S.G. Browne

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.

While summer doesn’t officially arrive for another two-and-a-half weeks, we’re kicking off the Summer of Bastards and Egos early with the Lucky Bastard TP Giveaway!

Just to be clear, I’m not giving away Lucky Bastard toilet paper. I don’t think that would create the right kind of impression in the minds of potential readers. TP stands for “trade paperback,” which is the edition of Lucky Bastard that will be hitting the shelves two weeks from today. That’s it over there on the left.

So to celebrate the new release of my third novel, I’m giving away three (3) signed copies of Lucky Bastard.

How do you get your hands on one of these free signed copies? Well, since it’s my third novel and since I’m giving away three copies, then I’m giving you three different ways to win:

1) Leave a comment on this post about your favorite good luck charm.

2) Go to my Facebook author page, find my posting there about the Lucky Bastard Giveaway, and share the link on your own timeline.

3) Go to my Twitter profile, find my tweet about the Lucky Bastard Giveaway, and re-tweet it.

That’s all there is to it. And yes, you can enter all three ways, but only once each way. Just make sure to share or re-tweet my original posts and tweets; otherwise I won’t be able to keep track of who shared and re-tweeted.

Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday, June 7.

Contest open to United States residents only. My apologies to the rest of the world.

Good luck!