Remember That David Anthony Durham Award?

Well, the finalists have been announced, which means I've got to get my act together and do some judging between now and Thanksgiving!

You can see the finalists and read their stories at Liternational.

Fourth Annual BSCreview Book Tournament

This may be a lost cause from the start, but I won't go down without a fight!

BSCreview has just begun their annual contests for best novel of the year. The voting is entirely done by the general public, in a series of rounds that puts books against each other one on one, sort of like a joust. The winner moves on the next round, etc. The basic description is HERE.

They've been kind enough to include me in their long list of contestants. But it just so happens that my first round bout is against Cherie Priest's Boneshaker. Now that's cruel. Boneshaker was a real crowd pleaser last year, with lots of fans that will likely rally to her cause. So, I may be out early, friends.

But if you want to help me have a shot please do! The match is HERE. Thing is, if you're going to vote it has to happen fast. I think this round is only open today through tomorrow evening. So, if you're a fan, pop over there and say so!

Wild Cards Contest

Mr. Martin just emailed asking me to pass on word about a giveaway of Wild Cards books at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. So that's what I'm doing!

The last two books in the most recent series are up for grabs. Click over to HERE for a chance to get your hands on them.

The Other Lands Hardback Winner!

Okay. Here it is. The final results of TOL giveaway. I got the kids up early this morning to do the drawing and the tosses. As with last time we first pulled four finalists.

They were: Robin Henderson, Karen Jeane Mills, Muushira and Occasional Jason.


The kids tossed and this time there seemed to be a dead tie between two candidates: Robin and Muushira.

So these two had to be thrown again. The second throw was pretty close too, but one candidate pulled ahead: Muushira!

And thus it was decided. Muushira, you are the winner. Please drop me an email at acacia.trilogy@ yahoo.com, give me a mailing address, and I'll get it in the mail to you. Congrats!

And thanks for playing everyone. I had fun. I hope you do it.

The ACACIA Giveaway Winner!

Good Monday to you. The Durham's held the first drawing/competition and got a winner. This was for the UK paperback of Acacia: The War With The Mein. Herewith I offer photo documentation of the proceedings.

I printed out all the names entered in this category, cut them into little tickets and then put them into a container. My son, Sage, drew... He didn't draw just one winner, though. Instead, he pulled out four finalists.

They were: Jacqueline George, Krieghund, Jennifer Lawrence and Heather Shutler.

Congrats for making it to the final stage!

These names were each attached to their own Frisbee disc for the finale... (Ultimate and Disc Golf have been important parts of the summer this year.)We marked off a quick Frisbee gold course in the backyard, with a particular tree as the goal. Both Maya and Sage took turns throwing...

The winner was to be the one that got nearest that goal. There was some drama right at the start, as it seemed the yellow Frisbee that bore Krieghund aloft might be an early ringer. Sage lofted him near the target with ease. The next two tries couldn't best him.

Between rounds, Maya took a moment out to cuddle with Persy...

And then she threw the final disc in a tremendous effort that landed just beside the goal, a clear winner. It was the Red disc (Leopard), and it bore this name on it...

And there you have it. Heather Shutler, you are the winner! Please drop me an email at acacia.trilogy@yahoo.com. Let me know where you'd like the book sent. I'll sign it and pop it in the mail to you.

Thanks to everyone that was in this one! The drawing for The Other Lands (Acacia, Book 2) will happen soon too. Stay tuned!

Giveaway Is Closed

Okay folks, that's it. The window for tossing your name in the hat for one of these books has now officially closed. Thanks to everyone that joined via my Forum or Facebook. Much appreciated. I'm happy to say that enough of you did join that this thing will actually be fairly competitive!

Over the weekend, I'll work out how to do the drawing this time around. I change it a little each time, although as in the past it will likely include my kids. See here for previous examples: HERE, HERE, or HERE.

So check back in a couple of days. You may see your name getting pulled out of hat, or rising out of pool in the form of a wookiee or something equally random...

In other news, I just learned that the foreign rights for Acacia Book 3 (needs a better title, huh?) will be handled through the Curtis Brown Agency in UK. I dig that. You see, for all the books up until now, Doubleday (Random House) handled the foreign rights. (And took a cut accordingly.) This time around, I've maintained the rights, and now my own "people" will be looking after me.

You want some irony in this? Well, consider that Curtis Brown was one of the first agencies to turn me down when I was a kid fresh out of grad school with two novels I was shopping around. They weren't wrong, and neither of those novels sold, but I'm just saying... What a difference a decade makes!

