WINNERS!!

When things go wrong on the blog, you can bet your bottom dollar it's the work of my arch-nemesis, Luca Brasi, Jr. As longtime readers may recall, Luca has been coveting my job ever since I first put fingers to keyboard, and it seems he will stop at nothing to make me look incompetent,

Luca's latest scheme? He pilfered the Don's fedora--you know, the one from which the Don draws the winning ticket--and planted it on me!

Now, prior to the great reveal, with the fedora goodness knows where, and the Don ranting and raving about sunbeams bouncing off his pate, I tried to convince the boss to try Random.org. You should have heard the fireworks! "Nuttin' in this life is random," the Don berated me. "If you don't know that, you don't know nuttin'."

Believe me, you don't argue with the Don when he's in one of these moods. He's more doctrinaire than the Pope.

The fedora was finally found almost in plain view, perched behind my computer monitor. Fortunately, I had it dusted for prints and the arrogant, glove-eschewing Luca's were all over the brim.

Luca's apparently taken a short trip to Switzerland.

And now, after much delay--and with many apologies--I am able to announce the winners of both Dianne Salerni's ARC of The Inquisitor's Mark and Ami Polonsky's Gracefully Grayson. Boss, would you do the honors?

(Drumroll, as thick fingers descend into the fedora...)

The winner of Dianne's ARC is:

ROSI

The winner of Gracefully Grayson is:

JOANNE R. FRITZ

I'll be contacting you both, a.s.a.p. And now, back to work! Ciao!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Winners!

It's no secret that the month of August was a particularly crazy one in Mafiosoville.

1. We went camping (I tell ya, do not roast marshmallows over a campfire with the Don. He's a pyromaniac!).

2. The kids started school 

3. The new guard dog has a penchant for chewing leather. (My poor boots!) 

And pens,

 And paper.

(In fact, I think she's secretly writing the Great American Canine Novel.)






















And then there was the US Open Tennis. (The Don's favorite player is Fabio Fognini, but the guy's a basket case.)

Through all of this, blogging has taken a back seat. (Oh yeah, I also finished Book 5 in  the Game of Thrones series, and that was a marathon achievement. Winter is Coming!)

But, I have not forgotten my promise of sending books from two of my favorite writers--folks I know in real life--to my deserving readers.

So, here we go: The winner of the signed copy of the paperback edition of Rosanne Parry's Written in Stone is:

Greg Pattridge

And the winner of the signed hardback of Robin Herrera's Hope is a Ferris Wheel is...

Christi

I'll be contacting you good people very soon.

Also, I am going to be part of the blog tour of Michaela MacColl's latest, Rory's Promise, which she co-wrote with Rosemary Nichols. Anyone who's been following this blog for a while will know that Ms. MacColl is yet another one of my favorite authors-- (Promise the Night; Nobody's Secret.) It's bound to be a goodie!!

See you next week, Ciao!!

THE FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT MIDDLE GRADE QUIZATHON WINNERS...

The following scene occurred the other night, just after the Don finished watching Breaking Bad...

The Don: Michele, youse know what I think? This Walter White guy--we gotta bring more teachers into the famiglia. My nephew, Lorenzo: he could do with some tutoring.

Me: Um, this is a TV show, boss.

The Don: Hey, but there's no smoke without fire. Speaking of which, Lorenzo came to me talking about some crazy quiz you did. And he's says youse the smoke that's gotta get fired.

Me: I beg your pardon?

The Don: He got only one question right. Now what kinda quiz is that? And he tells me there's a whole bunch of dames who done good. And youse gonna pay 'em. Tell me my ears are deceivin' me.

Me: Well, yes. Lorenzo's right--

The Don: --He's a clever boy.

Me: Yes, Don. I know. He's right. There are a bunch of amazing middle grade know-it-alls out there--

The Don: These brainy dames?

Me: Yes, they do all happen to be women.

The Don: (Sighing) What are they doin'? Reading all the hours God gave 'em? Perhaps I should put them in charge of this blog thing of yours?

Me: Well, they'd probably do a better job.

The Don: Hey, I'm just jokin' with ya, Michele. You're doin' okay. But next time, you talk with me first, capice? We gotta get Lorenzo in the winner's circle. Otherwise, my sister gonna kill me. He's her favorite son.

