It is true – I received this book a few months ago.  Usually it doesn’t take me so long to review a book, but things have been hopping around here.  (Check out my new venture.) I haven’t had as much time as usual to really sink my teeth into a book, but I’m very happy to have had ParaSpheres: Extending Beyond the Spheres of Literary and Genre Fiction: Fabulist and New Wave Fabulist Stories along for the ride.  At over 600 pages, this meaty collection of stories may seem overwhelming at first blush, but for the short story reader it’s a blessing between two paperback covers.  ParaSpheres, published by Omnidawn, gives readers such as myself such an escape from the normal, the humdrum, the darkening skies of November that make me grit my teeth until the porcelain begins to shatter, that I’ve been only too happy to bury my nose in nothing but this for the timebeing.

If you’re looking to give your favorite bookworm something unusual and unique this year for Christmas, you can’t go wrong with ParaSpheres.  There’s something in it for everyone, even literary snobs who are afraid to step away from the Classics section.  (I know from whence I speak – been there, read that.) It even includes a work from a carp(e) libris favorite, Justin Courter, plus a bit of his novel Skunk.  As usual for me, Courter did not disappoint.  

As you may suspect from the title, ParaSpheres is filled with the unusual, the hard to categorize, the “fabulist”.  If this sounds like the book for you, or if you want to impress a big reader at Christmas with a weighty tome beneath ye ol’ tannenbaum, I’ve got an extra copy to give away.  Can anyone say “Thank God for Media Mail rates”?  Yes, but in the end it’s worth it and you’ll come back to thank me later.

4 Ways to Win:

1.) Tell me a bizarre two- or three-sentence story or event.  It doesn’t have to be wordy or true or feasible.  Maybe aliens ate your lunch, I don’t care.  I just like to be entertained. (You may enter once a day - following entries don’t require you to answer the question.) Remember, leave an interesting comment.  If I cannot contact the winner, you might be chosen instead based on your comment.

2.) Email subscribers get an extra entry for as long as their subscription is active. 

Already a subscriber?  Leave me a separate comment on this post to let me know you’re interested in this giveaway. 

Want to subscribe? Just plunk your email address in the little white box to the right.  (Please make sure to verify your Feedburner subscription by responding to the email they send you. If you do not receive it, check your junk mail. Only verified subscriptions are entered for all the giveaways.)

3.) Blog about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post. Come back and leave me a Comment with a link to your blog post.

4.) I’m feeling Twittery.  If you Twitter a link to this giveaway, come back and comment here to let me know your Twitter name for another entry!

Do all four, and you’ve got four entries to win! You have until midnight EST on Saturday, November 27, 2008, to enter.