Well, Audible has kindly provided me with ten codes that, in the right hands, will each automagically become a free Carousel Sun audiobook.
All I have to do is figure out how to get them into the right hands.
So! Here’s what we’re going to do.
My birthday is this coming Thursday. You know and I know that what I’ll be doing on my birthday is slaving over a hot manuscript, but! that begs the Important Question, which is. . .
What OUGHT I to be doing on my birthday?
Plan my birthday celebration for me in comments! Top ten celebrations each win one of these codes good for a free audiobook of Carousel Sun, the sequel to Carousel Tides; the second book in the Archers Beach Trilogy by Sharon Lee!
Contest closes at 12:01 am EDT on Friday, September 12.
Given that I will be slaving over a hot manuscript, let’s say that I’ll award the prizes by Sunday, September 14.
Have at it!
I think given the lovely pre-Fall weather, you should take a jaunt to the shore and dabble your tiny toes in the water, gather a few seashells while you may and retire to a blanket lovingly deposited upon the sand by your gallant knight. There you should have plenty to eat and drink and then be ye merry together 🙂 Of course, there must be cake but no candles because this is a celebration! Then onward to your favorite bookstore to indulge your craving to hold new tomes in your dainty hands and buy whatever pleases your fair heart. Have a safe trip back to your wonderfully cattified home, recline upon the divan and lift a glass of wine while reading your newest acquisition. Have a Wonderful Birthday !!
A trip to the beach that inspired the story, dinner with Steve and a nice drive home to top it off. Wine with dinner, of course.
You awake to find yourself in a small but comfortable compartment that you instantly recognize as your cabin aboard a Korval ship. It’s in space; you recognize the sounds and smells, and even as you think “This is impossible!” Steve’s voice comes from the sound system. “Need you on the bridge, Pilot. There’s a situation.”
In a few moments (birthday time is different from regular time) you’re clean and dressed in proper style, and arrive on the bridge to find a system you instantly recognize as Surebleak’s…but you’re being hailed as an unknown intruder. Already ships are rising to threaten you. You identify yourself, you mention those friends below, but you are told they don’t believe you…your friends are in the history books, a century or more back. Only Himself is left alive from that time and he’s off somewhere right now. The current Delm Korval, whose name you don’t know, declares you must be imposters.
You are finally allowed to land, under guard, and you are delighted to find that Surebleak now has a bustling spaceport and a mild climate. The city, now quite large, looks not much like the Surebleak you know. Streets are clean, without potholes; buildings are whole. You look for the old warehouses under which…but you can’t see them. You hope those people aren’t all gone. You can’t imagine them living in tidy apartment houses with windowboxes, like the ones you can see in the distance. The Port info that comes up on your screens shows a range of hyatts from luxurious to basic, touts businesses and services of all kinds.
At your request, the Portmaster on duty digs into the archives and finds that your names do appear…but back in the time of those you knew. Your “cantras” are worthless (they know such coinage existed, but nobody uses it now) and after some argument from various groups, it’s finally decided that you should be sent to Jelaza Kazone to the Delm. You’re worried, but also curious, and hope that Korval will straighten things out.
The Tree, visible from a distance, is larger yet than you last wrote it, and some of its scions–now quite large themselves–outline the border between Korval property and the neighbors, besides forming a grove where once a cat-lover lived and raised his crops.
Who has striped red and black hair, one blue eye and one brown, and shakes her head when she sees you. “Out of the past indeed,” she says. “We’ll have to do something about those clothes. But first, we’ll let the Tree have a word with you.”
The courtyard door opens onto the massive trunk that now almost fills the inner courtyard–directly across from the door is the opening to a tunnel into the tree. “It did that,” says Korval. “It’s a gift to us–corridors and little alcoves, even stairs up to my personal study, above roof level. We offered to take down part of the house, but it prefers this, and will eventually engulf the whole residence, leaving the insides intact and all entrances usable.”
The tree’s crown waves wildly, dislodging some annoyed birds, as you touch its wood, and seeds shower the floor of the corridor along with bird poop, which the tree instantly absorbs.
“Well, then,” says the Delm. “You’ll do. Let’s get you settled and changed, and we’ll start the festivities.” She sweeps up a bucket full of the precious seeds, rustles through them and hands two to Steve and three to you.”
