Announcing two new contests

by Donna Andrews

I realize that some of my readers were a bit put out when they got to the end of Stork Raving Mad and learned that I wasn't going to tell them whether Meg's twins were girls, boys, or a mixed set. For anyone who was vexed--sorry about that!  I didn't realize how much not knowing would bother people.

But I did have a couple of reasons for not telling.  One is that, evil person that I am, I like cliffhangers.  Another is that at the time I finished the book, I hadn't quite decided on the twins' genders and I wanted to keep my options open.

And the third reason is that I planned all along to have a Name the Twins contest.

You don't actually get to pick the names, mind you.  But if you can guess what I've decided to call the new arrivals, you will win a signed copy of The Real Macaw, my next book--in which they make their first appearance.

I'll give away up to three books, so if a whole lot of people guess correctly, the earliest entries will win.  If no one guesses both names correctly, the prizes will go to the first three people who guess at least one name.  If no one guesses either name . . . I'll enlist my fellow Femmes Fatales to help me figure out some way to give away those books.  Maybe a random drawing. We'll figure it out.

You can enter not just once but up to three times, if you have three brilliant ideas about what I might have called the babies.

And there will be clues!  In fact, I'll share two clues and a hint right now.  The hint?  I have twin six-year-old nephews.  If I write what I know . . .

And the clues.
1.    Both names were among the top 1000 names in 2009, the most recent year for which the Social Security Administration releases its list of baby names.  And I don't mean lingering down at the bottom of the list with the creative spellings.
2.    Meg and Michael took the names from their family tree.  Which doesn't help much for the twin they named after someone on Michael's side, since we haven't seen too many of them, but anyone who's been reading the series has probably met the namesake for the other twin.

I'll post a few more clues between now and when the contest ends--which will probably be sometime in March when my publisher makes the Advanced Readers Copies available.  Watch this blog and my website for an official ending date when I know it.

The other contest is an ongoing one: a Name the Book contest.  I'm always on the lookout for good titles--which in this case means a title that includes a pun or play on words and at least one bird. I'll be posting the entries on my website, so if you send in a bird title, be sure to let me know if it's okay to give your name (full or just first name and last initial) or whether I should keep your entry anonymous.

To enter either contest?  Just email me: [email protected]

And thanks in advance for entering.

Donna

Comments

[Elaine Viets]

Baby naming! What a fun contest. And twin contests are appropriate, considering the circumstances.

[Cathy Wiley]

Oh no, you're going to name one after Horace! (I figure I can safely joke about that, since oddly enough, Horace is *not* in the top baby names for 2009.)