Giveaway winners, blog feedback, and some links

Thanks to everyone who entered my 9th anniversary giveaway last week.  It was great to see so many entries, and I loved reading your comments - it felt like it was my real birthday!

First, the giveaway winners:

Fiercombe Manor will be going to Martha E.
Girl on the Golden Coin will be going to Mary Jane H.
My Name is Resolute will be going to Maria G.
The Siege Winter will be going to Tiffany K. (update; original winner did not respond)
Emails have been sent to all the winners.  Please respond within a week to claim your prize, and hope you'll enjoy your books.

As for what readers said they enjoyed most and would like to see more of, just to summarize briefly:  there were a number of people who mentioned the reviews and posts of forthcoming books, which I'll plan on doing more of this year, in addition to some themed lists.  If you have a request for a specific subject for a themed list, feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email, and see what I can do.  I also think it's cool that some of you are using the preview posts to take to the library or place library hold requests. The feedback you've all provided has been very helpful for me in seeing what you're interested in.  I appreciate every comment and will have to think of something special to do next year for the 10th.

More reviews will be posted soon, but in the meanwhile:

The Walter Scott Prize shortlist has been announced, with seven titles out of the original 15 longlisted titles remaining in contention.  They are:

The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis
The Lie by Helen Dunmore
Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre
In the Wolf's Mouth by Adam Foulds
Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie
The Ten Thousand Things by John Spurling

More from the BBC, and at the History Girls blog, Elizabeth Laird, a member of the judging panel, has concise overviews of all seven books.  Also, Larry at the excellent blog Novel Historian has been providing critical reviews of some of the shortlisted and longlisted titles, as well as other works of historical fiction.

I've been slowly updating the HNS Forthcoming Books page for 2015, which now has info listed through next January - though it's especially incomplete for the later months.  Also at the Historical Novel Society site, Fiona Sheppard maintains a similar list of children's and YA titles, and she's found details on new titles coming out over the next 12 months.