Publisher Marcher Lord Press is having a cool sale this summer on the Fourth of July -- Everyone who purchases a Marcher Lord Press novel from the MLP store on July 4, 2010, will receive the free download SF short story "Hunting Souls" by MLP author Steve Rzasa. Then on July 5, MLP will make a random drawing from all the names of people who have registered for the Marcher Lord Press newsletter. (Registration is free and may be done any time between now and the end of July 4, 2010.) This part is regarding a change in the contest rules: Three winners will have their names appear in upcoming MLP novels as previously advertized. But, and here's the important change, no purchase is necessary to enter the contest and win.
Your name (from the newsletter registration list) is entered in a drawing to possibly be included in one of three upcoming new MLP titles! The publisher will randomly pick three people from the entries and their names will appear in new books due out from authors Kirk Outerbridge, Marc Schooley, and Matt Koceich, who won the Marcher Lord Select competition this year.

Even if you're not one of the three chosenfrom the newsletter list, everyone who buys an MLP book on the Fourth of July will receive a free short story by Steve Rzasa called "Hunting Souls."

http://www.marcherlordpress.com/New_Store/Fiction.htm

And the last winner is . . .

Alassiel. She guessed a crown and that is correct!

You know the drill, Alassiel. I do not keep your addresses so you need to send it again plus the color you want to donitakpaul@msn.com.

One out of Three.

Katie G. guessed correctly. I got a belt to hold the sword.
We can have more winners though. I still have three other things on my list for you all to guess. And if you look at the list of comments from the last page, and find out all the things that those items are NOT. Katie G. email me your postal address to donitakpaul@msn.com.

Go look at Real Armor for God, button link is on the right side, and see if you can guess the other three items I bought.

Shopping Spree Contest

One of our sponsors for the Motiv8 Fantasy Fiction Tour is Real Armor of God. This company provided each of us with a sword and its sheath. But these generous people also gave each of us a shopping spree. So for this contest, I want you to guess what I bought from the website. I spent just under $100. I purchased four items, but I'm going to ask you to guess three.

Click on the Real Armor of God logo under Tour Sponsors to go to their sight.

I should give you some hints. I already have a cape, so I didn't buy one. The sword comes with the sheath and the little thing called a frog that attaches it to the belt. And I didn't buy anything for somebody else.

Okay? Put your guesses in the comments. The prize, of course, is a beaded dragon bookmark.

Read the comments because I'm giving clues there as well.

Contest Winner!

Three guessed correctly, and one name was picked from the proverbial hat: auberne' rose ancalimon. Rose, send me your snail mail address and the color you want to donitakpaul@msn.com.

Christopher Hopper: I had a dog with three legs named MacGuyver; he was a Black Lab who was hit by a car in front of our house following me across the street to--of all things--a book store. He was only 6 months old at the time of the accident, but lived 14 years without his right rear leg, as if nothing ever happened.

Donita K. Paul: I had a Pekingnese that we acquired by default. My two best friends had German Shepherds. It must have been pretty funny to see the three of us walking our dogs. My friends also had gorgeous red hair and each had a horse. What can a girl do to compete with that? Sam (the Peke) and I overcompensated. That dog learned to do enough tricks to go into the circus. I also had parakeets that talked. Not one or two phrases, mind you, but dozens.

Tomorrow I will put up four hints for you to match between Christopher and me.

Contest Winner!

The answer is Jonathan Rogers. And we have three who correctly answered. Alassiel has already won a beaded bookmark, but I suppose we could send her another. Lion-hearted and Cylos Eli and Alassiel, send me your snail mail addresses to donitakpaul@msn.com and the colors you prefer. We'll send the bookmarks out poste haste!

I first bought The Bark of the Bog Owl, because I couldn't resist the title. When I read about the Feechiefolk, I couldn't resist buying the next two books.

Guess Again

Be sure to look at The O.L.D. Blog today. http://donitakpaul.blogspot.com/ There is a neat book up for your viewing pleasure.

