Giving the Game Away | The Gospel of Loki Blog Tour

Today on The Speculative Scotsman, in celebration of the imminent publication of Joanne M. Harris’s first epic adult fantasy novel, The Gospel of Loki—a fantastic first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods retold from the inimitable perspective of the world's most terrific trickster—it's my pleasure to play host to the #AskLoki Blog Tour, in which Gollancz and a collection of Britain's best and brightest book bloggers have teamed up to give you a glimpse into the life of Loki... specifically his opinions of the other inhabitants of Aesgard.

If this knowledge isn't enough, rest assured that there are goodies too: we’ll also be sharing ten—count 'em, ten—Gospel of Loki gift bags complete with signed books, tote bags, bookmarks and posters, of course, of that gorgeous cover art.

To stand a chance of winning one of the goodie bags, just tweet the correct answer to the question below to @Joanne_chocolat @gollancz and @niallalot, being sure to include the hashtag #AskLoki.

To today's question then...

Loki describes this goddess as “possibly
the most annoying woman in the

whole of the Nine Worlds.”

Is he talking about:
1) Sigyn 2) Freya 3) Frigg

If you need a refresher on the trickster god’s opinion of the characters that you’ll meet in The Gospel of Loki when it's released on February 13th, visit http://bit.ly/1lpUVhw.

One lucky tweeter will be picked at random each day from the 3rd to the 14th of February, giving you ten opportunities to score in total—so if today isn't your lucky day, follow along with the #AskLoki Blog Tour at the blogs on the above banner for five more chances to win a gift bag.

Giving the Game Away | Meet the Mouse Deer

I may have failed to mention that I spent the last ten days in Bremen, Germany. Long story short: I had a wonderful week in an incredibly pretty city, but Belgian beer still has the edge over the many and various German varieties I tried.

I'm home again in any event, and wishing I'd done a little more work while I was away... but hey, there's still time for a quick one today!

Yesterday I ran my review of The Mouse Deer Kingdom by Chiew-Siah Tei, "a beautiful little book [...] about outsiders in a land that seems set on smiting them," and this afternoon, thanks to the fine folks at Picador, I have three copies of the new novel to give away to entrants based in the UK.

All you need to do to stand a chance of winning one is email the answer to this quick question to thespeculativescotsman [at] googlemail [dot] com:

What was Cheiw-Siah Tei's multiple

award-nominated first novel called?

Mark your subject header 'Meet the Mouse Deer' and include your name and address in the text of the message. I'll announce the winners next week, when I'm well and truly on top of the blog again.

For the time being, toodles!

Giving the Game Away | Among Other Things

It's been a quiet couple of weeks here on The Speculative Scotsman, hasn't it?

Sincerely, I'm sorry about that. I've been meaning to blog about any number of things, but I just haven't had the chance till today. I've been sick as a dog, you see, and what little time I've had with my wits about me I've had no choice but to dedicate to deadlines, which of course grow ever more pressing the longer you put them off.

Funny how that happens.

Anyway, as of today, the most desperate of my deadlines are defeated, and I'm officially over the worst of whatever it was that ruined my Easter week, so expect regular service to resume soon.

For the very moment, before we get any further out from the Among Others giveaway so many of you fine folks entered, allow me to announce the lucky winners. They are:

• Darren Goldsmith
• Kristini Wilde
• and Kunal Modi

If you so happen to be one of these three people, expect a brief email from me later today to confirm your details. Then, thanks to the kindness of the fine folks at Constable & Robinson, a copy of the brand new British edition of Jo Walton's wonderful novel will wing its way to wherever you are.

Massive congratulations to the winners—and commiserations, of course, to the less lucky. There's always next time!

Now in advance of a full-fledged post here on TSS, I've blogged a bunch about Iain Banks in the latest edition of the British Genre Fiction Focus, as I said I would last week when the devastating news about his health broke. Later on, there's discussion of a number of other stories—including Joe Abercrombie's comic book and the hundred best novels ever according to a superteam of teachers—but truth be told, today's column is mostly an ode to Iain Banks, whose work has always occupied a special place in my dark heart.

With that, I'll say good day. But there'll be more to look forward to tomorrow, I promise!

Giving the Game Away | We Are Among Others

Hello again, everyone. I'm back!

