EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!
TWO UNANNOUNCED SPECIAL PRIZES TO BE AWARDED!!!
EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!!
In an unprecented special news conference, staff at The Onceupona Times have learned that two participants in the Once Upon a Time Challenge have been awarded special prizes. Our sources tell us that these special prizes were made possible through the generous donations of Lisa Snellings-Clark, Midori Snyder, and A to Z Comics (Jeff).
Through the kind of clandestine journalism you’ve come to expect from the underpaid staff of The Onceupona Times, we’ve managed to obtain a photo of the Special Prize Packs:
Our artistic-analyzer-in-residence has identified the items in this picture as:
A Little Red Poppet complete with special Poppet carrying case and Poppet Planet pin, a signed print of Green Woman and Child by artist Terri Windling, and a set of double-sided bookmarks (a different image on each side) from the movie Fellowship of the Ring.
IN AN EXCLUSIVE YOU WILL ONLY FIND HERE, WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE WINNERS OF THE SPECIAL PRIZE PACKS ARE:
Raidergirl3 (An Adventure in Reading). Sources tell us that her name was chosen at random from a cup full of names of individuals who participated in said challenge. This seems highly irregular, but our sources are generally never wrong.
AND
Annie (Words by Annie) for being the youngest person to participate in and complete the challenge. Annie is only 10 years old and she read 15 books for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. And lest you think Annie is a lightweight, here is her completed challenge list:
1. The Black Gryphon ~Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ~J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ~J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Septimus Heap, Book One: Magyk ~Angie Sage
5. Children of the Lamp ~P.B. Kerr
6. The Sisters Grimm: The Unusual Suspects ~Michael Buckley
7. The Book Without Words ~Avi
8. A Wind in the Door ~Madeleine L’Engle
9. Ragweed ~Avi
10. Poppy ~Avi
11. Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods ~Suzanne Collins
12. Chronicles of Ancient Darkness: Spirit Walker ~Michelle Paver
13. The Chronicles of Prydain: The Book of Three ~Lloyd Alexander
14. Emily Windsap and the Monster from the Deep ~Liz Kessler
15. His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass ~Philip Pullman
We have checked dental records and she is indeed 10 years old. And her book reviews are top notch. If the Times can ever see fit to release the bum currently doing book reviews, we intend to sign her to an exclusive contract.
The Staff at The Onceupona Times thanks you both for your enthusiastic participation in the challenge and wishes you a hearty “Congratulations!!!”
And now, the rest of the story.
Two immense prize packs were up for grabs as the Once Upon a Time Challenge lept into the home stretch. The first was the Neil Gaiman Prize Pack, awarded to one lucky individual who read and reviewed a book by the celebrated author during the challenge period. The second was the Grand Prize of the Once Upon a Time Challenge, awarded to one of the many hearty readers who bravely set out on a quest and came back victorious. The winners of these two stupendous prize packages are:
Congratulations to both the Gaiman Prize Winner and the Grand Prize Winner. Incidentally, the Grand Prize Winner was also the first person to complete the challenge. Perhaps Karma was on her side? (Turn to page 13 for today’s horoscopes, found immediately underneath the obituaries.)
If the prize winners will please contact the Times via the email address: cvincent68@comcast.net with address information, your prizes will be mailed.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
~ J R R Tolkien
The hardest thing about the contests is that I want every single one of you to win! I am alternately thrilled (for the winners) and heartbroken (for those who missed out).
For those of you who are interested, the Once Upon a Time Review Site will stay live. I hope you continue to post links to your reviews there as there are many of us who make this site a regular stop off and we want to keep seeing reviews for any books you happen to read that fit into the category parameters.
Tomorrow I will post a list of those who I have received Tiny Stories from just to double check before I send them off. I hope to announce the winner of that contest within the next two weeks. At that time I will also find a special way to post all of the entries for your enjoyment.
Thank goodness that won’t be the RIP banner! Just kidding Jeff 😉
Beautiful Tolkien quote…Once again Carl, thanks so much for this challenge, it’s been such a great experience. The newsletter rocked! Loved it! Especially the ads…How long did that take to put together?
Congrats to all of the winners!!!! Some great prizes there! And congrats to all of us for our journeys through this challenge. It’s been real guys!
It took me much longer than it should have because at least twice my computer crashed while I was making stuff in Photoshop…ooo, that was irritating. I really had fun doing it, though.
Congratulations to the lucky winners! Good things come to good people.
Thanks, Carl, for this fun challenge. Much enjoyment!
carl, you fool, don’t be heartbroken for the losers – we all won! 🙂
i had such a great time doing this, i got introduced to cool books and throughout i had a host who went the extra mile with posts like today’s very cool onceupon times newspaper and the tiny stories.
those prizes look wonderful, (all FOUR of them, you sneaky one!) congratulations to the recipients!
Congratulations to all the winners 🙂
Looking forwards to the the next RIP (my first) and the next Once Upon a time. Now I am going to surf the RIP blogs and come up with some suggestions so i can start gathering possible books.
