Winners Shapeshifter The Demo Tapes Year 1 Drawing

I am proud to announce the winners of the drawing for ShapeShifter The Demo Tapes Year 1. The lucky people are:

Indigo
GateGypsy

Look for emails from me later today to find out where to send your book.

Book Review: ShapeShifter The Demo Tapes: Year 1 by Susan Helene Gottfried

Have you ever wondered what goes on backstage at a concert? Have you ever wanted to see the inner workings of a well known band? Did you ever wonder what forces shape a band into a powerhouse of music? Well, with The Demo Tapes: Year 1 you can find answers to these questions and more.

The Demo Tapes: Year 1 is a collection aimed at introducing readers into the fictional world of the band ShapeShifter. All of the short fiction pieces in this collection were first published online in the author’s blog between April 2006 and March 2007. The stories all parallel Susan’s currently unpublished novel Trevor’s Song. The Demo Tapes came into existence because author Susan Helene Gottfried was tired of people not being able to read the intense story that she had created starring the band ShapeShifter. The West of Mars Blog was born through these frustrations.

Along the way, her short fiction and musings on her blog Susan gained a following of loyal readers. Her groupies (as they call themselves) stared clamoring for her writing to be published. Because of their push, Susan took matters into her own hands, and self published The Demo Tapes: Year 1 using the services of Lulu.com. The collection cleans up the quickly written outtakes from the blog, and arranges them chronologically.

I’ve been reading the West of Mars blog from its conception. I read each of these pieces when they were originally first published on the blog. I found ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1 a fantastic and fun way of revisiting these older stories. I’m hoping that Susan publishes The Demo Tapes: Year 2 in the near future. I look forward to reading more adventures of Trevor, Mitchell, Keri, and the other band members and fans. I also hope that the Demo Tapes becomes a stepping stone for Susan’s debut novel Trevor’s Song to make it through the gamut of the publishing industry and be available for purchase in bookstores worldwide. Susan has created a wonderful collection of characters in a full fleshed world, and it would be a shame if it was never published.

Places you can find The Demo Tapes: Year 1:
Amazon.com
Lulu.com
Author Susan Helene Gottfried’s web site: West of Mars the Meet & Greet


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As well, I have two autographed copies of The Demo Tapes: Year 1 to send out into the world.

Leave me a comment saying something about why music is important in your life, and a way to contact you and I'll add your name to the drawing.

The deadline for submissions will be 11:59 PM on Monday March 30, 2009.

If you leave a link showing that you are helping spread the word about this giveaway, I'll give you an extra entry in the drawing.

Good luck!

Just a note: Since bookcrossing is a site that both Susan and I love to use on our traveling books, I'm registering these two copies before sending them out to the winners. As usual, you don't need to pass the book along if you don't want to when you finish reading it. I'd love if the winners would use the information on the label to share what they think of the book after you reading it but don't feel like you absolutely have to if you don't want to."