As promised, to ease your holiday travail and add to its delights, we are giving away 3 copies of the Wolfmont Publishing anthology to benefit Toys for Tots. THE GIFT OF MURDER is packed with wintry holiday crime, and is available in hardcopy or e-book formats at The Digital Bookshop. (see the cover art in our sidebar) Check out the talent between the covers, many of them not only great writers, but WoM pals, I'm delighted to say:
The Seven Dollar Clue by J.F. Benedetto
Red Christmas by Stefanie Lazer
The Christmas Caper by Stephen D. Rogers
'Twas the Night by Anita Page
Jingle Bell, S.I. by Randy Rawls
Caught on Christmas Eve by Earl Staggs
The Gift of the Margi by Peg Herring
An Unexpected Gift by Deborah Elliott-Upton
The Werewolf's Christmas by Bill Crider
Yule Be Sorry by Carolyn J. Rose
Death Will Trim Your Tree by Elizabeth Zelvin
The Worst Noel by Barb Goffman
No Place to Spend Christmas by Austin S. Camacho
Grace on the Case by Sandra Seamans
One Good Turn by Steve Shrott
The Kindle Did It by Gail Farrellly
An Inconvenient Killing by Herschel Cozine
The Gift of Christmas Past by Kris Neri
The Spirit of Spadena Street by Marian Allen
To add to the immense value of this fantastic giveaway, I will also delve into my personal wrapping stores (Ribbons, subsection: Spooled displayed above) and embellish the title in seasonally appropriate camouflage, should you wish it done. Even further, if it pleases you and knocks a name off your shopping list, I'll send it directly to whichever lucky soul you choose, enclosed with a kind note of your own creation.
To enter the drawing, simply add a comment telling us one of the xxxxx-iest holiday gifts you ever got (scariest, cheapest, smelliest, whatever.) For example, this moon-eyed teenager was herself surprised one Christmas to receive a book from my grandmother on napkin folding. Yeesh- that gift was the etiquettiest.
As always, be sure we can link to your e-mail, or include it directly in the comment's text. If we can't contact you, the jellycake rolls onto another entrant. We'll collect entries through midnight, this Friday, and announce the winners on Saturday, December 5th. Plenty of time for the postal sleigh to make its rounds, so get Gifting already!
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45 comments:
What a giveaway! I would love to enter, but I'd better not seeing as it might look funny considering KATHLEEN is a winner in my Massive Followers Contest!
Stop by when you can to see what you won, and congrats!
Lovely blog BTW!
The book is grand, as is the Toys for Tots cause. My story: During that last gasp of youth, I was into the kind of nightwear one finds at Victoria's Secret. Yet at Christmas I received a pair of sensible flannel pajamas, the kind my mother wore. Insulting. Mortifying. A cruel reminder of an unfortunate birthday a couple of months away. I hastily returned them to the store.
A gift that I got that had a profound impact on me in some strange way was a gift of two satin cowboy shirts with pearl buttons when I was about 10. One was red and one blue. That night I had a nightmare in which headless dwarves attacked me and they were all wearing either the red or the blue shirts with the pearl buttons. I don't think I ever put one of those shirts on in real life. Ever.
my email is kainja@hotmail.com
Marjorie, you're in, and Angela, I may toss you in because i love your avatar and we deny all accusations of nepotism...wink, wink.
Lois, I remember a hot tamale I knew who got a foot bath and was as sad as could be. I know another woman who was so shocked by the fleecy onesie she got (baby blue covered with ducks) that she modeled them for everyone who visited for months. That was a painful lesson.
Charles- I love the idea of those shirts, because I think I'd look great in something like that for our holiday party at Cowgirl, but those are some crazy dreams! Eeeerie.
