Earlier this week they had me on the show as their “Third Nerd”, and we had a blast talking about writing, tech, comics, and the like. You can listen to/download the MP3 for free here, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Check it out.

I’m looking forward to getting back to blogging about other things than the contest, and to working on The Daylight War in earnest once more. I took a break from it in April to promote Desert Spear and the Warded Man mmpb, and another break last month to go away on vacation with the fam, but I’ve had trouble getting back into it, mostly because I had almost completed a chapter, only to decide that I didn’t like the flow and cut 40% of it, rejiggering the rest. I’m still digging my way out of that hole, and it’s killed some of my enthusiasm. Thankfully, I made some good progress this last week, and am close to completing the revised chapter and moving on.

I could have let it go, of course, left the chapter as it was and pushed forward, but that’s not my style these days. It’s more tedious this way, but I think it makes for a stronger end-product, even if the going is slow.

If you’re frustrated by the implication that this will delay your next Arlen-fix, though, there is good news! I have just inked a deal with Subterranean Press for an all-new (and already written!) Arlen Messenger novella entitled Brayan’s Gold. Longtime readers will recognize the name (referenced in The Great Bazaar as The Duke’s Mines) as a story that was previously attached to Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2, but after discussion with the fine folks at SP, we decided it would be better as a fully-illustrated stand-alone book in the same format as The Great Bazaar, with full-color cover and interior illustrations done by the great Lauren K. Cannon. Lauren and I spent some time discussing the art last week when we judged the Warding Contest, and it is going to be awesome. Pre-ordering for Brayan’s Gold will begin in a couple of months, and the book is slated for January 2011 release, hopefully to coincide with my Detroit, Michigan appearance at ConFusion, January 21-23.

Also, by now some of you may have noticed that I am no longer slated to write Red Sonja 51-54. I will still be working on the book, but my proposal for the run was a little… unusual, and while Dynamite seems very supportive of the idea, they decided to push the books back a bit to make room. I haven’t officially started scripting, so it will still be some months before my run on the series hits the comic shop shelves. If you have 80′s nostalgia and a blue fur fetish, you won’t want to miss it.

In other news, I have bought my tickets to Australia for Worldcon in Melbourne Sept. 2-6, and while I’m there, I will be making a side-trip to Sydney Sept. 7-10 and can hopefully set up a signing there, as well. On the way out I will be stopping in LA for an August 29 signing at the Dark Delicacies bookstore in Burbank, CA, at 2pm. If you’re in SoCal, stop by and give me a hug.

Last but not least, I want to drop a little hint about the next contest, even though it will be some time before I recover from this last one and get it rolling. This is a contest I’ve wanted to have for a while, but have put off because I figured it would be a lot of effort and not many people would participate: Homemade Heroes.

What changed my mind? Several things, starting with the awesome birthday gift I got from my buddy Matt, made from a Spawn Jessica Priest action figure. I put off posting this for a while because it was spoilery, but now that Desert Spear is up and running and the Renna painting it out in the open, the time has come:

Add to this the fabulous Renna action figure entered in the Warding Contest by Dwayne…

…and the general amount of craftsmanship and hard work that went into the entries in the last few contests, and I think it’s safe to give this one a try, especially with an awesome grand prize.

And what is that prize? A complete set of signed worldwide first edition copies of The Painted Man, The Great Bazaar, and The Desert Spear:

All of these books are rare collector’s items, already selling for many times their cover price, and I will customize ‘em any way you want. Hand-drawn wards or character avatars, boasts about your attractiveness and sexual prowess, whatever.

This contest won’t happen for a couple of months at least, and I haven’t decided on the rules (if any) or runner-up prizes (if any), but if you’re interested, this is a head’s up to get your modeling paints ready and keep your x-acto knives sharp.

But like I said, there are never enough prizes. Lauren and I made five posters, and five only. She gave them to me today, already signed by her, each with a unique hand-drawn ward.  They are fucking gorgeous. I kind of want to keep one myself. To that I raided my dwindling personal stores to add 5 signed 1st worldwide (UK) edition copies of The Desert Spear, and 4 signed Warded Man paperbacks. Fourteen prizes for dozens of entries.

