Giving Away a Pair of Libriomancers
Both DAW and Del Rey UK sent me author copies of Libriomancer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] this week, which is a wonderful thing. Except now I find myself with more books taking up space. I figure the best thing to do is get rid of a couple, and I was hoping y’all could help me out with that!
I’ll be heading off for vacation next week, but when I get back, I’ll give away one each of the UK edition (trade paperback) and the DAW mass market release. Crocheted Smudge will be keeping guard over the books in the meantime.
If you’re interested, leave a comment telling me where you’d go on vacation if you could go absolutely anywhere, real or imagined. Narnia, Neverland, North Dakota, it doesn’t matter.
When I get home, I’ll pick two commenters at random and mail each of them an autographed copy of the book.
Anyone can enter. One entry per person, etc, etc. I’ll grab comments off of the blog, LJ, Goodreads, and the rest of the places this thing is mirrored.
Three weeks and counting until Book Day! #SFWApro
elsiekate
July 18, 2013 @ 6:30 pm
imaginary: syrnai–one of the worlds from martha wells’ “the fall of ile-rien” trilogy
real: germany to visit my boyfriend!
Coleen
July 18, 2013 @ 6:42 pm
For a vacation I when you say anywhere real or imaginary I’d go imaginary for my sojourn. I’d make a visit to the alternate universe where Thursday Next lives in Jasper Fforde’s books, but of course she’d have to be my tour guide so I could jump into books with her from the Great Library. I admit I’m greedy that way and would get to visit all the books I’ve loved over all the years.
Thanks for the generous offer.
Ian C
July 18, 2013 @ 6:48 pm
I’d go to Imre, in the Commonwealth. After a few days of seeing the sights and getting drunk in the Eolian I’d look up a certain gentleman by the name of Sleat, purchase some forged papers so I wouldn’t have to leave, and then enroll at the University.
Amanda
July 18, 2013 @ 6:51 pm
If I could go anywhere in the natural world I would probably go to Nara, Japan to see the temples and east myself sick!
If I were to go anywhere fictional I would probably go to the Tardis because that could take me pretty much anywhere, including the library planet which was my original thought ;p
(yknow provided all the people eating shadows are gone)
Missie Kay
July 18, 2013 @ 7:35 pm
Oh, where wouldn’t I go? How about Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland for a start?
Joleen
July 18, 2013 @ 7:57 pm
Iceland in the winter to see the northern lights from a hot springs.
Wiredwizard
July 18, 2013 @ 8:01 pm
Real: I always wanted to go back to Fiji.
Imaginary: Also Fiji ’cause with the way my finances are, the only way I’ll ever make it back there is in my Imagination.
Amy
July 18, 2013 @ 8:15 pm
Real – love to go to Europe for a tour of France, Germany, Italy and all those in-between to see as many historical landmarks as I could.
Imaginary – don’t tell, but I’d love to walk through Nightside (with John Taylor) 🙂
Michael
July 18, 2013 @ 8:23 pm
If you haven’t read Libromancer don’t read the rest of this!!
I’d pull an Issac and go to the moon, a rocket would be a fun way to go, but his method of travel is a whole lot quicker!
Deborah
July 18, 2013 @ 9:05 pm
I’d love to go to London, I’ve been there once but only for a week and it was amazing! The museums, the vibe of the city and the weather were what I love most about the city.
I’d also love to visit the Gallifrey however I haven’t been able to find a way past the time lock =(
Random Michelle
July 18, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
I would love to go to Antarctica. I’d also like to visit Alaska in the winter.
I like snow.
sjl
July 18, 2013 @ 10:22 pm
Hawaii.
Brandon Boss
July 18, 2013 @ 10:45 pm
Real: New Zealand, or the UK
Imaginary: definately Skyrim
Alternate time: renaissance Italy
Brittany
July 18, 2013 @ 10:46 pm
Definitely New Zealand! I never realized how many people were interested in going there until I started reading everyone’s comments. The imaginary land I would love for to be real would have to be Sacoridia from Kristen Britain’s Green Rider series.
Jakob
July 18, 2013 @ 10:59 pm
Where I would go for vacation if I could go anywhere. I would probably go to Stasheff’s Wizard in Rhyme world to meet Matthew and Stegoman.
rinib
July 18, 2013 @ 11:14 pm
Um, I think it would be easier to list places where I *don’t* want to go lol. Growing up, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live on Pern. In real life, I would like to check out the European countryside.
Kimberly B.
July 18, 2013 @ 11:22 pm
The city of Newford, from Charles de Lint’s novels and stories. Thanks for the great giveaway!
