Four VERY Good Things - Biggest Giveaway EVER

This has been a week of good things, and we all need to celebrate!  The best way to do that is to hold a giveaway, right? :)  I have my last two ARCs of ARISE, as well as some other awesome goodies to give away to three winners!! 

So what is so exciting, that we need to jump with joy and throw prizes everywhere?  How about a list? :)

4. My good buddy Amy Plum's book, UNTIL I DIE, was released in the U.S. this Tuesday, May 8th!  UNTIL I DIE is the sequel to her sensational debut, DIE FOR ME, and let me tell you: it's even better than the first book!

3. The paperback of HEREAFTER was also released on Tuesday, May 8th.  It's so exciting to see these copies sitting on bookstore shelves, especially since each contains an excerpt of ARISE!

2. Speaking of ARISE, the official playlist for the book is now up on my website - including the song that all of you voted for, "No Light, No Light" by Florence + the Machine!  I'm kind of deeply in love with this playlist and soon, HarperTeen is going to release my playlist notes (giving sneak-peeks of ARISE) on http://www.epicreads.com/ and Amazon.com.  Be looking for them!

1.  YA'LL.  This is the biggest news!  ARISE releases in the U.S. in less than thirty days!  EEP, SO EXCITED!!  June 5th couldn't get here soon enough.


Good news, or what?  Definitely deserving of a final ARC-and-more giveaway!  So here's what's at stake:

Grand Prize: A signed ARC of ARISE, a signed paperback of HEREAFTER, and a order of UNITL I DIE by Amy Plum

Second Prize: A signed ARC of ARISE and a signed paperback of HEREAFTER

Third Prize: A preorder of ARISE in Hardcover

How do you get all this good stuff?  That part is easy.  You get a point for doing each of the following, and the person with the most points gets the grand prize, and so on. 
Follow me on Twitter (@thudsonwrites) +1
Like the Tara Hudson Author page on Facebook +1
Like the Hereafter Fan page on Facebook +1
Follow this blog +1
Add HEREAFTER to your shelf on Goodreads +1
Add ARISE to your shelf on Goodreads +1
Add ELEGY to your shelf on Goodreads +1
Like the ARISE book trailer on YouTube +1
Tweet about this contest on Twitter +1 for each tweet
Tweet a link to any of the above on Twitter +1 for each tweet

It's like Girl Scout badges, except for free books!  The contest is U.S. only (sorry, international folks - I promise that the next contest will go everywhere), and it ends at 10 pm CST, Monday May 14th.  (Winners announced Tuesday)

Can't wait to celebrate with you!

Win, Win, Win

Without further ado, the song with the most votes was:

"No Light, No Light" by Florence + the Machine!!!

So thanks to you guys, this song will be the bonus on my website as well as EpicReads.com and Amazon.  Even better, the lists on EpicReads and Amazon will have my song notes, and this one will be all about you guys, the best readers ever!

Even betterer (totally a word, guys), we have two ARC winners, chosen by Randomizer.  The lovely Lisseth and The Momma/Nanny win signed ARCs of ARISE!  I'll email you guys, so that you can email me your mailing addresses.  And in a surprise move, I'm giving an honorable mention to Devan @ Bookstrings for her two incredible write-ins: she gets an ARC of DREAMLESS by my good buddy Josephine Angelini (out May 29th)!

Congrats to the winners, and congrats to my even more awesome playlist which will be fully revealed in May. :)

Shiny New Website = ARISE Playlist Contest

I've had such a crazy couple weeks, bouncing around between book conventions.  And at the end of this week, I promise a long update on the Romantic Times Convention and Teen Book Con.  (I mean, you all want to know about the ridiculously cool YA authors, booksellers, librarians, and readers I met, right?) 

But I have other news I need to celebrate!  The day I got back from my world travels (okay, I just went to Chicago and Houston, but whatever), I saw my gorgeous, newly designed website: http://www.tarahudson.com/.  Isn't it fantastic?  It has all the creepy beauty of my original design, but now it's much more interactive with my Twitter feed, the latest blog posts, pictures and playlists for my books, etc.

It is missing one thing, however: a playlist for ARISE!  I've already picked out the first fifteen songs, which will be featured (with story notes!) on http://www.epicreads.com/ and Amazon to get you ready for ARISE's release date of June 5th.  But I still need your help before the entire playlist is revealed.