Only briefly, I'm afraid. Predictably, I've returned home to deadlines aplenty, and as ever, the day job awaits, so I only have a few moments to devote to The Speculative Scotsman this afternoon. Luckily, that' should just long enough for me to blog about one of the very best books I've read in recent years: a multiple award-winner that (for once) deserves all the acclaim that's been heaped upon it. Namely Among Others by Jo Walton.

It's an extraordinary novel, with the most memorable narrator I've encountered in ages: Morwenna Phelps (or Mori to her friends... not that she has terribly many) is always charming and often disarming, but here's what really struck me about this marvellous character: she is undeniably one of us—which is to say an individual as inextricable from the fantastical literature she reads and reflects on throughout Among Others as any die-hard genre fiction fan—and wonderfully, one senses Jo Walton is as well.

If you've gone this long without reading Among Others already, you must know by now that you're missing something magnificent. But perhaps you aren't aware of what this novel is, and equally, what it isn't. Well:

"Think of this as a memoir. Think of it as one of those memoirs that's later discredited to everyone's horror because the writer lied and is revealed to be a different colour, gender, class and creed from the way they'd made everybody think. I have the opposite problem. I have to keep fighting to stop making myself sound more normal. Fiction's nice. Fiction lets you select and simplify. This isn't a nice story, and this isn't an easy story. But it is a story about fairies, so feel free to think of it as a fairy story. It's not like you'd believe it anyway."

The thing of it is... I did. Among Others came alive for me in a way truly few books do when I finally read it this past winter. Sadly, the review I wrote way back when—the review I had been sitting on ever since, waiting for this very day, I dare say—appears to have been eaten by Blogger, so you'll just have to take my word for it: Among Others is bittersweet, beautifully put... quite simply brilliant.

But wait! What am I talking about? You don't have to take my word for it at all, because even if you exclude the innumerable glowing reviews of the book my bloggery colleagues have written already—and why would you?—this post begins a whole week of awesome Among Others coverage.

Tomorrow, Civilian Reader will be chipping in; Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews welcomes Jo Walton on Wednesday; on Thursday, tune in to 2606 Books; then The Book Smugglers are due to do their inimitable thing on Friday. Over the weekend, Jan Edwards and Fantasy Faction will have the book's back, and a week from today, the blog tour concludes courtesy of Curiosity Killed the Bookworm.

Needless to say, it'll be a brilliant week, and all in honour of a good cause. Among Others really does merit such celebration. And to start us off properly, it's with immense pleasure—and many thanks to the fine folks at Constable & Robinson who are publishing the paperback this Thursday—that I say I have three copies of the beautiful new British edition of this book to give away to interested parties based in the UK.

All you need do to stand a chance of winning Among Others is to email me at thespeculativescotsman [at] gmail [dot] com with your name and address. Mark your subject headers 'We Are Among Others' and I'll announce the lucky ones next week, when I'm properly on top of the blog again.

It really is as easy as that.

Seriously, what are you waiting for? :)

We'll talk again shortly, all. In the interim, do stay tuned for a few more Short Story Reviews, including one of the piece I think should win the BSFA's award for the Best Short Story of 2012.

We Interrupt This Broadcast | Christmas Wishes

In my introduction to Top of the Scots 2012, I talked about what a year this has been for me. What a fantastic, phenomenal, unforgettable year!

It's also been an exhausting one, loathe as I am to admit it.

To wit, I'm doing the unthinkable: I'm taking some time off.

Beginning today, I'm off work for two weeks, the better to let the kiddies enjoy their Christmas... and it occurred to me that maybe I should, too. So! I'm going to be AFK for approximately a fortnight.

Which isn't to say there won't be awesome content on The Speculative Scotsman to entertain you all in my absence. I already have a good few reviews in the queue, and I may yet appear out of the ether to blog about what Santa brought me or some such thing.

I wouldn't count on it, is all. By and large, I plan to spend my holiday cosy in the company of friends and family, and if the powers that be judge me to have been very, very good this year, I may just take the New Year in on the windswept, snow-strewn Isle of Skye. Unappealing as that must sound to some, know that there's nothing I'd love to do more — so here's hoping!

Before I go, though, let me wish you all a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. I wouldn't be doing this thing day and night if I didn't love it, and you folks are the reason I do. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for that.

But they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so...

What more is there to say than that?

Actually, hang on — there is one thing. Remember the giveaway I blogged about before Top of the Scots 2012 kicked off? Well, we have a winner!

