Last Day To Win An eReader! To Tempt You, Some Surprises...

It's here! The final day of the eReader drawing to support the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund. Less than 12 hours to buy tickets and win a Barnes & Noble Nook, a Kobo Wireless Reader, or an Alex eReader. And, of course, there's still an autographed Dark Matter up for grabs.

We've spent the last week urging you to buy tickets and show your support, and many of you already have. As we're in the final stretch, we're hoping for one last surge of ticket buying. To that end, we have some surprises for you.

First, we're adding one more short story to the mix by Nalo Hopkinson! The story has not yet been determined, but it's Nalo. I mean, what more could you want?

Not enough? Okay then, we're also throwing in a copy of Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, edited(and donated) by JoSelle Vanderhooft. This won't even be out in stores until January. You will get an advanced peak at this steamy goodness. But only if you buy tickets.

And finally, if eReaders don't move you, if free fiction and poetry and essays don't move you, if autographed first editions don't move you, maybe this will:

...what the Octavia E. Butler Scholarship [meant] to me... it meant everything.

...I deeply value my Clarion a-ha moments, but realistically speaking, I might have been willing to take out a loan for Clarion.

It was having that trust while I was there, and after. And needing to live up to it.

That gave me both the cluebat that I should stand for things I care about, and the confidence to do so when it scared the shit out of me. ...The scholarship, and Butler's writing, both helped me become someone other than the sit down and shut up outsider.

...the POC at the last few Clarions have knocked my socks off, and the Butler scholarship helps some of us become people who'll knock your socks off.

Read Shweta Narayan's entire post here. Buy tickets here. And thanks!