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Thursday, December 07, 2006

THE GIRL AT SEA HOLIDAY CONTEST

As promised, friends! Welcome to the first day of MJ’S BLOG OF FESTITUDE.

I love the holiday season, so I have decided that from this point through to the end of the year, I will completely turn this blog over to all things festive. This is your one-stop shop for CHEER. No matter what holiday you celebrate, CHEER is for all.

My very first act of CHEER was the establishment of the mj holiday signing workshop, which is in full swing! If you would like to give one of my books as a gift this holiday season (or just keep one for yourself), the mj holiday workshop elves (me) will hand-make you a signed card to go in it. All of the details are here. And if you’ve requested a card, don’t worry! Another batch is on its way out the door!

And now, I present to you my second act of CHEER. I am giving away one (1) galley copy of my new book, Girl At Sea. This is a rare item! Daphne Unfeasible just got her copy! I can only give one, as I don’t have many.



How do you win? It’s absurdly simple. For the mj blog of festitude, I am going to answer your holiday cheer-related questions. Ask me anything! Are you confused by a holiday tradition? Are you baffled by the lyrics to a holiday carol? Send me a question at my e-mail address using the contact button below (maureen@maureenjohnsonbooks.com).

I will take the names of everyone who sends me a question and I will put those names in my holiday hat and choose one at random. That person gets the signed copy of Girl At Sea. Keep it for yourself! Give it as a gift! Put it on your head! I don’t care! It will be yours!

The cutoff for the contest is midnight, December 12th. I will pick the name on Wednesday morning and announce the winner.

As many of you have noticed, the Girl At Sea cover looks a lot like the 13 Little Blue Envelopes cover. What does this mean, this similar cover?

Girl At Sea is not a sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes. It does not have the same characters or storyline. However, it is a kind of companion. I like to think of Girl At Sea as 13 Little Blue Envelope’s sister. Two different beings, but in the same family. Here’s what it’s about . . .

Once upon a time, 11 year-old Clio Ford had a happy family, including a dad that was almost her best friend. On rainy summer week at the beach, they decided to make a game to play. They called it Dive! Clio, an artist, drew the board and the cards.

It was a good game. So good, in fact, that Clio’s father managed to sell it to a major New York game company. Suddenly, the Fords were rich, and even somewhat famous. Unfortunately, the wealth and popularity brought out the worst in Clio’s dad. They had fun for a year or two, and then both the money and the enjoyment went away. Clio’s family split up, and nothing has ever been the same. Clio even has a physical mark on her body from where it all went awry . . .

Flash forward to the present. Seventeen year-old Clio is just trying to get on with her life, and that includes finally making a move on Ollie, the guy from the art store she has been staking out for most of the year. Out of the blue, she gets some news that changes everything. Her mother has to go away for the summer, and her dad is exercising his visitation rights. Or rather, he’s making her come and visit him in Italy.

Clio finds herself in Sorrento, on the Italian coast, meeting her father’s new “team.” They include: a British professor of archeology (a.k.a., his new girlfriend), her English-Swedish daughter Elsa (the dairy goddess), and arrogant Yale-transplant Aidan (the brain).

Also, her father has somehow purchased a yacht, which he sails off in the middle of the night with Clio and the team on board. She is literally stuck at sea. And no one will tell her what they are supposed to be doing out there, though there is clearly something going on.

Clio doesn’t know that she is now continuing a search that began in London over a hundred years ago, for something that will redefine history itself. She’ll also get a job, get trapped in a love triangle, have an unfortunate encounter with sealife, and learn why you should always be careful of shiny red buttons.

That’s the story. That’s the contest. All right . . . get cracking!




It’s CHEER time!

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

cool thanks for putting up your email address

3:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maureen, when I clicked to get your address for the cards (which I love you desperately for, you know.) It took me to a blank page and said it needed a password. So...is there a way you can put your email on the site? Or perhaps you could send an email to me that I could reply to with my request? Let me know if that would work and I'll post my email.

Thanks!

-Hannah

ps. SO excited for Girl At Sea. Am very much detirmined to win!

7:50 AM  
Blogger Maureen said...

Hannah, this is the e-mail: maureen@maureenjohnsonbooks.com

10:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Maureen! I can tell already it's go to be a wonderful Christmas!

Love,

Hannah

11:39 PM  
Blogger Little Willow said...

You have email. :)

2:19 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I'm so sad! I just found this site (finished 13 last week after reading about it on your agents website)...I wish I could have entered! Please have another contest soon! Can't wait to read this new story!!

1:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thank you nice sharing

4:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hii maureen I read the girl at sea boook and i liked it a lot will you make a sequel?

11:41 PM  

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