My book, The Temple of Air, is slated to be launched at Women and Children First on September 9, 2011. I thought I’d share my excitement with you by putting together a little contest to honor this occasion. The prize? An autographed copy of The Temple of Air. (Hey, it’s my blog after all!)

Below is a compilation of the ninth full sentences on the ninth page of the editions that I have on my shelves of nine books. That sounds more complicated than it needs to be. Let me try again: 9/9. Ninth full sentence on page nine. (Also, in case you didn’t make the connection, the date of my book launch.)

Your challenge:

• In the order I have the quotes below, name each book by its full title.
• Provide each author’s full name in the same order.
• Submit your response by 6 PM CST, August 4, 2011 to templeofair@gmail.com.
• Post this in your response: “I agree to let Patricia Ann McNair use my name and any part of my answers in her blog.”
• The first completely correct response (all books, all titles, all authors) will receive The Temple of Air.
• Answers received after the deadline will not be considered.
• No one I am married to or who shares my last name can participate in this challenge.
• In the case of a tie—well, I’ll deal with that if it comes up.
• If no one has all the correct answers, I will consider awarding the participant who comes the closest. So even if you don’t know for certain, guesses may serve you well.
• And yes, editions do vary. As I said, I am using the ones I have on my shelf. And page 9 means the page with a “9” on it. Not a Roman numeral. Don’t make it any harder than it needs to be. I am not trying to trick you.
• Make sure I have a way to contact you (email is best) so that I can let you know if you are the lucky winner.

Cool? Cool.

Here goes:

1. “The others present, including the landlord, he regarded with the boredom of long habit and with a shade of lofty disdain, as if he considered them too much his inferiors in rank and education to speak to.”
2. “Way up beyond the white pines, out of sight, was the open, hilly land full of bristly mosses, ground birds, deer, and wild turkeys, even.”
3. “Pulses were beating in his eyes, veiling their sight, and he felt the fever of his cheeks.”
4. “The flowers came up to his waist.”
5. “Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered “Listen,” a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.”
6. “Ran away.”
7. “I shake my head quite a lot.”
8. “I had planted them too far down in the earth.”
9. “After which they are sent down to the Embryo Store.”

Some hints:

All fiction.

Published: 1866, 2009, 1934 (1922 UK), 2009, 1925, 2010, 1951, 1970, 1932

Man, woman, man, man, man, woman, man, woman, man

Some authors quoted from here may have written for this blog.

Novel, collection, novel, collection, novel, collection, novel, novel, novel

And more hints because I’ve been told the quiz is too hard ~ some words from some of these book titles in no particular order: Great·American·In·Crime·Brave·Thieves·Eye·Storm

The rest is up to you. Looking forward to reading your answers.