So I've been quiet, because my mind is occupied with something that I can't share with you. And I've been busy with my summer.
But school is starting in a couple weeks and I will crawl out of my writerly hidey hole and brush myself off and hang out on Twitter and this blog and facebook and all the places again. I promise.
In the meantime, I am trying to clean up my house to prepare for school. This week, as I was cleaning, one thing became abundantly clear:
I have too many books.
That's kind of a given, I know.
But I noticed this time I was organizing said books that I have WAY TOO MANY foreign editions of my books. I mean, I love that I get free copies of my foreign editions. I love their awesome covers. I love to flip through to see how a foreign language translates some of my favorite lines:
"Schwing dich schon rein, Karotte." German translation of Tucker's: "Get your butt in here, Carrots." Hee.
I also love to read the acknowledgements section of the book to my friends and family who are in the acknowledgements. This is good fun.
But I do not really need, say, 12 copies of the Polish version of Unearthly. I look at those copies, and I even feel a little guilty. People could be reading these books. People who are not me, because I cannot read Polish. The only foreign language I can fluently read is French, which is ironic, because France is one of the only European countries not to buy the foreign rights for Unearthly. :) It's a shame for all these books to be sitting here gathering dust.
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| This is just one of the many places where I have stashed my foreign editions. |
Therefore I am going to have a big giveaway.
Now before you get too excited, let me just say out front that I am only going to send these books to U.S. addresses, which, I know, sucks. But I looked up how much it would cost to send 12 copies of Unearthly to separate people in Poland and it was more than $200. Which I honestly can't afford.
So. Here's the terms of my giveaway. I am giving away free signed copies of my foreign editions from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. Yes, free. I will give them away on a first come, first serve basis.
BUT I will only send to people in the U.S. Which can work out one of 3 ways:
1. You can speak/read the language the book is translated into (which will be easy for the UK and Australian versions, although if I get a flood of requests for these books I will give preference to those who are natives of Australia or Great Britain. Because these books are really for you.) and you are currently residing in the United States. Awesome. Free book for you. Scroll down my list and see which copies I have. Then just shoot me an email at writercynthiahand@gmail.com and follow these instructions exactly:
- Use the term "foreign edition giveaway" in the email's heading, so it will not get lost in the scary black hole that is my business email.
- Give me your name, your full US address (you'd be surprised at how many requests I get for things where the requester doesn't include the zip code, to which I say ARGH), and what copies of which books you would like me to send you. To be fair, please do not ask for copies of multiple languages, like a UK and a Croatian version, for instance. And do not ask for multiple copies of 1 book, like 2 copies of the German edition of Boundless, for instance, unless you can give me a very, very good reason. (I will listen to very good reasons.) I am also happy to send you the foreign editions of all 3 books (Unearthly, Hallowed, and Boundless) if I have them.
- Be patient, because I will wait to gather a bunch to go to the post office, and I will send these at Book Rate, which is slower than a cold snail.
- Enjoy your book. Shoot me an email if you find part of the translation that is particularly funny or beautiful. As a wordsmith, I love to hear about how the meaning can be changed in translation.
- When you get your book, it would be nice, and make my foreign publishers very happy indeed, if you would say something about the book to someone: tweet or blog or write a review or something like that. This is not a requirement, of course, but it would be nice. It would also be AWESOME if you would email me a picture of you holding your book, so I can put together an "Unearthly Around the World" video.
2. You can speak the language the book is translated into, but you do not live in the U.S. But you do have a wonderful friend who DOES live in the U.S. who will agree to mail the book to you once they receive it. Then just follow all of the above steps except give me your friend's name and US address, and be even more patient, because it's going to take even longer.
3. You can speak the language the book is translated into, but you don't live in the U.S. and you don't have a friend willing to mail you the book. In this case, sit tight. I will be having a giveaway raffle for the rest of my foreign editions in a few months.
So here we go. The list:
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| Australia / New Zealand copies of all 3 books |
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| Brazilian? (I think?) version of Book 2. 7 paperback copies |
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| Croatian copies of Hallowed and Unearthly |
I have the following editions:
4 hardcover and 5 paperbacks of Krila Andela (Unearthly, Book 1)
2 hardcover and 4 paperbacks of Sjena Andela (Hallowed, Book 2)
I love how they've added wings to the original US cover and made Clara blonder--very cool.
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| Czech / Slovak edition, 9 hardcover copies of Unearthly (Nadpozeska) , Book 1 |
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| Danish edition: 2 paperback copies of Unearthly |
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| German copies of all 3 books |
Sadly, I don't have that many of these. I have 5 of Unearthly (Dunkle Flammen), 2 of Hallowed (Heiliges Feuer) and 1 of Boundless (Himmelsbrand), all in paperback.
Sidenote: can somebody tell me the translation of these titles?
Another sidenote: Fun fact: In the first draft of Boundless, the first scene took place in Germany, while Clara and Angela were visiting there. My editor made me change it to all happen in Italy (which made sense), and then later those scenes ended up being a totally different book: Radiant.
Another fun fact: Radiant is available as an ebook only, EXCEPT for in Turkey, where you can also buy the hard copy, or you will be able to very soon.
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| Hungary: 5 hardcover copies of Hallowed, Book 2. Not sure why, but I don't have any copies of Book 1 |
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| Poland: 2 copies each of Unearthly and Hallowed, paperback |
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| Turkish editions |
5 copies of Koruyucu (Unearthly, Book 1)
6 copies of Kutsanmis (Hallowed, Book 2)
Both are paperback.
Side note: When I was in college I spent a semester in Greece, Italy, and Turkey studying archeology, and I found Turkey to be the most surprising and wonderful place to visit. So much of their archeological sites are unspoiled.
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| Taiwan: 3 copies of Book 1, 2 copies of Book 2 |
6 paperback copies of Unearthly. Like I said, I will give these to anyone who speaks English, but will give preference to people originally from the UK.
Fun fact: When I was 7 I won a writing contest where the prize was a 10 day all-expense paid trip to England, Belgium, and France. I loved England so much, and tragically lost my rolls of film with all of my pictures. But I still remember the lavender gardens near my dorm at Cambridge. Sigh. On the ferry to Belgium I vowed to myself that I would come back someday. I haven't been back yet, but it's at the top of my to-do list. I want to take a writing retreat there with my friend Brodi Ashton so that we will have the right atmosphere to do a funny historical project together.
Also UK related: I have copies of the UK audio version of all 3 books: 2 copies of Unearthly, 3 copies of Hallowed, 4 copies of Boundless. These are CD recordings, unabridged, by Eloise Oxer.
And finally, if you had the patience to wait until the end, I am going to give away 5 paperbacks of Hallowed and 5 ARCs/hardcovers of Boundless to anybody who can show me that they tweeted / blogged / posted / pinned about this giveaway somewhere. I'll only send to the U.S., but I will give these away to anyone.
Happy reading, everyone!
I'll be back with regular posts soon. Soonish. When I am done with this new book.
xoxo
C