Me: Got it, boss.

The Don: So who are these clever dames then? We should pay them a visit.

Me: (thinking I better look up the number for the witness protection program) There were two of them who got 100 per cent.

The Don: An A++. Brava complimenti. Their names?

Me: Joanne Fritz and Nikki Matteson. So, I'm going to split the prize and give them each $25--

The Don: You mean 25 grand?

Me: Uh no. Not unless you increase the blog budget.

The Don: They did all that work for $25 measly bucks? No wonder Lorenzo's not going places.

Me: Well, Nikki's going to get an extra $5 because she referred someone to the quiz.

The Don: Now you're talking! A pyramid scheme. So much cleaner than being a chemistry teacher in a meth lab. Che pazzo! Hey, this Nikki. She Italian?

I left him making plans to get Joanne and Nikki involved in something nefarious. In the meantime, J & N, I'll be contacting both of you soon--please change your names and rent a post office box. Look for a plain brown envelope. Take it, and run!

Everyone: thanks for taking the time to do the quiz. You all rock. (Special honorable mention to Akoss, who got 95%.) I've got warm and fuzzy feelings thinking about all the Middle Grade Masters out there.  

Winner of Time Of Honor

Oops, I've been a little distracted this week, but am finally on track. So I can now say that the winner of Margo Sorenson's terrific time travel Time of Honor is:

Joanne Fritz

Joanne, I'll be contacting you soon to see how best to get the novel to you. Congratulations!

Fiesta Fridays: Winner of the Templeton Twins, and other Fine Things

Friday fiesta time, folks. First up, I have a fun interview and giveaway over at Project Mayhem, featuring Susan Lubner's debut middle grade, THE UPSIDE OF ORDINARY. Hop on over and see what you think.

Second, a great big "thank you" to everyone who commented on the Templeton Twins blog tour post. I truly appreciate your unstinting support of Middle Grade Mafioso. Random.org has been in seclusion with the Don and he's decreed the winner to be:

Heidi Grange

Heidi, please be in touch so I can forward your mailing address to the good people at Chronicle Books and they can send you a copy straight off the presses.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Anyone got any special plans?

WINNERS!! (Yes, I said "Winners!")

 

Wow, September! It seems that summer has flown by. Today is Labor Day, and school starts on the 5th. For the first time in 16 years, I won't have a child at home for the greater part of the day. Which means I have BIG PLANS, I can tell you. I am going to be organized, and I am going to be a writing machine.

Speaking of organization, I was supposed to reveal the winner of GUYS READ: THE SPORTS PAGES on Friday. But on Friday I was too busy cleaning house (for an appraisal--and for getting ready for #3 Son's 6th birthday party.) Now the house has been cleaned and duly trashed again, and I can get back to the blog. Furthermore, through the awesome auspices and generosity of Walden Pond Press's Kellie Celia, I have not ONE but TWO ARCS to give away.

So, without further ado, the winners are:

ROSI

and

Joanne Fritz

Congratulations to you both. I'll be in touch for addresses.

Happy Labor Day, everyone. May all your writing labors be rewarded.

Winners of Second Fiddle--and Vacation News

The winners of the brand spanking new paperback edition of my dear friend Rosanne Parry's SECOND FIDDLE are:

ANDREA MACK

and

KRISTEN WIXTED

Guys, there should be an e-mail from me in your inboxes, requesting address information. I hope to send the books out before spring break starts.

And a huge, huge thank you to Rosanne for being so generous!!!

Speaking of Spring Break, the Don's (and consequently the rest of ours) has gotten off to a rocky start. The Don's (former) travel agent misheard my request for Paris and a stroll through the Bois de Boulogne--and booked us all a trip to BOISE! So, the Don is going to be eating potatoes instead of petits pois, and the ex-travel agent's won himself a one-way ticket to Poughkeepsie and is hopefully not at the bottom of a pond.

 While we take in the sights of Idaho, we won't be posting Marvelous Middle Grade Monday until April 9th. But we'll be back then, having read our way through many a marvelous middle grade book (at least that's the hope!)

Happy Spring to one and all.