californiabones      pacificfire

UPDATE: Random Number Generator has been employed and the books have been claimed. Thanks for playing!

Ok, folks. I’m going to try this again. I did a giveaway post a month or so ago and got NO ENTRIES. Seriously, what kind of weirdo doesn’t want a free book? Not the weirdos I know, or so I thought. But I figured why not try again? Don’t disappoint me, weirdos. This week, I’m giving away not one, but TWO books.

California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout was one of my favorite books from 2014. It starts with a child witnessing the death of his father, moves on to petty thievery, and climaxes in an elaborate heist caper to steal from the most powerful magician in the Southern Kingdom of California. The magic system is something I’ve certainly never read before: osteomancers eat bones – specifically bones of magical creatures like griffins and sphinxes (is that the plural of sphinx?) – to gain magical strength, but eating the bones of your rival osteomancers can be a power rush as well. I reviewed it on the blog here, but I’ll give you a short quote from my starred review in Library Journal:

“Van Eekhout’s first hardcover for adult readers is a combination of caper novel and urban fantasy that packs a wallop. Daniel and his team banter even while up to their necks in danger, and the magic system in which eating the bones and flesh of creatures can grant you their power is unique and fascinating (if a little icky). Highly Recommended.

Readers of this blog know how I love capers. I thought it was an astoundingly inventive book, and Van Eekhout’s alternative history version of Los Angeles is worthy of multiple visits. Luckily, that’s what we get with PACIFIC FIRE.  This second book of the series, coming out in January 27, 2015, is another trip through the California of bone eaters, water mages and power hungry magicians.

I am lucky enough to have an extra copy of both, courtesy of the marvelous people at Tor Books.

If you would like a chance to win a finished hardcover copy of California Bones and a bound galley of Pacific Fire, simply comment on this post by midnight, Saturday, November 18th, 2014. This giveaway is open to anyone in the US. For fun, tell me the mythical creature whose bones you most want to eat. I’ll use a random number generator to choose. Good Luck!

26 Comments on GIVEAWAY: California Bones & Pacific Fire by Greg Van Eekhout

  6. I was fascinated by California Bones and the allegorical connections to our profligate use of fossil fuels (fossil magic!!). I’d love to get an advance copy of the next book.

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  11. FREE BOOKS? Count me in! This book has gotten some buzz in my Twittersphere and I’m interested to read it. If I had to eat the bones of any magical creature, hm… I think right now, I’d go grindylow. Get underwater breathing! Or something. Is that how it works?

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  14. I’m a vegetarian! I try to AVOID eating the bones of pretty much everything. But it’s kind of hard to avoid gelatin, and every year I allow myself up to one normal marshmallow if I am camping and they’re around. Can you imagine a marshmallow made with gelatin extracted from unicorn bones? It would probably be the sparkliest marshmallow ever, and when you toasted it over the fire, the Northern Lights would flare across your campsite. Then your immortal soul would evaporate, but hey, best s’more ever, right?

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  22. I’d have entered the first give away if I’d known about it. Stupid Facebook. 😛

    tell me the mythical creature whose bones you most want to eat: a dragon 😉

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  23. I love to read. I am a vegetarian, so there is a no-go on the bone eating! 🙂 But I would keep fossilized bones of a unicorn that died naturally. Okay, maybe just a horn.

    Reply

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