Gifted

Long ago and far away, there were remarkable things called bookplates. They seem to have fallen out of fashion in the present age, which I find disappointing, as I always liked them (which is to say I was absolutely addicted).

A bookplate is a small and gorgeous sticker that you can put in a book; typically they say "ex libris" and your name, a way of labeling your book with the hope that it always comes home when you lend it. (This doesn't always help, though, and I stopped lending books a long while ago, finding it was easier to gift books, rather than expect them to come back.)

The first bookplate I encountered was in a used book. My first inclination was to rip it out--it didn't have MY name on it, but then I realized, oh it could very well have. Stickers with gorgeous art and my name on them? That was an addiction waiting to happen. The bookplate without my name was a neat artifact, a way to trace where the book had been, to whom it had once belonged. History. Book archaeology!

Then, something glorious began to happen: favorite authors started doing bookplate giveaways. A friend sent me a bookplate from A.C. Crispin which I shoved into my copy of Sarek, and I sent a self-addressed stamped envelope to Diana Gabaldon, to acquire bookplates for the first three books in her Outlander series.

It suddenly meant I didn't have to track authors down at conventions I couldn't otherwise afford to finally get their signatures. I could send a stamped envelope and receive bookplates in the mail. What! Genius!

Turns out, marks of ownership within books date as far back as Egypt, which makes bookplates an even more perfect tie-in for my novel, Rings of Anubis. Mark your book! Leave a little slice of history for someone to discover a hundred years in the future!

If you have purchased a copy of Rings of Anubis, and would like an autographed bookplate, let's do this. Get in touch with me via my contact form or through a DM on Twitter (@ECthetwit); prove to me that you purchased the book (points for originality), and I'll totally send you a signed bookplate to stick in your book. You can even leave proof in this here thread. You don't even have to send me an envelope. I got this thing!

(Quantities are limited! One label per book. May contain a secret map to a pharaoh's treasure; does not contain nuts. Author not responsible for curses distributed by mummy, jackal ghost, or ancient gods. When traveling through time and space, buckle up, and please mind the gap. Please rinse before consumption, to lessen the chance of swallowing the Sahara, unless you've tea close to hand.)