Louis Doggett
July 18, 2013 @ 11:25 pm
Jim Butcher’s Nevernever. It’s quite dangerous there and I wouldn’t want to fight for my life for two weeks of a stereotypical vacation but it’s the first Fiction place that popped into my mind. Maybe I could say hi to Dresden’s Godmother or even to him as he is passing through.
Stephen
July 18, 2013 @ 11:28 pm
I would love to vacation in Rivendell in Middle Earth, with Oz and Narnia tied for a close second. In the real world, I would love to go to Ireland and revisit Venice and Hawaii again.
Celeste
July 19, 2013 @ 12:26 am
Me! Me! Me! Pick me! 😉
Real: I’d love to take my hubby to New Zealand, or Belgium. Oh yes, /I/ want to go as well!
Imaginary: The world that the Belgariad is set in. No, the Star Trek world. No, Darkover. No, Dang, I thought this would be easy!
Hm, I really do LOVE the idea of pulling things out of books, but can I be sure that I would have the talent? And then there are those dang, pesky sparkly vampires to deal with! (You just had to do that, didn’t ya?)
Sam Dailey
July 19, 2013 @ 1:21 am
Oooh….there are so many places I’d like to go…so, clearly I would want to go traveling in the TARDIS, meaning I could travel to so many places and times. It would be amazing.
Kate Settlemyre
July 19, 2013 @ 2:12 am
If I could go anywhere, I would go to Machu Picchu. I have wanted to go since high school, when my beloved Spanish teacher painted it in the most glowing colors (along with pretty much the entirety of Peru and Ecuador). It looks all green and mystical, and like Isle Royale, which I love with all my heart, I know much more lies there than meets the eye.
Alex Hurst
July 19, 2013 @ 6:29 am
I’ve really been wanting to travel to Morocco recently. I know it’s dangerous at times, but I really want to spend a night in the desert, and go to the tanneries, so I can get the descriptions of similar places down in my novel. 😀
Allison
July 19, 2013 @ 10:04 am
In real life, I’d love to visit Venice. You know, before it sinks. Also because from pictures I’ve seen it’s so beautiful.
For an imaginary place, I’d want to go somewhere in the Star Trek universe, contemporary with Next Generation, Deep Space Nine or Voyager. Because Holodecks=unlimited vacations without physical danger (mostly).
Karen Howard
July 19, 2013 @ 10:10 am
Real world : Ireland and picking an imaginary place would be really hard, but Hogworts is on that list.
zep
July 19, 2013 @ 10:10 am
hm. just came back from a vegas trip, so that’s the last place I’d be interested in for at least another 5 years. right now, I’d really like to go back to south LA in the winter. fried Boudain balls, crawfish, all sorts of good things to eat. I guess I’m pretty hungry right now.
Galena
July 19, 2013 @ 10:13 am
Imagined? Diagon Alley!
Real? New Zealand!
David M. Crampton
July 19, 2013 @ 10:25 am
I’d like to go back to Japan.
Stephen A. Watkins
July 19, 2013 @ 10:59 am
Real World Vacation: Germany. No, France. No, Italy. No, Japan. No, New Zealand. No, Indonesia. No… umm… How about a Years-Long World-Trotting Global Cultures Sabbatical? You didn’t set a time-limit on how long the vacation could be! 😉
Imagined? Not Middle-Earth (because I can already do New Zealand, and it’ll be less dangerous). Nor, for that matter, any other Pseudo-Medieval Fantasy setting. I can get my Pseudo-Medieval on right here in the real world. It’d have to be someplace with real wonders, sights that cannot be seen here in the real world, someplace of awesome beauty. The name of the place escapes me for the moment…
dawn luedtke
July 19, 2013 @ 11:30 am
would love to see New Zealand, or maybe the Tiger Temples in Thailand
imaginary – Naria
ByTheFarmstead
July 19, 2013 @ 11:47 am
Have a smooth trip!
Well someplace where I can get a quickfix of some medical issues, maybe with a side of local skills to bring back with me. I’m not that picky: ST:OS, Surebleak, or a peaceful week in Crossroad Keep.
Kaye
July 19, 2013 @ 1:02 pm
Right now I’d love to visit the Fairyland world from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making – such a fascinating world.
Looking forward to Book Day!
KPM
July 19, 2013 @ 1:29 pm
Real: I would love to go to Ireland, Scotland and England. See if I could trace some of my family tree.
Imagined: I would also have to visit Discworld. Couldn’t imagine a more different vacation than this.
