When I first brought the idea to my publisher, they didn't see the point. All the readers who would be entering the contest would have already purchased the book, so what was my angle? To be honest, I didn't really have a nefarious money-making motive for doing it. It sounded like a fun thing to do, and it was. So I just did it on my own out of my own pocket. I'm still not super sure what the total cost is going to end up being. I get copies of my books for the gross price since I already gave away all my freebies to friends and family, so that wasn't too expensive. What I hadn't counted on was the international readership I apparently have. It turns out, half the winners are not from the U.S.--there's a Canadian and an Australian in the mix and so I'm going to get to see what it costs to ship books internationally. To be honest, I'm more curious than anything else.
As for a reiteration of the rules and all that. There were two winners for the trivia part of the contest and two winners for the fan-art part of the contest. The trivia winners were picked simply by which two people got the highest scores, no partial credit. I was a little worried about this part when I gave both sets of trivia questions to my girlfriend before I launched the contest and she didn't do so well. Of course, this fear was immediately allayed when the first trivia entry came in the day the contest opened, and she got 100%, incidentally one of the winners. The fan-art part wasn't judged by me. I took the names off the submissions, not that my girlfriend would know who they were anyway, and let her pick her two favorites.
Now, I will post the answers to the trivia questions since they don't have any real spoilers to them anyway (If you want to try your hand at the contest, follow the link to the contest above and then check your answers to see how you would have done):
Congratulations to:
Courtney for getting a 100% on the day the contest opened
and
Mike who only missed one
Raven Ladies Trivia:
What color is Slark blood? -- Green
Where was Fiona Bishop born? -- Tombstone, Arizona (Remember, it's BORN, not where did she live most of her life, which would have been Los Angeles)
What is Veronica’s real first name? -- Tanner
What did Fiona name her horse? -- Tyra (There's a not-too-subtle joke running through the book about why)
How many Slark heads need to be collected for a week’s worth of fuel? -- Six
How many dirigibles did the Ravens build to attack the refineries? -- 3
What does Fiona call her crazy moments? -- Chaos tics
Who promises to kill Yahweh Hawkins in Fiona’s name? -- Claudia (who is the protagonist in the second book in the series The Steam-Powered Sniper in the City of Broken Bridges)
What catalogue did Fiona model for before the Slark invasion? -- Victoria's Secret
Why did Gieo program Ramen to lie sometimes? -- To see if she could
The other set of questions, which very few people even took a crack at, was spread across almost all my other books:
General Cassandra Duffy Literature Trivia:
Demons of Paradise:
In “An Archeologist’s Dream” name one thing Nitocris asked Holly to bring her. -- perfume/pomegranate/panties (also gave it to someone who answered Ford Mustang, because technically that was true too)
In “An Eternal Night of Overtime” what did Brooke want to be before she turned to the fashion industry? -- Professional surfer
In “Answered Prayers” what scent follows Jada’s guardian angel? -- Peppermint
Astral Liaisons:
In “The Flesh Menagerie” what do the Ice-Niners want Sonali and Claire to do? -- Procreate
In “Of Pirates and Politicians” what letter do the Saladins resemble? -- F
In “Escaping the Colony of Hot and Cold” the colonists of Martini are divided into two classifications, olives and…? -- Onions
The Vampires of Vigil’s Sorrow:
Which college does Debbie want to go to? -- Barnard
Grace’s father, Henry, served in World War II in which branch of the military? -- Navy
The Grift Girls Series:
In “The Last Best Tip” what business do Lucy and Sasha want to start with their grifted money? -- Lesbian sports bar
In “An Undead Grift for Christmas” Lucy, Sasha, and Lara are attacked by a gang of…? -- Department store Santa Clauses
Now for the fan-art part of the contest:
Congratulations to Felicia!
 |
| The picture can also be found on her website along with her other work. |
And Bunny!
 |
| I have a theory that my girlfriend picked this picture because it very closely resembles how she sees Ramen |
The whole contest thing was supposed to coincide with the release of the second book in the series, but it ended up coming out a few days early on some platforms and the contest was in my procrastinating hands, so the announcing of the winners and the release of "The Steam-Powered Sniper in the City of Broken Bridges" kinda missed each other by a little more than a week--partially my bad, partially my publisher's.
For shits and giggles, here is the cover of the 2nd book in the series (The Steam-Powered Sniper...), available now, and the third book in the series, which should be out in December (The Gunfighter's Gambit):
