Oh, it’s on like Donkey Kong!  Streams will be crossed and Giant Stay Puft Marshmallowmen will tremble in their weird marshmallowman…sailor hats?  Yes, their weird sailor hats!

Sez you, “You blather, man!  What in the Hell are you on about?”

Sez I: “LOLWut? Oh. Uh, well, let me tell you!”

Crossing the Streams is a huge, multi-author, multi-book giveaway. Over a dozen speculative fiction writers have come together to create something very cool.  Some of you may be familiar with this concept, as we’ve run this once before, but for those who aren’t, here’s how it works:

Each individual author involved is running a contest on his/her own site. The specific details vary from author to author; the contest I run on my site might be very different than the one on Ari’s site, or Erin’s site.

But each contest has a few details in common. Specifically, each of us will select two winners from the contest on our own site. Each of those winners will receive one signed book, free, from the author whose contest they won. So, for instance, if you win here, you’ll win one of my books. If you win on Howard’s site, you’ll win one of his, etc.

But… that’s not the big prize. Once the individual contests have ended, all the authors involved will get together and choose one single “super-winner” from all the entries on all our sites combined. This one lucky individual will receive a signed book, free, from each and every one of the authors involved.

Meaning somebody out there’s going to win a lot of free signed books.

You can only enter each author’s contest once, but you may enter multiple contests. So you could enter here, on Matt’s site, on Jason’s site, etc. Heck, you can enter on everyone’s site, if you want. (And even if you aren’t selected as the “super winner,” you might win more than one of the individual contests. You never know.)

You can find a complete list of the authors involved, as well as links to their sites, below. But first…

How to Enter Paul’s Contest

Again, these are just the rules for my contest. The rules for entry on other authors’ sites might be very different.

But for me, it’s really simple. All you have to do is leave a comment to this blog entry (be sure to include an email address so I can let you know if you win).  In the comment, tell me which book of mine you’ll choose if you win.  That’s it.

I will then select ten of the entrants at random and use the teleportation circle in my basement to transport those so chosen into a steel cage on desolate, ruin-dotted OtherEarth.  Once there, you will be armed with an old athletic sock stuffed with bologna (or some other mutually agreeable processed meat product), and you must use said sock as a weapon in a fight to the death against the others. The last two left alive will each win a signed book and be returned to Earth to collect their prize.  And (and this is the big deal) you can keep the sock and the bologna! Easy!  And so, so worth it!

Or…since I suppose the death of eight people by way of lunchmeat sock bludgeoning might be deemed excessive by some, I guess I may instead just select two winners via random draw (and remember too that everyone who enters is also in the running for the random “super-winner” selection).

Entries must be received between February 19, 2014 and March 19, 2014.  Try to enter after that and you get the steel cage and bologna but…NO SOCK FOR YOU! 🙂

And that’s it for me.  Easy peasy.

Prizes: My two winners, and the super-winner, may choose any one of the following books.

The Hammer and the Blade, the first Tale of Egil and Nix (mass market paperback)

A Discourse in Steel, the second Tale of Egil and Nix (mass market paperback)

The Godborn (hardcover or mass market paperback; your choice)

Deceived, a novel of the Old Republic (mass market paperback)

Riptide, a Star Wars novel (mass market paperback)

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to ask.

The Rest of the Authors Involved:

As I said, there are over a dozen of us involved in this. You can find names, and links, below.

And hey, if you click on over to one or more of these sites, don’t just look at the contest page.  Nay!  Verily only rogues, rakes, scoundrels, and ne’er do wells would do such a thing! And while I ordinarily lurves me some rogues, rakes, and scoundrels, in this case I’d rather you poke around their pages and see if any of their work intrigues you. Maybe even buy a couple of their books.  Oh, and if you’re here from the site of one of my esteemed colleagues, and you’d like to know what you should purchase of mine…well, let me recommend the first Tale of Egil and Nix, The Hammer and the Blade, which is (through the end of February) available for Nook or Kindle for under $2 (Nook link; Kindle link).   Library Journal called it, “rollicking sword and sorcery after the fashion of Fritz Leiber” so it’s possible that’s it’s not terrible.  🙂

Thanks, and good luck.

• Ari Marmell
• Betsy Dornbusch
• Darrin Drader
• Dave Gross
• Erik Scott de Bie
• Erin M. Evans
• Erin N. Hoffman
• Gabrielle Faust
• Howard Andrew Jones
• James L. Sutter
• Jeff Salyards
• Joshua Palmatier
• Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell and Jeffrey J. Mariotte
• Matt Forbeck
• Richard Lee Byers
• Saranna DeWylde
• Wendy N. Wagner