Surprise! I Have Another Fuzzy Nation ARC to Give Away

Posted on April 12, 2011    Posted by      1,153 Comments

I’m traveling later in the week, so I figure I should probably give one away now, you know?

Here’s how we’re playing it this time:

1. I asked my daughter to think of a number between one and one thousand. She has.

2. Leave a comment in the comment thread. If your comment number matches her number, you win!

3. It is the number of your comment that is important, not what you put in the comment. If you try to guess which comment number will win, that won’t do anything.

4. Only one entry per person. If you put in a comment and it doesn’t show up immediately, don’t panic — it’s in the moderation queue and I will free it before I do the final count. If you post more than one entry, you will be disqualified. Sorry.

5. This contest runs until 7pm Eastern time, April 13, 2011, at which time I will announce the winner.

6. In the event that not enough people comment to reach the number in question, then I will have my daughter think of a number between one and whatever the last number is at 7pm Eastern, April 13, 2011. Whatever comment is at that number will win.

7. The contest is open to anyone anywhere in the world. So go on, leave a comment.

Got it? Okay: Go!

Category: Uncategorized    

1153 Comments on “Surprise! I Have Another Fuzzy Nation ARC to Give Away”

  15. Anyone want to take bets how many comments containing only a number will exist in this thread?

  23. Well, sure, I’ll bite. All in a good cause: SOMEONE will get a book, and I’ll have helped determine who! Bwahahaha, I have gone MAD with POWER! Or with sleep deprivation. Something.

  37. I’ve never had an ARC before, it would make me terribly excited to win one!

    On an unrelated note: I have a one-month-old daughter named Zoe. She is partially named after the character. (Mostly we were trying to think of a name and I happened to have just read The Last Colony and we both liked the sound of it.)

  47. “I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.” – Umberto Eco (I love this quote.)

  57. I have only the smallest hope of winning; but small hope is better than no hope at all.

  60. In the odd hopes that she likes Herbie the Love Bug, I’m shooting for #53

  78. This takes away all the fretful attempting to guess, and leaves it to “when did I get around to leaving a comment.” Perfect!

  84. As soon as he put on the light, something inside the shower stall said, “Yeeeek!” in a startled voice.

  86. My guess is that, given a large range, she would tend towards the top of that range, at least 4 digits. However, I have to run, so rather than just not play, my comment is just a placeholder so someone else can win. I wish you the best.

  87. Oooh! I’m gonna choose (insert correct comment # here)! it’s my lucky number!

  95. She probably chose a 3 digit number, but it is a $10 book, so it hardly seems worth waiting to post….

  101. Oh man, this is such a difficult competition! I’m sure to do something wrong and my entry will get disqualified.

  106. Crossing my fingers. They shall remain crossed until the close of the give away. :D

  110. I’m looking forward to reading Fuzzy Nation. ARC’d be nice, if not I’ll wait longer…

  124. @34 Chris
    I too have a 4month old child with the middle name Perry named for John Perry. I bet he’d like an ARC Fuzzy Nation, when he can read.

  137. Too early I’ll bet – but I’m going to be busy for a while so………………..

  148. Gahhhh! The last time I won anything was back in the ’70s when I won a Snoopy doll at the local premier of a Charlie Brown movie.

    Gahhhh! I’m old!

  158. I want to wait for comment 772, but I have a feeling that either a) we won’t get that far in, or b) I’ll be asleep about the time the comment numbers reach that point.

    So, something in the mid-to-high 150s sounds good.

  167. I’m busy writing a villain’s POV in my current WIP so I cant help but imagine there’s some nefarious plan behind these “innocent” comment games. Every comment is code to lower the hog-tied hero ever closer to the certain death inside a pool filled with laser-wielding sharks. Or some such.

  172. I’m doing this instead of studying for my exam on Jane Austen, who was insightful enough to predict “Jersey Shore” with “Pride and Prejudice”. Oh, the parties and hookups and gossip and shallow people!

  176. I am not a number! I am a … eh? This is a chance to win a Fuzzy Nation ARC?

    Count me in!

  233. This time for sure, nuthin’ up ma sleeve… Presto!

    (wrong hat!)