I've listed four candidates for ARISE's "Bonus" song, i.e. the song that captures the overall feel of the HEREAFTER series.  The song with the most votes wins, and everyone who votes (via blog comments, Facebook comments, and Twitter @ mentions) is entered for a chance to win one of two signed ARCs of ARISE!!!  (Contest open internationally, and it ends Friday at 10 pm CST.)

So, here we go.  I love all three of these equally, but YOU get to decide which one wins!

1. Open Your Arms - The Editors
2. No Light, No Light - Florence + the Machine
3. C'est la Mort - The Civil Wars
4. The Write-in Option!  Suggest a different song and if I just can't help but love it, it wins!

I can't wait to read your thoughts on the new website, listen to your fantastic song choices, and give away some more ARCs of ARISE!!!

April Fool's YA SCAVENGER HUNT!!!

It's time for the APRIL FOOL'S YA SCAVENGER HUNT!

Follow from blog to blog, picking up clues, and win a grand prize of ALL the current books for the YA Authors participating in the Hunt...how awesome is that?  Plus, I'm giving away an extra ARC of ARISE for those of you who find my bonus content and comment on this blog about it!!  (Rules below on what you'll need to include in the comment.)

So, on to the Big Party:

I'm Tara Hudson, for those of you who don't already know me, and I'm your hostess at this stop.

YOU ARE CURRENTLY BLOG HOPPING ON TEAM YELLOW!

For you first timers, the YA Scavenger Hunt is an online blog hop sponsored by authors who write books for both Young Adults and the Young at Heart. Each of us hosts a different fabulous author on the tour. If you came here looking for my bonus material - the second chapter of my upcoming novel, ARISE - you'll have to keep going. It's a reward for your scavenging work. :)


Have you already been here? Are you stuck? Confused? Lost? All will be well. You can click HERE to go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage to figure out which authors you missed.

Today, I'm hosting the fabulous Gina Damico, whose dark (and hilarious!) YA debut, CROAK, is out now!

Isn't she kind of a hottie?  :) 
 
Gina grew up under four feet of snow in Syracuse, New York. She received a degree in theater and sociology from Boston College, where she was active with the Committee for Creative Enactments, a murder mystery improv comedy troupe, which may or may not have sparked an interest in wildly improbable bloodshed. She has since worked as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker and breadmonger. CROAK is her first novel. She lives in Boston with her husband, two cats, and a closet full of black hoodies.
 

Want to know more? Here's the description of CROAK:
 
Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex’s parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach Lex the family business. She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can’t stop her desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

Sounds awesome, right?  Well lucky for you, Gina's treating us to a deleted scene from Chapter 3 of CROAK, right now!  In this scene, Lex has just gotten off a Greyhound bus somewhere in the Adirondacks.

She sighed and looked at Her watch. Uncle Mort was supposed to have picked her up five minutes ago. Restless, she began walking down the muddy road, not even sure if she was going in the right direction. A bear would arrive to eat her soon, no doubt. She certainly hoped Mr. Truitt would be happy upon learning that her bloodied corpse had been found in a muck-filled ditch.

It was then that she noticed a small kiosk across the street, primarily because it was yelling at her.


"HEY! C'MERE!"


Lex warily approached the window to find a corpulent, angry-looking woman simmering in a thick cloud of cigarette smoke and wearing, in an ironic twist, a shirt commemorating last summer's Lung Cancer Fun Run.


"Yes?" Lex said.


"Where you headed?" the woman barked, hacking up a wet cough.


"Uh, I'm not sure." Lex vaguely gestured at the road. "I'm waiting for my uncle to pick me up."


"Eh?" The woman leaned closer to the screen.


"My uncle," Lex said, pronouncing each syllable.


The woman snorted. "Who's your uncle?"


Lex rolled her eyes, because even though she was only sixteen, she had already grown quite impatient with the world. "Mort. Why, you know him?"


The woman, who had hitherto been ignoring Lex's little performance, froze. Her nose hair rustled. The cigarette fell out of her mouth but caught at the last second, so that it dangled from the very tip of her lip. "Mort, you say?" she whispered, the cigarette dancing as she spoke.


"That is what I said."


The woman looked around, as if there could possibly be anyone in earshot to hear her, then shrunk away from the window. "Get outta here."


"What?"


"Get out!" She picked up a phone and frantically pounded at the keypad. "Out, now!"


