Spooktacular Giveaway Winner!

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

And the winner for a signed copy of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater is...

Lexie @ Book Bug

The winner will receive a email from me shortly. Thanks to all 389 of you who entered, and I wish I could give you each something. Keep checking back for more awesome things to win, and most of all...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

The Spooktacular Giveaway is a hop hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer and Diary of a Bookworm.

Well... do I have a Spooktacular Giveaway for you! At the Maggie Stiefvater signing I got a signed copy of Linger and bought a signed copy of the final book in her Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, Forever to giveaway to one lucky follower! This a hardcover, new copy! The giveaway closes October 31st, Halloween at Midnight Eastern. Enjoy!

"The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stievater

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. InLinger, they fought to be together. Now, in Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in."

100 Follower Giveaway Winner

The giveaway for the 100 follower celebration ended last night! I was astonished by how many awesome entries we got! 304 entries! As Gemma from I/You/We Heart Books would say, you all deserve a massive e-hug! But, unfortunately, you can't all win :-(, so one lucky winner is going to have to receive all the goodies on your behalf.

And the winner is:

Latisha Depoortere

Congrats! Expect an email from me shortly. And to all you who didn't win, I'll have much more giveaways down the road.

Deadly Cool Swag Winner

The winner for Deadly Cool swag from Gemmma Halliday is...

Clarissa P (Clary)

the winner was chosen by random.org and will be emailed shortly. Once the email is sent they will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner may be chosen.

Deadly Cool: Character This or that! And a giveaway!

Today we have a character this or that for the Deadly Cool Blog Tour, where the character picks one of two things. Please welcome Hartley from Deadly Cool!

(Played by the author, Gemma Halliday)!

Here we go!

Hartley: Thanks so much for having me on your blog! I feel like a celebrity or something. Too cool!

Benji: Would you rather go to sleep reading pride and prejudice, or wake up to a breakfast of pizza and orange juice?

Hartley: Oh, tough one. I do love the feel of old romantic books like P & P, but since my mom is a gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan food zazi (sorry, Mom! But it’s true!), pizza is a rare indulgence in my house. So I’m gonna have to go with the pizza. Especially if there’s peperoni involved.

Benji: Who would you rather spend a day with? Your favorite actor or favorite musician?

Hartley: Musician! I’ll admit it, I have a soft spot for the bad boys. (Just don’t tell the editor of my school paper, Chase. He’d never let me live it down.)

Benji: Math or science?

Hartley: Yikes, do I have to pick? Mrs. Perry’s chem class is killer hard with all the memorization, and my trig teacher, Mrs. Blasberg, thinks homework is a fun pastime. It’s a toss up.

Benji: Who would you rather want for a boyfriend? Good looks, no brain or ugly, and smart?

Hartley: I’ve so gone the good looks and no brains route, and it did not end well. In fact, it ended in a dead body. So this one is easy: ugly and smart!

Benji: Michael Jackson or Lady Gaga?

Hartley: Lady Gaga all the way. She’s so cool. My best friend Sam and I stood in line all morning to get tickets to her show, even if they were way up in the nosebleed section.

Thanks for stopping by, Hartley and Gemma!

Now onto the giveaway fun! Gemma has kindly offered up a set of trading cards from Deadly Cool to one lucky winner! The giveaway runs till October 11th at Midnight Pacific Time. The giveaway is open WORLDWIDE, so international epic peeps, this is for you too! How do you enter? Fill out this form!

Glow- New Winner!

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Well... guess what guys? One of the winners for Glow gave me a email address that doesn't work... which means, we have a new winner...

Vivian M

I apologize to the original winner (Jay) but if I don't have a real email I can't give it to him... so once again... sorry to him (for Jay: if you read this post and would like to email me at benjikenworthy@gmail.com I'll be probably be able to get you a copy). The new winner will get an email from me shortly.

Giveaway Winners...

Hi guys... today we have the winners from two different giveaways!

The winners for three ARCs of Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan are...

