THE TWELVE Out in Paperback Today! Win Signed Copies of COLLUSION and THE TWELVE!

The paperback edition of THE TWELVE was officially published today by Vintage Books, and they're doing a big old marketing campaign to get it out there. Part of that campaign is the lovely poster pictured here which should be appearing in train stations all around Britain and Ireland right about now.

To celebrate this fact, how about a contest? It's simple: if you see one of these posters on your travels, take a photo and email it to contest@stuartneville.com! The first three senders will each receive special signed limited edition proof copies of not only THE TWELVE, but its sequel, COLLUSION, which won't be in the shops for another month.

There's no closing date as such, so keep sending those pics...

Win Proof Copies of THE TWELVE and COLLUSION

I'm giving away five signed pairs of proofs of the Vintage paperback edition of THE TWELVE and an advance copy of its sequel, COLLUSION. The special paperback edition of THE TWELVE is a very limited run and has never been for sale, and you can also get to read COLLUSION two months before anyone else!

To enter, you need a Twitter account to answer a very simple question: Which major literary prize did the American edition of THE TWELVE, called THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, win? The answer is right on my home page at http://www.stuartneville.com/! To enter, just tweet the following, replacing the asterisks with your answer:

THE TWELVE, aka THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, by @stuartneville won the *** ******* ***** Book Prize!

Remember, your tweet has to be exactly those words, including my Twitter name, @stuartneville, or I won't see your entry.

The contest closes at 12:00 noon UK time on Monday 7th of June, after which five entries will be chosen at random. Good luck!

#GhostsOfBelfast Contest: At last, the winners!

At long last, at least three weeks late, here are the winners of the Ghosts Of Belfast twitfic contest. I'm very pleased that my favourite scary tweet was also the most popular amongst voters, but more of that in a second. I had originally planned to choose the top five tweets, then select one as the outright winner based on votes, but as it turned out there were eight finalists with a clear first and second, but third place was a two-way tie, meaning fourth places was skipped, while fifth place was tied three ways, leaving one finalist unplaced. In the circumstances, and also by of apology for taking so long at this, I've decided that all eight finalists will each receive a signed copy of The Ghosts of Belfast. So, can each one of you please DM an email address to me via Twitter, or email me at info@stuartneville.com?

But what you probably want to know is: who was the ultimate winner? This tweet stood out for me because it had voice, a wonderful economy of words, painted a vivid picture, and let my own imagination do much of the work - exactly the kind of writing I enjoy, whether it's just a few words or a whole novel. That tweet was by @portiaalex, and it read thusly:

"Saw on the floor. Blood in the sink. Hair in the drain. Pie in the oven. Lunchtime."

Isn't that brilliant? Whatever @portiaalex's literary ambitions are, I have no doubt she will succeed. Writing like that isn't a fluke - that's skill and talent. So, well done to @portiaalex, drop me a line and we'll get your prize sorted.

#GhostsOfBelfast Contest: The Shortlist!

Finally, more than two weeks late, here are the ten finalists for the #GhostsOfBelfast twitfic contest. For those who missed it, the idea was to write a scary story in a single tweet, including the hash tag #GhostsOfBelfast so I could find it. There were hundreds of entries, but due to a glitch with Twitter some of them were lost. Apologies to those whose tweets fell through the cracks, and thanks to those with the patience to tweet again so I could find you.

So, without further ado, here in alphabetical order are the ten tweets that most shivered my scary-bone:

@current_self: The long fingers pressed inexpertly at my throat. I gasped awake. "Just a dream, child," mother shushed me. "Just a dream."

@current_self: /Dress to Impress/, said the invite. Val began her cutting and stitching at her legs, adding the ribbons of her dreams.

@danielkjarrell: The Hunters Moon sets. Life ebbs as my clothes refill with straw and I sag against the post. Yearly cursed to a night alive.

@djpyle: My dog's spirit howled nightly until I tossed a yowling sack in the river and made him a litter of ghost kittens to chase.

@OHNOITSKEN: Fifty people pressed against each other for protection, scared. The lights flickered off and on. Only forty people now.

@portiaalex: Saw on the floor. Blood in the sink. Hair in the drain. Pie in the oven. Lunchtime.

@portiaalex: Dark alley. Man pets his cat. 'Sorry old friend,' he says. He clutches chest and dies. Cat nuzzles close and starts to eat.

