And the Winners Are…

I got all fired up this morning over the Today Show and the whole bullying thing — that essay took me a good chunk of the morning and drained me so much that I needed a nap after lunch. (Well, that and the 4-plus miles I ran at the gym while being all fired up.) And so I apologize for keeping you in suspense about the winners of the AlphaOops contests. But wait ye shall no more!

The slightly depressing thing about holding contests is that I know a lot of the people who enter them. I wish they all could win, but I know they can’t, and I know they will continue to stay my friends (which is what makes my friends awesome). But it also makes me EXCEPTIONALLY happy to announce winners that couldn’t have been better picked if the deck had been stacked (which it wasn’t).

The winner of the AlphaOops Scavenger Hunt/Photo Contest is: Paula and Mark Beauchamp! Paula and Mark are known to many on the Brian Keene Message Board as Mr. and Mrs. Rude Rabbit. They are two of the most exceptionally kind and generous folks on the planet, and it’s been an honor to know them better over the past year. I couldn’t be happier to give something back to such wonderful people.Their entry came from an independent bookstore in Oak Park, Michigan who actually had a copy of AlphaOops: H is for Halloween in the store. Huzzah! I should get their address and send the bookstore something nice as well.

Congrats, Mark & Paula! Big hugs from me!

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The winner of the Goodreads AlphaOops: H is for Halloween contest is: Jim C. Hines!

You can imagine my delight when I woke this morning to a Tweet from my dear friend, fellow author Jim C. Hines, telling me he’d won my book! According to the Goodreads stats, 625 people entered the contest. Can you believe it?!? And Jim won! I did a very super happy dance. I bet Jim did too.

What’s that? You haven’t read Jim’s books? Well, he’s a fairytale virtuoso too — you should click over to his website and go check those out right now. Go on. I’ll be here when you get back.

I have a few books to sign. And you know how long that takes me…

Hooray Jim!

Big hugs andnd thank yous to everyone who entered both contests! It was so much fun!  We should have another one, don’t you think? So do I. But maybe we’ll have it on another website. We’ll put an interview with it. And perhaps spill some very important beans in that interview. What do you think? Sound like a good idea? Excellent. I’ll post directions to that first thing tomorrow. Unless you SuperGooglers manage to find it tonight…