The prize is the same. The contest clues are way out of the norm. Since the last two tries got zilch in the way of correct answers, you might as well pull names out of the hat. There really are clues as to identity to this author through his relations. Think about where this family must live. Put your answers in the comment box. I'll draw one of the names of the contestants who guessed correctly. You have a one in eight chance of getting it right.

1. Which Motiv8 author has a cousin who got arrested for picking up the carcass of a road-kill alligator (which was a protected species at the time)?
2. Which Motiv8 author has a third cousin who accidentally caused a royal ruckus when, shooting pigeons that were fouling (fowling?) the AC units on the roof of a shopping mall, was mistaken for a sniper, and was quickly surrounded by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, a SWAT team, and news trucks from all three TV stations in Macon?
3. Which Motiv8 author has even more cousins who appeared on the Family Feud game show and gave Richard Dawson a T-shirt reading "Everything's Better in Metter (And It Ain't So Bad in Brooklet Either)?

Tongue-Swallowing Accordian Player Makes Another Touchdown

Just so you know, I asked my fantasy fiction friends to give me two sets of clues, so you can't look back and say, "oh, it can't be so-and-so, because she/he's already done it." And even I have a list of weird facts, so it might be me.

And here is a pic of the type of bookmark that is the prize. You get to choose the main color of the beads.

Same as last time: put your guess in the comments.

1. The first instrument I learned to play was the accordian.
2. I lived in 6 different states by the time I was in the 3rd grade.
3. I can swallow my tongue (yes and keep breathing at the same time). Really want to be on Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks."
4. In 5th grade I wrote, illustrated and sold a comic book to my fellow 4tudents.
5. I swam competitively until switching to football and got a college scholarship to play football at a div 1 school.
6. I married my highschool sweetheart. We both attended the same church from gradeschool up and lived 1 mile from each other.

Who's on First?

Actually this would be more "Who's on the Fantasy Fiction Tour?"

Your hints for today are

Who dressed . . .

1. like a boxer
2. in a lampshade
3. in top hat and tails
4. in a toga
5. in a Star Trek uniform
6. and like a super hero.

I'll announce the winner on Wednesday. The prize is a beaded dragon bookmark in the color of your choice. Leave your guess in the comments. Come back to see if you won. And I'll get your email address from you then.

Contest Winner!

The winner of our contest is Jordan! To claim your prize of a handmade (we make 'em) beaded dragon bookmark, send an email to donitakpaul@msn.com. And tell us the color you would like.

L. B. Graham was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1971. He loved school so much that he never left, transitioning seamlessly between life as a student and life as a teacher. He and his family now live in St. Louis. They would like one day to have a house by the sea, which he wants to call "The Grey Havens." He and his wife have two children. Both love books, which pleases him immensely.

Who is BOTH an American & an Australian citizen?

My father was born in Melbourne, even though he grew up in Ethiopia. When I married an Australian, I applied for citizenship "by right of descent" and became a dual citizen.

Who won the math award at his/her high school before abandoning the study of math entirely after 1st semester in College?

Math always came easy, but even though I had a brilliant Calculus professor my first semester at Wheaton, I knew math wasn't for me.

Who has a father who grew up in Ethiopia?

My grandfather was Australian and my grandmother was American. They both went to Ethiopia as single missionaries in the late '20s and early '30s where they met, married and raised a family that included my Dad.

Who wrote a "choose-your-own-adventure" story for his/her 6th grade project on the state of Georgia called "Killer Kudzu?"

I knew I wanted to be a storyteller, even in elementary school, so I spiced up my "boring" state project with a story about Kudzu run wild and terrorizing the neighborhood, written on 3x5 index cards. Fortunately, my teacher had a sense of humor and loved it.

Who found out as a teenager one afternoon in Scotland that sheep are surprisingly nimble and impossible to catch on foot so he/she spent the afternoon throwing and dodging hardened sheep manure instead?

When I was 13 and my older brother was 16 we spent a month in Scotland and several weeks in England when my father did a pulpit exchange with a Scottish pastor. While visiting the Isle of Iona we lost interest in the history and turned out attention to the sheep...