On the twelfth day of Hogswatch, your Seanan gave away...: seanan

On the twelfth day of Hogswatch, your Seanan gave away...

...a unique Seanan McGuire birthday swag pack, valued at we have no idea, half this stuff was never available for sale.

So Disneyland was a little more exhausting than anticipated, and the eleventh and twelfth days of Hogswatch got pushed back a bit. I'm sorry about that. This is the posting for the eleventh of the Twelve Days of Hogswatch. Each giveaway has different rules, and a different deadline, although all prizes will be mailed on January 9th, because I am bad at going to the post office.

The final giveaway is for a birthday swag pack, assembled by yours truly. It will contain:

* A copy of the art bookmark I designed several years ago for Borderlands. These bookmarks have been gone for years, and have clownfish mermaids all over them. Super cute, and a rare example of my working in full color.
* A Slasher Chicks T-shirt. You get to pick the size, although sizes are limited (it was a very short run), so I can't promise I'll have the one you want. But hey, it would be a rockin' present for somebody else.
* A copy of your choice of Wicked Girls or Stars Fall Home, signed.
* One of the unique, never-for-sale "I'm with the band" passes we make for the Traveling Circus. I don't have passes from all events, but I can check to see if I have a specific title (Seanan books only).

This is a random number drawing with a twist. So...

1. To enter, comment on this post.
2. If you are international, indicate a willingness to pay postage.
3. Explain to me why YOU deserve this birthday gift.

Please remember that all giveaway rules are non-negotiable. Failure to follow the rules of a giveaway will mean that you cannot win, even if the RNG picks you. I will be choosing three finalists, and then letting their arguments sway me to a final winner.

I will choose the winner at 1PM PST on Wednesday, January 8th. I know that's super-tight, but I need to do the mailing.

Game on!

droewyn

January 7 2014, 17:47:12 UTC 3 years ago

New comment

(US)

I deserve this gift because I was sick on a snowday and that's just terrible.

elliemurasaki

January 7 2014, 17:47:40 UTC 3 years ago

I am in the US and I deserve this birthday gift because come the thirteenth it will be my birthday. Twenty-five. Milestone.

kyrielle

January 7 2014, 17:49:07 UTC 3 years ago

I'm in the US, and my birthday is in just over a week. Otherwise I don't deserve it any more than anyone else, but I'd love to get it anyway.

klwilliams

January 7 2014, 17:51:23 UTC 3 years ago

I deserve this gift more than anybody else because...because...I've never been with the band, and I really really want to.

museclio

January 7 2014, 17:52:36 UTC 3 years ago

I'm in the US. I deserve this birthday gift because I just had knee surgery for the third time and am therefore grumpy. Also because I just took the snake to the vet because snakes are dumb (much as I like them). Also because Seanan's are nifty, and awesome, and so I pretty much do my best to make sure that her cats are fed.

geekhyena

January 7 2014, 17:59:53 UTC 3 years ago Edited: January 7 2014, 18:00:34 UTC

I deserve this gift because well, I don't personally, but if I won, I'd give it to my friend Hanna, who is one of the sweetest people you'd ever meet, but is in a really emotionally/mentally abusive situation right now. She's saving up all she can so that she can get out, and I'm doing what I can to help her out, and really....I want to give her something to make her happy. Something she doesn't have to worry about the money for and can just enjoy. She's been going through an even rougher than usual time the past few months, and I think this would really make her smile.

FunIsReading

January 7 2014, 18:08:53 UTC 3 years ago

First, thank you so much for this giveaway, it is very kind of you. Second, I am in the US.

I deserve to win this giveaway, because I have been in grad school for too long, and a prize like this would bring a huge smile to my face and make the daily trudge of working on my dissertation worthwhile. Also, because working takes priority over most things, a new shirt would help with the ever constant laundry wars.

thistle333

January 7 2014, 18:10:48 UTC 3 years ago

I deserve the gift because I just had a birthday (12/31) and I turned 60. Also because I would squee loud enough for you to hear me - even though I live on the Midwest Coast. :)

January 7 2014, 18:11:26 UTC 3 years ago

Oops, also US (Detroit).

seimaisin

January 7 2014, 18:10:57 UTC 3 years ago

I'm in the US, and I deserve this gift because I've been stuck working next to a window in a drafty century-old building for the last two days, when the wind chill has been anywhere from -25 to -50 degrees F. So a gift would warm me up. I swear, science says so!