They're a pretty awesome agency, with lots of high-profile clients. (And yet they're accepting me - go figure.) Check out their website: HERE.

I'm still represented by International Creative Management for domestic and film-related stuff. (ICM's website is HERE. And, yes, they are stingy with information. That's in direct correlation to how cool they are, though.) So that hasn't changed. It's just that I now have a somewhat larger extended family out there. I'm all smiles about it.

A Giveaway

Okay. Here it is. My first The Other Lands giveaway. There may be more to come, but this one is purely from my own stash. I'm offering one of the three advanced copies of The The Other Lands (Acacia, Book 2) that I received from Doubleday, and I'm tossing in a shot at the mass market paperback of the UK edition of Acacia: The War with the Mein. This is them:

You can enter for them separately, and you can enter up to two times. But I'm going to make you work a little bit. So don't enter here. Instead...

You can visit the threads on my Forum HERE. You'll find the threads in the areas for each novel. This does mean you'll have to join, but that's really no hardship. Nothing bad happens. No junk mail or anything like that. Hopefully, once you've joined you might want to visit every now and then. The Forums were once pretty lively, but they've slowed down a lot between books. Perhaps that will pick up again. And you can help.

You can also enter at my Facebook "Fan" page. That's over here.

I'll just keep this open until it seems we've got enough folks entered, and then we'll do our very scientific drawing to pick the winners. Good luck!

The Akarans Invade France? (I'm Hoping.)

A wonderful thing just showed up in the mail today. Le pre aux clercs edition of Acacia! The timing is perfect - both because I just asked yesterday where my copies were and because the book goes on sale today! (Thanks, Carola.)

Okay, this is me taking a moment to enjoy a milestone. This is me talking to myself... "Deep breath. Acknowledge the goodness. Note the sense of accomplishment. Remember that your first published novel was written in France. Remember that I've hoped for a French publication ever sense. Now, four books in, nine years later, I'm holding that publication in my hand. Acknowledge that this feels good. Okay? Got it, David? Now... go finish The Other Lands you slacker! You've only to two weeks until you said you'd deliver it to Doubleday! Get back to work!"

I'm hoping that a few folks in France buy the book, but I can't deny the appeal of giveaways. So I'm happy to mention that Elbakin.net is doing a contest! If you're a French reader (or just love the idea of having a French copy of the book) you can enter here. You'll have to answer a few questions in French, but I'm of the opinion that everybody should have to answer a few questions in French every now and then. It's good for you.

Acacia Giveaway

Not here, but over at the Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin' Blog. Click over and sign up if you like freebies. (Always nice to have an extra copy on hand to pass on to a friend, right?) You've got until the end of September to get your name in. Luck to ya'.

Another Launch Day

So, this is it. August 26th. Acacia, the paperback, will pop up like a fungus on bookshelves across the nation. At least, I'm hoping it will. (And anchor is hoping it will, since they printed enough copies of the thing to cause considerable contamination.)

So, you may be wondering, what changes for David on this momentous day? Well, I may answer, not much. Naw. Pretty much a regular day. I taught my first session of one class last night. I'll be getting ready for the first of my other class meetings on Wednesday. Also writing a bit of The Other Lands, spending a little time online. I've got a doctor's appointment in there somewhere. Need to take some dvds back to Blockbuster and a few books back to the library. I'll have to throw something together for dinner for the family, probably watch a bit of the Democratic Convention later. Read before bed, and then get up and do most of it over again.

Yes, I will check Amazon a few times as well. I probably won't get out to Borders or B&N today, though. I did that on the day that Gabriel's Story came out back in 2001. It was a surprisingly muted experience. Yes, my book was there on the new release shelf, but damn, there were so many other books in that place! Needle in a haystack, it felt like, and I was there hoping people were going to get pricked. That was, of course, a first novel. Things are different now. In some ways. Just the same in others. But still, my life goes on quite normally. Things to do. Books to write. Donuts to make. This is a good thing, really.

On another note, Fantasy Book Critic is doing a giveaway. He's got five copies of the paperback to doll out to folks. Click over and sign up for one. (And if you win one, please consider buying another copy, just to like balance the karmic scales and all that.)

Denvention Not Happening For Me

I'm sad to say I'm not going to be going to WorldCon this year. I'm bummed about it, but some familial stuff has come up that I simply have to deal with. Family first. So this time I'll be missing out on the fun.

