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Well, the Warding Contest is over, and true to my promises, the judges met within a week to pick winners. It was really nice to have help choosing. I have a love/hate relationship with these contests, because the entries are always so incredibly awesome that I feel like even the least of them deserve prizes, and I never have enough prizes to go around. I’m like a hippie elementary school sports coach who wants to quit keeping score and give everyone a trophy. You are all champions. Seriously. There really wasn’t a bad entry in the bunch. Lauren and I debated some of the ones that missed the list a long time before cutting them.

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…

Posted on July 8, 2010 at 2:15 am by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Events, Fan Art, Fans, Warded Art
19 Comments »

The Warding Contest has been incredible. Seriously.

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

Posted on July 6, 2010 at 11:33 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Warded Art
Comments Off on Portable Circle

Fantastic Warding Contest entry from Arthur in California, who made aluminum wards posts that double as candle holders.

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.

Posted on July 6, 2010 at 12:16 am by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Warded Art
Comments Off on Warded Lantern Posts

I have to give Alex from Pennsylvania some serious points for creativity, but slapping a flame ward on something you need to cook seems counterproductive…

Peat,

I have a last minute entry for the warding contest.  I got the idea several days ago but haven’t had the time to try it out until last night.  Long story short, I work in a little Mom and Pop, hole-in-the-wall pizza shop.  Knowing full well that my boss uses flame demons to power his pizza oven I thought it would be good for a laugh to take some pepperonis and use them to slap a flame ward on a pizza.  Much to my surprise after taking the full journey through the oven the pizza remained thoroughly uncooked.  Attached are a series of pictures that corroborate my story.  Hope you enjoy.

Loyal fan and dedicated reader,

Alex, PA

Posted on July 5, 2010 at 12:28 am by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Warded Art
1 Comment »

Almost caught up. Three more Warding Contest entries here, and then three more posts with multiple pictures in the same entry. I will have all entries up for people to comment on before Lauren and I meet for the official judging. We have been careful not to discuss anything yet, apart from the fact that the entries are so awesome that we will have a hard time with it.

****Spoiler Alert!****

First up is two-time entrant Dwayne from the UK, who has made his presence known in every competition to date, and continues to make first-class entries like this one, which I love, love, love. I am still hoping to do a Homemade Heroes Contest, which this would be perfect for. Warning, it contains mild Desert Spear spoilers, but what doesn’t, in this contest?

Hi Peat,

Here is my last just in time entry. I was thinking what would be cool to do, then my thoughts shifted onto what would be cool to have so I got to thinking and came up with the idea of Action figures. At first I was not sure who to do, if I had time I would do them all, but time was running out, so I decided since the contest was for a picture of Renna I should do her. Basically I bought a Barbie doll, made a dress for her out of cotton (Shown in top right of pic) then I braided and cut her hair (although with the plastic wrap effect this is a little hard to see), altered the dress and warded her skin. It is the latest doll to hit the market and hopefully all girls around the world would enjoy this heroine.

Regards,
Dwayne, UK

Next is an incredible tribal art design from Justine in Virginia. I could look at this for hours, it is so beautiful:

Greetings Mr. Brett and Ms. Cannon,

I hope this entry makes it into the pool in time. I wanted to do something a little different from the entries that I saw while thumbing through your site. The idea came from what little back history you touched on in The Warded Man and The Desert Spear; possibly recovered from the runes at Anoch Sun when Arlen discovered the obsidian tomb. This, as I imagine, is what one of the ancient Warders of old might have had tattooed on their palm. Using a combination of power Wards with a mimics ability and mind control one touch would render the attacking demon absolutely vulnerable to a hidden weapon. I chose to use the five elemental Wards on the fingertips as a channel, backed with cutting Wards and bludgeon Wards to do some serious damage.

The medium I chose to use is good old fashion pen and ink, cleaned up with my computer. I’m am an aspiring tribal artist so sketching these Wards was one of the hardest and most enjoyable projects I’ve undertaken in months. I wanted to give the piece a glyph appearance rather then a full on flesh tattoo, possibly something shown on an interior wall or above a doorway. The feel of the design is a bit rough but I hope you like it! Can’t wait to see if this gets in on time and I certainly can’t wait for news on the next book!

Keep up the absolutely amazing writing!
Justine, VA

Lastly, Blake from Alaska has added to his warded paper lantern entry with this kickass budgeon-warded jeep:

Ok here’s my last one haha last minute, permanent marker… wasn’t the smoothest thing I’ve done but what the hell, more support aye? haha

Most of the wards you see on my jeep are bludgeon wards so when i am mud bogging through the woods ill have no worries =]

Blake, AK

Posted on July 4, 2010 at 2:30 am by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Warded Art
2 Comments »