Zombies vs. Unicorns Release Day and Giveaway

(First: the winner of the Worldbuilding Q&A giveaway is alaska! Alaska, email me and tell me your address and whether or not you want Rampant or Ascendant.  To everyone else, I’m still answering questions, but I’ve been a bit tied up. so I’ll answer the rest of them in separate blog posts instead of the comments thread. Keep an eye out.)

Now…for the new giveaway!

Today is the day that ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS, my new anthology, releases! Yay!

ZVU was a total labor of love for everyone involved. I remember when Justine first told me about the idea, and I was holding my breath and crossing my fingers that not only would she be able to sell it, but that I might be able to contribute. Last spring, I was given the go-ahead, and I wrote my first short story since college (not counting the Secret Stories). “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” is an origin story for one of my unicorn hunters. I got the idea from a line in RAMPANT, though you don’t need to have read RAMPANT to enjoy “Care and Feeding…” and the story doesn’t actually have anything to do with that line.

And I’m glad that so many other people love the story as much as I do. To date, the collection has received two starred reviews, from Publisher’s Weekly and now, from School Library Journal:

“Diana Peterfreund wows readers by delving again into the dark world of Rampant (HarperTeen, 2009) with “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,” proving Astrid is not the only strong female hunter out there.” — SLJ

And the bloggers have been weighing in as well:

“Now, Team Unicorn, don’t get your panties in a twist. I loved the Unicorn stories too. How could I not when authors like Diana Peterfreund and Meg Cabot are writing them. Anyway, Ms. Peterfreund wrote about a young girl who saves a baby unicorn. I enjoyed Wendy so much that I hope we see more of her. Maybe in book 3 of the Killer Unicorn series?! We NEED more! Also, awesome, but totally hilarious was Meg Cabot’s Princess Prettypants. Which was about a typical unicorn that farts rainbows and smells like a florist shop. So funny! So if you fall into either category, unicorn or zombie lover, you’re sure to find something that tickles you fancy in Zombie vs. Unicorns. I highly recommend it for a good laugh, or a good scare. Keep it on your bookshelves for a rainy day, you’ll love it!” —  Cry Havoc Reviews

“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund. Team Unicorn. 4 ♥ / 5 ♥
I need to go read Rampant as soon as possible. Killer Unicorns, and the girls that hunt them…it’s like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with unicorns. Wen is a unicorn hunter (not that she’s practicing) that suddenly finds herself caring for a newborn unicorn. The indecision that she feels comes through loud and clear. Clean writing and some awesome new unicorn lore and background makes this story of taming a killer unicorn an incredibly interesting one.” — Escape Through the Pages

“Favorite Unicorn Story: The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund.  I’ve been wanting to start this killer unicorn series after raves from Lori and Candace, and this just makes me want to read it even more.  Scary, action-packed, and wonderful.” — Reading Angel

“I loved the commentary that was between Black and Larbelestier. It was full of snarky and funny remarks. It also gave a brief glance into what the story was about, before you read it. I liked that it switched between Unicorn and Zombie stories. “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” by Diana Peterfreund was my favorite story, but I love her novels about killer unicorns.” — Sarah’s Random Musings

“The stories I did really enjoy were The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund, Princess Prettypants by Meg Cabot, and Cold Hands by Cassandra Clare.  I really got into all of the characters and the plot in just the short stories that they were in….In The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn, I loved Wen.  I loved how she followed what she felt was right, even though she had been raised to believe that unicorns were evil.” — So Many Books, So Little Time

“I devoured this story with fangirlish glee. I also have a bit of an obsession with exotic animals and their training, especially animals of the intelligent variety (y’all know I have Chocobo, an African Grey parrot, right?) so this story was a total win” — Cassandra Yorgey for Examiner.com

““The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” by Diana Peterfreund hopefully is a segue to her new book! It was awesome!” — Bitten by Books

“After reading this short story I really want to read Rampant and find out more about the unicorn lore and the world of unicorn hunters.” — Dreaming of Books

And now for the giveaway. As simple as can be — just leave a comment here, and you, too, can win a copy. Have at it!