@stacy_chambers: In his virtual world, he was God, and everyone did his bidding. In real life, he was a nobody. A nobody with a gun.

@stephy442: In life, I jilted my lover from afar. In death, she kept my best bits in a jar.

@twitbork: Half asleep, she felt his familiar form press against her body bringing waves of ecstasy. Even in death he knew her so well.

And there you have it. I'll blog about this at another time, but I've got to say how impressed I was by the entries. Painting such vivid pictures in so few words is no easy task, and my hat's off not only to the finalists, but to all those who almost made the cut.

Now for the voting...

Simplicity itself. To vote for your favourite finalist, simply tweet their screen name along with #GhostsOfBelfast. For example, if you wanted to waste a vote on me, you'd tweet "@stuartneville #GhostsOfBelfast". You can add other comments if you like, but it's those two key ingredients that will count. So, finalists and anyone else following this, get tweeting!

NOTE: Most unique votes wins - Each voter may only vote for one finalist - No multiple votes allowed - Voting closes at midnight on Saturday 21st November.

#GhostsOfBelfast Emergency Contest Judgment Contingency Plan

So, Twitter is a big bag of arse. When I launched the #GhostsOfBelfast TwitFic contest just over a month ago, I assumed the entries would be available for searching in perpetuity. Apparently not. Therefore, I propose the following:

If you entered the #GhostsOfBelfast contest, just tweet the hash tag #GhostsOfBelfast one more time before midnight on Saturday, and I will spend Sunday finding all the entries using a third party website that can look back further given a username and a search term. It'll be a bit of a slog, but there were so many great entries that I don't want to let any slip past.

With any luck, I'll have the finalists some time on Monday. Apologies to all those who entered for the extra hassle this entails, and I thank you for your patience.

Ghosts of Belfast TwitFic Contest: Scare me in 124 characters or less for prizes!

As you may be aware, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST will be published in the USA by Soho Press this Thursday, the 1st of October. I'll be embarking on a US tour (details here) to celebrate the launch, so please come and say hello if you're near any of the venues.

The other thing that happens in October is, of course, Halloween, when our thoughts turn to the ghostly and ghoulish. We all have our own personal ghost stories, so how about you share yours as part of a special Twitter contest? Here's how it'll work:

Go to your Twitter account (you do have one, don't you?) and tweet your own experience of a ghost, along with the hash tag #GhostsOfBelfast so I can find it. That leaves you 124 characters to tell your story. The shorter the better, the scarier the better, the funnier the better.

The contest will close at midnight on 31st of October 2009, and I will choose ten finalists. Each of those tweets will be re-tweeted by me and the good folks at Soho Press (or linked to a special page on my website if they're too long). The finalists will then be put to the vote on via Twitter, and the top five will each win a signed copy of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, as well as be featured on the home pages of StuartNeville.com and GhostsOfBelfast.com. What's more, whoever gets the most votes of all wins one of the last remaining copies of THE SIX, my limited edition signed and numbered short story collection - only fifty of these will ever be printed!

So, here are the three simple rules:

1) Tweet your scariest, funniest ghost story in 124 CHARACTERS OR LESS.

2) It's VITAL that you remember to include the hash tag #GhostsOfBelfast or your entry won't be seen.

3) Tweet it before MIDNIGHT 31st OCTOBER.

You can enter as many times as you like, but each tweet must be a different story. So, get tweeting, and good luck!

London Calling: Signing at Piccadilly Waterstone's

I'm off to London this week. Among my activities will be an interview for the BBC World Service's Strand programme, which I believe will air on Wednesday (a link to the iPlayer version will be provided as and when).

I will also be doing some drop-in signings at various bookshops around the Big Smoke, and the plan is to be at the Piccadilly branch of Waterstone's between 12:00 and 12:30 on Tuesday 28th of July, so do come and say hello if you're in the area. As an incentive, the fist person to find me there (if any) will win a free copy of The Twelve!

In other news...

I'm led to believe that BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence programme will be "discussing" The Twelve this weekend. Again, a link to the iPlayer version will be provided when it's available.

Competition Results

The winners of the competition to win signed copies of The Twelve plus limited edition copies of The Six by answering two questions are Floriana of Ancona, Italy, and friend of the blog Mary from Cumbria - well done to you two, your books are in the post!

