Friday Freebie: If I'd Known You Were Coming by Kate Milliken

Congratulations to Susan Warner, winner of last week's Friday Freebie: The Fountain of St. James Court by Sena Jeter Naslund.

This week, I have two copies of the new short story collection If I'd Known You Were Coming by Kate Milliken to put in two lucky readers' hands.  I spotlighted Milliken's fiction in the latest installment of the Front Porch Books feature (click here to read the opening lines of the collection's first story), and here's more about what you'll find between the covers of this book:

In these twelve award-winning stories, Kate Milliken unflinchingly shows us what can happen when the uninvited guest of our darkest desires comes to call.  Whether surrounded by the white noise of a Hollywood celebration or enduring a stark winter in Maine, the characters of If I’d Known You Were Coming yearn to heal old wounds with new hurts.  With a wry wit and a keen eye for emotive detail, the author of this unforgettable collection sets intersections in motion that will leave you both winded and wanting more.  In one story, a mother, driven by greed, unwittingly finds out how far her needs will push her.  A hand model surprises himself and everyone else at the birthday party of an old friend’s daughter in another.  With poetic deftness, a woman evaluates the meaning, the familial stories, that we carry with us from birth.  In a story ripped from the headlines, a woman pines for the legs her husband lost in a freak accident at a Santa Monica farmer's market.  A medical clerk, restless and alone, takes advantage of a disabled neighbor.  Kate Milliken knows the ties that bind and how tautly we will pull them.  These are stories about desire, betrayal, love, regret, and family.  Like all great fiction, If I’d Known You Were Coming possesses that uncanny ability to reveal us to ourselves.

Here's what Julie Orringer had to say about If I'd Known You Were Coming: “Kate Milliken's stories burn straight to the darkest places in our hearts, speaking aloud the thoughts we hardly dare to call our own.  In twelve flawless pieces, Milliken expertly illuminates the aftermath of abandonment; her characters, cast adrift, find themselves painfully alone, futilely seeking what was torn away long ago.  Milliken writes with merciless precision about women and men, about the old and the young, about the betrayers and betrayed.  You will stay up all night to learn the fates of these people, who will become as real to you as anyone you know.”

If you'd like a chance at winning a copy of If I'd Known You Were Coming, simply email your name and mailing address to

thequiveringpen@gmail.com

Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line.  One entry per person, please.  Despite its name, the Friday Freebie runs all week long and remains open to entries until midnight on Oct. 17, at which time I'll draw the winning name.  I'll announce the lucky reader on Oct. 18.  If you'd like to join the mailing list for the once-a-week newsletter, simply add the words "Sign me up for the newsletter" in the body of your email.  Your email address and other personal information will never be sold or given to a third party (except in those instances where the publisher requires a mailing address for sending Friday Freebie winners copies of the book).

Want to double your odds of winning?  Get an extra entry in the contest by posting a link to this webpage on your blog, your Facebook wall or by tweeting it on Twitter.  Once you've done any of those things, send me an additional e-mail saying "I've shared" and I'll put your name in the hat twice.