Lex looked at the trees surrounding her, then back at the woman inside the box. "I am out."


"Get out or – hello, police?"


"There is nowhere to go, lady."


"Out!"


And with a final crude gesture, the woman yanked down the blinds and continued yelling into the phone.


For more information on Gina and her books, check out her website HERE.  Interested in buying the book now? Click on the link HERE. 

For another behind-the-scenes look at CROAK (and the secret letter for the hunt), go to www.ginadami.co/hunt and type in the password: jellyfish

Now for the prize portion. As you are hopping from blog to blog there will be a giant sized letter highlighted in YELLOW. After you have collected all 20 yellow letters, one from each blog, unscramble them to form a phrase. Enter the phrase at this LINK,  making sure you put the YELLOW phrase in the YELLOW entry form. When you have finished with the yellow team you may want to consider moving onto the BLUE and RED author teams so you can enter to win even more prizes. How you get there is by clicking HERE and then selecting an author on either the red or the blue team. Collecting your red or yellow clues along the way and enter the secret phrase in the form. Don't forget that most of the authors are doing their own giveaways as well so there are many chances to win something special.

As I mentioned above, while you're here visiting with me you can also enter to win a personal contest I'm hosting!!  I'm giving away one extra ARC of ARISE to the first person who reads the excerpt of Chapter Two (available on the TEAM YELLOW hunt) and correctly identifies where the scene takes place, in the comments section of this blog.

 

Thank you so much for visiting the HEREAFTER Saga Blog!

If you're ready to move on to the next author's blog,

click HERE to head over to Marley Gibson's blog.

Happy birthday to me, Happy ARC day to you!!

Today is my birthday, and I kind of feel like celebrating with gifts.  Plus, SE FOSSE PER SEMPRE (the Italian version of HEREAFTER) just spent its second week on the bestseller list.  So...yeah...celebration is totally in order.

But since I've received a LOT of gifts this last year (um, a debut novel and a baby, anyone?), I think I'll GIVE gifts to celebrate.  That means two ARCs of ARISE, the sequel to the Internationally Bestselling HEREAFTER, are yours for the taking! 

So here's how it will work: one ARC will be given away to someone who just comments, as chosen by Randomizer.org; one ARC will be given to the person with the most "points."  You can get a point each by commenting here, following this blog, liking "Tara Hudson" on Facebook, liking "Hereafter" on Facebook, commenting on Facebook, following me on Twitter, and Tweeting about the contest.  One "point" for each thing you do - including if you already follow those things!

The contest will last until 8 pm, EST, February 3rd.  I'll announce winners the morning of February 4th.  Open internationally.

Just to give you a taste of what awaits the two winners, here's the first chapter from ARISE, below!

CHAPTER ONE

The entire world had gone dark, and I had no idea why.



No matter how widely I opened my eyes, no matter how many times I craned my neck or spun around in search of even one speck of light, I found none. There was nothing but thick, impenetrable darkness.


Before I’d opened my eyes to all this pitch-black, I had the vague impression that I’d just been someplace warm, familiar. Someplace safe.


But wherever I was now, I didn’t feel safe at all. I felt sightless and trapped. Like I was on the verge of being consumed by the darkness . . . like it was trying to eat me whole.


Although I couldn’t see, I could still hear things: the swish of my long dress as I whirled in useless, searching circles; the hiss of my increasingly panicked breath.


I heard something else, too—some sound I couldn’t quite identify. Not at first.


It started softly, almost muffled. A strange noise echoing out from beneath layers and layers of cotton. But as the sound grew in volume, it also deepened. Slowly, it transformed into something stronger. Something that more closely resembled a continuous thudding.


When the thudding gained a certain steadiness—a rhythm—I sucked in one sharp breath.


I recognized the sound now, and it made me want to scream.


If I were anyone else—anything else—I probably wouldn’t have reacted that way. After all, the rhythmic thudding of a heartbeat usually meant something positive. It meant life.


But for me, an audible heartbeat meant only one thing: someone nearby was dying.


It wouldn’t be me, of course. I hadn’t felt a genuine heartbeat in my chest since the day I drowned, on the night of my eighteenth birthday more than ten years ago.


The sound I heard now was definitely made by a living heart. And I couldn’t fight the horrible suspicion that it belonged to someone I loved.


Joshua Mayhew, for instance. Or even his little sister, Jillian. Both very much alive, and both of whose heartbeats I monitored carefully after I’d worked so hard to protect them.