So without further ado, let’s get to the winners:

Poster Winners:

Mitchell, from Texas, USA is a champion with his Portable Ward Circle:

Nanaki from the UK for her absolutely gorgeous rendition of Leesha’s Herb Basket:

Justine from Virginia, USA for her amazing Warded Tribal Tattoo Design:

Arthur, from California, USA for his stellar set of Aluminum Wardpost Lanterns:

Andreea from Romania, a beautiful method actor who became a live-action Renna. If you blow up the pic, every one of those beads is warded!:

Desert Spear Winners:

Francine from the UK was one of the first entries with her Warded Guinea Pig. This picture is still the desktop background on my laptop after close to 2 months:

Jessica from France actually killed a demon to carve these Alagai Hora:

Dwayne from the UK knew the path to my heart with this fantastic Renna Action figure. It just occurred to me that Dwayne was at my London signing and therefore already has a signed TDS, but we’ll work something out. He’s earned it:

Lauren from Australia, AKA Aussie Lauren, AKA Lauren Down Under was another early entrant, and still a serious contender with Arlen’s Messenger Journal:

Kim from Saskatchewan, Canada for her impregnable Warded Chest:

Warded Man Winners:

Carol from the UK is bloody hardcore with her ward tattoos:

Alex from Pennsylvania, USA had one of the most clever and delightful entries in the lot with his Warded Pizza:

Gazza from the UK did some really sharp work warding his guitar:

Rowell from the UK also did a great set of Alagai Hora:

Okay, that’s it. I wanted to write more about the entries and why they won, but it is late and I drank too much scotch during the judging, so I am off to bed. I want to reiterate that if you entered but didn’t win, you are still awesome, and you can expect a bookplate with that in writing in the mail.

I probably won’t have another contest for a couple of months, but the next challenge is already set, and the grand prize is awesome. More on that soon…

Every time I have one of these contests, I am stunned at some of the amazingly creative results, and each time I think it’s peaked and there is no better. Then I have another contest, and you people keep raising the bar. Leesha’s herb basket? Arlen’s journal? Beautiful women all over the world warding themselves? A Renna Tanner action figure? Warded dream catchers and liquid demonfire? A magical trunk safe from corelings? Holy crap.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Truly, I have the best of all readers.

Sometimes it feels like after a lifetime being the nerdy wallflower at parties, I have suddenly woken up in a weird alternate reality where I am cool. It’s a bizarre sensation to say the least. I am incredibly fortunate.

All these fantastic entries deserve a proper judging, so Lauren and I are meeting today (Wednesday) to have a few drinks and decide on winners. The results will be posted in short order after that, just as soon as I can type everything up and format the blog post.

In the meantime, I mentioned yesterday that there was one last entry that made it in before EOD on July 1. This was by Mitchell from Texas, who has passed his Messenger Guild apprenticeship and completed his first portable warding circle. Mitchell has now entered into a very exclusive society embracing the freedom of the open road, and the joy of sleeping (or trying to) mere inches from ravenous demons.

But at least his cat is safe:

Hey Peter,

I have built a small scale, 4 ft diameter, warding circle and I am really excited about it.  I have read your books multiple times and thoroughly enjoyed them.  I want to thank you for spending the time writing them and wanted to express my gratitude by paying tribute to you with my warding circle.  I apologize for the multiple e-mails but Gmail has a 25mb attachment limit and I have a few pics so you can see all of the detail.

I burned the wood for each of the wards which was a new experience for me.  I am not a carpenter of any sort, I am actually and IT professional, so my woodworking tools and area were in limited supply when I began.  I did most of the work in my apartment and the burned wood smell added a new aroma to my living room.  I hope you like the finished product.

Sincerely,
Mitchell, TX

Had a hard time figuring out exactly what to make. I almost opted for a full-on portable warding circle with knotted rope and measuring sticks. But, with the advancements of modern metallurgy, I found something a bit more durable for our time: aluminum warding circles.

The “posts” themselves can be pushed into the ground to avoid wind problems, and vertical wards are a bit harder for leaves or dirt to obscure. Lastly, they make great candle holders. Included are pictures of the first two sets, clay and sand for what would be most common out here in California, the other two (rock and flame) are on my workbench.

Though, I have to ask after working on this project and seeing the pictures of the lantern project: would a projected ward of light or shadow cause any effects? Sure, the demon didn’t enter the ward’s radius but casting the warding shape directly onto the demon might be useful, if it works. Might have to ward some flashlight lenses just in case. Anyway, I really enjoyed the first two books and I’m eagerly awaiting the next three (or more if the fans can convince you).

Hope you enjoyed vacation,
Arthur, CA

I’ve been trying not to comment too much on entries so as to let them speak for themselves, but… come on. This is some awesome shit. All the entries have been amazing. Everyone is bringing their A-game.

Only one more entry made it in before the July 1 deadline, and I will post that tomorrow. It’s a doozy. Competition is fierce.

P.S.

To answer Arthur’s question, yes, a projected ward would have an effect, but that effect would be limited by the clarity of the projection. A tightly focused ward projected onto a demon could be a powerful weapon, but that sort of thing would be difficult to bring into play in a combat situation with the incredibly fast and agile corelings, especially at the current technology level in the series. Still, expect increasingly creative use of the magic in the books as the characters become more savvy about how magic works and come to understand both it’s limits and its loopholes.