It may be BOOKGASM’s birthday, but you’re the one getting the presents! Well, at least one of you is — the one who’ll be getting a box of these three titles, one for each year we’ve been making your day so totally worth waking up for:
• THE JIGSAW MAN by Gord Rollo
• THE SEVEN SINS: THE TYRANT ASCENDING by Jon Land (autographed)
• GRAPHIC CLASSICS: SPECIAL EDITION (autographed by yours truly)
Since we’re giving away so many different kinds of books (horror! thrills! comics!), we’ll play trivia about different kinds of books, courtesy of a title chock full of them: WHO THE HELL IS PANSY O’HARA? THE FASCINATING STORIES BEHIND 50 OF THE WORLD’S BEST-LOVE BOOKS by Jenny Bond and Chris Sheedy. So e-mail us your name, mailing address and answers to these 10 questions …
1. What was the original name for Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE?
2. Which book and author caused Ernest Hemingway to declare, “It’s the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”
3. Which book led to a hoax that catapulted Orson Welles to fame?
4. How many subscribers canceled their subscription to THE STRAND after the story “The Final Problem” — the story in which Sherlock Holmes is killed — appeared?
5. Which author only decided to show her manuscript to an editor after a friend commented that she did not have what it takes to write a novel?
6. Which book caused effigies of the author to be burned by angry Californians who saw his work as a scandalous distortion of the migrant worker situation?
7. Which author once said, “I am probably responsible for the odd fact that people don’t seem to name their daughters Lolita anymore. I have only heard young female poodles being given that name since 1956, but no human beings.”
8. Which American classic resulted from a challenge that restricted the author to use only 250 words chosen by literacy experts for their importance in a child’s vocabulary?
9. What book was saved by the author’s wife who fished the manuscript out of the trash, read it, and then convinced her husband to continue working on it?
10. Which book not only holds the title for the world’s bestselling copyrighted book, but also has the distinction of being the book that gets stolen the most from libraries?
Most correct answers wins. In case of a tie, a random drawing will choose the victor. This contest is only open to the U.S., and we’ll announce the winner on Friday, Aug. 15. Good luck! —Rod Lott
