The ARC giveaway is over! And, due to an unforeseen circumstance, I’ve decided to giveaway TWO ARCs! That unforseen circumstance was: only one person, out of 176 entries, got all seven answers correct! (And it was the 2nd question–she was the only person to get the second question right. What’s wrong with you people? Millions is my favorite book of all time. GO READ IT.)

Anyway, the randomly drawn winner is John Hutchins.

The person who got all the answers correctly is Hannah Elizabeth.

The correct answers are below:

1. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, by what titles do the two theatrical con men call themselves? The Duke and the King. (The King also goes by the Dauphin, which answer I also accepted.)

2. In Millions, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who helps Damian rebuild his hermitage? The Martyrs of Uganda.

3. In the film “On The Waterfront”, in his famous “I coulda been a contender” speech, who does Terry Malloy blame? His brother, Charley.

4. In the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”, when George and Clarence are being kicked out of Nick’s bar, what does Nick call them, and what two options does he give for them to leave? He calls the pixies (though I also accepted jailbirds), and the two options are “out the door, or through the window”.

5. In Natalie Merchant’s album Tigerlily, there is a song about a famous celebrity’s death. Who was it? River Phoenix

6. Which Gnarls Barkley video, named by TIME magazine as one of the 30 best videos of all time, was filmed in Jamaica? Going On

7. In Variant, what two full names are mentioned on headstones in the graveyard? Heather Lyon and Jeff “L.A.” Holmes. Trivia: those are the names of the people in my writing group at the time: Heather Moore, Annette Lyon, Jeff Savage, Lu Ann Staheli, and Michele Holmes.

I’ve got a couple of upcoming public events, and I do so few of them that I figured I ought to let you know.

Whitmore Library, Cottonwood Heights, UT

April 14th (this Saturday!), 10:30am

I’ll be speaking for about 20-25 minutes, and then I’ll be very briefly signing books in the hall. I’ll also be giving away a copy of Feedback to some lucky reader. (Or “unlucky”, if it’s not any good.)

TLA (Texas Library Association Conference), Houston, TX

April 19th, 8:00am-8:50am

Convention Center, General Assembly B, Level 3

Panel: 2012: The End of the World As We Know It?

This panel will be all about post-apocalyptic fiction. I’ll be on the panel with Veronica Roth, Neal Shusterman, and Dom Testa.

April 19th, 10:30am-11:00am

Booksigning of Variant and Feedback ARCs

BEA (Book Expo of America), New York City, NY

June 5th, 11:30am-12:30pm

Joint booksigning with Dan Wells (my brother). I’ll be again signing Variant and Feedback, and he’ll be signing Partials.

NOTE:

For the first time in six years, I will not be attending the Storymakers Conference in May.

It’s time for a non-basketball related contest to win an ARC of Feedback! But, instead of the normal “tweet about this” type of contests, I decided to make it a trivia game. So, all of the following questions are in relation to my favorite media.

Don’t worry if you don’t know them all! There’s a way to win even if you get some answers wrong!

For every answer you get correct, you get one entry in the contest. Also, if you blog about this contest, you get an entry. Also, if you review (or have reviewed) Variant, you get TWO entries. So, if you get all the answers correct, and you blog about the contest, and you review Variant, you’ll get TEN ENTRIES.

So, even if you don’t know all the answers, or if you don’t have a blog, you should still enter, because even one correct answer gives you a chance.

DON’T POST YOUR ANSWERS IN THE COMMENTS! Email them to FeedbackARCContest@gmail.com. If you’ve blogged about the contest, or reviewed Variant, include those links.

Now, for the questions. They’re all related to either my favorite media, or to Variant itself. I’ve made them hard on purpose, so don’t worry if you don’t get them all correct.

1. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, by what titles do the two theatrical con men call themselves?

2. In Millions, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who helps Damian rebuild his hermitage?

3. In the film “On The Waterfront”, in his famous “I coulda been a contender” speech, who does Terry Malloy blame?

4. In the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”, when George and Clarence are being kicked out of Nick’s bar, what does Nick call them, and what two options does he give for them to leave?

5. In Natalie Merchant’s album Tigerlily, there is a song about a famous celebrity’s death. Who was it?

6. Which Gnarls Barkley video, named by TIME magazine as one of the 30 best videos of all time, was filmed in Jamaica?

7. In Variant, what two full names are mentioned on headstones in the graveyard?

So, get to work! Many of these can probably be found online.You have one week to enter: all entries must be emailed to FeedbackARCContest@gmail.com by midnight, Friday the 13th of April (Mountain Time).

I decided to set my next book partially in my home state, Utah. Two days ago, I went on a fact-checking mission. The following pictures are all places I stopped, though they’re not necessarily integral to the story. (I don’t want to spoil anything.)

Much of Southern Utah looks like this. (And I love it.)

Goblin Valley. One of the few national parks where you're welcome to climb on—and erode—the scenery. (Also: the world's best place for a scout troop to play Capture The Flag.)

Me, looking like a hobo. Time for a shave. Also, note I'm wearing a sweater. It may be desert, but it's COLD.

Wild Horse Butte, just outside Goblin Valley. (It may actually be called Wild Horse Mesa. I can't remember exactly.)

Stupid cows standing in the middle of the road. Note that this is a 55mph road. I'm glad I was able to stop in time. Stupid cows.

Capitol Reef National Park. My favorite of all the national parks.

More Capitol Reef. I wanted to stay here longer, but I was late to interview someone.

Mom's Cafe in Salina. Any time I'm within 75 miles of Salina, I make a side trip to stop here. I had the chicken fried steak and a scone as big as my head. (In Utah, "scones" are essentially fry bread, eaten with butter and honey.)