Yeah, I’m with jean pierre – I think that what we gained from the experience is more than enough without the prizes. Still, many congratulations to those who won 😀
I loved the newsletter, just loved it! Count me in for Once Upon a Time 2008!
Fab newsletter Carl, even with the frightening twist at the end (just kidding, Jeff!).
Congrats to the winners, those are some fab prizes!
Can’t wait for the R.I.P challenge!
Looking forward to next years challenge as I really enjoyed this one despite not being a prize winner (only slightly sulking 😉 ). Loving the newspaper!
Although I failed to complete the challenge, I’m definitely one of those you converted! And this is not just a wonderful thing for me personally…wow, what a delightful new world I’ve been led to! But it’s also special to me because it’s a world my daughter regularly visits…how nice it will be to have something special to talk about and dream about together.
And speaking of my daughter, you had this sap of a mommy crying with the sweet things you wrote about her. Can’t wait till she wakes up so I can show her!
I’m so glad you decided to leave the review site up! It is so much fun reading the wonderful reviews everyone has written…some of the writing is truly magical on its own!
And finally, Carl, THANK YOU! You are most definitely the all-time leader among reading challenge hosts! I am awed by the amount of time and work you put into this! Enjoy some much deserved time to relax before fall rolls around!
haha, I can’t believe I won! and, for a challenge in my favourite genre, it was very worth it. 🙂 I look forward to next years and the RIP challenge in the fall. Congrats to all the participants and my fellow winners.
I also look forward to reading all the stories!
Wow, 4 winners!! Congratulations to everyone!!
What a super job you did creating this post!! How fantastic! (and how clever of you to make everyone open the envelopes! lol)
I don’t know where you find the time to do it all!!
Wow what a brilliant newsletter!
Thanks again for a great challenge (I think I may be one of your converts too…) and I’m looking forward to the next ones!
Back to say the envelopes were great ideas! I was really surprised when I saw my name and had to look twice. 🙂
Too funny!
Looks like you spent a lot of time on this! Thanks for hosting, Carl!
“I don’t know where you find the time to do it all!!”
You don’t mow the yard on Sunday, for one thing Deslily! 😉
Glad everyone is enjoying the newsletter, it was great fun to put together.
I will definitely be resting, Debi, and plotting and planning for R.I.P. Two…got to get those prizes built up for that one! I hope your daughter enjoys the prize. She appears to be a pretty amazing kid.
I am a sappy kinda guy, JP, I can’t help it.
Will do, Nymeth…you’re doing the R.I.P. Challenge, right? Speaking of, as the time approaches I will be gently recruiting all of you to join in. I have already had one of you make a statement about not liking horror and I want to assure you that horror is not exactly what this challenge is about. It is more about mystery, suspense, old gothic tales, etc. Horror is certainly an allowed element, but true horror stories do not have to be read. There is a great deal of fantasy that has eerie, creepy, gothic elements that would qualify, for one thing.
Heidijane, and all of you recent converts, READ MORE GAIMAN!
Thanks Angela, it was really fun. And thanks for your participation.
Chris, it took several hours Sunday evening to throw together. It took longer because my PC crashed just as I was finishing page one (and then later did the same thing with page 3) and so I had to start those all over again in Photoshop. I was less than pleased.
I still had great fun. Of course the Gypsy Moon and Faerie Magazine ads were easy since they are real places. I just had to add a bit of wording to make them fill the space I wanted them to occupy.
Chris, Quix…was a pretty scary ending there, wasn’t it? I think Jeff is going to autograph 8X10s for all the R.I.P. prize winners. (Okay, just kidding…don’t want to scare you all off from joining in!)
Rhinoa..I understand the slight sulking, I really do. So glad you joined us.
Thanks, Booklogged and Sally. As I’ve said many times, it was a thrill to host this challenge. It ballooned way beyond my expectations. I hope those of you who enjoyed it will be back next year and will bring others along for the ride. I know I have a ton of fantasy books lined up already for next year!!!
no autographed jeff photos!?!? hmph! i want a Scary Jeff Picture!
seriously, i love that picture! are you sure jeff can’t be persuaded to sign it for us!?
If I had my way there would definitely be a blown up picture of it in the comic shop! 😉
I’m not sure Jeff’s wife would want a host of other people having such seductive pictures of her love muffin scattered around the world. (Just typing that made me queasy)
Congratulations to the winners! Great challenge, Carl. I’m looking forward to the R.I.P Challenge and need to locate the list of good gothic titles I’ve read about on various blogs!
Just an fyi, for you who are considering the upcoming R.I.P. Challenge. Here is a link to the Grave Times Newsletter from the end of that challenge with a comprehensive list of all the books that were read for the challenge. It is a good place to both start with ideas for the challenge and to see the wide variety of books people read.
Wow! Congrats to all the prize winners! Ok, so I’m still pouting a little I didn’t win the Gaiman pack, since I’m am now in love with his work. BUT I think that just finding this fabulous author is prize enough! I’ll be back from now on. Can’t get enough!
RIP sounds like a great challenge. Even though I didn’t finish this one, I’m all for starting a new one!!