Festivities include food, drink, dancing, music, much sprawling on the cool, soft turf of the outer yards, much petting of cats, and a great deal of trying to figure out exactly how long after “your” Surebleak, this Surebleak is, and how the current Delm is related to those you knew. A dozen people are eager to explain, but their explanations don’t fit together well. Suddenly a new wave of guests arrive, and you see writers you’ve always liked and enjoyed being around…including those who, in your world, have vanished from age or infirmity. Soon the wide-eyed Surebleak crowd is listening to origin stories they’ve never heard or imagined, of worlds not in their catalog of worlds or systems, of famous men and women…and there’s more food, more drink, more dancing, more music, while you and your favorite writers get past the first burst of writer-talk and are back to wondering what the heck is going on here.
Other arrivals show up, from your other fictional worlds (some not entirely fitting in…but someone else handles that, and no one who shouldn’t die dies.) There’s time for a restful nap in your luxurious suite…there’s time for waking and a soak in a huge tub and anything else you fancy, and then time for a long relaxed evening with people who are happy to be together…and the coming of night and the stars above and then the guests dispersing, the quiet returning, the sense of home stronger every moment. A last nightcap with Delm Korval, a slow, sleepy walk to your suite, and collapse into the one perfect bed you’ve ever been in.
The perfect anniversary day for you:
– Drink your first coffee in bed;
– Have a nice breakfast in town;
– Visit a house for sale and fall in love with it;
– Make an offer on the house;
– Have a nice siesta in the afternoon;
– Get a phone call to tell you that your offer has been accepted;
– Go celebrate in the best restaurant in town;
– End the evening with one (or 2 or 3) great drink: cognac, armagnac, Tia Maria, whatever…;
– Go to bed and have the most restful sleep of your life.
Elizabeth, that’s very nice indeed. I particularly like the echo of Farmer’s Riverworld in the penultimate paragraph (“including those who, in your world, have vanished from age or infirmity”).
Sleep in late.
Breakfast out with excellent coffee and baked goods.
A pleasant walk without adverse drivers or pedestrians.
A lovely lunch.
An email from Madam the agent announcing that a major studio is interested in the rights to … and would you consider …
An email from your broker with a generous offer on your house
Happy cats delighted in your company
A delightful dinner and an evening off with no thought of dishes or duties.
Kick back, relax, drink good coffee, warm baked goods, and a quiet dinner with your closest family and friends. Enjoy the day!
You should have a weekend, with no worries, at your favorite spot in Old Orchard Beach with Steve. A lot of time walking on the Beach and through town. A good dinner at your favorite restaurant. The evening finishes …
Binge watch Outlander
Hey, you’re celebrating your day and the audio release. With a bit of luck you should have a lovely fall day, so find the nearest marry-go-round and do fall things before the cold is a bugger issue. Look for pumpkins, pick some apples, find a country fair, find that joy.
sleep late, Breakfast at your favourite diner, gratis, in recognition of your exalted status as an author…a ride to your nearest beach, much paddling, a carousel ride, second breakfast if required, a visit to the best bookshop in town ,where you have unlimited credit…lunch, a nap, afternoon tea, massage, manicure, pedicure, hairdo, dinner somewhere delicious and then someone else to drive you two to your hotel, where you have the presidential suite booked…and you wake to find a message saying your house has sold, and you’ve won the lottery. Next?
Have yourself dressed in your favorite fantastical fantasy outfit, and your handsome husband likewise.
Wander down to the local Renaissance or Fantasy Faire. Indulge in boisterous and hilarious shows, rich savory foods, sweet messy foods, and a bit of shoppies.
Rest yourself in the gaming room for amusing well shaded historic games.
Allow all concerns of the outside world to stop at the gate, and as much as you can refrain from picking them up again when you leave at the end of the day.
If an imaginary birthday can exist, I would think Sharon would adore a tour of existing, working carousels!
Coffee, breakfast, then a trip to the nearest transporter disk!
