Today is my birthday. Not Reading Reality’s blogoversary, but my actual birthday.
I’ve been referring to this celebration as a hobbit’s birthday. For anyone who has not read J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpieces, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, hobbits give presents to other people on their birthdays.
Reading, and re-reading The Hobbit and LOTR gave me my love of fantasy, and led to my lifelong adventures in genre fiction. From that introduction, I followed the primrose and circuit-strewn path to science fiction, and thus became a geek girl forever.
The biggest argument I had with Tolkien, then and now, is that there were almost no strong female characters. My current favorites generally don’t have that problem.
One of my favorite books from 2011 is Queenie’s Brigade, by Heather Massey. Queenie is a very strong woman, the leader of a prison colony at the edge of known space. This ebook science fiction romance was on my Best Ebook Romances of 2011 column at Library Journal. I could only pick 5 books, but Queenie’s Brigade had to be one of those five. Read my review and you’ll understand why it made my top 5.
Heather Massey, in addition to being an SFR author, also follows science fiction romance as the pilot of The Galaxy Express blog. Interested readers and fellow travelers should climb aboard The Galaxy Express. It’s a fantastic ride.
But about Queenie. Queenie is an alpha heroine leading a fight against overwhelming odds. Queenie’s Brigade has been called The Dirty Dozen in space. Why? Because Queenie joins the freed inmates of her prison colony to the crew of the last spaceship escaping from a doomed Earth Federation. Queenie and the captain of the spaceship team up to turn the prisoners into soldiers.
I called it great science fiction with hot romance. And thanks to Heather Massey, I get to giveaway a copy of Queenie’s Brigade to one reader of Reading Reality for my birthday.
(If Queenie’s Brigade sounds good, take a look at the review of Heather’s latest erotic clockpunk romance, The Watchmaker’s Lady. There’s still plenty of time to get in on that giveaway.)
To have an ebook copy of Queenie’s Brigade for your very own (PDF, EPUB or .mobi) , here’s all you have to do. Leave a comment that answers the following question: if you were in command of a ragtag fleet of barely repaired ships, which evil science fiction empire would you rather be up against? And also let me know which format you want you ebook in if you are the lucky winner.
The deadline to enter the giveaway is 12:01 a.m. EDT on the morning of April 8, 2012. I will announce the winner on April 9th.
Happy blog birthday, Marlene!
This book sounds really interesting! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 🙂
Oops. i forgot to add my answer, and what an interesting question…um….I think I’d want to go up against the Harkonens.
(preferred book format: .mobi–for Kindle would be my choice)
Again, happy blog-irthday 😉 and wishing you a great year.!
Thank you for the birthday wishes, brave woman. The Harkonnens. You go, girl!
A Happy Hobbit Birthday! If I had to go up against an evil empire, I’d take the Vogons from The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and bamboozle them with bureaucracy!
Happy Birthday!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing with us. I just recently discovered your blog and I love it!!!
Can I say that we’d be lovers, not fighters? lol… otherwise, I’d have to agree w/ Pippa and say the Vogons from The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy cuz they wouldn’t necessarily shoot back 😉
Thanks for the giveaway and I’d love to read this on my kindle 🙂
Erin, I totally forgot about the Vogons!!! Thanks so much for the howling laughter this morning on the Vogons. Hitchhiker’s Guide is screamingly funny. 42 IS the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
Oh wow about the blog love. thank you. That’s…just wow.
Happy Birthday, Marlene! I hope it is a wonderful day! I loved The Hobbit and share your complaint about female characters! I already own Queenie’s Brigade, but wanted to share the party fun, so here I am! Thank you for sharing your two birthdays with all of us book lovers. 🙂
Pauline, always glad to have you stop by!
Was I crazy last year, or what? Maybe not.
I gave myself a brand new blog as a birthday present. The gift that keeps on giving, especially on days like today when I “see” so many new friends!
Many happy returns!
I couldn’t resist entering this–Heather writes infectious pulp SFR, so I’d love to win Queenie’s Brigade.
I think my ragtag group of derelict rebels would have to be up against the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica (the recent series). But surrendering might just be an option because, well, millions of them are either Tricia Helfer, Grace Park or Lucy Lawless.
Robert, this sounds like a certain amount of wishful thinking on your part, or am I imagining things? (My husband thinks that surrendering might be the best option, too!) Mmm…
Hehe! Smart fella, your husband–a guy has only so much resistance to that kind of firepower.
Happy Birthday! I hope you had a great day!
This is a hard decision. I don’t think any one evil faction would be easier to defeat than the other. I would pick the Necromongers from the Chronicles of Riddick. Besides, hopefully that would mean that Vin Diesel would be on my side. 😉
I would prefer Mobi (Kindle) format please.
Thank you for the giveaway.
Tina, thank you for the Vin Diesel option! It makes a much better image for me than the guys (including my very own husband!) all surrendering to the female Cylons!!!!
Happy Birthday! Thanks for the contest, gotta love the april b-days 🙂
I think I’d rather have an ineffectual enemy such as the Ferengei! Happy birthday and thank you for the giveaway.
I hope your Birthday was awesome! I love how wonderful this book sounds, you got to love a kick-ass heroine. I would love to go up against the Darleks in that British show Doctor Who, I love that show.
The really terrific thing about fighting the Daleks is that you get to fight them WITH the Doctor! The only problem would be which Doctor to choose. So many excellent choices…
Oh sorry, forgot the book type PDF please!
Thanks for the chance to win a pdf. I’ll take on the Peeps — from the Honor-verse, not the Easter basket…