Claudia Gray

I’ve been wiped out all week — my Boston trip last weekend was tremendous fun, but I haven’t really had a chance to catch up since. Mostly I’ve been busy with fun things (like seeing “Macbeth” on Broadway — WOW), at least. Also, I’ve had time to upload some photos:

First, the results of Contest #5:

The fictional school most people wanted to attend: Hogwarts.

The fictional school most people hoped fervently never to attend: Sunnydale High.

There were also fabulous entries that called out schools as fabulous as Spence and the Gallagher Academy for Girls; as frightening and unfair as Miss Minchin’s (oooh, the sheer injustice in The Little Princess drove me MAD when I was 10); as fun as Rydell High; and as educationally challenging as the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good and Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too. But I had to pick one winner: tehanu_chan, who gave a great point-by-point summary of reasons why you’d have the time of your life at Xavier’s Institute for Higher Learning — where graduation means becoming one of the X-Men. tehanu_chan, I will be e-mailing you re: the $100 gift certificate!

I will also be e-mailing the four winners of the $25 gift certificates: violaswamp, lexilibrarian, xrockstarbeauty and Breanna. Congrats to everyone!

We are now ONE WEEK away from Evernight‘s release — I can hardly believe it! The book should be arriving in stores soon (and, for all I know, may already be shelved in some places). So this brings us to Evernight Contest #6:

3) I will choose one winner at random, who will get both a $100 gift certificate to Amazon and the chance to name a character in the fourth Evernight series novel.

Caveats: Your character might be good or evil, human or vampire — I won’t know until I write the book! You can name the character after yourself or simply come up with something else, although I reserve veto rights over anything that wouldn’t fit in the world of the novel. If you order from Amazon or some other online vendor, you can use the statement that comes in the box rather than a store receipt.

Because this one is by far the most demanding, this contest runs until June 30. Don’t worry — I’ll post reminders!

BTW, HarperTeen has now adjusted the release dates for the Evernight series, so that they’ll be coming out every nine months instead of every six; that way, the paperbacks for each novel will arrive before the next hardback. Makes more sense that way, don’t you think? That means Stargazer will be along in March 2009 —

Well, not rain, but it’s one of Those Days here at work — I’ll have to wait and announce the results of Contest #5 tomorrow. (And link to a great review, too!) So check back then!

You are probably wondering, “Who are these attractive, savvy, fabulous people?” They would be some of the students (along with librarian/super-organizer Mrs. Rosenbloom, who is holding Evernight, and Mrs. Gray, my long-lost cousin) that I spoke to at my very first school trip to Floral Park Memorial. A great time was had by all. I mean, they gave me snickerdoodles. That is how fabulous they are.

If you’re interested, you can read what I think is my very first blog interview up now at The First Book. Check it out!

Also, don’t forget Evernight Contest #5, in which one lucky winner gets a $100 gift certificate and four more will get $25 gift certificates. All you have to do is tell me your favorite fictional school.

Word is that CBS has canceled “Moonlight.” That network is on my list. Grr.

Okay, on the fourth contest, you guys OUTDID YOURSELVES. This was very tough to call! There were great arguments for everybody from Roger and Mimi from “Rent” to Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala from “Star Wars” to Monica and Chandler from “Friends.” You guys love Edward and Bella, Remy & Dexter, Jace and Clary, Anne and Gilbert, Ennis and Jack, Hermione and Snape (in fanfic, all things are possible), Janie and Cabel, Constantine and Rae, not one but two couples named Tony and Maria (whether from “Chasing Windmills” or “West Side Story”) and even the originals, Romeo and Juliet.

But ultimately I had to pick a winner, so I went with Patricia, who nominated Alice and Paul from The Last Summer of You and Me by Ann Brashares. I haven’t read this book yet, but after I saw Patricia’s entry, I knew I would have to! And if that’s not a great entry, I don’t know what is. Patricia, I’ll e-mail you about sending off your prizes (the AMAZING Stealing Heaven, plus Evernight and the gift certificate. Everyone else, thanks for creating some amazing entries.

In fact, the entries were so great that I decided this week I’d have to give away multiple prizes ….

As you guys probably know by now, Evernight takes place at a boarding school, Evernight Academy, which is a very unusual place (to say the least). So this week’s contest is in the school’s honor.

The rules: I want you to Tell me your favorite school in fiction. You can pull from movies, books, TV or anything else. Is it Hogwarts? Neptune High? The Constance Billard School for Girls? Tell me why! This can be either the school you’d love to go to or the one you’re most glad you don’t attend. And yes, it’s fine to say “the school where they all get locked up in The Breakfast Club” or something like that if you don’t know the exact name. You can even nominate a real school as long as you tell me why it’s the perfect setting for that book, TV show, etc. that you love so much.

The prizes: The best entry wins a $100 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. Everybody else who enters will be put into a drawing, and four winners from that group will each receive a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. So you have two ways to win.

Ready, set, go!

(Finally, has anybody out there heard from hersheekiss358? She was one of two winners last week, but hasn’t checked in with an address for me to mail her prize. If you’re out there, drop me a line!)

