giveaway #2

Today is my second giveaway! Ya free stuff. So today I will be giving away a copy of my husband Ryan's latest book, Lief. I could go on and on about him here (like about how he is hilarious and tells a great story and how he grows a beard because I like it) but I think he gives some excellent answers to my mini interview below, so I will let those do the talking for me. (One last thing. if you like comics, check out his new blog)



(image from amazon, where you can buy his other books and also their kindle versions)

1. tell us about yourself!

I am 32 years old, and married to internet superstar Lisa Tressel. I am teacher of children, writer of books, butler to three cats, and groundskeeper of Stately Tressel Manor. I'm a Leo, not quite as tall as my license says but not as short as I could be given the stature of other Fitzpatrick men, and I can grow a pretty decent beard.

2. why do you write?
It's cheaper than dancing lessons.
But as long as I can remember I've been making stuff up. When my mother inevitably starts her post-retirement blog, I'm sure she can share dozens of stories about baby Ryan and his crazy imagination. I do know that I submitted a hand-written Spider-man story to Marvel comics when I was in second grade, and got a rejection letter from Stan Lee himself. "I'm no longer in charge of the day-to-day operation of Marvel comics," he wrote, and even as a seven year old, I remember thinking, "Then why are you wasting my time?"When I was in college, my friend was dating a playwright, and when she told him that I wrote, too, he asked me "What's your message?" I told him I didn't have one, and he was aghast. "Why else tell stories if you're not trying to teach people your message?" His name, no lie, was Jesus. I scoffed at it then, but I do think that with each of the things I've written, I have, consciously or not, been trying to show people the way that I see the world. And trying to stick it to Stan Lee.

3. What is your favorite thing you have ever written?
I think the proper "interview" answer is to say 'Lief' because it is the most recent thing I've written, and because it succeeds as a technical feat (a modular novel in which the chapters can be read in any order) better than I had even hoped when I started it, and because there's something on every page that manages to move me. The 'mom' answer would add my other two novels, "The While" and "Immortallo" and say something about how they are all like my children and I love them all in their own special and unique ways, and then I'd point everybody to ryantressel.com for more information. But the "craftmylife" answer is: my favorite thing I've ever written is the wedding vows my wife and I exchanged last summer.

4. What is your favorite thing you have ever read?
I think in my "writer DNA" is a pretty heavy chunk of Kurt Vonnegut's "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" with a dash of William Golding's "Freefall". But a majority of that DNA is 13-year old Ryan brought to the brink of tears by Doom Patrol #63 by Grant Morrison and Richard Case,where Robotman reaches his hand out to Kay Challis in the pouring rain and tells her, "Didn't I promise? We're going home now. Come in out of the rain."

5. On a scale of 1-10, how awesome is it to be married to me?

To paraphrase Spinal Tap, "Ours goes to 11."



To win this awesomeness:
1. let me know how you follow me in a comment (reader, blog, etc)
2. for increased chances to win*, like Tiny Bear's facebook page
3. swing by Ryan's blogs here and here
4. for extra points*, follow those too!
5. be sure to comment + let me know what you did!

You know the drill from yesterday, I will be pulling the winning name out of a hat. Good luck! I will announce the winner on Monday!

*more names in the hat