Month: June 2009

Photo courtesy of Life magazine

These soldiers are at Ft. Des Moines in 1942, playing cards, drinking Cokes, and singing around the piano, just like the WACs in the rec room across the base… too bad they couldn’t do it in the same room, but…segregation. What else can I say? It sucks. Mini rant: Next time you get a chance to sit in a coffee shop or in a classroom, mix it up, okay? People fought to end this separate-but-equal thing, and it’s a shame when self-administered segregation still happens. There are tons of really interesting people on the other side of the room. Okay, rant over.

YESTERDAY’S CONTEST extends ’til midnight EST this Friday, and more great stories of being LOST can win you some spiffy signed book plates, but Campbele of the fortuitous restaurant, Leila of the exciting owls and Charlotte of the worrisome doll corpses are all already winners! (And just remind me never to get lost with you, Charlotte. Ever.)

Today’s challenge is one Tali would enjoy — it’s all about driving. Tali mainly drove her grandmother nuts, but she also did some driving with Octavia, too. I’d like to hear stories from people who were taught to drive by their siblings. What’s the worse little, um, scrape you ever got into driving, and never told your parents about? Spill. I promise I won’t tell your Dad who scratched his classic Impala.

You have until midnight on the 13th to unburden your souls, and three lucky winners will come away with a copy of MARE’s WAR, which Kirkus says is “absolutely essential reading” — preferably while someone else is doing the driving.

Photo courtesy of Life magazine

These soldiers are at Ft. Des Moines in 1942, playing cards, drinking Cokes, and singing around the piano, just like the WACs in the rec room across the base… too bad they couldn’t do it in the same room, but…segregation. What else can I say? It sucks. Mini rant: Next time you get a chance to sit in a coffee shop or in a classroom, mix it up, okay? People fought to end this separate-but-equal thing, and it’s a shame when self-administered segregation still happens. There are tons of really interesting people on the other side of the room. Okay, rant over.

YESTERDAY’S CONTEST extends ’til midnight EST this Friday, and more great stories of being LOST can win you some spiffy signed book plates, but Campbele of the fortuitous restaurant, Leila of the exciting owls and Charlotte of the worrisome doll corpses are all already winners! (And just remind me never to get lost with you, Charlotte. Ever.)

Today’s challenge is one Tali would enjoy — it’s all about driving. Tali mainly drove her grandmother nuts, but she also did some driving with Octavia, too. I’d like to hear stories from people who were taught to drive by their siblings. What’s the worse little, um, scrape you ever got into driving, and never told your parents about? Spill. I promise I won’t tell your Dad who scratched his classic Impala.

You have until midnight on the 13th to unburden your souls, and three lucky winners will come away with a copy of MARE’s WAR, which Kirkus says is “absolutely essential reading” — preferably while someone else is doing the driving.

It was dim and dusty and it was drafty, but it was work that needed doing, and the soldiers of the 6888th got it done. Here they are, hard at work in Rouen, France, in 1945, sorting through the backlog of mail that needed to make its way to the front. Just think — Mare was there!

Today’s giveaway is a bit more general: Octavia is being forced to ride along on a cross-country ride, and she’s the Map Reader. Unfortunately, Mare is… a Map Avoider. She just takes random exits, but along the road, they find all sorts of entertaining places on the American highway. SO! Today’s challenge: what’s your BEST off-the-beaten-track-serendipity story? What’s the greatest thing you’ve found, or the most fun you’ve had just being… lost?

THREE people have a chance to win a free book for the BEST story, with a lovely bookplate offered to the fourth place winner.

It was dim and dusty and it was drafty, but it was work that needed doing, and the soldiers of the 6888th got it done. Here they are, hard at work in Rouen, France, in 1945, sorting through the backlog of mail that needed to make its way to the front. Just think — Mare was there!

Today’s giveaway is a bit more general: Octavia is being forced to ride along on a cross-country ride, and she’s the Map Reader. Unfortunately, Mare is… a Map Avoider. She just takes random exits, but along the road, they find all sorts of entertaining places on the American highway. SO! Today’s challenge: what’s your BEST off-the-beaten-track-serendipity story? What’s the greatest thing you’ve found, or the most fun you’ve had just being… lost?

