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Four Great Gifts, One Great Price: Free!!!

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Although we are only mid-way through the 2010 Sc Fi Experience, it is not hyperbole to say that March is around the corner. Those of you who have frequented this site for a year or more know that March brings with it the annual Once Upon a Time Challenge. This challenge, now in its 4th year, will begin on March 21st, 2010.

Katrina Alvarez from the HarperCollins Imprint, EOS, contacted me the other day with an offer for a book giveaway. I couldn’t help but jump at the opportunity for a number of reasons. One, you might just get a free book, two, it would make a nice preview of Once Upon a Time IV, and three, Harper Collins is home to one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, and thus I feel honored to be able to do a promotion for work from some of their other authors.

Now about those free books…

Katrina has offered to give away 2 copies of each book, sent directly to you from the publisher. Both books have just been released and are anxiously awaiting their new homes. Here’s a brief peek at each book:

Dragon Keeper
by Robin Hobb

“Robin Hobb is one of our very best fantasy writers.”
New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson

With Dragon Keeper, Robin Hobb, critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling “master fantasist” (Baltimore Sun), begins a breathtaking two-book “mini-series” about the resurgence of dragons in a world that both needs and fears them—the world Hobb’s readers most recently visited in her immensely popular “Tawny Man” trilogy. Volume One of the Rain Wilds Chronicles, Dragon Keeper is yet another magnificent adventure from the author of The Soldier Son and Farseer Trilogies, confirming the Contra Costa Times of California’s assessment of Hobb as “one of the most important writers in 21st century fantasy.”

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter
By A.E. Moorat

“There were many staff at Kensington Palace, fulfilling many roles; a man who was employed to catch rats, another whose job it was to sweep the chimneys. That there was someone expected to hunt demons did not shock the new Queen; that it was to be her was something of a surprise.”

For all the rabid fans who devoured Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, comes A.E. Moorat’s Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter (On Sale January 26, 2010). This outrageously entertaining and deeply irreverent tale of palace intrigue and bloody supernatural mayhem features the most unlikely monster-slayer ever to go toe-to-toe with the living dead.

London, 1838. Queen Victoria is crowned; she receives the orb, the scepter, and an arsenal of bloodstained weaponry. If Britain is about to become the greatest power of the age, there’s the small matter of the undead to take care of first. Demons stalk the crown, and political ambitions have unleashed ravening hordes of zombies even within the nobility itself.

But rather than dreams of demon hunting, Queen Victoria’s thoughts are occupied by Prince Albert. Can she dedicate her life to saving her country when her heart belongs elsewhere? With lashings of glistening entrails, decapitations, zombies, and foul demons, this masterly new portrait will give a fresh understanding of a remarkable woman, a legendary monarch, and quite possibly the best demon hunter the world has ever seen.
In another incarnation as a more serious (though still satirical) author, A. E. MOORAT has won critical acclaim and been shortlisted for awards. Here, however, he was chained in the dungeon, fed tea and ghost stories, and kept busy writing the adventures of Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter.

So there you have it, two books (four actually!) that cannot wait to be read and talked about. All you need to do in order to qualify is leave a comment on this post indicating your desire to be included in the drawing. If you are interested in both books, please say so. If you are interested in only one, please indicate which one. On Sunday, February 7th at 11:59 p.m. CST the contest will be closed. Winners will be announced on Monday, February 8th.

Per HarperCollins, contest open to U.S. Residents only.

Best of luck to you all, and Happy Reading!!!

65 thoughts on “Four Great Gifts, One Great Price: Free!!!”

  1. Oh, please include me!! How exciting! Both of the books sound quite awesome – I’m already a HUGE Robin Hobb fan and had no idea she had something new coming out soon!

  2. oh my! why yes thank you Carl.. I bet you can guess which book I would be interested in!..heh.. Robin Hobbs if you please!

  6. All right, Queen Victoria:Demon Hunter looks like silliness that needs to be read. 🙂 I’d love to be put on the list for that one. Thanks.