I would like to win this volume. Here is the most unforgettable present I got from my folks. In 1979 my mother had gone to purchase some books for my Christmas on December 24. She made her purchases at WaldenBooks, did some additonal shopping in the mall and sat down to have a cup of coffee. When she left, she forgot her package. At the car she realized what she had done and went back but no package. She went to the store but they had already closed and were having their own little celebration. She convinced them to open up so she could redo the purchases so that I would have some books under the tree. And then 4 days later, I got married in her living room. She is gone now but I will never forget the books she wanted me to have.
scottcupp@earthlink.net
Clare,
I will tweet this giveaway to let folks know about this spectacular giveaway, with gift-wrapping included!
Angela - I'm thrilled to among your winners! I look forward to my first chapter inline critique. Thank you so much, and congrats again on achieving 100,000 hits. It's nice to see you on Twitter!
I'm enjoying everyone's stories so much (and how touching your story is, Scott; and Charles -- what a nightmare it must have been to have made such an impression -- it sounds like the basis for a story -- a la the African Zuni fetish doll in Trilogy of Terror) and I'm excited about winning Angela's contest, so I can't think right now about any unusual gifts that have stood out over the years....I was thrilled last Christmas to receive a MAC; I'm loving it each & every day.
Good luck to all who enter THE GIFT OF MURDER giveaway! I'm lucky -- I already own my own copy.
The book sounds great! One of my oddest gifts was a portable pepper mill about 3" long. Guess it would have been good for a picnic, but I've never used it.
I come from a family of eccentric gift-givers who take great pride in bargain hunting. However, the most improbable gift I received was from a British girl who had a crush on me. She was a stunner– blue eyes, long blonde hair, angelic face, but…
For our first Christmas, she gave me a book… a tome on the world's greatest disasters, complete with photographs of maiming and blood-letting. Crashing trains, burning blimps, collapsing buildings– it was all in there, not to mention volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods.
I'm still not sure what the message to me was.
P.S.(1) I like Scott's story.
P.S.(2) The nightwear mentioned reminds me of the silliest present I gave. A girlfriend wore the most hideous flannel gowns. One day I passed a charity sidewalk sale and spotted one-piece long johns (in Florida, no less). I grabbed them from the rack and took it to a sewing instructor who sewed a colorful flap (probably with ducks) on the bottom and two huge buttons.
I thought I was being a clever smartass giving my girlfriend Dr. Dentons… but the joke was on me. She wore the damn thing!
Scott- what a sweet story! You (and mom) are in.
Cathi- You know, I got a pepper mill, too, just out of nowhere once. But I turned out to use it everyday, so I guess my giver knew better.
Leigh- Never assume you can make it too ugly to sleep in if it's comfy. You could have silk-screened the disaster scenes on it, and if it was plush enough, ZZZZzzzz.
This probably counts as the smelliest...My husband and I had just built a brand new house (with help from a contractor of course - since we can barely get a nail in straight). As a house warming / Christmas present my husband gave me five baby geese that we then raised in our brand new upstairs bathroom bathtub! Changing their straw bedding daily (or was it twice daily!)-- memory is fading thank goodness -- was really fun, ha ha! Anyway, they grew up, had the run of our land, and were the meanest animals I've ever had. How they could forget the morning feedings and pets is beyond me. One died of a pneumonia type infection (at least that's what the vet said), and yes I took a goose to the vet. The others did well for many years.
Happy Holidays everyone!
I don't need to be entered in the drawing, since I wrote "Gift of the Margi", one of the stories.
However, the Christmas gifts I used to get from one family member were always odd, to say the least: 5 billiard balls wrapped in men's old neckties one year, a recreation of a medieval broadax another, once a foul-smelling, well-worn T-shirt he apparently didn't want any more, but most interesting of all, one year I got one of those blow-up "ladyfriend" dolls. The last two went immediately into the fireplace when I got home.
I think the most embarassing gift I ever received was the Christmas after I turned 12. My wonderful, thoughtful mother stuffed my stocking with socks and bras. I had to take them out of the stocking in front of 20 or so distant relatives. I was traumatized. Every Christmas my mom and I have to have the discussion that there will be NO underwear in my stocking.
crystal.phares@gmail.com
Love the picture of the wrapping supplies.