Gary Denton
July 19, 2013 @ 2:22 pm
I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica although Greece was really nice. The near term Accelerando stories would be an interesting place to visit.
Anne C.
July 19, 2013 @ 2:39 pm
Real: New Zealand, Spain, or Scotland (depending on what minute you ask me)
Fictional: Jane Austen’s Pemberly, as an honored houseguest. I would eat, sleep, read, walk, and maybe ride once or twice a week. And that would be all. I’d be considered “rather withdrawn, but an excellent walker” by my hostess. Ooh, or the world from Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamourist Histories! Regency AND fantasy! [/happy sigh]
Sehvrin
July 19, 2013 @ 3:40 pm
The Island of Berk from How to train your dragon (movie version, not book). I would so much like to ride a dragon and besides: Everywhere there’s life there’s an interesting place to travel for a biologist (ecologist) which I happens to be 😉
Mercy
July 19, 2013 @ 6:58 pm
Alaska. Or one of the northern-Norway cruises. Or at this moment, Antarctica. Anywhere where it’s colder than here. *turns up fan*
chalumeau
July 19, 2013 @ 11:48 pm
Alaska 🙂
Susan
July 20, 2013 @ 3:18 am
It’s been my dream to go to Egypt.
Hope you enjoy your vacay!
Melissa Ewing
July 20, 2013 @ 10:48 am
Imaginary: Gallifrey
Real: London & Cardiff
Ms. Elise
July 20, 2013 @ 10:56 am
Right now, if I could go anywhere on vacation, I would go to Risa, from the Star Trek series. And I don’t know if I would ever come back.
Asylos
July 20, 2013 @ 12:28 pm
I would love to go to one of those mountain plateaus that is over the fog and clouds, where you can gaze down upon it. It feels like it would be such a place of peaceful feeling. Of course, 3G better work there or I won’t stay long.
Adam
July 20, 2013 @ 6:07 pm
Real place, I’d love to see Spain, Germany, basically half of Europe.
Imaginary, it’s tough to pick a single place, Xanth would be fun, as would the worlds of Nausicaa of the Valley of the wind and Howl’s Moving Castle (referring to the Miyazaki anime movies), otherwise I’d have to say the world of the Wheel of Time. There are so many interesting things in the world, and if nothing else some of the characters would be fun to meet.
HollyAnn
July 20, 2013 @ 7:41 pm
Real: New Zealand
Imaginary: New York City in the 1920s
Siddhartha
July 21, 2013 @ 1:33 am
Anywhere real or imaginary? I am not sure if it counts as real or imaginary (hear me out), but I’d like to visit North Korea.
Now for the explanation: North Korea may be the strangest place in the world right now, a Prester John’s kingdom for late-twentieth to twenty-first century. It is as close as you can get to a hermetically sealed country. The state propaganda machine propagates (sorry, could not find a better word) an impossible, almost fantastic image of their country to the outside world. Even stranger is the how the outside world – primarily the western countries – is projected inside the country. The populace supposedly believe most of the fantasy, including the stories about the “Great Leader”. The rest of the world does not know what to believe. North Korea may be the last portal between the real and the imaginary worlds.
Welsh Andy
July 21, 2013 @ 9:19 am
Where would I visit? oh, that one’s easy Mt Hines.
The shattered isle of Mon Cerdech of the north western coast of Scotland. This is the place where Fermgal ap Llys first performed the rite of closure that separated our world from the Gloaming of the Fae; and so began the slow process of the liberation of our world from the insanities of magick and superstition.
It may seem a grim place to visit. What with it’s jutting razor sharp rocks and jadeite protuberances thrusting from the ground at suspicious angles. The vast sheets of glass still seemingly untouched by the weather despite the millennia since their creation on that fateful day. Grim indeed but so full of history. The very place where modern society was first made possible.
Oh! To stand on the purpled stony shores of Mon Cerdech and watch the storm clouds approach from the Atlantic Ocean. Grey in the distance but taking on all manner of hues as they approach this blasted isle. To see the first drops of emerald rain splash into the turgid froth that laps at the shoreline.
On such a trip one would have to be careful however. All manner of strange beasts inhabit this strange and vitally important site. Evolution seems not to have happened here. Genus and familia become quaint notions. Various attempts to classify these beasts has driven many eminent naturalists insane over the years. Great bird like creatures, with slithy tentacle like protuberances instead of beaks, float languidly in the air above. Occasionally sweeping silently down in order to ensnare a smaller denizen of the island in its tentacles. The digestion of the hapless creature beginning the moment it is trapped by acidic secretions oozing from the beasts skin. Melting the victim’s flesh from its bones into a fine clear juice which drips into the hunter’s maw.
