Simon & Schuster Blogger Event - 3rd February 2011

Last month I was extremely lucky to be invited to attend Simon & Schuster's 2nd blogger event and get to meet some of their authors.  I went up to London early to meet up with Sammee, Lyndsey and Vicky (you should know by now that I can never resist a trip to the massive Waterstone's in Piccadilly for a little book shopping!) and then we joined up with Carly, Becky & Dwayne for coffee and a catch up before the event.  Luckily Jenny was able to meet us and direct us to the S&S offices as I don't think I'd ever have found it otherwise.

The event was split into 2 parts the first being a Q&A panel with authors Helen Warner (RSVP), Craig Robertson (Random), Michelle Harrison (The 13 Treasures series), Justin Somper (Vampirates series), Sophie McKenzie (Girl, Missing), Milly Johnson (A Summer Fling) and Kevin J Anderson (Hellhole).  All of the bloggers had been given the opportunity to send in questions and it was really interesting listening to the authors chat about how and when they find the time to write, how they come up with their ideas and what they're going to be working on next.  I wish I'd thought to take notes about what was said but I was too busy taking pictures and just enjoying listening to the panel.

After the panel we were taken through to what I'm guessing was the conference room where S&S had laid on a fab spread of drinks and nibbles for us to munch on while we mingled.  There may also have been a large selection of books that we were allowed to raid and I may possibly have got a little carried away and ended up practically pulling my arms out of their sockets trying to drag my haul back to the train station but I'm not going to either confirm or deny those rumors!  It was lovely to get to spend time chatting with the bloggers I knew, unfortunately there were so many people there that I didn't get to meet so I'm sorry if I missed you.

The nicest thing was how approachable all of the authors were, I was able to spend a few minutes chatting to each of them and got all of my books signed.  I've already started reading the 13 Treasures series by Michelle Harrison and the Vampirates series by Justin Somper but I'm looking forward to reading books by each of the other authors who were there.  I'm sure I'll end up adding a few more favorites to my list!  As you can probably tell by the slide shows I got a little carried away with my camera, if you'd like to look at all the pictures I took you can find them online here

I'd like to say a massive thank you to Kat, Ally, Catherine and everyone else from Simon & Schuster who worked so hard to set up a wonderful event.  Thanks also to all of the authors too for taking the time to chat to us crazy bloggers (we aren't really crazy fan girl stalkers honest!).

Who Was There:

Kat, Ally & Catherine - Simon & Schuster
Craig Robertson - Author Page on S&S Website
Helen Warner - Author Page on S&S Website
Justin Somper - Vampirates Website
Kevin J Anderson - Blog
Michelle Harrison - Website
Milly Johnson - Website
Sophie McKenzie - Website

Amanda - Floor to Ceiling Books - Event Report
Becky - The Bookette

Carly - Writing From The Tub

Dwayne - Girls Without a Bookshelf

Jenny - Wondrous Reads

Liz & Mark - My Favorite Books
Lyndsey & Vicky - Heaven, Hell and Purgatory Book Reviews
Lynsey - Narratively Speaking
Matt - Teen Librarian
Sammee - I Want To Read That
(There were a lot of other bloggers there & I didn't catch all of your names so if I've missed you off let me know & I'll add your link)

Winners: 1st Blogoversary Giveaways for 9 signed books

With the help of random.org I can now announce the winners of by 1st blogoversary giveaways!  There was such an amazing response to the giveaways so thank you all for entering and helping to spread the word.  Congratulations to all of the winners!

Giveaway 1 - Fallen & Torment by Lauren Kate:

I had left it up to you to decide if there would be 1 winner receiving both books or 2 winners receiving 1 book each.  I took the following screen shot of the poll results after the giveaway closed and as you can see the result was 1 winner

So I can confirm that the winner who will receive signed ARC copies of both Fallen and Torment by Lauren Kate is:

Laura Soucek (email address starting noevus32@...)

Giveaway 2 - Entangled by Cat Clarke:

Winning a signed ARC of Entangled by Cat Clarke along with a cover flat is:



Julie Renaudin (email address starting pique.a.chou@)

Giveaway 3 - A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson:

Winning a signed copy of A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson is:

.Ambur. (email address starting ambiepie_6@)

Giveaway 4 - Girl Missing by Sophie McKenzie:

Winning a signed copy of A Girl Missing by Sophie McKenzie is:

Alice Reed (email address starting ccs_bm@)

Giveaway 5 - Randon & Hellhole:

This giveaway was UK only unless international entrants were prepared to pay postage costs because of the weight of these books.  If you are an international winner of one of these books I will let you know how much postage will cost when I know your address, I will pay the postage cost if you are a UK winner.

