Thanks & Giving

There are many reasons that I have to be thankful during this holiday season. The biggest thing I am thankful for is my husband and my children. Last year at this time marked the starting of a very dark period in my life and the only reason I am here today to enjoy my husband and children is because of three people:

1. Bill Baker
2. Byron Dixon
3. Jacqueline Carey

The guys know what they did to help and I hope they know how thankful I am for their help. But the one that I never really had the chance to thank for her help - help that was given unknowingly - was Jacqueline Carey.

So why Jacqueline Carey?

Carey is an author, a fantasy author, one that I would catagorize as dark fantasy because of the themes that she often writes about in her books. Her stories from the Kushiel series helped me hold on and continue to seek outside help during that dark time in my life. Her books are the reason that I am sitting here today writing this blog.

Recently Carey released a new book called Saints Astray (click me!). While this new book is part of a new series and not part of the Kushiel series, it is nice to see new work by such a fabulous author. This book is the sequel to Santa Olivia. I could sit here and give you an review of Carey's books but to be honest I am not much of a wordsmith.

One of the many things that I love about Carey is not just her books but how personable she is in real life. She cares about her readers. I had the chance a few years ago to meet her in person. She was gracious and kind.



And as the kind and wonderful person that Carey is she recently decided to do a wonderful thing for blog writers. She has decided to do giveaways of her newest book via various blogger sites. I was honored to have my site chosen as one of the blogs that she will be giving a book away on.

So here is how you can get in to win a copy of Saints Astray:

1. Email me at lhansendesign@msn.com
2. Now here is the twist: In that email you need to include your name, first and last, and a picture of something creative that you have done. Since my blog is a designer/artist blog I wanted to include some kind of creativity to this contest. The image does not have to fancy, heck it can even be taken from your phone. Also the something creative does not have to be anything specific. So it could be just about anything so long as it was made by you.

One winner will be chosen at random using random.org on Monday November 28th and announced in my blog on Tuesday November 29th.

Good Luck!

LH