I know I am not the only one who feels like we are living in some farcical, dystopian novel! May I suggest you escape into a good book?
Hello, my lovely readers! As regular readers are aware, I post a new giveaway on the first of every month in conjunction with the International Thriller Writers. Due to the pandemic, we discussed and decided to skip April for now. No one wants to be handling anything that has been touched by anyone, anywhere, nor do we want to ask anyone to go to the post office or anywhere else. Did you know the coronavirus can live on cardboard for up to 24 hours? And 2-3 days on hard surfaces?
For now, I am extending the deadline for the March bookshelf of thrillers, including all those terrific thrillers pictured here. It is a fantastic list so go for it! I am also suspending the one entry per email – go nuts! Enter as often as you wish, but just for April, okay?
A peek behind the scenes on how these contests work. The authors send their signed books to a central location in California, but they trickle in sporadically. Sometimes authors need a gentle reminder to send them, they get busy or are on tour or whatever. ITW generally waits until all the books for the month are in hand to send them out in one box. Sometimes they have to wait a month or two or three for all the books to show up. So there are piles of books waiting to be shipped out for previous months’ contests. At this point, we are going to wait to send those until it is safe to do so.
I wish I could say April Fools’, but I cannot. I can say I hope you are taking this pandemic seriously. I know it is hard to stay home or shelter in place, but for your safety and the safety of your community, that is the best thing you can do right now.
If you are going to listen to anyone you see on TV, I strongly suggest it be smart people who know what they are talking about, because they have advanced degrees or medical degrees, or know enough to ask smart people what to do and actually listen to the answers. Listen to people like Dr. Fauci, Donald G. McNeil (NYT,) Governor Cuomo, (even if you don’t live in NY,) or Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over someone who just has an “opinion,” or “a feeling,” or wants to give us all “hope,” about how this is going or what we should be doing.
Just because someone is in a position of power does not mean they should spout whatever nonsense they “feel.” That is not helpful. In fact, it is the opposite of helpful, it is dangerous. Social distancing is not a joke, it is apparently the only way to stop the insidious spread of this disease at this time. And handwashing. And don’t touch your face. (I need a doggie cone for that!) Please, please be careful and stay safe. Thank you; rant over.
For up to date, accurate information and statistics on Covid-19, check out any of these sites:
WORLDOMETER COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
This one is just for Florida:
Finally, if you are an author who is also a member of the International Thriller Writers, and your book is being published in April or May, and you would like to participate in the next contest I run, please let me know. You can email me at bookbitch @ yahoo dot com, or put your email in the comments here and I will contact you.
Thanks for reading, and stay safe!
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 