(... it must, somewhere in the fine print.)

jennifer_brozek

January 7 2014, 18:12:04 UTC 3 years ago

I'm in the US. I deserve this birthday gift because I occasionally dream of you in your natural world ending habitat. Also, cause I just turned 43 and being in your 40s is awesome.

eglantine_br

January 7 2014, 18:12:35 UTC 3 years ago

I would love to win it. I deserve it, perhaps, because this has been a crap month. I have the flu, and my landlord hates me and it is well below zero outside.

kay_gmd

January 7 2014, 18:16:10 UTC 3 years ago

Ooooo pretty things!

I deserve this because just last night I was talking to a friend who has read some of your books, and they hit a pet peeve of his, and he was thinking of quitting on them. I listened to his explanation, restrained my impulse to shout "Nooooo! You must love the books!!" and suggested your books that would not hit the peeve, and he plans to try them. I think he'll really enjoy Feed!

Not international, assume you want details on the prizes only from the winner.

chantry

January 7 2014, 18:16:26 UTC 3 years ago

(US)

I deserve this gift because I've been sick with a sinus infection since just after the new year . . . and the enforced absence from work means that, right at the beginning of the year . . . I've lost at least a quarter of my annual bonus for this year, if not lost it entirely, depending on what kind of discipline my boss decides to write me up on when I go back.

etcet

January 7 2014, 18:21:43 UTC 3 years ago

(domestic US destination)

On the occasion of the High Empress' [REDACTED FOR REASONS OF "SHE'LL KILL YOU IF YOU TELL ANYONE"] birthday, the Kingdom of Petunias had a problem.

They were out of people to behead in celebration and dark sacrifice to their beloved and rightfully-feared matriarch. The low-hanging fruit had been easily plucked. The slightly trickier fruit had been plucked by tallish zombies, who were themselves promptly dispatched by Tansy. Bigots, trolls, and even over-zealous metermaids had all been snipped, snapped, and fed to the spiders and alligators in the moat that surrounded her castle.

"Well, this sucks right out loud," a nearly-anonymous member of her retinue intoned.

Vixy looked deeply nonplussed at the roster of second-tier candidates. "Tumblr gifsets and Facebook well-wishers? Seriously? Fuck it, I'm taking up the accordion."

"Take mine, Highness." There was no shortage of custom for the imperial chiropractor in the wake of this announcement, so many heads snapped around more briskly than they probably should have been. At the back of the room, having somehow dispatched two of the guards, a figure stood, head high, neck bared, eyes defiant.

"I understand the stunt work on 'Sleepy Hollow' pays above-average rates, and I'd be a shoe-in without this dastardly thing making the garb all lumpy." He shrugged and knelt.

Seanan's eyes lit with the fire of a five-volume trilogy behind them, and she came down from her throne, her favorite blade glinting like candles and fine crystal.

wombatoverlord

January 7 2014, 18:30:29 UTC 3 years ago

Can't say that "deserve" is the word I'd choose with any gift. It'd improve my day, which started with the Espresso Machine of Epic Awesome flooding my kitchen for the third time in six months. If this happened to Toby, back when she still drank coffee, there'd be several smoking craters.

sheistheweather

January 7 2014, 18:32:14 UTC 3 years ago

(US)

A list, because I love them:

I have lost my favorite bookmark, which deeply saddens me. It had a fox in it, to no one's surprise. Clownfish mermaids are wonderful orange things, and having a new favorite bookmark would be an awesome way to start out 2014.
I currently have failed to sufficiently disturb my coworkers lately, and would love to do so with a no-context-for-you-coworkers Slasher Chicks T-shirt. (I will also be obtaining plush Ebola giant microbes to give to my coworkers. Giving them ebola pleases me.)
I want to give my 13 year old stepdaughter a copy of Wicked Girls, because I think she would love it, although she probably won't say so to me because she is 13, and is intermittently Too Cool For Fun.
I have not yet managed to make it to a Traveling Circus show, and I love artifacts from cool things people I admire do.

