For non-Aussie readers who follow the blog, today we’re celebrating one of the biggest national events in Australia.
Melbournians are lucky enough to have a public holiday today, and are probably enjoying a champagne breakfast as you read this.
That’s right. They have a public holiday for a horse race.
You see why Australia is the best place to live in? The rest of us grumble about having to go to work, but seriously, who’s working now?
That’s what I thought.
So to celebrate Cup day, we’re running a Readers’ Sweep. Here’s how it works:
1. The first 24 people to comment here or post a reply to me on twitter (@BookThingo) are in.
2. Participants must sign up before 1pm to give me time to allocate the numbers.
3. Only Australian participants* are eligible, but overseas readers can wear fancy hats and join in spirit. *If you live overseas but can supply an Australian mailing address, that’s good enough.
4. I’ll assign random numbers against each participant. Depending on how many there are, we may get 2 or 3 each. The numbers will correspond to horses as per this list.
5. Each participant promises to send a book to the winner. The book can be used, as long as it’s in good nick, and it has to be a book you’d actually recommend to someone (i.e. not from your DNF pile).
6. If, for some reason, the winning number, wasn’t allocated to anyone, then whoever has the highest placing horse will be declared the winner.
Clear as mud?
I’ll announce the winner after the race (usually around 3pm AEDT). Note that, if you win, you’ll have to provide a mailing address to everyone who promised to send you a book. I’ll email you to get your details, then I’ll forward your details to everyone who entered, either via email or by sending them a private message on Twitter.
Update: When I email the winner, I’ll ask for reading preferences, which I’ll send along with your mailing address. This will help everyone send you books you’re more likely to read. However, everyone is, of course, free to send whatever book they wish to the winner.
Participants
It’s locked in! Here’s the final list of participants and the horses they’ve been allocated:
Marg — BASALTICO (18)
Nikki — WARRINGAH (15)
SueBT — MOURILYAN (5)
Cath H. — ZAVITE (10)
Edie — DAFFODIL (20)
Jacq — CRIME SCENE (8)
marybelle — ALLEZ WONDER (22)
Ruth — VIEWED (1)
MdV — LEICA DING (24)
Suzi — CEST LA GUERRE (2)
Camille — MUNSEF (9)
Joie — MASTER OREILLY (4)
Christina — ROMAN EMPEROR (6)
Jill — SHOCKING (21)
Jen — ALCOPOP (11)
Wandergurl — NEWPORT (14)
The race starts at 3pm. Good luck, everyone!
Hadn’t even thought about champagne for breakfast! Still recovering from Melbourne Cup Eve Dinner!
there are helium horses in the foyer at work… this should be fun…
Me too pwease..
And no champagne brekkie here – buh
Oh, Marg, you party animal!
Jacq, did you want to join the sweep? I wasn’t sure, so I haven’t added you to the list. Let me know if you do.
Edie, I hope you at least get some cheese and crackers at 3!
yes please :)
Me!
I put $2 on a random horse in the office.
I wanted to go to TAB but I didn’t know how to bet.
We get fed at 230, yay!
I wanted to pick a horse with a pretty name, like Daffodil, hahaha
Wandergurl, most people who are in the TAB today don’t know how to bet. Just go ask! Also, the Melbourne Cup site (first link in the post) has a betting guide for beginner, intermediate and advanced. :-D
Woo hoo!
sign me up, please!
Ruth, did you want to join?
Oh, yes please, sign me up,
Sounds like a great way to spend Cup day,
Suzi
Sign me up please Kat :)
I’m doing this for my daughter since we’re staying in, I’d like to join please.
Update: When I email the winner, I’ll ask for reading preferences, which I’ll send along with your mailing address. This will help everyone send you books you’re more likely to read. However, everyone is, of course, free to send whatever book they wish to the winner.
OMG! How did I not see this before?
Hell yes I’m in. :D
@Kat I am settling for a beer with the race.. classy Melbourne bogan that I am.
Count me in please.
I’ve already put my bet on at TAB – the same horse I got in the office sweep
Did I mention that I’ve won the office sweep for the past 2 years in a row???
They were going to ban me this year…but I talked them into letting me join in. (threat of a law suit did wonders)…
Oh, so you’re one of those people, Jill? ;-) The worst is when somone wins the $2 AND the $5 pool. So not cool.
Hi Kat,
believe it not – I usually never win anything.
I’ve got to be the most unluckiest people around. But I keep entering – even if it more-or-less a donation to the cause.
I try and enter and be involved with most of the activities at my work. They only see me once a week or so for about 10 minutes, so they tend to forget I exist if I don’t keep reminding them – or they say – “Jill” who’s that.
I’m just about to do the draw, but I’ve noticed that some of the horses are really long odds. What I might do is just take the top 15, based on best odds as per TAB Racing (Vic), and randomise those names against the list above. I’m removing myself because it’ll seem a bit dodgy if I win. :-P
If anyone objecst to this modification of the rules, let me know (DM or email if you prefer) in the next 2 minutes!
