Book giveaway!

Update … Congratulations to Anna D., whose name was selected by Mr Wicked as the winner. Please note that the contest is now closed.

I’ve suddenly realized it’s Valentine’s Day, or will be tomorrow. I know that if I go out Mr Wicked will present me with a slipper (my own) when I get home, or possibly a sock or best yet, the Extremely Deflated Soccer Ball, his most prized possession. What other token of love does one need, really? However, to get more into the spirit of things, I’ve decided to have a spur-of-the-moment book giveaway.

Long, long ago, in a — no wait, just long, long ago, in the previous century, I wrote a collection of short stories based on ballads from medieval Denmark. These literary fairy tales are out of print now, though vague plans are in the works for a reissue sometime in the next several years or so. I do have some copies of the original edition, including, of course, the famous typo in the table of contents. (People keep pointing that out, so I’ll get it out of the way now. Yes, I know “plumage” does not have two m’s. These things often appear spontaneously after the proofs are corrected. Thank you.) In one of my favourite books, Farjeon’s Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard, the wandering minstrel hero sets out to cure a farmer’s daughter of lovesickness by telling “ten new love stories”. The Serpent Bride is, in best wandering minstrel tradition, the retelling of “ten old love stories”. (Half of which involve shapeshifters. Don’t blame me; they were there in the sources, honest.)

So, if you enjoy literary fairy tales (very different in tone from Blackdog, and yet … Scandinavian shapeshifters!) and would like a chance to win a signed copy of The Serpent Bride, a collection of literary fairy tales from way back in 1998, and if you live in Canada or the US, here is what you should do:

Go to The Serpent Bride page of my Pippin website, here.

Listen to the MP3 excerpt there or watch the video.

Go to the contact form on one of my websites, the Pippin site or the Blackdog one …

… and send me your name and the name of the male hero from either one of the stories in the samples (or, given the fuzzy recording, your best guess at it). Make sure your email address in the form is correct!

The names of all who send a correct answer by midnight, Atlantic Standard Time, on Valentine’s Day 2012 will be written on small pieces of paper and offered to Mr Wicked. The winner will be whichever he first attempts to eat. I’ll then get in touch to find the winner’s mailing address.