Book Event, New Books & Her Grammarness

Book Event

This December Writers4Writers is spotlighting Nancy Thompsonand her book, THE MISTAKEN. Be sure to check out the book AND join in spreading the word about this author and her work. It's easy to do: 

Go to Stephen Tremp's blogger home and follow the easy directions.

The Two and Twenty Dark Tales Giveaway will end shortly. I'll post the winners on Monday Miscellany. Would appreciate some tweets if you have time. :-)

New Books

A few weeks ago I won The Mapmaker's Sons by V.L. Burgess. Thanks again to The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow for choosing me as the winner. I loved the book and read it quickly. You can see my review on goodreads or Amazon. 

Her Gramarness

Remember that sneaky grammar quiz from last week? Well, here are the answers and a short explanation. At the end is the winner!
1. Correct: "Now I lay ME down to sleep" is the opening to that old child's prayer. (It used to scare the bejeebers out of me when I had to recite it.) But this sentence would take the present tense, transitive verb lay because of the object that follows it, ME.
2. Incorrect: My manuscript lies moldering on my C drive. (Unfortunately, this is a true statement.) But the reason the verb should be present tense, intransitive is there's no object following.
3. Correct: Sit down and write if you want to publish a book. Set (most general usage) means put or place something. Sit means put your butt in a chair.
4. Incorrect: Now you need the put or place verb. He sets his pen aside and falls across his desk. "The End."
5. Incorrect: It's one of those dangling modifiers we talked about a week ago. Who's on the parapet, looking wild-eyed? The person referred to as "I" in the sentence or Madame Cuthbert? Semantically, it makes sense that you want to refer to the Madame C. I saw Madame Cuthbert, on the parapet, looking wild-eyed like a hungry zombie. Best rule: Put the modifier right up close and personal to whomever you're describing. 
It's a tie. THE WINNERS ARE JEMI FRASER & THE GOLDEN EAGLE. Any time you need a pair of eyes to read your first 5 pages, you've got it. Just let me know.