Announcing the winners of the first Blackstone Audio 007 Giveaway contest winners for Casino Royale:
Candace from Beth Fish Reads
Xe Sands
Shelia from Book Journey
Kayvee
Teresa from Teresa’s Reading Corner
Lucille
Poof…Books
I will be contacting all of the winners by email for mailing information. Thanks to everyone who has signed up. I’m looking forward to the festivities at the end of the month.
Do you like suave spies, danger, beautiful women, adventure, villains, intrigue, and a good martini? Well this is the audiobook challenge for you! We will be listening to Simon Vance narrator all but one of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and shorter fiction. Over the next 15 months, we’ll be following James Bond from his inception in Casino Royale through the last of Ian Fleming’s stories, Octopussy and The Living Daylights.
You can buy these titles directly from Blackstone Audio as well as any digital download services that partner with them.
Note: To celebrate June is Audiobook Month, Audible.com has all of the James Bond titles on sale until the end of the month! Most are only $8.73, some are as cheap as $6 or $7. Only Live and Let Die is over $10 at $10.48.
We won’t just be reading along with Simon Vance. We’ll be holding Twitter chat and viewing parties to celebrate each book. Once a month we’ll meet on Twitter for a half an hour to chat about the current read before watching the corresponding film. The Twitter chat and viewing party aren’t required to participate in the challenge, but it will provide the opportunity to talk about the books in more depth in real-time. Before the first chat and viewing party I will write a post with details on how they will work. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Note: Like an answer to a prayer, Netflix announced that they would be adding all of the James Bond films to their Instant Watch queue. If you are a Netflix subscriber, it couldn’t be easier to participate in the Twitter viewing parties. If not and you need to plan ahead, please see the Schedule page.
Signing Up
Signing up is easy.
Once you’ve signed up, spread the word in any way you can. The more people who participate the more fun it will be for all of us.
Prizes
Blackstone Audio, the official sponsor of Shaken, Not Stirred, will be hosting a 007 Giveaway each month. To be included in the monthly giveaways, you have to participate in the previous month’s discussion. Of those eligible, 007 participants will win a copy of the next audiobook. The due dates for qualifying for each month’s giveaway can be found on the Schedule page.
Everyone who signs up for the challenge by Saturday, June 11 at noon EST will be entered into the first 007 Giveaway for our first novel, Casino Royale.
At the end of the challenge, there will be one Grand Prize winner. You qualify for the Grand Prize drawing by participating in at least 10 out of the 15 months. The complete prize hasn’t been defined yet, but I can tell you that the winner will receive a set of four Aristocrat martini glasses from the Swank Martini Company. As the challenge progresses, I’ll add a Prizes page to keep track of what is awaiting the Grand Prize winner.
Questions?
I hope that I’ve covered everything here, but if there is anything I’ve left hanging or if there is just something you’re interested about, please feel free to ask. You can either leave a comment here or sent me an email at shakennotstirred (at) literatehousewife [.] com.
The Shaken, Not Stirred Reading Challenge officially begins with Casino Royale. It may be the latest to be filmed, but it is the first James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming.
It was first published by Jonathon Cape in April 13, 1953 and has been adapted for the screen three times: once as a television series, once as a spoof, and finally as a feature film starring Daniel Craig in November 2006. According to Wikipedia, of the nearly 5,ooo copies originally printed, less than half were sold. The rest were donated to public libraries.
Here are the vital statistics and description for the audiobook from Blackstone Audio’s website:
Released: August 2000
Available Forrmats: 4 CSs, 1 MP3 CD, 1 Playaway and 4 Tapes
Length: 4 hours and 39 minutes long
Description: Introducing James Bond: charming, sophisticated, handsome, chillingly ruthless, and licensed to kill. This, the first of Ian Fleming’s tales of Secret Agent 007, finds Bond on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called “Le Chiffre”—by ruining him at the baccarat table, forcing his Soviet spymasters to “retire” him. It seems that Lady Luck has sided with 007 when Le Chiffre hits a losing streak. But some people just refuse to play by the rules, and Bond’s attraction to a beautiful female agent leads him to disaster—and to an unexpected savior.
Participants:
Please leave a comment on this post when you’ve finished listening to Casino Royale. If you’re a blogger, please use Mr. Linky at the end of this post to alert us to your posts and reviews.
Casino Royale Twitter Party:
The first Shaken, Not Stirred Twitter Party will be held on Saturday, June 30 at 9:30pm EST. The party will begin with a 30 minute discussion about the audiobook followed by watching the movie. We will be using #ShakenNotStirred as the hashtag.
