To celebrate its Kindle publication day, those kind people at Harper Collins Children's Books have sent me 4 whole paperback copies of Katherine Langrish's wonderful
WEST OF THE MOON
(see my glowing review in the post below) to give away.
4 BOOKS = 4 WINNERS
So what do you have to do? It's very easy. I'll pick two winners from blog commenters here on Scribble City Central, and two winners from Twitter retweeters.
So:
- Comment on this post and tell us your favourite Norse hero or heroine for a chance to win.
- Follow me on Twitter at @lucycoats and retweet my #WoTM tweets for a chance to win.
- Why not do both and give yourself an extra chance?
That's it! The four winners will be picked out of a hat when the competition closes at 5pm GMT on Friday 11th March, and the books will be sent out once I have addresses. Good luck to all of you! Oh yes, and the competition is open INTERNATIONALLY so everyone can enter wherever they are!PS: if you absolutely can't wait to get hold of a copy, you can download it for your Kindle right now, or order a hard copy from Amazon (or better still, your local independent bookstore).
18 comments:
Whose hat?
I like Loki especially for his shape-shifting qualities and his sense of humour which was frequently misunderstood...
Couldn't resist telling you that my favourite is the trouble-maker Ratatosk, but don't think he qualifies as hero... :0)
Bookwitch, I think the winners should definitely be picked out of a little red hat. Do you have one, Lucy?
Oh, I'm with lovely treez. I like Loki too. I like the whole idea of his tricky trickyness.
Does Beowulf count? I'm particularly fond of the tale of his swimming match with Breca - such reckless pride and youthful arrogance...
I especially love the language in the telling: -
'Is this the Beowulf of Breca's swimming-match, who strove against him on the stretched ocean, when for pride the pair of you proved the seas...
...Your arms embraced the ocean's streams, you beat the wave-way, wove your hand movements, and danced on the Spear-Man. The sea boiled with whelming waves of winter; in the water's power you laboured seven nights, and then you lost your swimming match...'
Beowulf of course defends that he was the stronger, for he endured a far harsher ordeal against the beasts of the deep.
I like his phrase in those passages:
'Weird saves oft the man undoomed if he undaunted be!'
Loki is my favorite too. Named my dog after him. I would love to read something where his increasing evilness is explained in a way that makes him more of a compassionate character. Know of any?
I like little Fenris. It's not his fault he grew so big and strong, and the nasty bullies decided to chain him up.
And I like Ratatosk too, Carole Anne! When my boys were little, they played Yggradsil on the stairs, with a stuffed dino at the bottom, oldest boy as eagle on the top, and little one as Ratatosk, running back and forth with insults....
And thanks for the great contest, too! I've read the first book, but am looking forward to read all three in their revised form.
Ah, my heart throbbed mightily for the mighty Thor when I first met him ... in his very own Marvel comic book! 15 years old in a girl's boarding school and I was smitten by this handsome Norse superhero/god. *sigh*
Suzanne Lucero
@S_Lucero
Heartening to see all this Norse knowledge! There's 'Nine Days of Luke' by Diana Wynne Jones, Jo - Loki is quite a sympathetic character in that...
Interesting no one has gone for Baldur the Beautiful... I always felt so sorry for Hodur. ANd I liked Heimdall: mainly because 'keeper of the Rainbow Bridge' sounds such a cool thing to be.
At the risk of sounding like I'm just copying - it's Loki for me, too. Interesting that so many of us have a soft spot for the trickster figure - perhaps we're admiring his cleverness?
Gosh! all these wonderful and varied responses! I'm with Charlotte in that I always felt sorry for Fenrir too.
Kath--my little red hat is all ready and waiting...!
I'm slightly obsessed with Volund - my heart broke when first I read about him waiting for his valkyrie-esque wife to return instead of stalking her, only to get taken and hamstrung by greedy King Nithuth for his trouble! His later actions? Meh...
Okay, I'm officially confused. Are we talking Norse heroes and heroines or Norse gods and goddesses...?
Everyone seems to be listing members of the Norse pantheon...?
If we're talking heroes, I'm going with Sigurd. If we're talking gods or monsters my sympathies lie entirely with Fenris. (Wolves must stick together...)
I would have commented days ago, but I just couldn't decide! Maybe Thor, because I loved him as the bear in Odd and the Frost Giants. Or Frigg, because she spins. Thanks for the giveaway, too--would love to win West of the Moon!
I've always been fascinated by Huginn and Muninn, the twin raven spies of Odin. Whenever I see two ravens together, I always wonder...
Bragi!! (A poet turned god.) And the other would be his wife, Idun, as I'm starting to need her.
Nicky--I think we are talking about Norse characters generally. It seems to have morphed from the original brief, but it's all so informed and lovely about all things Valhalla and environs that it doesn't matter. As I said, Fenrir for me (that wolfy thing!), though now I come to think of it, Huginn and Muginn inspired my Branwen the Raven, Thomas. So I like them too. It's SO hard to choose, isn't it!?
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