Bilious pink fleshy sheets, twice the size of a bed sheet, are buffeted about the island by the winds. Catching smaller airborne creatures in their folds and digesting them alive. Like sickening visceral kites they drift consuming all they come into contact with. Whilst these are not of much immediate danger to a walker they have been known to, on occasion, drop from the air to consume a tasty morsel on the ground. The waiting to be picked up by the strong winds that regularly beat the island.
It is not only the beasts of the air that present a hazard to an unwary traveller here. Strange crystalline creatures with many, many, spider like legs burrow at ferocious speeds through the loamy soil. Springing from the earth to latch onto those who walk upon the land. Poisonous shards of the creatures ‘flesh’ dig deep into its prey immobilising, allowing the creature to begin the slow process of extracting viscous fluids from within the rigid body of its meal.
Upon the land the local fauna is so diverse as to be beyond description. Ten legged spiders, all the colours of the rainbow and more, with legs as long as cricket bats scurry hither and thither. Gelatinous one armed beast hang from the twisted broken trees that have stood as they are since the sundering. Murky clouds of charcoal grey mist hang menacingly in the air absorbing any creature foolish enough to brave passage through them. All of these things, these terrifying wonders, populate this tiny Scottish island.
It may seem like a tremendously dangerous place to visit, and indeed it is, but the sheer exhilaration that one would feel to be able to visit a place that has been so vital in the progress of our species would be sheer bliss.
To walk the hills and glens, the bitter coastline, and the dead frozen forests. To know that this is the very place where our liberation began. To tread over and within history. What more could one want.
I do suppose that one would have to be of an antiquarian bent to truly relish the experience but I am sure that there is much to offer the idly curious as well. Not that many would get the chance to visit. Mon Cerdech appears on few maps, none more recent than the past century, and visits to the island are strictly regulated by a government department; the name of which slips ones mind as soon as ones dealings with them are complete. Officially this is the only way to reach the island. As part of a research crew from some university or other scientific institution.
One may of course take ones chances alone. Boats willing to transport the curious are also, unsurprisingly, hard to come by. One may, however, find a brave soul willing to take one close enough to the island that one can use a rigid inflatable to reach the shore. A person attempting to visit in such a manner runs all manner of risks such as being abandoned by the boatman who transported them. Or being intercepted by the coast guard or perhaps military patrols that roam the area. It would still be worth the risk in my opinion.
mark
July 21, 2013 @ 11:14 am
real , to visit the north pole , the south pole and the top of everest , just to see what its like to be on top of the world , and on the bottom
imaginary ,, back in time to visit the seven wonders of the ancient world , while they are been constructed ,, and certainly not to put to put hand prints in the wet concrete … no defeinaly not
Hellianne
July 21, 2013 @ 7:59 pm
Real places, but impossible to get to, so imaginary I guess?– I play medieval and renaissance music. There are lots of manuscripts and books with music in them and a handful of treatises about performance practice. But music itself is short-lived, so there’s no real way to know what it actually sounded like. For us modern musicians, it’s a lot of guesswork. So if I could go anywhere on vacation, I’d want to take a journey through time to hear that music first hand. And bring back recordings.
James Cheatham
July 21, 2013 @ 9:42 pm
Well at risk of seeming juvenile I’ve always thought it’d be fun to visit the Skinny-dippen Wolf Women of planet Heineken. Then again, I think the Shire is probably more my speed. Stay at the Inn in Hobbiton and check out the walking trails. (Why deal with the real world if I have fantasy ones available?)
Steuard
July 21, 2013 @ 11:27 pm
Fictional: It would have to be Middle-earth somewhere, but choosing a single place would be painful. Rivendell or Lorien in the Third Age, maybe, or Gondolin at its height, or Tol Eressea or Tirion itself if they’d have me.
Aspirational: Seeing Saturn up close would be amazing. (I assume someone will take care of transportation, air, etc.) But if I’m dreaming, how about some other habitable planets in the neighborhood? (Especially if I get to take home the addresses!)
Realistic: This is the hardest one to choose, since I ought to hold myself to. Can I just say that I’d love to see all the continents someday?
Jjaks
July 22, 2013 @ 5:10 am
real: yucatan. caribbian, old stones and history: endless fun 🙂
fictional: discworld, algaria (belgariad)
Marta
July 22, 2013 @ 6:30 am
Real world: Mars and Europa (the moon, not the continent) – preferably with enough equipment to avoid dying immediately after arrival.
