S.G. Browne

*THE GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND WINNERS AWARDED. THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR PLAYING!*

To celebrate the Summer Solstice, I’m giving away two signed copies of my latest novel Lucky Bastard. That’s right. Two signed copies to two lucky winners two months after the release of the book.

Think of them as twins separated at birth.

Anyway, since we’ve got a lot of deuces going on here, let’s keep the theme going as we roll on into the relevant details.

There are two ways you can enter to win:

1) Leave a comment on this blog post about your favorite superstition or something you do to attract good luck. Any ritual you perform or talisman you might carry around to improve your good fortune. I’ll pick one lucky winner from the comments posted below. Please post only once. (And if you’re reading this on Goodreads, please leave your comments on the original post on my web site rather than on Goodreads.)

2) Tweet the following on Twitter:

Feeling down on your luck? Pick up a copy of LUCKY BASTARD by @s_g_browne http://su.pr/2DfDyG #luckpoachers

Again, please tweet this only once. And make sure to include the link and the hashtag. I’ll pick a second lucky winner from this pool of entries.

Yes, you can enter to win both ways but again, please, enter only once each time.

The contest will run until Friday, June 22 at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be announced on Monday, June 25.

I’ll cover shipping to any address in the United States. Outside of the United States, any exorbitant shipping costs are on you. Deal? Deal.

Good luck!

I’ve added some new dates where I’ll be signing Lucky Bastard over the next month. In addition to my upcoming events at Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma, CA (May 18) and Barnes & Noble in Roseville, CA (May 19), I’ll be appearing at the following locations:

First, I’ll be at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, CA (May 30), where I’ll be interviewed by Penny Warner. The event kicks off at 5:30pm with a happy hour complete with cocktails and finger foods, so bring your thirst and your appetite!

Next I’ll be signing at Inklings Books & Things in Capitola, CA (June 2) from 2-4pm in the Capitola Mall. A week later, I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Dublin (June 9) signing from 1-3pm. Both of these latter two will be meet and greet events.

After that, you can find me back in San Francisco at The Variety Preview Room (June 16), where I’ll be doing a reading and discussion at 7pm along with Lev Grossman, NY Times Bestselling author of The Magicians and The Magician King.

Times, locations, and all other relevant information for all of these events can be found on my website page for Lucky Bastard Tour Dates.

I’ll also be attending San Diego Comic-Con July 12-15, signing at Dark Delicacies in Burbank on July 17, and reading at the KGB Reading Series at the KGB Bar in New York on October 17. More details about these events will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.

And as always, thanks for reading!

I have a fondness for Los Angeles. I lived there for three years, from 1989-1992, within spitting distance of the La Brea Tar Pits and the L.A County Museum of Art. Back then, you could get just about anywhere in 20 minutes: Westwood, Manhattan Beach, Universal City.

Now, about the only thing you can do in 20 minutes is work your way to the front of the line at Pink’s or Tommy’s.

But I love coming back and visiting friends and enjoying the warm weather. That’s one of the most rewarding benefits of going on the road to promote my novels. Not the warm weather. But the friends. Old and new. People I wouldn’t get the opportunity to spend time with otherwise.

Plus, when you spend a lot of your time alone in front of a computer making up imaginary stories about imaginary people, it’s good to get out once in a while. Helps you to manage your sanity.

While I’m now down in San Diego, which has its own charms and appeal, the highlights of my three days in Los Angeles included:

• drinking too much and staying up too late Thursday night with a college buddy and his lovely wife;
• reading and signing Lucky Bastard on Friday night at the new Mysterious Galaxy Books in Redondo Beach, which has an awesome staff and cheese popcorn;
• signing at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on Sunday, where I had the chance to meet some fans and hang out with fellow wordsmiths Chuck Wendig, Stephen Blackmoore, Maria Alexander, and Matt Funk

Once LATFOB came to a close on Sunday, I made it from USC to San Diego in 1 1/2 hours, a personal best, and have had the good fortune to spend the past thirty-six hours with some old, dear friends who treat me well and make me laugh.

Tonight, I wrap up my southern California Lucky Bastard tour with a reading and signing at the original Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego. The fun starts at 7:00PM, so if you’re in the hood, stop on by. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

Over the past month, I received 118 suggested names for my monkey in the Name My Monkey Contest. I waited until the contest was over to check out the entries and had a tough time coming up with a winner. So thank you for making my job difficult.

There were more than a dozen entries that incorporated a monkey theme, including Chimply, Chimp Charlie, Mr. Monkeypants, Banana, Bananas, Bongo Bananahands, Sir Simian, Howler, Bonobo, Thelonious Monk(ey), and Chunky Banana Monkey (which played to my love of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream).

Some entries offered up full names, like Walter Lamar Booth and Charlie Buckhead, while a handful provided regal names like Princess Consuela Banana Ha-mach and Captain Reginald Carpaccio of Winchester that resonated with royalty.

Several entrants who are very secure with themselves suggested I name my monkey after them. Another thought I should name my monkey Jason Bateman (which played to my love of Arrested Development).

The majority of the names were of the Madonna or Prince variety—single names that needed no surname to complete them. Xavier, Maynard, Feldspar, Rasco, Rufus, Schroedinger, Calvin (which played to my love of Calvin & Hobbes), Mercutio, Barnaby, Grums, and Beppo, who is apparently Superman’s pet monkey. I had no idea Superman had a pet monkey. But if he did, his name would be Beppo.

Half a dozen people suggested the name Spank, Spankie, or Spanky, while another threw out Slappy, just in case spanking my monkey grew tedious. Three offered the names Lucky, Son of a Bastard, and Dirty Bastard (which played to my love of my new novel). And one entry suggested I name my monkey Balboa Browne (which played to my love of myself).

But after careful consideration and mulling and rolling the names around on my tongue and in my head, I finally settled on a winner: Reginald Muffintop the 3rd, suggested by Cassandra Rose.

Congratulations! You’ve won signed copies of all three of my novels, a copy of my eBook short story collection Shooting Monkeys in a Barrel, and a $50 gift card of your choice to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest and who took the time to come up with a name. I appreciate you playing along and helping to make the contest a success.

Oh, and just for the record, Reginald Muffintop the 3rd’s gangsta rapper name is Reggie M3.

No matter how hard I try to treat a book launch day like any other day, I inevitably end up like a little kid waking up on Christmas morning who can’t wait to see what Santa left under the tree. The difference being that I know what I’m going to find but I’m still excited.

So yes, today is the launch of Lucky Bastard, my third novel and the first one to be published in hard cover. I feel so grown up.

If you’re wondering how I’ll spend my day, I’ll likely meditate, go to the gym, go grocery shopping, then hit up a bunch of local bookstores to sign stock copy and whore myself out. If I have time, I might even see a movie. I’m also planning to grab dinner with some friends before my book launch party.

The official celebration takes place tonight at The Booksmith in San Francisco and you’re all invited. There will be readings, discussions, questions asked and answered, and giveaways. So if you’re in the neighborhood, come on by to see if you might get lucky.

The festivities start at 7:30pm but I’ll be there early to chat and hang out. Plus, the first twenty-four people who show up will get a Mission mini cupcake, courtesy of The Booksmith. So bonus.

Oh, and my monkey will be there, too.

The Booksmith
1644 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA
415-863-8688