Kat: Yes, please. :-)
Okay, your numbers should be up. Good luck, everyone!
Jill, would you please let me know if you got Shocking in your office sweep, too? So I can go place a bet at the TAB! lol
Oh. I didn’t get one with a pretty name :(
Oh well, GO NEWPORT.
This is better than the office sweep, where I got Ista Kareem.
Nope – didn’t get Shocking – got ‘Viewed’ at the work sweep.
Isn’t Shocking the one that Rudd is going to bet on?
Shocking is the one that I got in the work sweep!
You should have included yourself Kat.
Jill, you won! lol I knew I should’ve placed a bet!
OMG JILL WON! Go you!
anything for coming second? LOL congrats jill!! i hope i can find something in my collection you would like!
hehe i got a winning ticket in the sweepstake held by the ATP (building where I work)… wonder what I won?
Thanks everyone – I didn’t honestly expect to win.
Here I was, thinking which book I could send to the winner…
and instead you get 15 books sent your way! *highfive*
lol. It never rains – but it pours
As I mentioned to Kat…
after reading the books I haven’t read – I’ll be donating all the books to our local retirement Village to start a library for the older folks – with a visit every month or so to change the books.
So I have a question.. If you are donating to a retirement village, and this is a romance book website… how um… tame? do you want the books to be? I know my nan would have a heart attack if she read the books I did… she would be drooling (at age 14, we used to spend our holidays perving on hot men at the beach LOL) but she would still have reservations… So would this mean no raunchy books?
I know my mum hated the ‘sex’ bits in the books I gave her to read (she used to ‘skim’ those bits) – but she was in the late 70-80’s age bracket.
Most of the residents of retirement villages are very active over 55’s & 60’s – and very open to modern concepts and hate being lumped into the geriatric bracket.
To be honest – don’t worry about the content – I’ll edit what I donate to them – if it’s too ‘raunchy’, I’ll keep it myself…
How awesome, Marg let me know about this one but I was too late, maybe next year LOL. Congrats to Jill
LOL My mum used to be addicted to Mills & Boon… which is why she now frowns upon my reading paranormal romance and my nora roberts etc… and hates how much I read :) Ironically, she used to have a swapping ring through church..
I’ll try and make sure my book isnt too raunchy… I was going to give you one of my christine feehan LOL
I haven’t forgotten about sending out Jill’s details. Just have to duck out for a bit, so I’ll email everyone tonight.
Jacq, my mum loved Jean Auel, and when I read her books, I was like, OMG, why is my mother reading this?!? LOL
I wouldn’t call Christine Feehan too raunchy – not these days. Ellora’s Cave, Nexus & Black Lace springs to mind when I think of raunchy ones…
haha I picked up one of her red covered M&B when i was about 10… quite shocked, as she is very religious… It was a bit of a revelation at the time…
The funny thing, is I was in hospital last year, and she came to sydney to look after me while i recovered… went to go through my shelves for something to read….. she had picked up a Laurell K Hamilton book and I had to snatch it away from her… And then ban her from the top half of my bookshelf :D poor thing, i dont think she likes knowing her daughter reads books with sex in them LMAO She went bright red..
LOL the one I was thinking of passing on heads more towards BDSM than vanilla…. lets just say I couldnt see my own grandmother approving… ;-p
I’ve sent an email/DM to everyone who was on the list, with Jill’s mailing details. Please let me know if for some reason the Internet has lost it!
Also, since I didn’t officially join the sweep, I’d like to give out books to the 2nd, 3rd and last placers!
So…Jacq, SueBT and Nikki, please email/DM me your mailing address and preferred genre/category, and I’ll hunt around for a suitable book. :-)
I’d just like to thank Kat for all her hard work putting together this bit of fun for all of us to celebrate the running of the Melbourne Cup.
It was a sweep with a difference…tailor-made for romance readers…
THANKS KAT!!
Hehe, no worries. Marg gave me the idea on Twitter. I had no idea we’d get so many people playing. I just wish we could’ve handed out champers and cheese through the Internet. :-D
Hello Kat – I hope you don’t mind me popping in! I’m a British author and a fellow Bookblogs member and my next novel, Thaw, will be published online next year after its physical publication. I wanted to invite you (and your readers) to participate in my Blogsplash – there’s more information at http://www.fionarobyn.com/thawblogsplash.htm. Thanks for listening!
Hi all,
I’d just like to thank the following people for their ‘Melbourne Cup’ Sweep books – for which I was the lucky winner…
Suzi, Suebt, Edie and M. Preston (not sure which ‘M’ you are…but you went ‘overboard’ with the books – lol)
Thanks all – and after I’ve finished with reading them – the books will be donated to my local retirement village.