Munnaza

and

Jay Paulino

and...

Mickey from I'm A Book Shark

The winner for one signed finished copy (with a quote from me on the back cover) of Far Fom the War by Jeffrey David Payne is...

Eliot Ripley

Congrats to all our awesome winners, expect an email from me shortly... if a winner does not reply within 24 hours a new winner may be chosen. And to all you guys that didn't win, I'll hosting some (more) giveaways very shortly.

Character Interview with Kieran (Played by the author, Amy Kathleen Ryan) from Glow and a Giveaway!

Hey guys! Today I welcome author Amy Kathleen Ryan who will be answering questions for my favorite character from Glow, Keiran! Enjoy!

Benji: Hello Kieran, how's life aboard the Empyrean?

Kieran: Considering we’ve got a reactor leak and the entire crew wants to kill me, it’s been better. Thanks.

Benji: You're one of the few religious families on the craft, how has that affected you as you've grown up?

Kieran: My family and I have always been more religious than most people on the Empyrean, but we’ve also been mostly quiet about it. My faith is something I’ve always carried inside of me, though I can honestly tell you that I’ve always yearned for a way to express it. Now that the Empyrean is in strong need of a religious leader, I have that chance.

THE NEXT ANSWER CONTAINS A SPOILER, IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK SKIP TO THE NEXT QUESTION

Benji: Would you rather have never been attacked but have Waverly "dumped" you or have been attacked but have Waverly still in love with you?

Kieran: Considering the loss of life aboard the Empyrean during the attack, I think I would do almost anything to bring them all back. Even if it meant Waverly and I couldn’t be together. I think she’d be willing to make the sacrifice herself.

Benji: Now on to something lighter, what's your favorite leisure activity?

Kieran: I like taking walks around the ship. I like running into people and talking to them, or helping out with random chores. My favorite places to go are the abandoned places no one else ever goes, like the mushroom room, or the observatory. I like to be alone where I can think.

Benji: Do you have a favorite book?

Keiran: I’m partial to Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stephenson. But I am also a big fan of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

Benji: Have anything to say about the new book you star in, Glow?

Kieran: Just when you think you know what to expect, you’ll find out you were wrong. I certainly did.

Benji: Thanks so much for taking some time off the busy life of the Empyrean, have anything you'd like to add?

Kieran: Nice to meet you Benji. Thanks for the interview.

Author Bio: Amy Kathleen Ryan earned an MA in English Literature at the University of Vermont, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School Creative Writing for Children Program in New York City. She is also the author of two widely acclaimed young adult novels, Zen and Xander Undone and Vibes.

Thanks so much for Stopping by Amy! Now onto the giveaway fun...

Amy and her awesome publishers have offered up three copies of Glow to giveaway on the site. The Giveaway ends September 22nd at Midnight, Pacific Time. The giveaway is open to US and Canada only, sorry guys. The enter fill out this form! Best of luck to ya!

Interview with author Jeffrey David Payne and Giveaway!

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Jeffrey David Payne, author of Far From the War (my review, here), which is too be published next week! I really enjoyed it! Let's get started!

Benji: What do you think is the likely hood of something happening like what happened in Far From the War?

Jeffrey David Payne: When I first started Far From The War, I would have said the prospect of another civil war in the United States was far fetched. I think one of the reasons I did so much research and took such pains to make it seem real is that I thought the premise would be hard to believe. But that was quite a while ago. After what we've seen in Washington over the past few years and recently in Egypt and Wisconsin, as politics become more divisive and the art of compromise dies off, I don't meet many people who find the premise implausible anymore. If anything, I meet people going the other direction -- hording food, gold, medicine and in many other ways preparing for a collapse of some kind. I'm not sure how likely I think a full-on prolonged civil war would be, but some kind of civil unrest or political disruption now seems highly likely.


Benji: I've read you have lots of military experience, did that help you in writing Far From the War?