Congratulations to David Finley from North Carolina. You, sir, shall be hearing from me shortly.

To everyone else who entered... there's always next time, I guess. Would that I had a hundred copies of The Vorrh to give away!

With which, I'm going to go squish the gifts under my Christmas tree. :D

We'll talk again in not too long, I don't doubt, but for the time being... you all have an awesome holiday, you hear?

Giving the Game Away | Devour The Vorrh!

I can neither confirm nor deny that The Vorrh will play some part in Top of the Scots 2012... but consider the timing, and the words I concluded my review with.

It wouldn't be a bad bet, would it?

Well, here's a hell of a chance to see why I've been banging on about Brian Catling's masterful first fantasy for yourself, because thanks to the generosity of the peeps at Honest Publishing, I have one strictly limited edition of The Vorrh to give away today.

Only 300 of these signed and numbered editions exist, and no more will be be produced. Books don't come much rarer than this!

Wherever in the world you are, this gorgeous copy could be yours. All you need to is email the answer to this exceedingly simple question to thespeculativescotsman [at] googlemail [dot] com:

From which 1910 novel does the

forest in The Vorrh take its name?

If the answer isn't immediately apparent, simply take another look at my review.

Please mark your subject headers 'Devour The Vorrh', and be sure to include your postal address in the body text of your message... as well as your answer, obviously.

That's all there is to this incredible giveaway!

It's easy when you know how, huh? :)

Giving the Game Away | Alif, Seen!

To tie a little knot on top of all the fun we had with G. Willow Wilson's tour-de-force debut, I thought this afternoon I'd announce the winners of the giveaway the lovely sorts at Corvus were kind enough to organise.

As ever, I received entries from all round the world, but on this occasion, alas, I was only able to accept those from the UK and Europe.

Before I give the game away, let's remind ourselves of the question I asked you to answer:

Which letter of the English alphabet is

the Arabic character 'Alif' equivalent to?

The solution to this particular riddle? 'Twas as easy as blank, B, C:

The letter 'A'

And almost everyone who entered the giveaway got it right. Next time, let's shoot for the moon, folks!

But enough beating around the alif. We have three lucky winners, and they are:

• Kathleen Hooper, of Nottingham
• John Elder, fae Glasgow
• and Latvia's own Ieva Zalite

Hearty congratulations to the winners — meanwhile my commiserations to the less lucky.

Kathleen, John and Ieva should expect to receive an email from me to confirm their details within the next few days. All else who entered, I'm afraid you'll have get your grubbies on this book the old fashioned way.

By bartering precious stones for it, of course. :D

Giving the Game Away | Free Alif the Unseen

Yesterday I posted an excellent excerpt from Alif the Unseen, and tomorrow, I'll run my review. As if that weren't enough, I had a long and involved talk with the author which should hit the site early next week.

Now I don't make a fuss like this about most books, so perhaps you've already intuited that Alif the Unseen is something special. Well, yes — it is indeed. It's "an exquisite tale of tales," truly a "tour-de-force debut," and you needn't simply take my word for it, because today it gives me great pleasure to announce that I have three copies of the gorgeous new Corvus edition to give away to you lucky lovers of literature.

I'm afraid we can't go worldwide with this one, but if you're based in the UK or Europe, all you have to do to stand a chance of winning is send an email to thespeculativescotsman [at] gmail [dot] com with the answer to the this question:

Which letter of the English alphabet is

the Arabic letter Alif equivalent to?

Mark your subject headers "Free Alif the Unseen," please, and remember to include your postal address in the text of your message.

May the odds be ever in your favour, folks!

Giving the Game Away | The Assassin's Blessing

Last Wednesday we talked about The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra R. Clarke. We touched on its purdy cover art, the potentially mixed blessing of its blurb, as well the summer its author spent attending Clarion West, by way of the mini-bio that I'll admit drew me to this book more than any other thing.

If you read the post in full you'll have noticed I threw another thing in the mix, in addition: a giveaway, yay! That is to say, of a single, exceedingly early ARC of The Assassin's Curse.

I suppose the question you had to answer was a bit of a tricky one, by online competition standards at least, but a good gang of you gave it a shot in any event, and amongst those of you who sent in entries, a few even hit upon the solution to the riddle reproduced here:

Which popular author will be bringing

the fight to the club at Clarion this summer?