  8. Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter is already making me smile, so I’d love to have a go at it!

  9. hi carl, thanks so much for this heads up. would love to go for Queen Victoria! how irresistible!

  12. Okay, I’ll bite (the Hobbs book only).

    But I’m a little confused here. The blurb on the Hobbs books says “yet another magnificent adventure from the author of The Soldier Son and Farseer Trilogies”. The Farseer books, I thought, are by Robert J. Sawyer. Oh, wait, there are two sets of books with that appellation, both Sawyer and Hobbs. Sigh.

    Not that I really need another book to add to the TBR pile.

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  14. Not sure what Once Upon A Time Challenge is… though I’ve been looking in occasionally for a while, I’ve just become a regular reader in the last few months, which probably explains my ignorance.

  16. Please enter me for Queen Victoria! Totally love zombies AND totally love royalty so I need to read it!

  17. Wow! What a giveaway! I’m interested in both books – each one sounds like a fun read! Please throw my name into the hat! Cheers!

  21. Queen Victoria Zombie Hunter looks hilarious. I’d love to enter – Unfortunately I’m the in the UK though. 😛 Oh well, next time.

  22. I’m interested in both books! I’ve not heard of either of these, but they sound great!

  24. I would love the chance to read either book and thank you vor the opportunity to be entered for a chance at a copy. 🙂

  26. Thank you for emailing me about this awesome giveaway. ALthough I have never read any of these authors it’s never too late to start right?

    I would like to be put into the drawing to perhaps win both of these books!! How cool! They look like wonderful books. Thanks again for this awesome giveaway!

    Margaret

  30. Me, too! Both of these look great! Hobb’s Farseer and Tawny Man series are among my favorite fantasies of all time. I even have one of them autographed! Thanks, Carl!

  33. I’d love to get either of them! Was already planning to purchase the Robin Hobb, would be great on the budget if i didn’t have too.

  36. I’d like my name put in the hat for the Robin Hobb book. I’ve never read any of her works but I have heard many good things. Thanks Harper Collins and Carl!!!

  37. Are you going to read the Robin Hobb, Carl? I can’t remember if you have ever read her before, and you really should! Obviously don’t enter me, wrong country. 🙂

  38. So cool. I would love a chance to read both of them! Please enter me into the contest 😀

  39. Great giveaway! I’d love to be entered for Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter, please. Thanks for the email!!

  40. I would love the chance for either book. Both sound fascinating! Thanks for letting me know about this via e-mail, Carl.

  45. I would love to enter for Dragon Keeper! I’m greatly anticipating your Once Upon a Time Challenge, too, Carl. Wow, I can’t believe how the numbers accumulate for our challenges: you’re at 4 for the OUAT, and I’ll be at 4 for the JLC. Amazing that we’ve been at this four years, and each time, they only get better. 😉

  46. p.s. I forgot to mention that Neil Gaiman is the author for our town’s reading project, Naperville Reads. It’s so exciting to see his books every where; in the library’s entrance and the bookstores’ front cases. I was first introduced to him through you, Carl, having my head buried far too long when it comes to fantasy, and now I’m just thrilled to see him chosen for my (typically tight-assed) town.

  47. What a great giveaway! I would love to read either one of these books. I have been a long-time Robin Hobb fan, so I am eagerly anticipating this new work. Although I haven’t read anything yet by A. E. Moorat, her “Queen Victoria – Demon Hunter” sounds like it would be fabulous fun.

  49. Since I don’t live in the U.S., I can’t join the contest. But best of luck to all the participants. ^_^

    Thanks Carl for the email. 🙂

  51. Thank you so much for offering this giveaway! I am interested in both books. I participated in RIP IV as my first challenge ever this past fall.

    Once upon a time sounds like another challenge I might have to join!

    Thanks again!
    Amy

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  64. Darn, I don’t live in the US. So good luck to all the participants! I just saw ads for both these books, they do look interesting.

  65. I’d be interested in either of the books, but Queen Victoria just a shade more…

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