CONTEST - Win signed copies of THE TWELVE and THE SIX!

To celebrate the fact that I am two days away from my official publication date, I'm giving away two signed copies of THE TWELVE, and as an extra special prize, the two winners will also receive one of only fifty paperback copies that will ever be produced of my short story collection, THE SIX. These limited edition paperbacks will be signed and numbered, and will soon be collector's items.

To be in with a chance of winning, just read the excerpt from THE TWELVE on my website, and answer these two questions:

1. In Chapter One, what is the barman's first name?

2. In Chapter Two, what Belfast entertainment complex do Gerry Fegan and Michael McKenna see across the river?

Please don't leave your answers as comments; instead, email them to contest@stuartneville.com, and remember to include your postal address. Two winners will be selected at random from those who answered correctly on Friday July 17th. Good luck!

The Six

As I've already mentioned, I have a small short story collection coming up. It will be available as a free e-book download from my website at some point next week, but there will also be a limited run of fifty signed and numbered paperback editions printed. Some of these have already been promised for little promos I've been running here and there, but a few will also be given away here and on my website. Question is, what do I do for competitions? Any ideas? Also, although I can't quite 100% confirm it yet, there will also hopefully be an extra special and exclusive prize up for grabs soon. It'll need a suitably extra special competition, so I'm going to give that some thought.

In the meantime, here's the cover design for THE SIX, as created by Julie Chalmers, an extraordinarily talented graphic designer I work with as part of my day job. Isn't it pretty?

What say you now, doubters? Here's what's coming up...

A couple of you have commented on my previous post, pointing out how fine I'm cutting it if I want to meet my daily target - so here I am, getting in just under the wire. A caveat, however - I promised quantity, not quality...

So, what's in store for the next thirty days? Well, hopefully, lots of links to reviews for one thing. There'll also be some contests to win signed books and collectibles. And a few of those books will be very special.

I think I mentioned a while back, I will be offering a short story collection titled THE SIX as a free download from my website. In addition, there'll be a limited run of fifty signed and numbered paperback editions; these will not be for sale anywhere, and some of them will be given away right here on this blog. You'll have to stay tuned for those giveaways.

And also, there might - just might - be an even rarer collectable being given away before the end of the month. These are so rare that I'll only be able to offer one, if at all. Again, watch this space.

My friend Jospephine Damian has hypothesised that I've given myself such an impossible task that I will end up filling blog posts with random YouTube clips. That's a possibility. More likely, I will be post links to articles on other websites, starting tomorrow with one that has had me smiling all day.

In the meantime, here's a small announcement for anyone in Ireland: THE TWELVE will be book of the month for July in all Irish branches of Waterstone's. There will be more retail promotions (I know some retailers have committed to 3-for-2 offers already) over the coming weeks, but I also would like you to consider the great independent bookshops out there, such as No Alibis in Belfast, where... No, hang on, that's a post for another day...

Review The Twelve for Prizes!

The UK publication of THE TWELVE is less than two months away now, and I'd like a little help from my blogging friends and those who have received preview copies from Harvill Secker/Random House. If you've read the book, either as a beta reader or received an ARC, please write an online review at one on the many online bookshops, or even on your own blog or website. If you've posted a review online, whether it's good, bad or indifferent, send me an email to info@stuartneville.com with "REVIEW" in the subject line, and include your name and postal address, and I'll send you a signed bookmark and a signed full size colour print of the book cover. And not only that, everyone who emails me will be automatically be entered into a draw to win a very special prize...

To help promote THE TWELVE, I'll be offering a free downloadable short story collection from my website, cunningly titled THE SIX. In addition, a limited run of hard copies will be produced in a paperback format, all signed and numbered. Anyone who emails me about a review they've posted before midnight on 31st July 2009 will be entered into a draw to win one of five copies! So, get reviewing!

Although I'd really prefer readers to support their local independent bookstore,these online shops allow reviews:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twelve-Stuart-Neville/dp/1846552796/ (note: reviews aren't enabled on Amazon just yet, but should be at the time of publication)

http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/9454562/The-Twelve-Stuart-Neville/Product.html

http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/The_Twelve/9781846552793

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=6501960

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781846552793/The-Twelve

http://www.borders.co.uk/book/the-twelve/1237353/

Or you can post a review to any website or blog - just email me and you'll be entered.

And once again, it doesn't even have to be a good review!