The answer, of course, was Chuck Palahniuk, one of this year's Clarion West instructors. Because he's the guy what wrote Fight Club, right?

 

Right.

Anyway, we have a winner, and his name is... Ben Lorber. Nicely done!

I'll get you an email in a moment to double-check your details, Ben, but congrats: you'll be one of the first folks in the world to see an ARC of The Assassin's Curse, and if it turns out to be half as fun a frolic as it sounds, why that sounds like one mighty fine prize.

Last but not least, thanks again to Amanda at Strange Chemistry for arranging this whole thing. I'm sure everyone would agree that we can hardly wait to hear what else you have up your sleeves!

Cover Identity | The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra R. Clarke

I've had call to talk about Strange Chemistry on a couple of occasions already. For those of you net in the know, it's an up-and-coming imprint of Angry Robot Books with a specific focus of speculative fiction of the YA variety. So obviously, I'm interested in it.

It doesn't hurt that friend of the blog - and friend of the me - Amanda Rutter (formerly of the gone but still not forgotten Floor-to-Ceiling Books) is leading this particular charge. I'm very keen to see, finally, some of what she's got in store for us all, be we young or old.

As of an email from Amanda a couple of days ago, one contender has roundly risen above the others in my eyes. That would be The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra R. Clarke, and not - or not solely - because of Amanda's description of it as an experience alike The Arabian Nights as written by Scott Lynch or Throne of the Crescent Moon's Saladin Ahmed. Though in this case, with a new author, that sort of comparison certainly helps.

As does cover art as appealing as the image embedded above. All sorts of purdy, isn't it?

Truth be told, though, it was a couple of info-nuggets in Cassandra's bio that served to excite my interest. Firstly, foremostly, it was the mention of the author's attendance at Clarion West in the summer of 2010. In the past these star-studded workshops - instructed by writers like George R. R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Roger Zelazny and Gardner Dozois - have given an incredible array of literary talent a real leg up in the industry. Amongst the other alumni of Clarion West: Kristine Katheryn Rusch, Rachel Swirsky, Margo Lanagan and Daniel Abraham.

So Cassandra R. Clarke has a lot to live up to!

By now you must be wondering: what's the other thing, then? Well I'll be the first to admit my reasoning here is a bit silly, but Cassandra hails from Houston, Texas, and of all the places I stopped off in during my month in America, I was - entirely to my surprise - at my happiest in Houston.

Oh, for another night out in the Heights...

In any event, what's The Assassin's Curse all about? Well here's a bit of blurbage:

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. And when Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together. To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks — all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic, and the growing romantic tension between them.

The bad news is that The Assassin's Curse isn't due out till the other side of the summer - most of you will have to wait till October to get your grubby paws on it - but would you believe I've got good news, too? At least I do for those of you based in the UK.

Thanks to Amanda, I have a single ARC to give away in early May, which is to say soon, and all you need to do to stand a chance of winning it is riddle me this:

Which popular author will be bringing the

fight to the club at Clarion this summer?

Please send your solutions to thespeculativescotsman [at] gmail [dot] com and mark your subject headers appropriately. I'm going to give you till this time next week to get your answers in.

Good luck, everyone!

Giving the Game Away | Everyone's A Winner!

Actually no... that's not strictly true. But three very lucky people are!

If you can, cast your mind back to last week. You might recall that I went on about Paul Kearney a lot. I reviewed all three volumes of The Macht Saga, pledged allegiance to the aforementioned author, and - in a rare moment of happy madness - I hosted a giveaway of three sets of the complete trilogy, the better to get this stunning series into as many hands as I was able.

The response was overwhelming, actually. For various reasons I haven't hosted a whole lot of giveaways here on TSS in the past, but within 24 hours of announcing this particular contest, over 100 people had given it a go. Entries have been arriving steadily ever since, more than doubling the pool of wannabe winners, all told... so I guess The Macht Saga is on more radars than I'd imagined. Good! It absolutely should be.

Before I give up the gory details on our winners, however, a reminder of the simple question you all had to answer:

Which of the United Kingdoms

does Paul Kearney come from?

The answer was of course:

Northern Ireland

Alas, there can only be three winners of these three books, and much as I'd like to buy every last person who entered the competition a copy of The Ten Thousand to get 'em going, three is still one better than two and two better than one, and one is the loneliest number, as I'm sure we all know -- but anyway! Our winners are:

• Sascha Walter, of Germany
• Ryan Thomas, of Colorado
• and finally Henry Ward, a Northern Ireland man himself!

