galleys! giveaway! etc.

Updates from the Shirley Jackson files, #9

Dear friends,

I'm tremendously excited to share the news that my galleys are here! 

Also known as advance reading copies, this is the version sent out to reviewers several months before a book's publication date. It incorporates changes made during copyediting, but is usually not quite the same as the final version. (For instance, I've already thought of a few things I forgot to change during the last round of edits.) Nevertheless, it's AWFULLY CLOSE to finished. 

The beautiful design incorporates a number of never-before-published photographs and documents. Here's a little teaser: 

To celebrate, I have a treat for you, loyal newsletter readers. One of you, chosen by a random number generator (no black dots on slips of paper here), will win a copy of the galley. All you have to do to enter is be a subscriber to this newsletter. I'll do the drawing at the end of the day on Monday and send the book out in Tuesday's mail -- meaning you'll see it before just about anyone else. So please share this widely with anyone who would be interested in an early copy of the biography! And rest assured, there will be more giveaways of very cool stuff to come.

As always, I'm grateful for your interest in Shirley Jackson and in my book.

All best,

Ruth

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.

-- Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House