And the Winner is...

One of the most delightful oddities of life is that magic happens when you least expect it.

It all started when I decided to throw joy out into the universe with no expectation of anything in return. I had read three decidedly crappy novels, felt my feathers ruffled with the precious time spent between those pages, and decided to make the entire farce into a game. I held a contest, mailed those books out to the (un)lucky winners, and started searching for three new replacement authors to grace my shelves, to introduce to my blog readers, to take into my classroom.

What I found was Cindy Pon. And new blog friends. And the synergy crafted from the writerly electrons tossed into the blogosphere by all you who entered. What a magical weekend -- and I'm still visiting your blogs and still getting to know all of you -- and I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Thank you for celebrating Cindy Pon (her up-coming book, the Silver Phoenix, and all of her adventures in Chinese paint brush, feasting, and travels) with me and for giving her such a warm welcome.

And finally, the part you've all been waiting for, the part where the winner of Pon's ARC is announced. Well, actually, Cindy already announced it. I'm just re-announcing here because it's so much fun! Choosing at random, Cindy drew the name out of the proverbial hat this morning. Without further ado, I present you Llehn.

Llehn: please contact me so that I can send you your book!

Oh, and about that magic? Try your hand at tossing joy into the universe. It has a way of splashing the hand that tosses it.