So that's nice. :)

Well... nice for those three. Not so much for all the others who entered and answered the question correctly but lost out in the end, but for those three at least, pretty damn sweet!

Sascha and Ryan and Henry can expect to receive an email from me to confirm their details as soon as possible, and their winnings forthwith. I'm afraid everyone else will have to get their hands on The Macht Saga the old-fashioned way - you really ought to give it a shot - but seriously, thanks for all your entries anyway. Quite the show of support. And that's exactly what this series needs.

Giving the Game Away | Win One of Three Complete Sets of The Macht Saga

Perhaps you've read Paul Kearney before... or perhaps you haven't. Maybe you've wondered about The Macht saga from afar, or ogled the omnibus editions of The Monarchies of God and wondered: would I like this?

Well yes, you would. Or at the very least, you should. I don't think it's spoiling the reviews of Corvus and Kings of Morning you'll be seeing from me subsequently to say that they're terrific books, to a one. Reading through these three volumes over the past three weeks has been a beautiful, bloody, bittersweet experience, and I'm officially on board with whatever Kearney writes next. Up to and including this Spartacus tie-in.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet, because in a rare turn of events, I've got some books to give away. I enjoyed this series so much that I wanted to get it into the hands of a few good folks, and Solaris have been more generous than I could have hoped for. They've offered not one, not two, but three complete sets of all three volumes of The Macht saga.

Which is to say, if you can answer this simple question correctly, you'll be in with a chance of winning copies of The Ten Thousand, Corvus and Kings of Morning, which hasn't even been released yet, here in the UK.

You don't have to be British to stand a chance, either! Entries are welcome from the UK, the US, and Europe too. All you have to do tell me:

Which of the United Kingdoms

does Paul Kearney come from?

Simple, isn't it? And if you're not so sure, you'll find the answer somewhere in the text of yesterday's review of The Ten Thousand.

All I'd ask is that you send along your guesses to thespeculativescotsman [at] gmail [dot] com and mark you subject headers "The Macht Saga".

I'm going to let this one run for a week at least, so there's time to get your entries in, and then tell your friends so they can try their hands as well. At the end of that period, our lucky winners will be picked at random, as ever, to the envy of everybody who isn't one.

That's it! Go on, now. You know you want to... and if you don't, well, I beg to differ. :P

### EDIT @16:47 ###

Actually, that thing about a Spartacus tie-in? Turns out that's Amazon trying to make a monkey of me: it's being written by a Mark Morris, and the page only updated today. Never mind I've been secretly excited about it for months.

Anyway, go go giveaway!

Giving The Game Away | Songs Of Cats and Croats

Hey, remember a couple of weeks ago, we had a grand old giveaway?

Well, I'd meant to announce the winner sooner -- in fact I did the random draw last weekend, then I saw three more entries flashing away in my inbox, and it felt a little mean of me to cut the cord so arbitrarily. But they've been trickling in since, too - a couple a day all through the week - and this can't go on forever. So.


The time has finally come to announce our winners.

First, our three runners-up, each of whom will receive a gorgeous Songs of the Earth bookmark just as soon as I can talk the post office camels to heading out your way. They are:

• from Ohio, Andy Campbell
• from Manchester, Daniel Franklin
• from Croatia, Tomislav Tkalec

But our grand prizewinner, who gets a bookmark AND a signed and inscribed copy of Songs of the Earth direct from Elspeth herself, is...


*dramatic pause*


Simon Holland, who hails from Cheshire, where all cats are happy. As well Simon should be. :D


I'll have email to all our winners in a moment to collect address and inscriptions. Well done, everyone!

Giving The Game Away | Songs, Signed and Inscribed

So.

I expect I've crowed about Songs of the Earth enough for one week - I really would recommend you all give it a shot, when the time comes - but I've one last thing to share with you all before we call it a day.

Thanks to the lovely lady herself - and she has been most lovely, to put up with my many, lengthy questions and then to throw this thing into the bargain - I have one hardcover copy of Songs of the Earth to give away to any and all comers, and exclusive bookmarks to tide over three runners-up.