How about this one?
http://www.floriegray.com/Photography/UK/i-VpnXTCz/A
A lovey place to take a ride!
and here:
http://www.downtownexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/DSC_5661GovernorsIslandFeteParadisoCarouselJuly102013CUFFF.jpg
Visit the animals of your imagination!
http://www.travelandleisure.com/images/amexpub/0029/6881/201204-w-best-carousels-frog-pond.jpg
and more carousel friends:
https://s-media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/6d/99/3f/6d993f2f7fcfaa92d7e17d09ebc81c23.jpg
http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com/legacy_blog/Carousel-4.jpg
http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/log/6245d510-d9b3-4df3-aa51-c2786f2a607f.JPG
For a last ride in the evening, the carousel in Paris would be just lovely:
http://blog.kenkaminesky.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Kaminesky-Blog-Paris-Eiffel-tower-and-Carousel-1.jpg
A late dinner, a trip to the shore for moonlight on the beach, then a very restful night.
Happy Birthday, Sharon!
Enjoy your special day with all matter of good and enjoyable things.
Happy Birthday!
What birthday is complete without some serious sparkling wine, Champagne by preference though I admit that there are new world sparkling wines of merit. But hey, it’s a birthday, Steve can splurge. Sit back, read or reread a favourite author, sip some sparkler, and enjoy.
(and I say this not to win a code, since I already bought, read, and loved, the Audible version of Carousel Sun. )
First Best Birthday wishes to you. Now, as for your birthday, here is what I think would be a great birthday for you.
You wake up in your own time without alarm clocks or other infernal devices shouting at you. You enjoy a cup of coffee while sitting outside in a beautiful clear day. After a wonderful breakfast of everything you shouldn’t eat(but today none of that will effect you), you get ready to go for a walk on your favorite beach and then go out to dinner.
As you are walking out the door your phone rings and when you answer you find out that your latest work just got moved to an earlier release date. Also that your publisher has a new owner who loves your books so much they are contracting you to write 5 more books in the Liaden Universe and is giving you a huge retainer to insure that you will stay with the publisher.
After you hang up, you and Steve do a happy dance, to the confusion of the cats, you go off to the beach all the while discussing the new wish lists for the homes that you can now easily afford.
After the wonderful dinner you go home, have a cup of tea or something stronger, in your favorite place in the house. Steve comes in and tells you there was a message left on the machine saying that your publisher has been approached for the TV rights for the three book set Partners in Necessity with the two of you as consulting experts.
With a happy sigh you get into bed and get the best night of sleep you have ever had.
May your Birthday weather delight the ear.
May your ideas express fast and easily.
May you rejoice in all that that flows from your pen.
May you continue to find the joy that keeps you sharing your worlds.
Do as you will but enjoy the special day.
My advice is sleep late, snuggling with Steve and the kitties.
Empty your mind of worries about the house, the book deadlines, etc.
Have a nice quiet dinner (out so you don’t have to cook or clean!) with a nice glass of wine.
Go home and relax some more.
Best wishes for a wonderful birthday. I wish all of us on facebook could join you and provide all the food and drink and music. Love Elizabeth’s description of your birthday. May it be a magical day of Fun, relaxation, and celebration.
Have a lovely breakfast (prepared by someone else of course) and a relaxing day. Read a new book and a lovely walk. Perhaps a trip to the movies and then a nice dinner out. Try not to worry about deadlines.
Sleep, eat and be merry. Or, wishing you find the perfect home to write your next novel and sell your existing one on the same day.
Have a relaxing morning, travelling by rail to the seaside, where there is a marvellous carousel that you can ride as many times as you like (On the horses that go up and down of course).
Picnic on the beach for lunch, some walks along the shore. A wonderful dinner at a restaurant overlooking the sea, with all your favourite people. Then home to a warm welcome by the cats and a pleasant night’s dreaming.
Hi Sharon, I think a great way to celebrate your birthday would be to snuggle under the covers and know you didn’t have a deadline to meet because, of course, you have gotten your latest book in early! Coffee with Steve, scritches for the cats, then off to your favorite breakfast place. I’d pick one from your favorites but not sure what you are in the mood for…so many choices! Then to the carousel where you and Steve would not have to wait in line because it was opened just for you and you could pick any or all of the creatures to ride on as many times as desired. Off to the beach (if it is not too cold, windy or rainy) for a picnic lunch then onto a local art gallery and of course a book store. Home again where Steve would cook one of your favorite dinners, or you could pick something up on your way home. Dinner, perhaps with candles, and time with more books to read and cats to enjoy. However you spent your day, hope it was lovely.
Happy Belated Birthday! I enjoyed reading the comments!
Happy Belated Birthday! I enjoyed reading the comments!