hungryTo the first two people who report a proven sighting it in the wild (i.e., a real copy in a real bookstore on a shelf or table or hook or crucified on a pole so you can buy it) I will send an autographed ARC of A Companion to Wolves. The ARC in question is an uncorrected bound galley, with full-color cover art. The printing is a bit wodgy on the ones I have; it's readable, but light, as if the photocopier was running out of toner.
A Companion to Wolves is the first book I've published with my friend Sarah, a/k/a
truepenny, a/k/a Cambell-Award-Nominated Author of Melusine and The Virtu, Sarah Monette. It is a rather violent, extremely high-mud, deconstructive fuzzy-animal-companion adolescent-wish-fulfillment fantasy with beard lice. And "subtext." (In the anagram sense.)Really, it's exactly the sort of book you might expect from Sarah and I if we sat down one afternoon and started parodying Dragonflight, and then things... got out of hand. (It didn't stay a Pern parody. But the bones go back to a critical assessment of the Green Dragonrider Problem. Which probably tells you all you need to know about whether or not it's appropriate for minor children.*)
By "proven sighting," I mean post a link here in comments to: a cell phone camera picture, photocopied/scanned receipt for purchase (cross out your credit card number if it's on there, hullo), scan of the book cover and your smiling face, whatever.
There will probably be other contests later on, as Sarah has a few more of these than she needs as well, and she also has another book coming out this summer, called The Mirador, which has a pretty lady on the front. You might want to watch her blog for details.
*It's not.