Jeffrey David Payne:A little bit, but my military experience was in the Nuclear Navy, so was never a soldier. I was essentially a uniformed nerd trained to boil water with Uranium. Even so, I got a sense of how people in the military talk, their sense of humor and particularly the nature of military leadership, senior officers. You meet a lot of people in the service that fit the "hero" mold, selfless defenders of liberty, etc. But you meet even more misfits, borderline psychopaths and careerist officers who'd throw anybody under the bus if it gets them closer to a star. Like humanity in general, the military hosts a full spectrum of mankind's virtues and vices.

Benji: If you could pick one character from Far From the War to go on a cross-country road trip with, who would it be?

Jeffrey David Payne: This is a tough one. If I were young, I'd probably say Gwen. Esther would intimidate me and I wouldn't be able to relax. As an adult, I'd probably pick Esther's father. In this day and age, it's almost inviting ridicule to openly discuss politics, economics or other "important subjects". It would be nice to spend a few days with somebody who's open to conversation not afraid to have and defend and opinion, with someone with a genuine curiosity about the state of the world. You don't see this side of Esther's father much in the first book, but you will in the second.

Benji: How often do people in your real life transfer into your novels?

Jeffrey David Payne: This happens on two levels. First, there are characters inspired by real people. Esther is based largely on some of the whip-smart debater chicks I remember from my days on the high school debate team. Alex and Ashley are based on my wife Kathryn and I. General Crowder is based loosely on a Senior Chief I served under at Naval Nuclear Power School. Second, there are the pop culture references and allusions to real life people. I think these add a shade of humor and realism.

Benji: How do you think this book is different compared to most dystopian novels?

Jeffrey David Payne: It's very different, different enough that it's almost a stretch to call it dystopian. As you indicate in your review, most dystopian fiction has a lot of world building. Think about the

four ministries in 1984 or the 13 districts in The Hunger Games. Real dystopian is a sub genre of science fiction. There's nothing scifi about Far From The War. It's set in present day America with just a few tweaks made to our current economic and political situation to create an environment volatile enough to foster a civil war. In fact, some of these fictional tweaks have actually happened in real life. For example, the government's credit downgrade and the move away from settling oil futures contacts in U.S. Dollars -- which in my book create the depression, $30 a gallon gas, and Little Zurich -- have both now actually happened. Pretty scary.

Benji: Why should we read Far From the War?

Jeffrey David Payne:I wouldn't put myself in a position to tell your readers what they "should" do. I can only speak for what my intentions were when I wrote the book and leave it to bloggers and critics like yourself to say whether or not those goals were achieved. I would say that I'm not a big fan of escapist fiction, books that don't leave you with anything to ruminate on once you're finished. I wanted to leave the reader with more questions than answers and I set out to write a book that shows what a shooting war on American soil would really do to ordinary people in the hope that people who might otherwise consider initiating or supporting political violence might try to work things out with a peaceful political process. I also wanted to deal with a civil war in a non-partisan way, in a way that wouldn't alienate people of certain political beliefs. Real life is not bi-polar and our political parties are just coalitions of convenience. It would be dishonest and almost propagandist to tell a story like this from a rigid political perspective. I set out to cut through all the political spin we're constantly subject to and just tell the reader what can happen if our politicians refuse to work together. As Shelby Foote said, once the American Civil War of the 1860's was caused by a failure to compromise. Hopefully my book can remind people of what can happen, and has happened, in America we refuse to compromise.

Thanks so much to Jeffrey for stopping by! Visit him on his website!

And now... to the giveaway fun! Roche Harbor Books has offered up one personalized signed copy of Jeffrey's new novel, Far From the War to a lucky winner! And besides getting to read this epic novel there is also a quote from my review on the back! My review! The giveaway will end September 22ed and is open internationally, there are plenty of ways to get extra entries as always... fill out this form to enter (Click on the word form to get to the form).

Tower of Parlen Min ebook Winner!