Hearing that terrible thudding now, I forced myself to calm down and focus more intently on the darkness. I strained and squinted, peering into the dark until, blessedly, weak light began to shimmer along the edges of my vision. I watched each new sliver closely, silently praying that it would reveal the owner of that heart. Selfishly praying that it wouldn’t be Joshua. As I waited impatiently, another realization struck me: I could rely on senses other than sight and hearing. This was strange, considering the fact that ghosts can’t smell, taste, or feel anything outside themselves. At least not very often.


Yet I could smell a sweet, musty decay all around me. It overlay the scent of damp air; and, combined, the scents had an almost disorienting effect. The smells, the heartbeat, the shifting darkness—all of it made me dizzy and uncomfortable.


Thankfully, the light grew brighter, and I could finally see that I stood in a dim room. Across from me, heavily slatted shutters ran from a wood-planked floor up to a beamed ceiling. The shutters blocked most of the light from what could only be the sun, shining outside a wall of windows.


Furniture filled the room: randomly placed chairs and end tables, as well as a low coffee table that flanked a couch. Flung across the couch, in some sort of makeshift slipcover, was a white bedsheet. And flung across the sheet was a person.


At first I thought she might be a child. On closer inspection, I realized the tiny figure was actually closer to my own age. She had curled into a protective ball on the couch, spine pressed to the back cushions and sharp hip bone jutting up in the air. Her head lolled sideways onto one of the couch’s arms, and her dark brown hair cascaded in a tangle to the floor.


Even in the darkness of the room I could see the unhealthy sheen of her skin. Sweat glistened upon her sunken cheeks, and her eyes fluttered behind their closed lids.


Something about the girl’s face gave me an actual chill. Something about her features . . .


I leaned closer for a better look,. and, at that moment, the girl opened her eyes to stare blankly into the room. Her eyes were red rimmed and unfocused, addled by either sleep or some kind of chemical. Probably the latter, judging by the overturned prescription bottle that had spilled a rainbow of pills across the table in front of her.


Under normal circumstances—if anything about this scene could be classified as normal—I would have been worried about this girl. However ineffectively, I would have tried to find someone to help her. I would have grasped at her with my dead, incapable hands.


But these were not normal circumstances.


Because just one sight of the girl’s eyes rooted me to the floor. Those eyes, though bloodshot and bleary, were still a luminous green, shining out from a face I knew very well.


My own.

The Real-Deal ARISE cover

The second book in the HEREAFTER series come out on June 5, 2012 and I couldn't be more excited. ARISE not only exemplifies all that I've learned as a writer and plotter, but it also raises the stakes for Amelia & Joshua. Plus, it's set in New Orleans - my favorite city on earth, no exaggeration - which just makes everything all the better!

The early version of the ARISE cover started floating around on the interwebbies a few weeks ago and has already garnered some much-deserved buzz. Cause, um, it's freaking BEA-U-TIFUL, right? But the final version, below, is even better. So...signed ARC of ARISE to the first person who can tell me the difference between the ARISE cover image floating around out there, and the one below. It's like the "find the differences" Highlights Magazine game, but much prettier and sexier. :)

Creepy Cake N Bake: My Heart Bleeds for You (plus winners!)

First of all, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in my Betting on Yourself Contest. Each and every one of you are so brave, and you all have given me such strength and inspiration! This is a pretty courageous lot! That's why I've chosen two winners for the signed hardcover HEREAFTER and signed ARC of ARISE (when it's available this winter).

Poploli and Sara M, you both are incredibly brave - please send me your mailing addresses, via tara@tarahudson.com.

To celebrate you guys and this spooky season, I'm participating in something really awesome: the YA Authors Creepy Cake N' Bake-A-Thon! Be sure to check out the previous authors' posts, as well as the ones following mine, and comment on your favorite entry, below. You can comment on EVERY Cake N' Bake post, one entry per post, for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble or an official Creepy Cake N' Bake doll! Please include your email in order to be entered to win.

Trophies will be awarded on Halloween for the top creeptastic creations. Winners will be chosen by our special celebrity judge, Adam Rex, author of such deliciously creepy creations as FAT VAMPIRE, FRANKENSTEIN TAKES THE CAKE, FRAKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH and PSSST!

