The game was simple. I wrote one chapter in TORN APART in the unique, darkly poetic style that defines the work of crime writer Ken Bruen, whose Irish cop Jack Taylor has haunted many of my favorite book dreams. In addition to being a world-class novelist, Ken is one of the genuinely nicest guys you’ll find in this world or next. So I wrote the chapter, and created this contest, in his honor. I put it on this website and invited you to play.
And you did.
Now, the first person to have sent in the correct chapter is ... the envelope, please ...
David Rygg of East Amherst, New York.
Congratulations, David!
He's a huge thriller and mystery reader, and is trying his hand at writing a book himself. In his contest submission, he was kind enough to write what he thought about TORN APART now that he's finished it:
“I felt like I was watching the movie. Much the same way I feel when I read Lee Child's work. Action, vivid scenes, characters jumping off the pages. But different in that it is not from just one character’s viewpoint. Your comedic banter ranks up there with Stuart Woods and Robert Parker. The pages fly by the way James Patterson’s do.”
No, I didn't pay him to say that. (Though God, yes, I would have.) It really did come out of the blue with his submission e-mail, and I was deeply touched.
David wins a full-color Advance Reader Copy of TORN APART, along with my best wishes.
Next week or the week after--depending on how my writing schedule and ongoing computer meltdown (sigh) shape up--you'll meet the Chicago area woman who sent in her winning answer right after David.
And the best news? I've still got a few ARCs left, and you could win one! Just keep reading . . .
(But first, David, please re-re-send me your street address. Very sorry about all this ongoing confusion, but my computer crashed yesterday and took all my Outlook files with it. Your address is in those files. I'll get them back eventually--or so the Geek Guyz promise--but "eventually" is 7 to 10 business days. At least. Sigh. I hate being my own tech support. Writers doing IT is like a horse flying through outer space. It can be done, but not easily, and not without it crapping on your shoes ...)
Here's the rules of the game.
As I mentioned, one of the chapters in TORN APART is written in the darkly poetic style of Ken Bruen, the reigning prince of Irish crime fiction and someone I’m proud to call a friend. Like Ken's writing, my chapter is highly poetic, with short, abrupt sentences, scant punctuation, and a dynamic that reads quite unlike prose. It fits the mood of the scene perfectly.
So read the book, find the chapter, send me chapter number--those are the numbers at the top of the first page of each new chapter--and you could win an autographed ARC of TORN APART. ARC stands for Advance Reader Copy. It's a full-color pre-book printed way ahead of time so magazines, who have long lead times for production, can give a copy to their reviewers, so the review can run in conjunction with the publication of the actual book. Only 100 ARCs exist worldwide, and you will have one in your hot little hands!
But only if you play.
Oh, and the most important part: Send it to me at my e-mail:
Thanks again.