In anticipation of The Daylight War coming out this February, Peat’s UK publishers decided to touch-up the covers for The Painted Man and The Desert Spear.
While the images remain the same, the cover artists at Harper Collins UK reposition the figures and darkened the images around to edges to make everything pop. Plus they changed Peat’s name and the title to a pretty font.
These beautiful paperbacks will be on shelves in the UK on January 31st, right before The Daylight War comes out on February 11th.
I say it again and again. I have the best readers in the world. And I mean that literally. There were contest entries from all over the globe—from right in my living room to lands across the distant sea—and I love them all. You can check out all the entries on my Daylight War ARC YouTube Playlist.
I had expected this contest to be mostly quick cellphone videos of people giving sob stories or tales of how they began reading the series. Instead the entries became more of a retrospective of some amazing contests past, along with some really spectacular and creative movies from newcomers.
Meg and I had set aside five of our remaining seven copies of Daylight War ARCs as contest prizes, but as usually happens, the entrants went so above and beyond the call of duty that I relented and put all seven in mailers. I also added a first prize of a super-rare Great Bazaar hardcover, and three second prizes of almost-as-rare Brayan’s Gold hardcovers. The rest of the entrants will get limited edition Great Bazaar pamphlets and warded dice. By the time you read this, they will already be mailed.
Five of these went to the usual suspects, who played on my heartstrings with videos reminding me of all the awesome things they have done in contests past, along with some impressive new content. No one deserves prizes more than them.
1) Mia (NYC, USA) – If you haven’t seen Mia’s Cellphone video, take a couple of minutes and you’ll see why I had a copy in the mail to her without even waiting for the other entries.
3) Margherita (Canada) – Kind of a lock already, Margherita nevertheless pulled out all the stops, revisiting her old Homemade Heroes winning entries and adding a new homemade Inevera figure, followed by cajoling by Santa himself. I may not have forgiven Kris Kringle for not bringing me that Millennium Falcon for Christmas in 1980, but the man still has clout.
4) Carol (UK) – With an intro by Gogo Yubari, the deadly schoolgirl from Kill Bill, Carol’s video shows her cosplaying Renna and Inevera, and features her whole slew of ward tattoos. Kind of hard to top.
5) Birte (Germany) – Birte’s video is friggin’ amazing. Not only does she cosplay several characters herself and elicit the aid of her theater troupe, but she wrote the script and all the music herself.
In addition to the above, there were a couple of awesome newcomers.
6) Kristen (TX, USA) – Kristen came in at the Nth hour with a fantastic Daylight War trailer. She and her brother star in it, and she painstakingly animated the wards on her scanner. Incredible.
7) Joe (Denmark) – Joe and his martial arts team choreographed this amazing, action-packed short film. He fights a friggin’ ninja for an ARC! It is not to be missed.
First Prize
(Great Bazaar hardcover)
Russell (WA, USA) – Russell sent his simple, heartfelt video from his army barrack. It was so touching I needed to send him something worthy when we ran out of ARCs.
Second Prize
(Brayan’s Gold hardcovers)
Jen (Canada) – Jen sent me a private video imploring me for a copy on behalf of a dear friend. While she asked that we not share the video, it was in the top running, and even when ARCs ran out, I wanted to send something special her way.
Chantal (UK) – Chantal was my first fan, and made a bold video combining Disney footage with the Demon Cycle theme. The result is strange and beautiful.
Roger (VA, USA) – The first entrant, Roger too stayed in the running to the very end.
Third Prize
(Great Bazaar limited edition pamphlets)
Nick (Scotland) – Nick was not above using a child with a cute accent. It is dirty pool, but irresistible.
Emmanuel (Porto Novo, Benin) – Emmanuel made a great video and sent it all the way from Benin, where I didn’t even know you could get my books. So awesome.
Runners Up
(Warded Dice)
Danielle – Another amazing fan retrospective, and with me running out of prizes! Ack!
Peter – Peter wrote an original song and performed it in his dorm, though he never formally submitted the entry. We are tracking down his address.
Dennis – Another cute kid video, this one with a little girl named Cassie. Talk about dirty pool.
Matt – Matt though he could play the whole “best friends since 1995” card to get an ARC. Hah! It’ll take more than that, dude.
The Polish contingent – Karolina, Marzena, and Kasia. Despite their video showing pictures of my drunken dancing, I really wanted to give them a prize. Alas, they already have most of the things I can give away. I have a special gift in mind for them, though it will likely have to wait until after Christmas before I can send it.
Thanks again to everyone who took the time to enter! You made my heart grow three sizes this Christmas.
A tongue-in-cheek take on what a Disney version of The Demon Cycle might look like. I don’t know whether this will come across as hilarious in a good way or crazy in a bad way. Only one way to find out!
Awesome! This worked surprisingly well, and totally cracked me up. I love the ward on Simba/Arlen’s face. And I think we can all agree that Scar belongs with the corelings.
Arthur presents his case through a comic book presentation …
Well done! Arthur covers all the points … I mean, shaving your head to be Arlen is a pretty big commitment.
And, of course, we couldn’t end this contest with knowing what the inside scoop was with Peat’s visit in Poland! Check out this entry from Karolina (and Marzena and Katarzyna).
Excellent use of incriminating photographs! Very convincing.
The very last entry comes from Kristen who created an amazing trailer for The Daylight War.
The moving wards are my favorite part about this trailer. Beautifully done!
Peat and I have had an awesome time watching everyone’s videos. View them all here.
Three new entries for the Video Contest trying to convince Peat to give up a copy of The Daylight War.
First we have Yelie with a very convincing argument as to what she will do if she receives an ARC. Check it out.
The wards and fan art are beautiful and the reason is quite compelling. Check out what Danielle had to say about her entry:
I get great joy from reading these books and although it isn’t anything fancy, here is my submission to the Daylight War ARC contest. I had an interesting time learning how to use a video maker! I would love to get this early since I am on break from school at the moment and when the book releases I will be back in class and forced to put my work aside in favor of reading (seeing as I’m in charge of radiating people you really dont want me distracted do you?!). I honestly can’t say that I deserve this ARC more than any of the other people who entered but I would sure love to have it on my bookshelf to hand down to my kids one day!
Next we have Emmanuel with a typographic trailer.
This was a great idea. It doesn’t feel like we are just reading text, but watching a trailer instead. Fantastic work!
And last, but certainly not least, is Russell of the 62nd Medical Brigade. Check out how the Demon Cycle books made an impact his life.
Awesome video. Sometimes, just hearing people’s stories and thoughts is just as powerful as high-tech visuals. This is one of those cases! Thank you Russell!
To view all of the video entries, head over the the Youtube Playlist for the contest. Don’t forget to like and comment!
Would you want to make a four year old cry? Meet Peat’s youngest fan, Jack, who speed read all of Peat’s published books and wants to get his hands on the next one.
Very convincing. That child is adorable, and I don’t want him to cry. Also, I love the quick scan of the obviously awesome book collection by Nick (that’s Dad, by the way).
Check out what the video mastermind of the operation had to say about his entry:
I had great fun making this video with my little boy so if I don’t win it isn’t the end of the world. Of course, I would absolutely love to win a copy of the ARC. I managed to pick up an ARC of the warded man off ebay and it’d be great to add this to my collection. Plus of course the fact I would get to read it before anyone else, definitly the best part about winning. Even if I don’t win I look forward to reading the Daylight War whenever I manage to get a copy.
Don’t forget, you can watch all the other entries on Peat’s Youtube Playlist for the contest. Winners will be announced Friday!