I wrote the story "The Kindle Did It" in The Gift of Murder. Hint: it's about a murderous female Kindle. Thanks so much for giving us publicity. We really appreciate it.
As I write this, the Kindle on my desk is giving me the evil eye and getting very agitated. Uh-oh.
hmn...so i guess the scariest gift i ever got was a cam corder because I asked for it and didnt really want it.....and felt doomed to break it or lose it (i did)
wheresmyrain(at)yahoo(dot)com
I follow with google reader
the worst thing i ever got was a live salamander on cream cheese with bread my brother told me it was lox until it moved thanks minsthins at optonline dot net
A few years back I worked at a restaurant lunches only. For our holiday party we had drawn names and the young man who drew mine worked nights. I guess he didn't ask anyone what I looked like or what size I might wear. I opened a beautiful sweater only to find it a XXL and I am very petite. It really is a beautiful sweater though and I actually still have it. I can wear it as a dress almost as it comes to my kness, with a pair of leggings underneath it makes a nice outfit.
eswright18 at gmail dot com
Oh dear, M.M. and a partridge in a pear tree! I've heard that geese are mean- all the ones I met were, but I thought it might be me.
Peg and Gail, double gold-stars for stopping in and contributing! But Peg, I'm shaking my head in sympathy for you.
Crystal- No undies in front of less-immediate family, seems so logical. I remember being shopping for a training bra in the mall when my mom saw friends and actually TOLD them why we were there. Horrifying.
You're all entered- minus the fab authors, of course.
Be careful what you wish for, WMRain!
Mindy- lizard not lox sux.
Ellie- You sound like you took it very well. It's so hard with clothes isn't it?
You're all in and best of luck!
I'm not a girly girl, I'm a tomboy and one year I got a lacy pink shirt from my mom and a pink robe and slippers from my aunt.
I don't wear pink-EVER
The best surprise Christmas present I ever got was a brand new sparkly dress when I was a junior in H.S. My mother spent her nights making this dress and kept it a secret. She was a working mother when they were not the norm. Making this dress in secret was hard to do because she & I shared a bedroom. I never suspected a thing. I was delighted and VERY surprised.
For every story like cstironkat's of a giver that just doesn't get us at all, there's a sweet story like Jody's!
You're both entered, but Jody, please make sure we have an e-mail contact for you somewhere, otherwise we'll draw again!
Sorry about not leaving my email address. It's jecbib@cox.net
The "bestest" gifts from any Christmas were always new books. As an only child, games weren't much fun if there was no one to play with, but a book was always great. As an adult, my mom always gave me gift cards for the local book store so I could pick out any number of new paperbacks. Of course I always let her read them later so we both enjoyed the gifts.
lmbailey@wamego.net
Clare,
Thanks so much for your promotion of The Gift of Murder.
In my former life as a teacher, the sheer volume of Christmas gifts was much appreciated but overwhelming. We still have cartons of gift candles in the pantry--enough to supply our whole street in the event of a blackout.
One of the nicest gifts I have received was a hand drawn Christmas themed stationary set. It was from the mother of a acquaintance ... it was a complete surprise and delight.
Thanks in advance for the giveaway, even if I am not the winner.
Jody- thanks for the 411!
Mary- what a sweet, sharable gift.
Anita- you'll have to schedule a candlelit bubble bath a week to get through the surplus!
Shelby- As many times as our mothers and grade-school teachers told us, we still can underestimate that personal touch until someone reminds us.
You're all in!
The scariest gift that I ever received was a handmade Native American warrior doll from my grandmother, complete with loincloth and tomahawk. I carried it everywhere and even sat it beside me at the table because I didn't want to make it angry. I finally confessed to my father that I cried myself to sleep every night because I was afraid it was going to murder me. I never saw it again.
-Mercedes
Thanks for the chance to win your book!
I can't remember any horrid Xmas gifts. I always got the same things: a pair of pajamas, a doll and a book.