    I take a 7 and a half…

  240. Right, if I don’t win I’ll just have to- gasp- spend some money. But it’s plain stupid that I don’t have more of your books, since I always love your writing.

  278. I always pick a number in the 700s, but I’m sure Athena is cooler than me and will pick THIS comment.

  287. I expect the clever are holding back to get a large number, but what the heckaroonie…

  291. It’s amazing how many people place numbers in their comments anyway. Fools!

  294. Just laughing at all of the people that didn’t read the post and see the comment number is what matters.

  325. The only number we can be sure it is not is this one. See you May 17th. I’ll be the one with the Hebrew copy of Old Mans War to be signed. And a couple of Fuzzy Nations to give to my friends.

  329. If I win, I’ll give Athena Warren Ellis’ daughter’s pony*.

    I’m totally lying, Warren would eat my soul, if he hasn’t already.

  340. I can’t see comment numbers on my iPhone, so I won’t know what I hit. :-(
    (Around 330?)

  346. Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
    All mimsy were the borogroves, and the mome wraths outgrabe.
    Beware the Jabberwock, my son, the jaws that bite, the claws that catch
    Beware the jub-jub bird and shun the frumious bandersnatch.
    He took his vorpal blade in hand, long time the manxome foe he sought
    So rested he by the tum-tum tree and stood awhile in thought.
    And as in uffish thought he stood, the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame
    Came whiffling through the tulgey wood and burbled as it came!
    One, two, one, two and through and through! The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
    He left it dead and with its head he went galumphing back!
    And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy
    Oh, frabjous day, calooh, calay, he chortled in his joy.

  360. This is more fun than a drunken monkey. That’s not true actually. The drunken monkey is more entertaining. But he doesn’t read.

  363. I wanted to put something clever here, but I have neither the wit nor the patience to think of something. Also, brain melting from reading the other comments. Some of which are very awesome.

    …

    And some of which are not. I’m looking at you number people

  367. A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.” The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!” Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?” The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”

  373. 357 is clearly correct, on account of it being composed of 3 consecutive odd numbers.

  377. The last time I won anything was 6th grade; it was one of those hollow chocolate Easter bunny things and I ate the ears off first.

  393. Sorry to say that I haven’t been reading long enough to know what your book is about, although I’m not too dense to figure out that it’s most likely science fiction. If I get the winning number, I get an autographed copy right? heehee

  414. It’s like playing lotto, but without having to go to the seven eleven. Or pay for my ticket. Yay!

  431. howdy. Ok, Ms Scalzi, pick me, pick me!

    ah, whom am I kidding, I never win anything…

  434. @346- I was totally about to post that exact same poem. I’m not kidding. Whenever I have to say/write something random, I usually end up spouting poetry. Especially that one. People tend to give me strange looks.

    Anyways, I want to read Fuzzy Nation!

  444. I’ve had the lousiest day in the lousiest week ever in my life. The universe owes me an ARC of Fuzy Nation!

  486. I suspect that this is not the winning comment.

    I hope that my earnest request to see the Cthulhu vs Scott Westerfield videos once more is a winning one, though.

  501. I feel quite strongly about the number that has been randomly generated for me! Go my number!

  502. So I’m just curious. If the comments were to exceed 1,00 before 7PM on the 13th should we be smart enough not to bother posting, or would you have your daughter re-think a number between 1 and whatever number over a thousand was the last comment be 7 PM EST on April 13th?

  505. Winning this ARC is what stands between me and a tour in the CDF… I’ll be that desperate.

  508. This is a comment. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Without my comment, I am useless. Without me, my comment is useless.

  521. Since it is the number of the comment not the guess, I have a chance as we are still below 1000.
    good luck to everyone. (and me8^D)

  524. I’m a BookCrosser and I released one of your books although I hadn’t read it. It has now been read by three different people who loved it. See this site for the details. Since then a number of people have told me how much they like your books (and one of them directed me to this site) so I obviously have to read them. So you could despoil a Scalzi virgin by picking me.

  551. I was waiting for the minute to change before I posted this, then I laughed and said “Oh yes, I am having teh dumb.”