Winning a signed hardback copy of Randon by Craig Robinson is:

NatD23 (email address starting natlovestoread@)

Winning a large paperback of Hellhole by Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson (signed by Kevin J Anderson) is:

Melodie (email address starting ashlinn_riddle@)

Giveaway 6 - Shiver & Linger by Maggie Stiefvater:

Again I left it up to you to vote on how many winners there would be and as you can see from the screenshot below you voted for 1 winner

So winning signed UK copies of Shiver & Linger by Maggie Stiefvater we have:

Nina (email address starting nina.happyendings@)

 

Congratulations to you all!  If you can email me at sarahsreviews at ymail dot com with your full address I will get your books posted to you.  If I don't hear from you within 48 hours then new winners will be chosen.

1st Blogoversary Celebration Giveaway: Random & Hellhole - NOW CLOSED

* UPDATE - THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED - Winner announced here *

Today's giveaway is for thriller Random by Craig Robertson and Hellhole the first book in a new science fiction trilogy by Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert.  Random is a hardback copy signed by Craig Robertson and Hellhole is a large paperback that has been signed by Kevin J Anderson.  As these books are quite heavy I'm going to have to make this a UK only giveaway but international entries are allowed if you are prepared to pay postage costs.

Random by Craig Robertson:
Glasgow is being terrorised by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter.  The murders have left the police baffled.  There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern or motive; an entirely different method of murder each time, and nothing that connects the victims except for the fact that the little fingers of their right hands have been severed.

If DS Rachel Narey could only work out the key to the seemingly random murders, how and why the killer selects his victims, she would be well on her way to catching him.  But as the police, the press and a threateniing figure from Glasgow's underworld finally begin to close in on The Cutter, his carefully-laid plans threaten to unravel - with horrifying consequences . . .

Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson:
Only the most desperate would ever dare to make a home on Hellhole

Ravaged by volcanic eruptions, destructive storms and asteroid impact, Hellhole is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits and charlatans.  But it's location out on the wild frontiers of the Constellation, among the Deep Zone worlds, makes it the final refuge for those fleeing from the rule of Diadem Michella Duchenet - a tyrant with a sweet face, but a dark heart.

General Adolphus, the military leader exiled to the planet when he was defeated in the first revolution against the Diadem, is determined to transform Hellhole into a place of opportunity.  While the colonists work to develop the planet, the General is forging secret alliances with the leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds.  He dreams of turning his prison into the centre of a new coalition of planets free from the Diadem's iron grip.

Back on the decadent capital planet of Sonjeera, surrounded by corruption and feuding old guard nobles, Diadem Michella is confident that the General has been neutralised.  She has no idea of the revolt growing in the Deep Zone . . . or does she?

But what no one knows is this: planet Hellhole hides a secret of historic magnitude.  Lurking beneath the surface are the remnants of an obliterated alien civilisation, detailing an unrecorded past, which, if unearthed, could tear the fragile human civilisation apart.

They sound good don't they?  Neither of these books are the kind of thing I've been reading much of recently but I used to read a lot of both crime thrillers and science fiction when I was younger and am looking forward to trying both of these.  See the details below for how to enter the giveaway and don't forget to check out the other giveaways I have going on this week (see links at the top of the blog for all current giveaways)

Giveaway Details:

• As these books are both quite heavy I'm going to have to limit this giveaway to UK entries only to save on postage costs.  International readers are welcome to enter if they are happy to pay postage though.
• I will draw 2 seperate winners at random from all entries received, one for each book.  You can enter just one giveaway or both it is entirely up to you.
• To enter the giveaway all you need to do is fill in your name and email address in the form below (please have permission from your parents if you are under 16). Extra entries are available but they are entirely optional.
• Only one entry per person please, any duplicate entries will be deleted
• You have until the 28th of February to enter the giveaway and I'll announce the winners soon afterwards on my blog. The winners will have 48 hours to contact me with their postal address or another winner will be chosen.
• Winners addresses will only be used by me to send out the prizes and will be deleted afterwards.