For the bake-a-thon, I decided to create a favorite of the guests as my annual Halloween party: the My Heart Bleeds for You Cake. But I also decided to make a few heart-babies to go along with the big momma heart. :)

You can find my inspiration (and the recipe) for the cake here, at Epicurious.com. Word to the wise: definitely use the cake recipe they provide, as cake mix is just too sticky/soft. I use their recipe for the overall pink frosting, but I like to cheat and buy tubes of grocery-store red and blue frosting for the veins. And just FYI, squeezable jelly makes the best blood! Here are my ghastly creations, pre- and post-surgery.

Check the list of the other contestants and their post dates so you don't miss any of the fun:

Mon Oct 3 Saundra Mitchell

Wed Oct 5 Stacey Jay

Fri Oct 7 Erin Dionne

Sat Oct 8 Sydney Salter

Mon Oct 10 Brenda Yovanoff

Wed Oct 12 Tara Hudson (me!)

Fri Oct 14 Karen Healey

Sat Oct 15 Robin Bridges

Mon Oct 17 Michelle Zink

Wed Oct 19 Julia Karr

Fri Oct 21 Victoria Schwab

Sat Oct 22 C. Lee McKenzie

Sun Oct 23 Emily Kristin Morse

Mon Oct 24 Natalie Zaman

Wed Oct 26 Stephanie Burgis

Fri Oct 28 Dawn Metcalf

I Feel a Contest Coming On...

Today I took a major step in my life, a step that explains my long absence from blogging. Mostly because I spent so much time hemming and hawing over whether or not I was making the right decision for myself and my family. Ultimately, I answered: yes, I was.

Today, I finished my last day of full-time employment at a corporation. Today, I became a full-time writer.

Today is a big day.

Of course, I've been a writer for a long time. And I've been a published writer since the day HEREAFTER was released. But before today, I hadn't yet decided to dedicate my career to writing. I hadn't taken the risk.

Writing, as we all know, is scary. It is hard, mentally exhausting, creatively challenging work. The publication process, too, is a roller-coaster of praise and punishment, as is the life of a published author. These are things I know and have experienced on a very personal level.

But to build my entire career on writing - something I love and respect and fear and crave so much? Well, that's a whole other ball of wax. It took a lot to get here.

So I'm challenging you to tell me the riskiest thing you've done for yourself - the moment you bet biggest on yourself. I'll choose the most daring, and that person will win a signed copy of HEREAFTER and a signed ARC of ARISE (when ARC's become available)!

Three Days Away...

I'm freaking out - are you freaking out? More on my pre-publication jitters later. Right now, you want to know who won the giveaway, don't you? :)

I wish I had enough money to send everyone who commented a shiny hardcover of HEREAFTER, delivered on June 7th. Unfortunately I don't, but I hope I CAN make 4 people have a better day, right now!

1. 2-day preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Wulfluva

2. Standard preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Chey

3. HEREAFTER ARC plus goodies: Jade

4. Goodies plus a surprise: Paradise

Congrats to the winners, and thank you everyone for telling me why you want to read HEREAFTER! Even though you didn't win, Amazon has HEREAFTER here, for ridiculously low-priced preorder in case you just can't wait to find it at your local bookstore on June 7th.

The "Two Weeks Till Hereafter" Final Giveaway

I can't believe it's really almost here. I've had to suppress more than one urge to do a happy-dance (and that's just today). I think I need company in my happy-dancing, and what makes people happier than free stuff? As in, a HEREAFTER giveaway?!?

Since this is my final, pre-publication giveaway, I'm going to make it a big one. There will be FOUR (yes, four!) winners, who will receive very cool stuff, as follows:

1st prize: HEREAFTER hardcover pre-order, with 2-day shipping so you have it June 7th!
2nd prize: HEREAFTER hardcover pre-order, with standard shipping
3rd prize: HEREAFTER ARC and fun, book-related swag
4th prize: Fun, book-related swag (which you can show off to your non-winning friends, ha!)

So, all you have to do is tweet, FB comment, or blog comment the reason you deserve to win. Then I decide who gets to read Amelia's story early!

Bridges of DOOM

I have to say, you folks know how to identify your spooky architecture. Makes you much more likely to survive an encounter with a murderous ghost, who may or may not be named Eli.

The winner of the Creepiest Bridge Photo Contest is...

Natasha Parker!

Her crazy-spooky bridge in Scotland actually seems to cause - wait for it - dog suicide. How bizarre and just plain wrong is that?



