Day Five - Win a free copy of Matt's novel "Better Off Dead"!

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED.

To enter the new Giveaway, please go to  Giveaway 2

Starting today, Matt Rowe is giving away: -

1) a free paperback copy of his novel "Better Off Dead"
2) a free Kindle version of  "Better Off Dead"
3) a signed copy of the concept artwork for "Better Off Dead"

This is an international giveaway and runs from 9th March 2012 until midnight on 23rd March 2012.

If you would like to win any of the above three items, please follow these instructions: -

1 - Follow this site (Dragonscale Clippings)

2 - Leave me a message / comment on this site mentioning BOD and stating which of the giveaways you would prefer to receive eg BOD - free kindle version. 

3 - In the same message, leave me a way of contacting you eg a blog or web site where I can easily find your contact details.

Once the winners are selected I will contact them and they will have 48 hours in which to respond to me, providing a postal address / email address, whichever is relevant. If, after 48 hours have passed, the selected winners have not responded to me, I will select new winners. 

The winners will be announced during the week commencing 26th March 2012. 

Now to finish the blog tour. We've met Matt and experienced his writing in several forms. So, what is he really like?

If you could spend a day with anyone, living or dead, real or ficticious, who would it be and why?

Ah, this is always a hard one. I understand that many people pick characters from their stories and sure, I would love to meet some of them, but most of them are some variation of my perfect girl, and since the characters come from my head I think falling in love with myself is a bit stupid. So I'll avoid that answer. Dead people aren't very entertaining, unless you are talking about the characters from 'Better Off Dead' but we've already ruled out characters from my books. Not that I would fall in love with the likes of Pee or Ramses, but a rule is a rule. I'd probably die if I hung out with them anyway. They would have no respect for my mortality and bounce me off of tall buildings in a mad sprint across the city to chase cats, or dragons, or bad guys... So that leaves me with somebody alive. Can I be lame and say the hottest model alive, Mai Nishida? Thank you. I think we shall all agree that will be a happy day. It'll give me some good Japanese practise if nothing else.

What's the worst job you've ever had?

Factory job. That place was a void. Time disappeared. The outside world disappeared. There was just me and crappy supermarket pizzas for 14 hours. All I did was move them from one foil tray to the other - for 14 hours! There were some other people; deadbeat old guys telling me that I can't quit because they need people and some younger losers who thankfully went to work in different departments so I didn't have to listen to their taunts that I had become one of them, yet I have never feared so much for my soul. I was trapped, with no escape, miles from civilisation and when home time actually came, they wouldn't let us leave until the factory floor was spotless. I was exhausted and slept in the next morning. I got a rude phone call explaining that I had let them down by not returning, so I gave them an earful about being abused through slavery and that was the end of it. Never again.

What's your favourite music?

That's a tricky one. I'm at that age where my tastes have mellowed out a bit, and I'm picking up some stuff I never normally would listen to, from my girlfriend. I always say that my favourite band is Sublime. They are an American band who play everything from acoustic rock to reggae and ska. Their songs are just beautiful and relaxed for the most part. Then I love Gorillaz too, which is electronic music (mostly) but perfectly crafted and enjoyable. There are many things I like though; orchestral soundtracks, Japanese rock and pop, but not the crazy kind. I only listen to happy music though. I don't understand why people want to make themselves feel sad. Life is tough enough.

What's your favourite TV programme?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's a combination of it being technically and artistically brilliant, and also some personal preferences, not to mention the fact I watched it for its entire run so the characters all feel like friends now. Excellent characters, including a super-powered selection of teenage girls, make it all the more like my cup of tea and endlessly rewatchable. Joss Whedon is such an excellent writer. I love his stuff. The story has so many great elements and is a great role model. Not that I really care about that sort of thing but when I read about Buffy's effects, there are always a string of stories about struggling teens encouraged by the slayer's adventures.  

What's your favourite food?

Pizza. Baked doughy bread with melted cheese and your choice of pretty much anything on top. What is not to love? Unfortunately, due to a genetic deformity I have, for all sakes and purposes, an allergy to high levels of protein, so I can't eat pizza that often. Yet, I think that is what makes me absolutely love it every time. It's like when you have a fruit pastille and you manage to suck it until it completely disappears without you chewing it once. It feels great because it's so hard to do and you rarely do it.

Five words that describe yourself...

I have some variation of this in the biography to each of my  books and it's something I plan to continue in every work I produce depending on how I feel and what is going on at the time. You should compare them and see what I changed. So for now, I'm going to stick with neurotic, creative, too damn nice.  That's pretty much the core of my being.

Thank you Matt for spending your time with us this week.

You can read my review of Better Off Dead here at Goodreads 

To read more of Matt's work and buy his book, click on the links below: - 
Matt's Website
Amazon
Lulu