S.G. Browne

While I’m still a stalwart holdout of fully caving into the digital age when it comes to books, I realize there are others out there who have managed to unshackle themselves from their Luddite ways.

It is to those of you I am heralding the news that Lucky Bastard is now on sale as an eBook in all formats for $1.99. That’s McDonald’s Extra Value Menu pricing. Though I like to think the quality is a little more nutritious.

So whether you have a Kindle, Nook, iPad, or Kobo, you can order Lucky Bastard for less than a bottle of Two Buck Chuck from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, or your favorite independent bookstore, many of whom have partnered with Kobo to sell eBooks. So you can get your digital fix while supporting a brick and mortar bookstore.

I’ve included links to a few of my favorite independent bookstores below that sell eBooks, along with the usual suspects. The sale is only for a short time, so get it while it’s cheap. Or give it as a gift and spread the luck.

Barnes & NobleAmazoniBooksCopperfield BooksBooks IncMysterious Galaxy Bookstore

San Diego Comic-Con is just around the corner, and not long after that, the release of Big Egos on August 6. So I’m here to give you the scoop on my Comic-Con schedule and a handful of signings for Big Egos.

First, prior to Comic-Con, I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Fullerton, CA, where I’ll be signing Lucky Bastard as well as my other earlier titles.

Tuesday, July 16
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Barnes & Noble
Amerige Heights Town Center
1923 West Malvern Avenue
Fullerton, CA

Next at Comic-Con, I’ll be appearing on a couple of panels with signings to follow on Thursday and Saturday. Details are below.

Thursday, July 18
PANEL: Geeks Gets Published – and Paid
4:30pm – 5:30pm
Room: 26AB

SIGNING: Mysterious Galaxy Books
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Booth: 1119-1123

Saturday, July 20
PANEL: Apocalyptic/Zombie: It’s the End of the World as We Know It
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Room: 23ABC

SIGNING: Autograph Area
1:30pm – 2:30pm
Autograph Area: AA09

NOTE: Although Big Egos doesn’t officially release until August 6, it will be on-sale at Comic-Con for early release, courtesy of Mysterious Galaxy Books (Booth 1119-1123).

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As for my regular signing schedule for Big Egos, at the moment it’s limited to a handful of northern California venues. If that changes, I’ll be sure to update my Events Calendar and mention it on my blog, as well. But until then, these are my only scheduled appearances.

Tuesday, August 6
7:30pm – 8:30pm
The Booksmith
1644 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA

Friday, August 9
7:00pm – 8:00pm
Books Inc.
1344 Park St.
Alameda, CA

Thursday, August 15 (*Rescheduled from August 14*)
7:00pm – 8:00pm
Towne Center Books
555 Main Street
Pleasanton, CA

Saturday, August 24
1:00pm – 3:00pm
Barnes & Noble
Creekside Town Center
1256 Galleria Boulevard
Roseville, CA

I hope to see you in San Diego in a couple of weeks or at one of my signings in August!

The Summer of Bastards and Egos rolls on with a Big Egos ARC giveaway. For those who might not be up on the lingo, an ARC is an Advance Reader Copy. Also called an Uncorrected Proof. It looks like a book. It feels like a book. It even smells like a book. And it is a book. Just not the finished version that will be published on August 6.

So how can you get a hold of one of these ARCs, you ask? Well, let me tell you. But first, a little background.

The protagonist of Big Egos works for Engineering Genetics Organizations and Systems (aka EGOS), the company behind Big Egos—a revolutionary role-playing game that allows you to become a dead celebrity or fictional character for 6-8 hours by injecting a DNA-laced cocktail into your brain stem. And our hero has been injecting so many Big Egos that he’s starting to lose the ability to separate fact from fiction. His every fantasy is the new reality. And the more roles he plays, the less of him remains.

Big Egos is a book about identity. It’s about the roles we all play. It’s about what happens when you’re constantly pretending to be someone you’re not.

Got it? Good. Now, on to the giveaway…

There are three ways you can enter:

1) Leave a reply to this post with your answer to the following question: What dead celebrity or fictional character would you want to be?

2) Go to my Twitter profile, find my tweet about the Big Egos ARC Giveaway, and re-tweet it.

3) Go to my Facebook author page, find my posting there about the Big Egos ARC Giveaway, and share the link on your own timeline. (And let me know that you shared it.)

Enter one way or enter all three ways to increase your chances of winning.

Contest open to United States residents only.

Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 5.

Good luck! And may the Ego be with you.

In April 2012, I published my third novel, Lucky Bastard. Or rather, Simon & Schuster / Gallery Books published my noir and luck-themed dark comedy, starring the luck poaching private detective Nick Monday.

Now Lucky Bastard is back, this time in trade paperback with a brand spanking new cover. And to mark the occasion, I’ve included a reading of Chapter 1, narrated by yours truly. Just click on the link below to access the MP3 file:

Lucky Bastard, Chapter 1

The opening line to the novel was something that just popped into my head during a writing exercise at my writer’s group back in July of 2006. I didn’t know where the line was going to lead me, so I just went with it and wrote a short scene about a guy being held at knife point on the roof of some fictional hotel. At the time, I had no idea that scene would end up as part of the opening chapter for a novel about luck.

But one day, after finishing up the final draft of my second novel, Fated, I sat down to figure out what my next book was going to be. I started flipping through my journals and that scene on the rooftop caught my attention. I still wasn’t sure what to do with it, until I combined it with some of the concepts I’d created in a short story about luck poachers called “Softland,” which I’d written in 2004. (You can find “Softland” in my eBook  short story collection Shooting Monkeys in a Barrel).

So that’s how Lucky Bastard was conceived, by a short story getting together with a journal entry. A little over nine months later, I had a newborn novel.

…Jaime Amos, Tommy Noble, and Jennifer Brownell-Wheeler.

Congratulations! I’ll be dropping your signed copies of Lucky Bastard in the mail just as soon as I get your addresses.

As for everyone else, thank you for all of your comments, shares, and retweets. I enjoyed reading about your various good luck charms and always appreciate having the word spread about my books. You all rock.

And stay tuned, as I’ll be having some more giveaways during The Summer of Bastards and Egos.