  558. Now’s as good a time as any. I was off by five minutes last time. >_<

  572. Will I get any extra credit for introducing someone to Little Fuzzy yesterday? (I know….I couldn’t believe he’d never heard of Little Fuzzy but at least he did know who H Beam Piper was!)

  580. My house is already covered in fuzz from our cats, so a book about fuzzys will match.

  593. I’ll take some of that action!

    (Last time I said that, I won a free pass to a local conference. Here’s hoping it’s lucky again.)

  599. Unlike most lotteries, the value of a 1/1000 chance of winning this ARC might actually be worth more than the time it takes to type this. So I’ll bite!

  600. I’d like to thank all the people who made it possible for me to win this ARC. I really, really want to thank those people, but if I don’t win I can’t do that… ^_^

  606. This is the first Fuzzy Nation ARC giveaway that I’ve actually seen before it was over. Hooray for timeliness! Or something.

  614. I had to scroll a loooooooooooooooooong way to be able to enter this comment. Hope all that work paid off!

  621. I’m watching a really depressing Red Sox game and entering this contest might be the most fun I’m going to have tonight.

  623. “It’s a metaphor of human bloody existence, a dragon. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s also a bloody great hot flying thing.” — Terry Pratchett, in Guards, Guards

  633. com·ment (kmnt)
    n.
    1.
    a. A written note intended as an explanation, illustration, or criticism of a passage in a book or other writing; an annotation.
    b. A series of annotations or explanations.
    2.
    a. A statement of fact or opinion, especially a remark that expresses a personal reaction or attitude.
    b. An implied conclusion or judgment: a novel that is a comment on contemporary lawlessness.
    3. Talk; gossip: a divorce that caused much comment.
    4. Computer Science A string of text in a program that does not function in the program itself but is used by the programmer to explain instructions.
    5. Linguistics The part of a sentence that provides new information about the topic. Also called rheme.

  644. Do your wife and daughter have as much fun participating as you do coming up with these contests?

  647. I’m totally coming down to seattle (from vancouver) just for the ARC book tour.

    An advanced copy would still rock though.

  649. If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars) I would buy a Fuzzy Nation Arc (but not a real arc cause that’s cruel)…….

  688. This is a comment. It has a number associated with it. I will not post twice this time, and so, invalidate my entry.

  707. Betcha’ she chose 3, and we’ve all been typing in vain since then… :-)

    But I hope not!

  736. Numbers people pick are often include 7’s, out of proportion to the expected number – and threes. *crosses fingers*.

  745. If this count is correct I believe you’ll have too many, not too few, Mister Scalzi.

  757. Oh man. I can almost imagine this is actually happening and not a (prescription) drug-induced hallucination…

  775. Because it would just be tragic to have to go through the work of getting a new number…

  785. I was recently in my local B&N and noticed they were downsizing the amount of books per author to a few each. Not a few of each they wrote, (more’s the pity!) but simply one or two, to none. Well, with the exception of the Big Guns in books. ie: King, Roberts, Meyers, Rowling, etc. However, you may be interested to know, they had a very nice assortment of _your_ books.
    Thanks for your imagination!

  802. Let’s hope that my slowness to comment coincides with the young lady’s numerical preferences!

  813. A phenomenal number of people seem to be either incapable of reading directions or fond of posting unrelated numbers as comments. :)

    810 entries . . . increasingly unlikely that “not getting to the number” will be a problem.

  830. I’m listen to very epic music while posting this. Maybe that will help…
    If not, then at least this felt like I did something very important.

  855. In the words of the prophets: Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom.

    As good an incantation as any.

  856. The fine print:

    Sweepstakes limited to 1,000 entries.

    Contestants limited to the inhabitants of Sol III and its satellites, and void where prohibited by law.

    Do not taunt Happy Fun ARC.

  874. Hah, still not over 1000! Though the moderation queue might mess things up…

  876. I love the random chance of randomly getting the correct random number. Or something.

  882. John,
    I think it is really cool of you to give your daughter a task that is a part of your work/On-line blog. That has to put you in the cool dad category. I imagine the show and tell in her class has to be a little bit weirder.
    Dave