Imaginary: oh, this is hard, but I guess one of the Culture worlds from Ian Banks’ books. And, closer to home, the Inca empire before the conquistadors arrived.
tammoth
July 22, 2013 @ 12:23 pm
Well I think middle earth is just to obvious!
However I spent most of my childhood growing up in the peak district. I now live in Birmingham due to family issues. I would be quite happy to just spend time wandering again around the magical land that is the peaks especially Alderley Edge (the setting for the wierdstone of brisingamen) and Castleton and its wonderful caverns.
Mazarin
July 22, 2013 @ 10:13 pm
I had a week long holiday in the Liaden Universe once (Read seven of Lee and Millers books in a week) and would love to go there for real. I mean, 7 foot benevolent turtles! FTL travel! Faster than FTL travel! True love! (Hmmm Dread Pirate Roberts ship, as a cabin boy, could also be good)
Jacqueline Brooke
July 23, 2013 @ 8:56 am
I would love to take a few weeks to go scuba diving at the great barrier reef and hiking through New Zealand! Can I win that??
Philip
July 23, 2013 @ 10:34 am
Real: New Zealand. It’s such a beautiful place.
Imagined: Xanth. If I’m lucky, I’d pass the Good Magician’s three challenges and get to ask him a Question.
Laz
July 23, 2013 @ 1:17 pm
I’d go back to Japan if I could afford to. I made the mistake of going in summer and I’m SO not used to that sort of sub-tropical heat and humidity so it limited my sight-seeing a bit. But it was absolutely wonderful and incredibly *alien* by comparison to home and exactly what travel ought to be – fun and horizon broadening. And the people were really welcoming! Nowhere else in the world have people randomly welcomed me to their country and thanked me for visiting!
Fiction-wise, I’d love to visit the Culture, preferably an Orbital. (Now THAT’s alien!)
LynneW
July 23, 2013 @ 4:24 pm
For several years I’ve wanted to start by exploring the British Isles, and then travel by ship through the Panama Canal all the way to Australia and New Zealand to explore there. That would be my dream trip!
Chris
July 23, 2013 @ 5:28 pm
Ireland. If you saw my pale self with my bright red hair you’d understand.
Sarah Worrel
July 25, 2013 @ 1:08 pm
I’d love to visit the world of “Swept Away! The Secret of the Unicorn Queen” by Josepha Sherman, 1988. Normal girl, Sheila, lands in fantasy-land with unicorns and warrior-women. The story felt plausible when I was an adolescent. I still regret selling those books.
I’m going to have to see if I can hunt up a copy and revisit, if only in my imagination. Good question, Jim. Thanks!
LabRat001
July 26, 2013 @ 3:07 pm
Rome at the height of the empire (actually add Egypt, Byzantium, London in the same circumstances assuming the package tour comes with time travel, disguises and language implants).
Luna with appropriate survival gear.
The Culture or The Polity assuming I have a big enough budget to seriously play wonce I get there.
Cassie
July 28, 2013 @ 6:33 pm
Le Cirque des Rêves. Without a doubt. It could be pretty much anywhere. If I were to combine it with a real-life destination, it could be in London? I’ve always wanted to see London.
Susan
July 28, 2013 @ 9:25 pm
…am I the only one who read the title of the posting and said “hmm. Can I choose which Libriomancers are in the pair? I don’t want Gutenberg, he’s too high maintenance….”
ben wickens
July 29, 2013 @ 4:18 pm
For a holiday a cottage in the countryside with wife, dog and books is hard to beat. In terms of fictional worlds Gormenghast has a certain appeal.
jim p
August 4, 2013 @ 4:00 am
I would ride a motorcycle through the Alps
Crinklequirk
August 6, 2013 @ 1:54 pm
For years I’ve wanted to go around the British Isles and study all the stone henges, especially the big ones. It’s absolutely fascinating, and I’d get to see so many places I think I’d really connect with, doing that.
Welsh Andy
August 6, 2013 @ 1:57 pm
Henges are made out of earth not stone. [/archaeologist]
😉
Heather
August 8, 2013 @ 9:46 pm
I’ve always wanted to live in the world of The Wheel of Time. I’ve read the series since day one, happening upon it when I had just moved to a new state in my teens. Needless to say, I was sad and stressed. The series was always there for me when I needed to escape into another world, and still is! Just like in Libriomancer and Codex Born, I can reach into the series, and pull what I need from it.
As for the real world, there are still many places I would love to travel, but I’ve been lucky to have done more traveling than most. The place I’d most like to go now is the Galápagos Islands, before there is much more damage from climate change and pollution and volunteer with an environmental program to work with endangered sea turtles as I did in St. Croix.