I have tapped a friend to be on hand at the Hugo ceremony. On the very off chance that I'm the person called up for the John W. Campbell Award there will be somebody there to pick it up for me and to say a few over emotional words.

If you're going, have a great time! Me... Well, I'll start setting my sights on the next World Fantasy...

The Final Winner - After the ReDo!

So you'll have to trust me on this (which is nothing new - you've had to trust me on all of it - I'm worthy of your trust, by the way), but the new, official winner was selected after an evening session of diving. I won't make you wait too long. You should know that Padme went up against the Wookie Tarful and the Gungin General Tarpals.

It was a close competition, but a definitive winner did arise. Said winner is seen in the this photo... Not being nearly as reserved as I expected, Tarful began working the crowd.

It's possible that the time spent down under caused some damage. I'm not sure. But he did get rather wild... Still, Tarfuls pulled it off. That, I believe, means that the Dynastic Queen is our official winner. All hail the Queen! And... least anyone doubt it, this is yet more evidence that good relations with the Wookies it is advantageous to have.

Acacia UK Giveaway Results!

Finally, the winner of last month's giveaway has been chosen! And elaborately chosen at that. My kids - in honor of the fact that we just moved and now have a pool! - proposed an aquatic component to the selection process. This'll take a minute to explain...

First off, Maya and Sage were kind enough to take the plunge...


We recruited some brave volunteers to assist us... We drew from races extending throughout the galaxy, accepting both human and alien recruits. We didn't discriminate on the basis of size, sex, appearance, number of limbs, flippers, tusks or anything else. There was but one condition: they had to sink. We were looking for dead weights that weren't afraid to risk everything in the deep blue. (This condition, by the way, excluded all Stormtroopers. We've found those guys to be unsinkable. It's why we've signed them up for the Stormtrooper Rafting Team, but that's a different story...)

There were a few last minute additions and replacements, but before long we had a company, each individual stepping forward to represent one of our contest competitors. Yes, they did it for you. What, exactly, did they do? They allowed Sage to toss them into the middle of the pool, where they promptly sunk...

Maya and Sage then dove in and (with complete objectivity) they each grabbed the first four figures they could. It's hard to measure how much the figures themselves affected the outcome, but I assure you the kids were objective participants simply grasping for whatever appeared in arms reach.

The result was a collection of eight semi-finalists. It was a hardy group, including humans like Padme and Shmi, the Jedi's Anakin and Kai Adi Mundi, the Gungans Jar Jar Binks and General Tarpals, some weird blue guy and the robust Tarful. They were tossed back into the water for another round, and this time only four came back...








The four finalists were cast into the pools once more. This time, though, they went in at the deep end. That's a thousand feet of water right there...
Both Maya and Sage made repeated dives, (And I mean repeated!) finding it difficult get down far enough. (Remember the Abyss and that funky liquid oxygen they breathed? My kids were starting to look like that rat by end of this, although lacking the oxygen...) And then... then...

Did you ever see the Luc Besson film Deep Blue (Le Grande Bleu)? I remember thinking that rocked. The guy was a dolphin in human trappings! Jean-Marc Barr, Rosanna Arquette, Jean Reno... Lots of blue water... It looked kinda like Maya rising with the winner.

And the winner is...


Jar Jar... Jar Jar? Oh, man... It's possible that he "accidentally" found some way to cheat, but I can't prove anything. His victory stands. Who, exactly, was Jar Jar representing? It's painful, but it's also obvious - Onebadgungan is our newest winner!

Just for the record, the contestant representation went like this (and was decided by Maya and Sage)...

Dirk - Dark Bounty Hunter Guy
Brian T Carroll - Warthog-looking Guy with tusks and robotic legs
Onebadgungan - Jar Jar Binks
Mike - Darth Sidious
GGallinThicke - Darth Maul
Bherstig - Newt Gunray
Inklings - Mas Ameda
Scott- Kai Adi Mundi
Borock - Blueface chubby guy
Gemini6toad - General Grievous
Talin - Padme
Ziggi - Yoda
Nblair - Shmi
Dynastic Queen - Wookie Warrior Tarful
Arkana - Obi Wan Kenobi
Erika Hamerquist - General Tarpals
Debbborra - Dexter Jetser
Mikejs - Ala Secura
Cal95757 - Anakin
PhoenixIce - Taun We

Contest Results Soon...

Hey, I just remembered.... Since the month of May has ended I need to draw for that free copy of the British Acacia! I’ve got the list on entrants on my Forum, and I’ll make the drawing happen as soon as I get my computer and printer up and running, etc. So they’ll be a winner soon!

