It’s a busy week in the blogosphere, with Carl’s spring Once Upon a Time reading challenge starting on the 21st!  As a fantasy reader, I have some books lined-up…and as a fantasy writer, I have another fun idea for celebrating fantasy in the spring.  Since this is a What Are You Reading post, shall we start there?  (And if you just want to know about the give-away, scroll on down to the second picture.)

With fantasy and fairy tale retellings on my mind, I’ve just started Hero by Alethea Kontis, sequel to Enchanted.  Cramming together massive numbers of fairy tales, I look forward to picking out the different threads!  I also have the last book in Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci series to read, The Pinhoe Egg, a fantasy novel that will finish my rereading of the series.

Mixing things up with some non-fantasy, I have Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness.  I finally read The Knife of Never Letting Go a few weeks ago (a few years after it exploded all over the blogs I follow), went promptly on to the sequel, and am looking forward to the final installment of the trilogy.  And in marked contrast to that dystopia read, I’m also midway through the nonfiction Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert, all about how the mind works and why the things we expect to make us happy don’t–and vice versa.

Some nice variety, and a nice start to Once Upon a Time.  And speaking of which…I decided to celebrate the fantasy reading season by also offering a give-away of my fairy tale retelling, The Wanderers.  One winner will receive a signed copy of the paperback!*  If you don’t already know you want to enter, here’s a little about the book:

You might recognize the landscape.  You may think you know the rules.  But you’ve strayed beyond the tales.  Come join a wandering adventurer, a talking cat and a witch’s daughter as they fight monsters, pursue quests, and learn that sometimes, rules are no help at all.

The give-away will run from NOW until April 30th, so if the winner wants to read the book during the Once Upon a Time challenge, there will still be time.  But how can you be that lucky person?  🙂  I’m doing this raffle-style, so you can enter multiple times, and multiple ways…

1) Leave a comment anywhere on my blog with the hashtag #WanderersGiveAway, for ONE entry per comment

2) Tweet using the hashtag for TWO entries per tweet

3) Mention the give-away on your blog (and send me a link) or on Facebook (and send me a screenshot) for FIVE entries

And if you want to comment during the next month without entering, I’ll just assume you already have a copy and ask no questions.  🙂

I think that covers all the bits of business today…don’t hesitate if you have questions, and don’t hesitate to enter!  Now onward to the reading…

*Note for International Readers: Due to prohibitive shipping costs, I can’t mail a book outside of the United States–but I don’t want to bar my lovely readers from the UK, Canada and Australia (and if you’re from somewhere else, I’m sure you’re lovely too!) so if you win, I’ll send you the book direct from Amazon, and mail you a signature you can paste into it (or sell on eBay…whichever!)