Mr Shivers, the critically acclaimed horror debut from Robert Jackson Bennett, is released in paperback today. Chronicling one man’s journey through the Depression blighted Texan Dustbowl in search of the mysterious, scarred vagrant who murdered his daughter, the book is a must read for fans of old school horror, literary dystopia or anyone looking for something to knock their socks off this autumn. To celebrate the paperback release of Mr Shivers we have 10 copies of the book to giveaway.

If you caught the paperback cover launch back in July (or Mr Shivers in hardback) you’ll already be familiar with hoboglyphs, the ingenious system of symbols developed as a means of coded communication by the scores of homeless men and women who rode the rails across the US during the Great Depression. You’ll also be familiar with the awesome ‘Orbit original’ hobogylph for Mr Shivers himself which takes centre stage of the paperback cover. (See also exhibit A, a handy symbol sheet starring all of the hoboglyphs that appear in Mr Shivers, above!)

Now, as you can imagine, since discovering hoboglyphs we have found all kinds of uses for them. In fact, in open plan offices such as ours, we even went so far as to create a few glyphs of our own painstakingly crafted to covertly share highly confidential information vital to survival of day-to-day Orbit life (click on an image to enlarge):

BE PREPARED TO STIR TEA WITH MAKE SHIFT SPOON

GOOD SLEEP HERE

THIS MEETING ALLOWS ALCOHOL

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning a copy of Mr Shivers (the book called ‘Supremely chilling’ by the Daily Mail, ‘a deft amalgamation of thriller, cerebral horror and American gothic’ by the Guardian, and ‘like a collaboration between Stephen King and John Steinbeck . . .’ by Publishers Weekly) is to create a modern hoboglyph of your own and send it in to us at the usual address orbit@littlebrown.co.uk. Please send glyphs to us by midnight GMT on Sunday 3rd October including the title Mr Shivers Paperback Giveaway in your email subject line.

Your glyph can take the form of a warning, a direction, or any general piece of information you think needs to be communicated covertly. You can chalk it on the pavement and take a photograph of it, paint it on a piece of paper and scan it in, charcoal it onto the side of a local freight train (rubbing it off said freight train once you have taken the picture and sent it to us of course). All glyphs must be accompanied by an explanation. Profanity will not be accepted (who are we kidding?) Have fun!

Mr Shivers is available now from Orbit US|UK. To read a first chapter extract click here.