Acacia UK Trade Paper Giveaway!

Hi Folks! I know we just wrapped up a giveaway a few days ago, but I think I'll go ahead and do another one...

The UK edition of Acacia: The War with the Mein just arrived! I only got two at this preliminary stage, but if you want one it can be yours. Kinda nice cover. Some heft to it. For US folks there's the cool factor of having the foreign edition, one with squiggly pound signs beside the price, etc. And there's the knowledge that you'll be getting one of the two very first copies of this book that I ever saw. One goes on my bookshelf; perhaps its twin goes on yours. (You can have the one on the right...)


The routine is the same as before. Just go over to the Forum and toss your name in the hat. They're are no downsides, and it's not like there are millions of people entering these things. You've actually got a shot at it! Ask Scott, our last winner. I've actually just mailed his book off this morning. So it's on the way, Scott.

Second Acacia Signed Hardback Giveaway...

has been decided! Thank you to everyone that joined my Forum and threw their name in the helmet. Yes, the helmet. Please view the official contest photographs, in which the process is documented...

Here we see the contestants' names, on roughly equally-sized tabs...


Here we see the vessel of the Fortune, as held by my son Sage (He of the Big Hair.)...


(The Vessel, by the way, is my old Whitewater Kayaking helmet. Still fits, right enough, although it's most used now a days by my daughter as she skateboards. She eschews pink, see. She'll have nothing to do with Princesses. She rather prefers black. I think, honestly, that I enjoyed Enchanted more than she die. Anyway...)

He of the Big Hair offers the vessel to the Judge, the Decider, the... Picker of Winners. (That's my daughter, Maya.) She approaches like an agent of doom. (You'd think it was bad thing to get free book, by the looks of her!)


She reaches for the winner...


Oh, wait!.. Sage realizes the pot has not been sufficiently stirred. (Note the focussed expression and the blurred rapidity of his stirring technique...)


And then... Maya chooses. She does so with eyes closed, using nothing but her innate Picker clairvoyance to guide her hand...


And after all that, she emerges with the winner...


His name be... SCOTT. Congratulations, Scott. I'll be contacting you soon.

Pat's ACACIA Giveaway

So here I was all proud of myself for offering up one signed edition of Acacia in a giveaway... (Nice of me, huh?)

Well, Transworld is being nicer. (Although they can't sign their copies.) They've set up a giveaway deal at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. They're offering up five copies of the UK version of Acacia, which is pubbing in May. If you're interested, click over to Pat's and sign up!

Pat's Acacia Giveaway!

A Giveaway

In the interests of offering some Acacia-reading incentives in this Pre-Campbell Award period... I'd like to offer up a free hardback copy (signed, of course) of Acacia: The War With The Mein.

All you have to do is go over to my Forum and visit the Giveaway Thread. To play you'd have to join the Forum, but I swear that nothing bad comes of that. No emails, no public disclosures, no anything strange. I promise. If you do join, just post a note throwing your name in there, and it's done. If you're in the US I'm happy to mail it to the winner via slow mail. If you're overseas we'll have to work something out with the postage. But that's only if you win, and before that you have to play!

This is all rather informal, by the way, and the selection process is hardly scientific. Here's a photo of my son shaking up the entries last time... But it works!

Oh, I'd also be curious as to your opinions on the Hugos, the novel category in particular. I have a Forum post about that, too. It's here. There's a poll you could vote in, if you're so inclined...

Audio Acacia Contest Winner!

I'm about to head off for World Fantasy, but before I did I knew we had to have the big, official drawing for the Acacia Audiobook contest. So, documented below is the process, culminating in the winner!

Just to make sure all parties know of the procedures used, we've documented the proceedings. Thankfully, unofficial mediators - my kids - oversaw the drawing. First, we printed out the contestants names and put them on separate tickets.

Next, my son, Sage, placed the tickets into a bag...











And he shook them...
...vigorously... while making goofy faces.My daughter Maya stepped in to draw the lucky winner...















And that turned out to be...
So there you have it. Dave Bower, it's your lucky day! Kind of ironic, really, as Dave was the first person to sign up on the Forum. Well done. I'll be in touch.

Thanks to all the folks that participated. And thanks for joining the Forum to do so. Please feel free to come back to it and hang out anytime. I'm always happy to field questions there personally. Perhaps, in a little while I'll do another one of these giveaways, with some other random item...