Natasha's keen eye for the weird has earned her a signed ARC of Hereafter. But I have to give an honorable mention to Danah, @Peppermint1013, for this gut-wrenching view:



So Danah gets a signed ARC, too! Natasha and Danah - please send your addresses to tara@tarahudson.com, so I can get those shipped to you.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated - I wish I had enough ARC's for everyone. I'm just glad you all have such eerie bridges of your own, to tide you over until June 7, 2011!

NEWS!

You have all waited patiently...some more patiently than others.

My favorite part of this whole, I-have-news game has been fielding the predictions that you've offered: from pending pregnancies (shame on ya'll, by the way - you know I have a sleep-vampire five month old), to pending missions to space (that was only one person, though, and I still don't know if they were joking).

But none of you guessed it, which is great considering how AWESOME this news is. So, to torture you no longer, I officially announce that the second book in the HEREAFTER trilogy will be named:

ARISE

How much do you love that title? Isn't it perfect? Isn't it spoilery and tantalizing? Doesn't it make you want to know what's going to happen next?

Even better, I'm revealing it on April 7th, exactly two months before HEREAFTER officially releases in the United States. To celebrate my crazy-perfect second title and the fact that we're only two months away from HEREAFTER-day, I'm having another signed ARC giveaway contest!

HEREAFTER centers around a seriously creepy, mysterious bridge in southeastern Oklahoma. To enter this contest, Tweet or post on HEREAFTER's Facebook page a picture of the creepiest bridge you've ever seen.

For example:



Spooky, right? Can't you just picture a certain ghost girl walking down it, late at night?

Now your mission is to find one even spookier! The winner will be chosen completely at my discretion (since I'm electing myself Grand Priestess of Creepy Bridges), on Friday, April 15th. When you tweet, just be sure to include @thudsonwrites. So start shooting, start tweeting, and get ready to ARISE!

Winning. Winners.

You know, those words have a completely different meaning in a post She-nazy (Sheen Crazy. She-nazy) World.

In all seriousness, I am thrilled and humbled by the response for my first HEREAFTER giveaway. From Romania to Moore, Oklahoma, the entrants were not only globally located but also globally awesome. So, without further adieu, I've drawn the winners for the signed HEREAFTER ARCs! Four of them!

Congrats to:

Jaz Parks
Faye Roberts
Dana Wright
Lucille Ogie

I doubled checked, and I already have your addresses, so I'll get those books in the mail this weekend.

Didn't win this one? Don't fret - you have another chance! In its typically cool fashion, HarperTeen has decided to run a HEREAFTER ARC contest on Goodreads, which should go live on March 10. These won't be signed, but still...how awesome is that?

I'm going to try to post all the appropriate links to the new contest tomorrow, when I figure out this whole, Javascript thing.

Congrats again to the winners, and many thanks to everyone who participated...I have kind, generous, and seriously funny future readers.

Better to Give Than Receive: Hereafter Signed ARC Giveaway #1!!!!

When HarperCollins sent me some extra ARC's of Hereafter, I did two things. First, I dragged them inside, spread some of them out on my coffee table, and commenced to petting them like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. After a few hours of creepily muttering "My preciouses," I did the second thing: came up with the very first Hereafter Signed ARC Giveaway!

So, without further adieu, the rules.

This contest will run through March 7, 2011. Each participant will get one entry for each of the following:

1. Follow my blog
2. Follow me on Twitter (@thudsonwrites) to keep with with Hereafter news
3. Add Hereafter on Goodreads.com
4. Like PitchDark on Facebook, to keep up with all the amazing things Harper is doing, in celebration of Hereafter and other YA paranormal titles being released this summer.

Already doing all four? Email me at tara@tarahudson.com to let me know which ones you have done/are doing, along with your name and address so I'll know where to send the ARC's. (Subject title: ARC Giveaway, so I don't think you're a deposed Nigerian prince trying to get ahold of my bank account.)

For every Hereafter-related comment you make on the blog, Goodreads, or PitchDark, you get another entry; same thing for every @mention you make.

Here's the best part: I'm giving away THREE of my precious ARC's. I'll choose the winners randomly, using the very elaborate technique of putting names on slips of paper and drawing them out of a straw cowboy hat. After all, you want me to save my resources for postage right? :)

So starting now, I can't wait to see some entries!