Blogging the Fading Lands

Holiday - From the Old English haligdaeg, from halig "holy" + daeg "day;" in 14th century meaning both "religious festival" and "day of recreation."

~ from the Online Etymology Dictionary, (C) 2001, Douglas Harper

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Joyous Yule! Happy Holidays!

Regardless of your religion, the December holiday season is observed by many as a time of faith, hope, love, renewal, celebration, and fellowship.

In my last several blog posts, I've asked you to support others (booksellers, publishers, authors, the families of wounded soldiers) in a time of need. Now it's my turn to support you, my wonderful readers, and wish you the very best holiday season with the best gift I can think of for readers: the gift of books.

There are twelve days left from now until New Year's Eve. From now (December 20) until December 31, I'll be giving away $15 gift certificates to either Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com (winner's choice) -- that's enough for two paperbacks or a trade-paperback novel (or one paperback and international delivery if you buy from amazon.com). Not to leave Borders out in the cold, I'll also give away a $25 Borders gift card on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.

How to Win

Winning is simple. You only need to do two things: (1) post a comment on this blog any time between now and December 31st sharing one of your favorite holiday traditions, and (2) email a copy of your post to cheryl@clwilson.com along with your full name and mailing address. (This last is to prevent duplicate entries and to stop me from having to track down winners for addresses later. I will not keep your address, reveal your information to a third party, or use it for any other purpose, but I do require a full name and mailing address in order to include your post in my daily drawings.)

I will pick one winner per day (except Christmas and New Year's Eve when I will pick two).

I want to be clear, posts are not restricted to Christmas or Hanukkah traditions. I have friends of many different faiths all over the world - Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Wiccan, Secular Humanist, Muslim, you name it. (In fact, one of the best results of having my books published has been making the acquaintance of so many fabulous people who've written to me and befriended me since LORD OF THE FADING LANDS made its debut.) If you don't celebrate a December holiday, pick your favorite or most important holiday / day of celebration, and tell us a little about what and how you celebrate.

If you have trouble posting a comment to Blogger, simply skip step (1) and email me your post and address information and ask me to post your tradition for you. I'll be happy to do that.

How Many Times Can I Enter?

You can post comments as often as you like, but only one unique Holiday Tradition post per person will be entered in the drawing. The sooner you post your tradition (and send me your name and address) the more chances you'll have to win.

My One Request to Winners

If you win, I ask only one thing, please--please--use the gift certificate to buy a new book. Authors and publishers only receive payment for each new book sold, which means only new sales keep authors and publishers in the business of writing and publishing books.

Thank you so much. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and have a peaceful, joyous and prosperous new year.

C.L. Wilson

I'm blogging today at Writers At Play on a subject near and dear to my heart - supporting authors and fighting internet piracy. Please come join me and show your support!

cheers
Cheryl

So here is the cover of the German Edition of Lord of the Fading Lands.

While I prefer (of course) the inimitable Judy's fabulous vision, this Rain does indeed to have long, flowing black locks, and though there does not appear to be a curl to be had in Ellysetta's hair, I can't complain about the length or the fact that it is definitely auburn (though perhaps not the color of tairen flame).

From what I can tell, the title translates to something like "In the Enchantment of the Elfkings". I wonder what the Germans will do to differentiate between the Elves and the Fey, since Rain is now officially an Elfking. Hmmm...

All told, though, it's still pretty danged cool. :D