The entries for the third Evernight contest were so amazing: You guys really know how to argue for your favorite vampire! There were very good arguments for Louis from Interview With a Vampire, for Edward, Jasper and Alice from the Twilight books, for characters from BTVS, ATS, “Blood Ties” and “Being Human,” and even an honorable mention who declared herself a vampire. How was I supposed to choose?

Well, around about that time, I came into a second ARC. So I am naming TWO winners:

First, I chose Count Dracula, who was nominated by this week’s first winner,hersheekiss358. She made a strong case that it’s too easy to take the original Big Bad for granted, that he’s still pretty terrifying today, that we owe almost all of our current yummy vamps to him, and that really, we should be a little scared not to name him the greatest ever.

Second, I chose Carlisle Cullen, who was nominated by our second winner, towerofwisdom. She pointed out that misguided moral righteousness can be scarier than bloodsucking, and that Carlisle’s attempts to reconcile his vampirism with religious faith make for some very complex storytelling.

So, congrats to hersheekiss358 and towerofwisdom! As soon as I get their mailing addresses, their ARCs will be on the way.

Thank you to EVERYONE who entered. If you didn’t win, there is still hope for an ARC — read on.

Now, for Evernight Contest #4:

As readers of this LJ must know, I am a big fan of the work of Elizabeth Scott, who writes wonderful YA novels such as Bloom and Perfect You. Well, she has another book, Stealing Heaven coming out soon — on May 27, the same day as Evernight So we decided to hold a cross-promotion; she’s giving away one of my Evernight ARCs, and I’m giving away one of hers. As my rules are a little harder, I’m also sweetening the deal: Not only will you win Stealing Heaven, but you will also get an advance copy (not an ARC — an actual hardcover) of Evernight and a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.

The rules: Stealing Heaven is about a girl who’s been raised by a career-thief mom, and her efforts to make her own choices in life. Pretty far cry from my vampire novel, right? Not if you look at it this way: Both novels are about romances that involve deep, dark secrets. So, I want you to Tell me your favorite “secret love” in fiction. Books, plays, movies, TV, you name it — tell me those two people who loved each other despite all the obstacles in the way, far away from the world’s prying eyes, and I’ll pick one winner to get the whole prize package.

Ready, set, go!

By the way, I got to visit with a lot of great people at Floral Park Memorial last week — I’ll post more about it as soon as I have time to get the pics off my camera. What’s kept me so busy? Finally finishing revisions to the third book in the series, Hourglass, which is with the publisher as of this morning. Whew!

Check out my new icon! This is just one of the many icons now available on my site’s extras page. There’s mobile phone wallpaper available too. Doesn’t taraljc do gorgeous work?

My last act before coming down with a cold Saturday night was taking another hike, this one along a fairly easy stretch of the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut. I thought I’d put up a few pictures for those who need proof that spring is finally with us:

The big winner of Evernight Contest #2 is — Nabi! She’ll be receiving a gift certificate to either iTunes or Amazon (her preference) to pick up some new music. Thanks to absolutely everyone who sent in suggestions; I’ve already made some great new finds.

I’m getting a later start today, because I’m home sick. I had thought this was just a nasty cold, but then earlier this morning I spoke to someone I’d hung out with last week, and it turns out she’s home with strep throat. I do not feel good about this. Or, for that matter, feel very good at all. Ugh. However, nothing can stop me from giving away this next prize: the Evernight ARC!

And now, for Evernight Contest #3:

TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE VAMPIRE.

The contest rules: Enter here or via the Contact Claudia form on my website. Basically, write as much or as little as you want to convince me that Edward Cullen/Mick St. John/Drusilla/etc. is the absolute greatest vampire ever — or, at least, why you love that vampire the most. I’ll pick my favorite answer of the batch, and that person wins an advance readers’ copy of Evernight. (And hey, we changed the hero’s name after the ARCs were printed, so this is a chance to get something fairly unique — who knows? Might be a collector’s item someday.)

Also, spread the word to fellow fans of your favorite vampire! I’ll count who gets the most votes as “favorite vampire,” and we’ll have a poll next week so you guys can vote.

To whet your appetite for the ARC, check out this fabulous review of Evernight up at Vita Dei!

Reading Is Fundamental provides books and literary education to the children in the United States who need it the most. If you read this LJ, chances are you love books as much as I do and want every kid to have the opportunity to enjoy reading — and are probably as appalled as I was to learn that the proposed federal budget has eliminated RIF’s funding.

(This amount: $26 million a year. I’d wager the federal government spends more than $26 million a year on janitorial services for the Capitol.)

Want to take action? Write your senators and representatives! The form will automatically determine who represents you in Congress from your ZIP code; all you have to do is fill out the form and add a few personal words about why you want to share the love of reading with kids across the country.

Supposedly, my vampire name is:

The Great Archives determine you to have gone by the identity:
Marion de Pompadour

Known in some parts of the world as:
Iseult of The Crows

The Great Archives Record:
Intelligent, knowing, wise and shrewd. This winged one was cast from the firmament.

Huh. These vampires sound fancier than the Evernight vampires, but hey, as long as I can call myself anything “of The Crows,” I’m on board. If you want to discover your vampire name, check out the generator here.

The Story Siren has posted a fabulous review of Evernight. I can’t get over the fact that people are actually reading the book now.

Don’t forget to enter this week’s contest, and to spread the word — the more music we all get to discover, the better!