There are, rather, two other things that are more important here:
- One, the book is GOOD. No, not good. Awesome. Freakin' awesome, actually. One of those books that is ridiculously long but makes you scream, "No, it can't be over yet!" when you come to the end.
- Two, as I mentioned, I have an extra copy. Lovely as it is, the words are in fact the same in both copies and therefore I need only one.
The task then falls on me to find a home for my extra copy. I didn't want to do something generic. This is no generic book, after all. And truth be told, no generic author. So, I need something clever and unique. I also need an idea that is both fun for ya'll and totally self-serving for me. (Okay, so I don't "need" it to be self-serving, but I want it to be :P.)
Well, as it happens, I have a speaking gig in September at my library, where I intend to talk about fantasy writing. Out of the blue today, I was struck with the idea of doing a giveaway there and needed an idea for how to choose the winner other than a simple random drawing. I thought about the Necronomicon (a sf/f/h con I frequent), which has lots of contests and games, including a few trivia contests.
There! That's it!
No, no....I'm not giving away Star of Justice there. I'm giving away a copy of Finding Angel there. I'm going to use the contest idea to generate my unique giveaway of Star of Justice HERE. Keep up, people.
THIS is where the Star of Justice giveaway ties to the other giveaway. I intend to do a trivia contest at my speaking gig.
So I need trivia. About fantasy novels.
Here is what you do:
Email me at khDOTfindingangelATgmailDOTcom. (change the DOT to a real dot and the AT to an @, of course). Please put "TRIVIA SUBMISSION" in the subject line. Do NOT put your submission in a comment here.
Include in that email a trivia question AND answer about a fantasy novel. Let's not go for obvious, but not terribly obscure either, okay? And give the correct answer. If I have to check the facts and find out you tried to make me look stupid, I'll send you something mean instead of the book :P.
I want at least 50 submissions (so I have a good selection to choose from for my gig, but your entry still counts even if I don't use your submission). I will not pick a winner until I reach that number. NO, you may not enter more than once--that gives a crazy unfair advantage to the uber-nerds out there. And it means you ought to tell your friends about this so we reach the 50 submissions!
I'd actually love to reach an even higher number. So let's sweeten it a bit. If I reach 75 submissions, the winner will also receive a print copy of Aquasynthesis (the anthology put out by my publisher). If I reach 100 submissions, the winner will also--on top of SOJ and Aquasynthesis--receive a copy of Fred Warren's Odd Little Miracles. And if I'm totally slammed with submissions...well, maybe I will throw in a copy of Finding Angel :). I might do that no matter what, actually, if ya'll behave.
Okay...we need a time frame. Partly because I need to have all these in and sorted BEFORE my gig, or it does me no good :P. And partly because I don't want to sit around waiting forever to "see if we can hit" the next goal. Gotta draw a line somewhere, right?
So, let's call the deadline at June 27th, since that's Angel's birthday.
RECAP:
Really? You think I'd do that? Scroll back up, lazy bones.
9 comments:
You are so funny!!! I can't wait to read more from you!!!!
What sort of trivia question?
Any sort, really. Here are a few examples:
What was the name of Sirius Black's house elf?
What ball did Harry have to capture during Quiddich?
What was the name of Meg's little brother in "A Wrinkle in Time"?
What was Golem's name before he found the ring?
Does that help? (And maybe you can be more creative and think of questions that start with something other than "what"--like who, and where...:)
The examples you gave are fairly easy and from the most popular fantasy titles. How obscure do you want it to get? One of my favorite fantasy series is by Melanie Rawn, but she's a little more obscure than Rowling and Tolkien. Who would these questions be posed to (age, geekiness factor)?
Oh, I underestimated the over-thinkiness of my crowd ;).
Everyone's idea of obscure is a bit different. And I'm not sure of the crowd. I'm hoping for a mix of teens and adults. But don't let the teen part throw you--some teens are more well-read than adults.
And think of it this way--if it is kind of obscure, we'll all learn about a book we've never heard of and maybe someone will take interest!
Sounds like fun! I'm working on my entry. One picky point: it's Gollum, not Golem, who had the Ring. Drat that auto-correct!
Awesome, Janet! Yes, my fingers moved faster than my brain on that one. :P
oh, I love trivia...I better get my thinking cap on and see if I can come up with a cool question for you before June 27th. :)
Yes, please! Looking forward to it!
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