Friday, April 13, 2012

It's time to play






As you may or may not have heard, an ARC of VENOM was stolen by post office ninjas during Apocalypsie to Apocalypsie transit a few weeks ago. (No Apocalypsies were injured during this crime.)

As a traveling type of chick and all-around international woman of mystery, I have decided to safeguard the rest of my dwindling ARC supply by hiding them in exotic, hard-to-reach places.

Only strong-willed, pure of heart, sound of mind, intrepid explorers will be able to locate these rare tomes. (Or, you know, if you're good at googling you might find them too.)


The logistics:
1.      I post clues to the location of one ARC at a time.
2.      You figure out VENOM’s location from clues. You must be specific. VENOM is in Chicago--NO. VENOM is at Wrigley Field--NO. VENOM is leaning against second base at Wrigley Field--YES. Got it?
3.      You post your guesses in the comments beneath the latest clue/set of clues.
4.      Each intrepid explorer (that’s you) can guess a max of twice per clue/set of clues.
5.      If your guess is super-duper-close but not quite there I won’t post it. Instead I will email or DM you on twitter (meaning you better post your preferred method of contact with your first guess) to give you one shot to be a teensy bit more specific.
6.      If somebody else guesses the exact location before I get a hold of you, they win.
7.      To win you just have to guess the location. (You don’t really have to fly to Italy and get the Vatican to give you that key and find that place where the dark matter was hidden in The Da Vinci Code. Oh crud, now I gotta pick a new hiding place. No, seriously, it isn’t in Italy.)
8.      Once again, you don’t have to follow the blog to play, but I will be posting clues to VENOM’s location at completely random times and if you know me at all, you know that I am awake at all hours of the day. Blog followers will probably have an advantage.
The fine print:
Can international people play?
Always.
What if the post office ninjas steal this copy too?
The best I can do is priority mail with insurance and delivery confirmation. If the ninjas still prevail (they seem to have a grudge against me) I'll send a new prize pack but it might not be exactly the same.
Ooh prize pack. That sounds promising. What's in it?
Because the fearless assistants and I know you have a choice when it comes to blog contests, we have packed Ms. VENOM alongside a swagorific, stunning array of other tempting goodies.


The AWESOME VENOM PRIZE PACK Includes:




1. An autographed VENOM ARC

2. An autographed copy of fellow Penguinite Antony John's Thou Shalt Not Road Trip

3. A limited collector's edition Hunger Games soundtrack with bonus track, trading cards, a poster, and Gale included. (Wait. No. I'm keeping Gale.)

4. A mystery book from my prize closet (not shown)

5. A tee fury sticker pack

6. A pair of Hunger Games rubber bracelets

7. A voodoo doll that my friends at Hot Topic swear will use its powers for good, not evil

8. Pez, just because someone requested it in the comments, and because it is a timeless classic

9. Godiva chocolate

10. Angry Birds fruit snacks, made with real juice yet not including any Vitamin C. Now that's talent. No worries. Vitamins are for wusses, right?


Questions?? Put them in the comments, please, so I only have to answer them once :)



    9 comments:

    1. Ummmm...you are awesome! I am SOOOO playing and so is the hubby, because you know he's already your biggest fan.

      ReplyDelete
    2. I think I understand. We will get the first clue in the AM and then you may post more at any time. But we only have 2 guesses in 24 hours so it is probably good to wait for more than one clue, right? This sounds fun! :)

      ReplyDelete
    3. Oooh this sounds fun! I hope I win. :-D

      ReplyDelete
    4. Sarabara: I am going to give you three clues in the morning, but it probably won't be enough for anyone to win (unless you are a mind reader) but the early clues might combine with later clues in a synergistic way.

      The guess limit: basically I just don't want people to, for example, decide Venom is in Hibbing, Minnesota (my birth town!) and just google Hibbing and paste in thousands of guesses. I am going to edit this to 'You can't guess more than twice per clue/set of clues' so people don't have to keep track of time. Sound good?

      ReplyDelete
    5. Way to turn lemons into lemonade, Fiona!! This is one of the coolest contests in the history of contests!!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Thanks Gina! In fairness Carmen San Diego and Matt Lauer did it first, but they didn't have ninja pix and autographed books :)

        Delete
    6. So kewl, Fiona! My family used to have a contest like this, except it was called "Where in the heck is that little brat!" And your prizes are so much better than the prizes I got when I was found. I'm totally in!

      ReplyDelete

    I have turned off comments on this blog since it has been getting hit by spammers. Please feel free to contact me via authorpaulastokes.com. (Unless you are a spammer, in which case don't bother because I moderate comments over there.)

    Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.