The latter two shaped my whole life. I've a photo of me about 12 years old with a Patti Playpal ripoff and a Dana Girls Mystery.
This book was a great idea & will be an interesting read. The Toys for Tots is a very worthy cause.
Helen Kiker
hdkiker@comcast.net
What a great way to get into the "holiday mood". I'd sure like to win a copy.
pennyt@hotmail.com
Mercedes- That's just AWFUL, and awfully funny : )
Carol-Lynn- I guess I shouldn't be surprised so many readers have great memories of book gifts.
Helen- You're in, and going for the trifecta!
Penny T- Jingle, Jingle and Good Luck!
Carol-Lynn-
Forgot to mention, please leave us an e-mail, so we can let you know if you win, and best of luck!
One of my favorite gifts was a Chinese wok. I celebrated by making an entire Chinese dinner from scratch, from eggdrop soup to homemade fortune cookies. Chinese is still my favorite meal.
boots9k at wowway dot com
The most unforgettable gift I ever received was bags of groceries. One Christmas I was very very low on money and was literally praying for food. My prayers were answered that year.
djeanq(at)gmail(dot)com
The sweetest gift I received was from my daughter a few years ago. She bought a 3-drawer plastic storage box and put all kinds of stickers around it. Heart stickers, my name, flowers, you name it - probably spent a fortune on stickers alone to decorate it; inside the drawers were bags of Hershey Kisses and some other sweets - so the sweetest gift I received - lol, literally - (it's not a big box, probably designed to hold a stack of papers equivalent to a ream in each drawer - but it is still sweet).
Elysabeth Eldering
Author of the JGDS 50-state mystery trivia series
eeldering @ gmail.com
(I find this from the Sisters in Crime forum digest - which is where I follow) - E :)
I don't really have a story to share, but I'd love to be entered in the contest. Thanks for posting this. Toys for Tots is a great cause.
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com
Shirley- YUM! I haven't eaten lunch yet.
Deedles- I've had some eleventh hour saves like that, too, and it's a divine gift.
Elysabeth- That is the super-duper sweetest.
Mason- You're in, because you're avatar's the torty-est, if I got the cat-egory right. You have some fantastic giveaways on your blog, too! Go visit, everyone!
IN, IN, IN and IN.
The most unforgettable gift I ever received was when I was 10 and my dad bought me a 101 baking set. My mom swore it was from my Uncle Marvin cause there was a running gag to get the nieces and nephews gifts that were loud and noisy or had a lot of pieces. I believe it took him 30 minutes or so to convince her that he got it for me. lol
Thanks!
Kris
ladymluv (at) yahoo (dot) com
My grandmother gave me the homeyest (is that a word?) gift ever. She crochet ponchos for my sister and I when we were in grade school. I still have that poncho and the one she gave me when I was in high school.
I am waiting for them to come back in style so I can start wearing the one from my high school days!
Thanks for the giveaway!
How about Stupidest...I wear Xl very onservative cpoths. received a mohair and sequinned top in royal blue size ready....3XL - from my sister-in-law.
Joanne
HB5573 at aol dot com
Great stories, everyone! And good luck to you all!
I'm afraid that the gift that sprang to my mind here was one I received when I was in high school. I was a normal Long Island teenager with normal musical tastes for my age--that is, all forms of rock. I also played the piano and guitar. So what did my aunt and uncle give me for Christmas? An accordion! So I could play polkas for all my friends. Worse, my aunt holds it against me to this day that I didn't jump for joy over that gift. There are a lot of -est adjectives I use when I think of that accordion. :)
LoverOfBooks- I once got a baking set powered by a light bulb with a stack of mixes taller than I was. Heaven!
guru- awesomeness is always in style. Bust out that poncho!
Oh Joanne- extra, extra, extra mohair and sequins. Consequence of Regifting?
You're all in! But I won't enter Elaine until she plays us a little ditty on her accordion. Oh, that's right...
: P Hope they've forgiven you for not becoming a polka queen or sad stroller of French bistros.
And we're closed for entries!
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