My Very First Giveaway - Burning Up by Nalini Singh, Meljean Brook, Angela Knight & Virginia Kantra

I've decided to do my first giveaway; WOO HOO!  What prompted it, you ask?  Was it the fact that I reached 25 followers?  No.  Was it the fact that this is my big monumental FOURTH post? No. Was it the fact that I have a habit of buying books that I've entered contests for....before the contest winners have been announced?  DING DING DING!  Sigh.  I'm really going to need to start keeping track of all the contests I enter one of these days.  Until then, though, I'll just let my absent mindedness benefit someone else!  The details of the giveaway are below but first, let's discuss anthologies.

What’s your feeling on book anthologies?  I CURRENTLY find them to be a great resource for finding new authors to try out.  There was a time, however, when I would buy an anthology just for the one story by the author I was familiar with and ONLY read the story by that author!  That was back when I was very focused on the authors I knew and loved and wasn’t particularly interested in other/new authors UNLESS I was in the bookstore and was won over by an intriguing cover and/or I got a recommendation from another reader whose opinion I valued.  Times have changed, though.  Now that I’m on Twitter,  I add books to my TBR pile fast and furiously, based on how many folks I see talking about them in a positive light.  I don’t want to be left behind; I wanna be caught up in the obsessions too!  I also make a habit of buying and anthologies and reading ALL of the stories contained within.  I can’t take the credit for discovering the benefits of anthologies, though; that goes to my sister Melinda.  Years ago, I bought the, “Out Of This World” anthology, because it had a J.D. Robb novella in it.  I ONLY read the J.D. Robb story and never even considered the others.  Melinda, however, read them all.  The other stories in the anthology were by Maggie Shayne, Susan Krinard and Laurell K. Hamilton.  Melinda was intrigued enough by the Laurell K. Hamilton story to decide to start reading the series that the short story was taken from, the Anita Blake series, which she later recommended to me.   I mentioned in an earlier post, it was the Melanie Rawn Dragon/Sunrunners books that opened my mind to fantasy books as a whole but it was the Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake series that introduced me to urban fantasy/paranormal romance books, in particular. My love for that series in has waned slightly with the last few books but there was a time when they were among my favorites of all time. Those books introduced me to sexy vampires and shapeshifters and I’ve been OBSESSED with them both since then.  After I started reading those books, I asked my sister how she came across them and she mentioned the short story from the anthology.  I know this sounds silly, but it really was like a lightbulb went off for me; “OH….you read the other stories TOO?  Hmph.  What a novel idea!”  Prior to then, I would only buy anthologies that had at least one story by an author that I knew and read already.  Now, I not only buy those but I’ll occasionally buy ones that don’t include any authors I read, just to see if I can discover a new obsession.  In addition to Laurell K. Hamilton, I also started reading Angela Knight, Patricia Briggs and Meljean Brook, among others, as a result of first encountering their stories in various anthologies.  So, thank you Melinda for, once again, opening my mind to something I hadn’t previously considered!

 Now, time for my very first giveaway; WOOT! I’m giving away an anthology, in hopes of maybe turning someone else on to an author they may never have tried; a kind of Pimpin’ It Forward, if you will.  Or, if you’re like I once was and only want to read a story by an author you know but didn’t feel like paying for a whole book to get one short story, now’s your chance to grab one, free of charge!  I recently entered a contest to win the Burning Up anthology which includes stories by Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra and Meljean Brook. 

Unfortunately, I FORGOT about that and bought the book before the contest ended.  I won the book in the contest and now I’ve got two copies.  I figured the one I bought  would make a great first giveaway for my blog.  Entering is easy; just make a comment below and let me know your opinion of anthologies and if you’ve ever discovered an author via an anthology. If you want to be entered into the giveaway, just let me know in your post & don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you.  You don’t have to be a follower to enter but I’d appreciate it if you’d become a follower if you aren’t one already. The contest ends Friday 10/29/10 at 11:59pmEST and is open to all who care to enter.  As always, thanks for stopping by!