Welcome back! Thanks everyone, for sharing your summer plans and reading lists. I got some great ideas to add to my TBR piles. (Oh, yes. They are plural.)The winner of the TRANCE ARC is:
Chelleyreads
Please send your mailing instructions to gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and I'll get that send out to you.
Book reviewers - if you want to read TRANCE and you haven't received an ARC, We Love YA is putting together a One ARC Tour. You can sign up to get on the list here.
Meanwhile, everyone, check out who we have for Freebie Friday this week! Cory Doctorow! Woo!I met Cory in May at our Books of Wonder signing in NYC, and I admit to being a little intimidated. I mean, he's CORY DOCTOROW! He is legend!
Now, just in case you've been living under a rock these past few years and don't recognize a "Web Celebrity*" in our midst (*according to Forbes Magazine), let me tell you a little about him. Here's the short paragraph version per his website, " Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and the author of the or Teens/HarperCollins UK novels like FOR THE WIN and the bestselling LITTLE BROTHER. He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London."
What this one paragraph doesn't tell you about him and his accomplishments is a lot! I refer you to his website for his list of involvements and accomplishments. Prepare to be amazed.
What the paragraph also doesn't tell you is that he's the most genuine, funny, down-to-earth person you'd ever want to meet in real life.
His latest fiction book, FOR THE WIN, is "a dazzling piece of fiction" (Quill and Quire.) Here's the official back cover blurb:
In the virtual future, you must organize to surviveAt any hour of the day or night, millions of people around the globe are engrossed in multiplayer online games, questing and battling to win virtual “gold,” jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world’s poorest countries, where countless “gold farmers,” bound to their work by abusive contracts and physical threats, harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who are willing to spend real money to skip straight to higher-level gameplay.
Mala is a brilliant 15-year-old from rural India whose leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of “General Robotwalla.” In Shenzen, heart of China’s industrial boom, Matthew is defying his former bosses to build his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard, who calls himself Wei-Dong, lives in Southern California, but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia, a world away. All of these young people, and more, will become entangled with the mysterious young woman called Big Sister Nor, who will use her experience, her knowledge of history, and her connections with real-world organizers to build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.
The ruthless forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power—including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister’s people must out-think the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once—a Ponzi scheme combined with a brilliant hack that ends up being the biggest, funnest game of all."
Check out this review of FOR THE WIN, wherein John Clute compares the book and author to Robert Heinlein in his heyday! Booklist gave FOR THE WIN a starred review and said, "Doctorow is indispensable."
Impressed yet? It gets even better... Cory was kind enough to sign a copy of FOR THE WIN for our Freebie Friday giveaway (after I read it first, of course...) And all you have to do to be entered to win is to leave a message below. Have you played any virtual games online? If so, what are your favorites? If not, what's your favorite online activity? Bonus points for birthday greetings (you figure it out...)
This drawing will probably remain open until Wednesday, July 14. I say probably, because I'll be on the road again and I *think* I'll have Internet on Wednesday, but just in case I don't, keep checking back!