Congrats to all the winners, especially Annie! Annie that is an amazing amount of magical reading! I only wish I was 10 again and had all summer too read.
Chris, JP, Quixotic, and Carl, you guys crack me up! Autographed photos and love muffin! I was dying reading that. All I can say is that I’m also thankful Carl won’t be using that photo as a banner because it would surely KILL the participation in his second RIP challenege. 🙂
Incredible newsletter Carl. You’re truely talented. I also wish to thank everyone for all the incredible reviews and great discussions throughout the challenge. It was great exepience and I’m so thankful I was apart of it.
Congratulations to the winners!…and another thanks to Carl for making this challenge so much fun!
Thank you so much! I am honored to have won the prize! Thanks for the nice things you said about me. I can’t wait for the R.I.P. challenge!
–Annie
You’re very welcome, Annie, I am excited that you participated and read so many books. Very cool!
Carl: I will be doing RIP, yes. I probably shouldn’t, because in September I’m moving abroad and my life will probably be crazy for a while, but I can’t resist 😛
I don’t read much horror, but that’s something I would like to rectify. Plus, I love a good gothic/eerie fantasy book. I already have a few titles in mind that I’d love to read for the challenge.
Wow. I’m so excited to have won. Thank you very much. You made this challenge an experience, not just reading. I’ve learned so much about fantasy, and will definately be back next year, better prepared and with varied books. I’ll send an email with details, and now I am off to investigate this RIP link of books. You’ve been a fantastic host; see you next year.
Fantastic wrap up! I love how it’s so interactive.
I can’t wait for the RIP challenge; I’ll definitely be participating!
Congratulations to all the lucky prize winners 😀
Love the newsletter! Thanks again for such a fantastic challenge and congrats to the winners!! I’m already thinking about my book choices for the RIP challenge 🙂
Congratulations to all the winners! Way to read, Annie!
The newsletter was great, Carl. It was a very creative ending to the contest, and Jeff would make a very scary role model for the RIP challenge. I mean with the stake and mean look and all…
Oh my goodness! The time you must have spent on this post – I loved the newsletter! Congratulations to the winners! Annie is one impressive girl! (Apologies, I’m so full of exclamations today!)
Wonderful job on the newsletter! It made me miss my old newsletter days…
*sigh*
I’ll definitely be joining y’all for the R.I.P. Challenge, and I’m going to do what I can to spread the word amongst my dark-fantasy-reading friends.
I’m on vacation, and I’m supposed to be getting a lot of writing done, so watch my blog for some new entries!
What a creative ending, Carl. You seem to keep getting better and better at this. Your newletter was so in the spirit of the Challenge. Congratulations to all the winners, expecially Annie. I came away from this with a prize, a longer list of books to buy! Jeff, you might reconsider; you could probably pick up some change selling prints. Thank you for some great fun and reading, Carl. Now I think I’ll go check to see about adding to the pile of books that are already waiting for R.I.P.
I had a great time, Carl. Congrats to the winners, and warm thanks for your amazing dedication to this project. 🙂
Wow! I’m overwhelmed by the effort on the newsletter. You really are spectacular as a host! Even the curtain calls are 110%
Congrats to the winners, and Annie’s reading list puts me to shame. May she grow up to be an even bigger booklover! There’s hope out there if 10 year olds are reading so hard.
I think I’m starting to like the RIP banner. Maybe you should consider using it, Carl. 🙂
I’m so looking forward to the RIP Challenge. What’s in store? Any hints?
Hints…hmmmm…
I already let out one hint in the newsletter, Natasha Mostert has agreed to an author interview and an autographed copy of Season of the Witch is on its way to me for giveaway during the challenge.
I hope to have more Colleen Gleason goodness for the challenge.
I’m thinking of doing another Tiny Stories contest only this time making it fit the gothic theme and allowing stories of 200-250 words with no condition on repetition of words.
I have some Edgar Allan Poe goodies lined up already for giveaways and lots of other plans in store….
I have loved eavesdropping on this challenge, even though I didn’t have time to do it. Congratulations to all the winners, and to you, Carl…
Oh, and in other news, my husband (Not A Fantasy Reader) just zipped through American Gods. Amazing. I had given up hope that he’d ever even consider reading the kind of books I love. And now he’s asking what Anansi Boys is like…
Awesome, kk!!! Hopefully you can get him to read all of the Gaiman stuff. Since he liked American Gods, make sure he reads the story Monarch of the Glen in Fragile Things as it is about Shadow and he will surely like it. And thanks for dropping eaves during the challenge, hope you continue to do so and chime in as the spirit takes you! 😉
Congratulations to the winners! And wow, Annie, that’s a great list of books. [adds more to my TBR shelves]. It was a blast participating and reading the all the reviews.
WHOO HOOO a fun and funny post to end the challenge!
I truly had a GREAT time reading these books (trash to the literary world though they are 😉 ). Thank you for taking the time to do this. I WILL be back for the RIP in Oct. I REALLY want to read the Colleen Gleason books!