Tower of Parlen Min One Year Anniversary Blog Tour 

Time for another giveaway winner! We're having two winners for Tower of Parlen Min by Matt Xell in ebook format for The Tower of Parlen Min One Year Anniversary blog tour! Woohoo!

And the winners are...

Ben from Awesome Lego Stuff

and

Melanie from Read it in 7 Days- Ebook Reviewer

I will be sending the winners an email soon!

The winners were picked by random.org. Thanks to everyone who entered and make sure to enter all the other giveaways!

Book Battle... It's Over!

(Me and Maddz's bears get in brawl) 

So after two months and ten days the book battle is over! What was the score? 24-22, my favor. I won the book battle! It was a great experience and Maddz was a great competitor! I had so much fun! So since I won, we have two giveaway winners who thought I was going to win the book battle (you had to predict the right winner to get entered in the drawing.) There are two books, Dragon Rider and The Graveyard Book -- the first place winner will get first pick in book.

And the second place winner is...

Alana from Fashion Forward (receives leftover book) 

And the first place winner is...

The1stDaughter from There's A Book (receives first choice in book) 

The winners will get an email from me shortly. If you didn't win, then there are two reasons you didn't. 

1. Because random.org  didn't pick you.

2. Because you thought Maddz was going to win -- traitor (just kidding about the traitor part, I thought she was going to win too)!

There will be MORE giveaways very, very soon. I predicted it in my crystal ball! So keep checking! 

EPIC READ, WRITE, WORD GAME, -ATHON!

ANNOUNCING A EVENT BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE NON RELUCTANT READER AND PATO'S CAVE!

THE 2011, FIRST EVER, TRILEXITHON! Featuring all member's of Pato's Cave, where for 24 hours we stay up and read, write, and play word games. And besides being a participant I'm also doing all media for this event! Woohoo!

So, I'm doing a live stream using Ustream. The event will go live September 2nd, at 10:00am Pacific time and will end September 3rd, my birthday, at the same time. I'm also going to do a giveaway. Whoever guesses most closely the number of pages I'll be able to read receives an awesome prize that is a mystery but it will be something awesome, I can personally assure you of that! You can guess up to 9:59 am on Friday. So enter using the form, make a guess, and wait... I'll be having the webcam up so you can watch it from my blog at the time.

Over and out,

Darth Paper Strikes Back Art Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the Darth Paper Strikes Back original art by the author, Tom Anglerberger is...

SUPER FOLDER MATHEW FROM Matt the Superfolder!

I will be sending the winner a email shortly which he will have 48 hours to reply to, if he does not get back to me by then, another winner will be chosen! Sorry to all those who didn't win but I'll have plenty more giveaways coming your way shortly.

The Tower of Parlen Min Giveaway (Blog Tour)

Hi guys! I'm here with another giveaway! This one's for The Tower of Parlen Min ebook! Yup that's right, you can read it on your kindle, on your computer, on your nook, ect. And the best part, five people can win! It's amazing! The giveaway starts today and will end midnight, pacific time, September 1st! How do you enter? Fill out the form here!

Darth Paper Strikes Back Drawing Giveaway

Hey y'all! To celebrate the release of Tom Angleberger's latest novel Darth Paper Strikes Back, Tom and I are giving away one original drawing from the book, drawn by Tom! The picture is of Tommy with a Sarlaac Tentacle around his neck. The giveaway begins today August 16th and will end next Midnight Pacific time, Tuesday, August 23, the day Darth Paper comes out! How do you enter this wonderful giveaway? Enter using the form here!

Announcing a Book Battle!

Benji from Readings of Benji

vs

Maddz from Slightly Bookish

So me and this really awesome book blogger Maddz from Slightly Bookish are having a book battle! From today (June 20) to August 31 we will both try to read as many books as possible. Now this is where YOU come in. I have read 46 books so far this year and Maddz has read 40. If you correctly guess which of us is going to read more books this Summer you automatically get entered in my giveaway for a copy of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. So, who's going to win? Readings of Benji or Slightly Bookish? Vote now!