THREE people have a chance to win a free book for the BEST story, with a lovely bookplate offered to the fourth place winner.

Photo Courtesy of Life Magazine

These are the women of the 32nd Company, WACs stationed at Fort Huachuca, AZ, in 1943. Mare never got to Fort Huachua, but she would have found it blazing hot, a drier heat than Bay Slough, and freezing cold in the winter.

Mare would have found a lot of girls like herself there… some even sharing her same name. If you are among the first five people a.) Named Mary or Lee [first name], b.) able to show proof of a female relative in the military, or, c.) able to show proof of a female relative in the military named Mary, you are eligible to receive a free signed copy of MARE’S WAR. (If you have a female relative in the the military named Mary Lee, I am seriously going to come up with some kind of a bonus prize.)

EDITED TO ADD: This giveaway offer ends 11 p.m. PST, Thursday, June 11th! However! There’s still time to snap a picture of MARE’S WAR on a bookstore shelf!

BOY, was I feeling the love yesterday. My buddy Adrienne gave me a shout-out on Facebook (and her friend Christopher made me laugh: Sorry, dude. MARE’S WAR: not so violent.) Sara said nice things about my handwriting and actually photographed herself with bedhead AND eyewear on my behalf. And at Jama’s blog — I got the soup, people. I GOT THE SOUP. AGAIN. I feel so blessed and loved and cuddly, even with the unexpected company that popped up yesterday. A former coworker of Tech Boy’s is on a sabbatical — eight weeks in Europe, natch! — and he and his wife just happened to be in Glasgow around lunchtime. (I have talked to these people twice in my life, and once was when we were introduced, and the other time was at a party. They’re really lovely, but if you could see my desk/house, you’d know the depth of my shrieks minutes before they arrived…)

Thanks for celebrating with me, and meanwhile, keep scanning those bookstore shelves!

Photo Courtesy of Life Magazine

These are the women of the 32nd Company, WACs stationed at Fort Huachuca, AZ, in 1943. Mare never got to Fort Huachua, but she would have found it blazing hot, a drier heat than Bay Slough, and freezing cold in the winter.

Mare would have found a lot of girls like herself there… some even sharing her same name. If you are among the first five people a.) Named Mary or Lee [first name], b.) able to show proof of a female relative in the military, or, c.) able to show proof of a female relative in the military named Mary, you are eligible to receive a free signed copy of MARE’S WAR. (If you have a female relative in the the military named Mary Lee, I am seriously going to come up with some kind of a bonus prize.)

EDITED TO ADD: This giveaway offer ends 11 p.m. PST, Thursday, June 11th! However! There’s still time to snap a picture of MARE’S WAR on a bookstore shelf!

BOY, was I feeling the love yesterday. My buddy Adrienne gave me a shout-out on Facebook (and her friend Christopher made me laugh: Sorry, dude. MARE’S WAR: not so violent.) Sara said nice things about my handwriting and actually photographed herself with bedhead AND eyewear on my behalf. And at Jama’s blog — I got the soup, people. I GOT THE SOUP. AGAIN. I feel so blessed and loved and cuddly, even with the unexpected company that popped up yesterday. A former coworker of Tech Boy’s is on a sabbatical — eight weeks in Europe, natch! — and he and his wife just happened to be in Glasgow around lunchtime. (I have talked to these people twice in my life, and once was when we were introduced, and the other time was at a party. They’re really lovely, but if you could see my desk/house, you’d know the depth of my shrieks minutes before they arrived…)

Thanks for celebrating with me, and meanwhile, keep scanning those bookstore shelves!

Welcome to the MARE’S WAR LAUNCH, a howevermanydays long event wherein you can get your hands on a signed copy of MARE’S WAR, a bookplate, or both, just for taking a picture, answering a question, or having helpfully convenient relatives!

See a copy of MARE’S WAR on a bookstore shelf? Snap a picture and send it to me at this email address. That’s worth a free, signed copy for the first five people to send me a picture! Please note that I’ll take more pictures than from the first five, however, and post them on the blog as well. I expect to see lots of snaps from Dayton, where, apparently, I am greatly loved. (Go, Ohio!)

Not in the Continental US? No way to be among those first five? No worries! Tune in tomorrow for more ways to win!