Smugglers’ Stash and News

Hello everybody!

By the time you read this post, I (Ana) shall be one day away from visiting HARRY POTTER WORLD.

I will give you a moment to recuperate.

Yes, it is true! I am drafting this post on Friday, as I pack my bags for a week in Orlando. I am going with Dear Partner who made me promise to take a REAL break and NOT GO ONLINE FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK.

Please give me a moment to recuperate.

(I don’t know how I will keep this promise. Regrets: I can has them).

Anyways, I am gone but left a couple of posts scheduled and The Mighty Thea in charge. Please behave Internets, no brouhahas while I am away, okie?

Giveaway winner

The winner of a copy of The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier is:

Ginny (comment#34)

Congratulations! As usual, please send us an email (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we will get your winnings off to you as quickly as possible. Thanks again to all that entered!

Nerds Heart YA

As you should know by now, the annual Nerds Heart YA tournament is back for 2011 and it’s Nomination time!

Who can nominate?

Judges (the organisers will work to make sure that judges do not judge any books they may nominate)

Bloggers

All enthusiastic readers

When can I nominate books?

Nominations are open from 14th February 2011 to midnight GMT on 7th March 2011.

What are the criteria?

To qualify for Nerds Heart YA 2011 a book must:

Have been published between Jan 1st 2010 and Dec 31st 2010

Contain significant characters that fit into at least one of the seven categories of under represented groups that the Nerds Heart YA organisers have identified, or have been written by an author who comes from within one of these groups of people

Be young adult fiction

Be a book that you feel has been under represented by book blog coverage

How do I nominate books?

Follow the link through to the nomination form and fill it out. You will need to fill out a separate form for each book nominated.

What happens after the nominations close?

The long list is collated by the organisers and sent off to our team of consultants who will choose the 32 books that will take part in the Nerds Heart YA 2011 tournament. On 3rd of April 2011 the shortlist will be announced and judges will be told which books they need to read.

Is anything happening besides the tournament this year?

We have some exciting new side projects in the works that we hope will Nerds Heart YA even more fun this year.

Have a think and then get nominating. We want the biggest, brightest possible field of books for our consultants to choose from.

This week on The Book Smugglers

On Monday, Ana reviews the excellent Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell.

On Tuesday, Ana gushes about A Lot Like Love by Julie James and we give away one copy.

Wednesday, Thea reviews Pale Demon by Kim Harrison, the latest instalment in what is quite possibly her favourite UF series.

On Thursday, Thea is back with a review of The False Princess by Elis O’Neal.

Finally, on Friday Thea closes out the week with her review of Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel (the second book in the Matt Cruse series, which is awesome, bad cover aside).

And that’s it from us today! As usual, we remain:

SQUEEEE

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers