’s amazing YA novel The Disenchantments! I love this book, and whether you are a young adult or someone who is thirty-eight years old *ahem*, The Disenchantments is pure pleasure to read.

Nina writes books that I wish existed when I was younger, and I’m so glad they exist.

The Disenchantments is out in stores now, with rave reviews from many venues including The LA Times, which proclaimed it “not just for kids.” I totally agree–!

As always, I will sweeten your intrigue with the opening lines of the giveaway book. I don’t know about you, but for me one of the biggest deciding factors in choosing to read a book are the opening lines. Because in the end, no one can tell you which book to like–that’s between you and the book.

Opening lines of the novel:

“Bev says when she’s onstage she feels the world holding its breath for her. She feels electric, louder than a thousand wailing sirens, more powerful than God.

‘I thought you didn’t believe in God,’ I say.

She says, ‘Okay. More powerful than the universe, then.’

Bev is the lead singer of a band called The Disenchantments. They aren’t very good, but they play so loud the speakers crackle and the bass makes your bones tremble. And they look amazing.”

The copy I’m giving away is a brand new hardcover signed by Nina, who has graciously offered up free sticker-tattoos to sweeten the giveaway deal.

Isn’t the book beautiful? And the sticker tattoos, fabulous?

Oh, and have I told you how much I love the sticker tattoos? Here I am, modeling one.

Lately, I’ve been doing, James Lipton-esque, Proust Questionnaire-based interviews with the book giveaway authors via twitter or other messaging (yes, these interviews happen “in real time”). I’m hoping it will give you some insight into the writer behind the book and of course, we always have a bit of fun with these questions. So here we go…

1. What is your favorite occupation?
Nina LaCour: I would love to be a haberdasher so that I could say the word a lot.

2. Where would you like to live?
NL: I would like to live exactly where I live: on the border of two beautiful, urban areas of Oakland, but I would turn my apartment into a house with a huge yard and an attic for writing and a front porch where I could sit all day and spy on the neighbors.

3. What is your greatest extravagance?
NL: Cheese. I buy really expensive cheese, and I buy it at a fancy cheese counter in a gourmet shop almost every day.

Interested?

Here’s how to enter:
1) Leave a comment below. You can say anything you want–e.g., you can choose to tell me why you want a copy of the book, or tell me about a roadtrip you’ve taken, or share the name of your favorite music band (and if you’re compelled, why you love them). Do fill out your email address when you fill out the fields in the comment box (it won’t be published to the world, but I will need it in order to contact you in case you win)!
2) 1 entry per person. If you tweet about this giveaway (& tag @czilka in your tweet so that I can track it), you get an extra entry.
3) The giveaway is open worldwide.
4) If you win the contest, I will email you for your mailing address.
5) Winners will be chosen by a random number generator.
6) I will be announcing the contest winner on the blog. None of your personal information will be posted, aside from your first name and last initial (or the nickname you choose to list in your comment). If you see that someone else has entered the same name as you, please try to pick a different nickname to call yourself, so as to avoid confusion.
7) If you are below the age of 13, please ask your parents to fill out the comment field with their information.

The deadline to enter a comment/tweet is Monday March 5, 2012 12:00pm EST. The winner (picked at random) will be announced Monday March 5, 2012 by 6:00pm EST.

GOOD LUCK! And I hope you all find your way to a copy of The Disenchantments soon!

UPDATE…

The winner is announced!

Methodology:
As always, I assigned each of you a number in the order you commented. If you RT’d my tweet, or tweeted about the giveaway on twitter, I gave you an additional entry, and I assigned additional numbers in the order you tweeted.

There were a total of 44 entries…and I used random.org to generate the winning entry number. I taped all of this, and if you’d like to watch it live (with a cameo by my unwilling, but deserving husband)…the video is below…

Otherwise, if you don’t feel like watching the video, the winning number is…

*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll some more*
*take a sip of water*
*drum roll*
*cough*
*drum rolll….*

The winner is #33, also known as “Vanessa Buzeta (@dayzer389), whose comment was:

“I loved her novel, Hold Still. I thought it was amazing and it completely blew me away. I’d love to read her next novel. Thanks for the awesome giveaway.”

I’m happy a faithful reader of Nina LaCour’s work is now the proud owner of a free copy of The Disenchantments. 🙂

And I hope the rest of you find yourself a copy of The Disenchantments soon!

The Edge of Maybe Book Giveaway!

I”m giving away a signed copy of my friend Ericka Lutz’s book The Edge of Maybe!

Her book will be released in March, and I’m happy and proud to offer it as a giveaway ahead of its publication date!

Opening lines of the novel:

“There were strangers on the porch of their Oakland, California bungalow, a young woman in pink sweats and a small boy in dirty blue pajamas. They waited as Kira and Polly walked from the car to the house, Kira balancing groceries, purse, phone, keys, Polly wearing a backpack too large for her thin, thirteen-year-old frame. The woman sat on the top step, thick-bodied and barefoot; she rested her bandaged right ankle on a dingy canvas bag. The little boy crouched by the redwood planter, breaking Kira’s dendroideum succulent. He held each section between tiny thumb and forefinger–snap.”

Along with the book (signed by the author), the winner of the giveaway will receive a refrigerator magnet, and two postcards all featuring The Edge of Maybe cover.

Lately, I’ve been doing, James Lipton-esque, Proust Questionnaire-based interviews with the book giveaway authors via twitter or other forms of online chatting (yes, these interviews happened “in real time”). I’m hoping it will give you some insight into the writer behind the book and of course, we always have a bit of fun with these questions. So here we go…

1. What is your favorite journey?
Erica Lutz: It’s nature-filled, not too hot or cold, with a friendly and loving companion, in silence, with deep introspection and physical beauty.

2. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
EL: I just found out I’m 2.9% Neanderthal, so: a prehistorical woman artist, carving a mammouth (I saw) on a cave wall in the South of France. That sense of carving in the dark, something you love, that someday somebody might enjoy.

3. When and where were you happiest?
EL: It’s crazy, but I’m insanely happy right now. My novel is being born, my daughter is thriving, I have health, love, and the cutest dog ever.

Interested?

Here’s how to enter:
1) Leave a comment below. You can say anything you want–e.g., you can choose to tell me why you want a copy of the book, or tell me something about an unexpected gamechanging surprise in your life, or share what you like/dislike most about the SF Bay Area (the book is set in San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland). Do fill out your email address when you fill out the fields in the comment box (it won’t be published to the world, but I will need it in order to contact you in case you win)!
2) 1 entry per person
3) The giveaway is open worldwide.
4) If you win the contest, I will email you for your mailing address.
5) Winners will be chosen by a random number generator.
6) I will be announcing the contest winner on the blog. None of your personal information will be posted, aside from your first name and last initial (or the nickname you choose to list in your comment). If you see that someone else has entered the same name as you, please try to pick a different nickname to call yourself, so as to avoid confusion.
7) If you are below the age of 13, please ask your parents to fill out the comment field with their information.

The deadline to enter a comment is Wednesday Friday February 24, 2012 3:00pm EST. The winner (picked at random) will be announced February 24, 2012 by 11:00pm EST.

GOOD LUCK!

Note: I realized I’d incorrectly written Wednesday February 24 and corrected it to the more accurate and more generous deadline of Friday February 24.