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Thursday, September 17, 2020

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #18: Things That Never Happened

First, a reminder that these giveaways will be running every week, on Thursdays, for the foreseeable future. And here is the best part, if you enter any week, you are eligible for ALL weeks.

The only rule is that you need to be affiliated with a public library in America or Canada. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.


Okay now how to enter. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.


Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm will be considered.


If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.


Why I am doing this? Well, one of the parts of my job that has gone away for the time being is my visits to libraries, library conferences, and library systems to provide general RA training. On all of those visits, I would  fill my suitcase with giveaway titles and they were mostly horror. It not only gave me a chance to give away books as prizes, but it also allowed me the opportunity to book talk horror even if that wasn't on the agenda.


Now that my services have transferred to 100% virtual, for the time being, I have an overflow of books in my house and less of chance to promote horror to the unsuspecting masses of library workers.


And thus my #HorrorForLibraries giveaway is born. This will be going on indefinitely, so the sooner you enter the better your chances.


Click here to see giveaway #17. Our winner was Yolanda from Scott County [KY] Public Library.


This week I have a story collection and a link to a live book release party for said collection-- Things That Never Happened by Scott Edelman. [ARC is courtesy of Cemetery Dance.]


This is a collection of 13 of his best horror stories from his 40 year career, a career where he has been nominated for dozens of awards as a writer and editor across the entire spectrum of speculative fiction. For this volume he handpicked the stories and has excellent notes about each and his career in general at the end. 


I cannot say enough nice things about Edelman as a person and a writer. First, his stories are ALWAYS inventive, original, and compelling. I have never read an Edelman story that did not engage me emotionally, and that is the entire point of horror. 


Second, he is a national treasure-- that is not an exaggeration. He was involved as a very young man in the earliest days of DC and Marvel. He was the creator and writer behind some of the most seminal comics. He worked for the SyFy channel for over a decade, and has been a huge force in the SF/F/H community for decades. Edelman is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge for the entire comics and speculative fiction industries. 


His Eating the Fantastic podcast is a must listen, for you, yes, but you should also be passing it on to your SF/F/H loving patrons. The premise is that he has a meal with a speculative fiction author and records their conversation while they eat. The results are fascinating.  He gets his interviewees to open up and really look deeply into their own work. He also has one of the most inclusive and diverse rosters of interviewees I have ever seen in a book centric podcast. [And he has found ways to continue throughout the pandemic.] 


Edelman is a tireless champion for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, going way back. Click here to see his amazing speech at a recent World Fantasy Convention where he address his privilege, looks back at his own his career, and asks us all to do better. [Click here for my comments on that address]


And finally, his sense of humor is legendary [see below for just one example, of many].


Please go here to see more about Edelman, his career, and his huge influence on the SF/F/H and comics world. 


Edelman's presence is in every one of your libraries already, you just may not realize it. Fix that by adding this collection to your collections. You can also celebrate the book's release this coming Tuesday with a virtual book launch.


Click here or on the image below to  join Tuesday evening, but I did get the inside scoop. This launch party will include Edelman interviewing the cover artist, Lynne Hansen. Then horror author Kaaron Warren will interview Edelman about his career and the book. Cemetery Dance is offering 3, $50 gift cards to their store during the event-- effectively making this post a double giveaway chance!


But the kicker, is that famous sense of humor. Throughout the entire event he is promising to nibble on a bag of  "zombie skittles." They are supposed to taste disgusting. He is hoping his reactions to the taste will add to the fun of the event.


Ironically, I cannot attend because  I will be recording one of my panels for Librarians' Day, but all of you should watch. I will catch the recording.


Good luck this week!






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