Not just any old hardcover copy, either. This one will be signed by Elspeth - and personalised, too! All you have to do to stand a chance of winning this pretty thing is email me the answer to the following question:

What is the name of the trilogy

Songs of the Earth begins?

The answer to which really very easy question you'll find in my review of Elspeth Cooper's very promising debut.

Rest assured, wherever in the world you are, you can enter this competition. Just send along your entries to "thespeculativescotsman [at] googlemail [dot] com" - taking care to mark your subject headers "Songs Giveaway" - and I'll let you know who the lucky winner of the bookmarks and this precious signed and personalised first edition of what could very well prove to be the best fantasy debut of 2011... shall we say early next week?

I expect we shall.

Ready? Set? Go!

Giving The Game Away | The Winning Robot Riddle

Well, the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta code is gone. Went like that!

But it occurs I've still to announce who won last week's rather fabulous freebie. To refresh your recollection, here's the original post, in which I detail how you lucky so-and-sos might go about winning a beautifully illustrated, super-limited, sold-out first edition of The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang, courtesy the exceedingly good cakes at Subterranean Press.

The right answer to the silly little riddle I came up with was, of course, digients - though a few of you send in certain other solutions, no less correct in their way, and you know what? Come one, come all, I say!

So. A prolonged roll on the drums...

...a click of this random generator thingummy and...

...we have our winner!

Huge congratulations to Blair Anderson from the great Sooner State of Oklahoma. I'll have an email your way to get your address and explain the rest in a minute, Blair.

But fret not, all those of you who entered and aren't in fact Mr. Anderson - and what a turnout there was! - because the booby prize you're all getting is pretty cool in its own right. In fact, it's also The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang, which just so happens to be available online in its entirety. Read it for free right here, as part of the Fall 2010 issue of Subterranean Magazine.

I'd heartily recommend you do just that, too. But if you're still unsure, by all means, peruse the full review. I'll say again: Ted Chiang really is all that.

Giving The Game Away | One Lucky Locust

These last three weeks, I've been playing the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta. And it's been awesome, of course. I must have sunk... oh, shall we say 20 hours into it? Enough anyway to have worried the hell out of my Xbox on several occasions. And there's still a whole week to go before the beta's done, so I could red-ring the thing yet! :)

Alas, as much fun as I've had, and as many dudes - and occasional ladies - as I've chainsawed in half, the beta's been an oddly lonely affair, of late: codes to access it were limited enough that a very few of my Xbox Live friends got in, and I think those that did have unlocked everything there is to unlock, and moved on, as is the gamer's way. And getting a team together to roll over the opposition all evening long, well hell, that's half the fun of it all right there.

So. A Gears of War 3 multiplayer buddy would be nice, but no worries - no blood oaths need be sworn today. I've got one extra download code to give away in any event, and the first person to drop me an email at thespeculativescotsman [at] googlemail [dot] com with the name of the genre author who writes the Gears of War extended universe novels can have it.

Ready?

Set?

Go!

Giving The Game Away | Win a First Edition of The Lifecycle of Software Objects!

Perhaps you were intrigued by this afternoon's review of The Lifecycle of Software Objects. Perhaps the fact that "it is heartbreaking. It is profound. It is tremendously powerful, a tour de force, and so very, very sweet" has bumped the latest Ted Chiang up a few notches on your tower of books To Be Read.

I should think so, too. :)

But wait, what's that? You don't already own it? Amazon's sold out of the second printing now, too? Well, lucky for you, I just so happen to have a spare copy of this gorgeous Subterranean Press edition of The Lifecycle of Software Objects going, and all you have to do to stand a chance of winning it is riddle me this. Seriously:

We are men but not men.

Intelligent artifice all

Left behind but beloved.

What are we called?

The answer to which riddle you'll find in my review of Ted Chiang's latest modest masterpiece. It's really very easy when you know how.

So, send your guess along to "thespeculativescotsman [at] googlemail [dot] com" with subject headers marked "SubPress Giveaway" and I'll let you know who the very lucky winner of this immaculate - and already rather rare - first edition is on... shall we say Friday?

I expect we shall. Go on, now!

###

Updated as of 19:07 to say, since a few of you have asked: no matter where in the world you are, rest easy. You can enter this competition from the States, Germany, the UK - wherever, I mean it.


Also it's been lovely to hear from readers in all the countries there've been entries from already. Keep 'em coming! :)