Whether or not the RNG/you favor me, I hope your birthday was all you wanted it to be. :)

gammelor

January 7 2014, 18:35:58 UTC 3 years ago

1. This is a comment.
2. US but still willing to pay postage.
3. I deserve this gift, because... Wait. After reading other comments, I realize that other people deserve this gift way more than I do. So if you draw my number, please try again.
4. That said, I'm still willing to pay postage. Let me know what it costs you to send to whomever, and I'll send you money through PayPal or a personal check to cover it. That way, the cats get a few more treats.

cirakaite

January 7 2014, 18:37:14 UTC 3 years ago

I deserve it because I'm jet-lagged and teaching hyperactive 9-year olds to write about zombies for fun. Also, my cats' names are Sebastian Shaun and Holly Georgia, just because. This is George, helping me to grade maths papers. and His Majesty, of course.

International and willing to pay postage :)

phantasm13

January 7 2014, 18:39:10 UTC 3 years ago

You are awesome!

I am in Canada yes I will pay for things to be shipped to me if the random generator were to pick me.

Why do I deserve this birthday gift? It would be an awesome way to start off the new year. My 2013 saw a lot of unexpected changes and left me standing with a deer in the head lights kind of look. Choosing to become a single Mom and being a single Mom of a child with a disability has been a challenge, but one I wouldn't change for the world.

dostehseh

January 7 2014, 18:45:07 UTC 3 years ago Edited: January 7 2014, 18:47:54 UTC

I am commenting on this post and am not international. I deserve this gift because I was one of the federal workers in October who got kicked out of my job - but I'm a contract employee, so I was actually laid off. I had to fight to get unemployment. Then I got it. Then my agency accidentally sent me one week of pay, that I have to pay back, of course. And now my State is saying I shouldn't have gotten any benefits, because I got back pay (which I didn't, 'cause I was laid off not furloughed_, so I have to pay THEM back ... and they want three weeks worth of benefits, but I was only ever paid for one week!

:(

:(

:(

Being laid off for three weeks is going to end up costing me an awful lot. But people are still raging against all those damn federal employees who got a paid three week vacation. Also, my birthday was in October and I had no money because I was clinging to my tiny savings to help pay bills during the lay off, so I couldn't do anything, and everyone forgot my birthday. EVERYONE! I am so sad.

acelightning

January 7 2014, 19:12:00 UTC 3 years ago

US resident.

I deserve to win because:

1. My birthday was December 11; I turned 66, but all I got was a bacon chocolate bar, because money's still tight.
2. I don't own any of your music, and I'd love to. And a bookmark will be very useful when my back-ordered books arrive.
3. At sunrise today, here within sight of both the New York City skyline and the Atlantic Ocean, it was 0° F., with wind gusts up to 40 mph. I actually had to wear socks!

cerulean_sky

January 7 2014, 19:18:16 UTC 3 years ago

This is a comment, I am US local.

And I definitely deserve a birthday gift since my birthday was just a few weeks ago (Dec. 22), and also I graduated from college (finally!) the week before that with my Totally Useful Degree in Creative Writing.

av_chick

January 7 2014, 19:25:48 UTC 3 years ago Edited: January 7 2014, 19:26:22 UTC

I deserve that amazing birthday gift because I am hard at work on not one, but two cosplays of characters of yours: Dr. Abbey and Becks. Both of which I will be wearing to conventions this year. In the US, which is where I live.

kshandra

January 7 2014, 19:31:30 UTC 3 years ago Edited: January 7 2014, 19:33:58 UTC

I could probably give you 100 words or more on why I want this gift. Why I deserve it is another matter.

But in this particular moment, I am smarting over the fact that someone in my nine-person company took something of mine without asking yesterday, and I still don't know who it is. Getting a hobbit birthday present from you will not replace what was taken - the item itself, or my unwavering trust in my fellow employees. But it would cheer me up.

Edited to confirm that shipping a prize to me will require domestic postage only.

maverick_weirdo

January 7 2014, 19:31:44 UTC 3 years ago

I am in the US
My next birthday, in less than a month, is my 45th, which feels like a big deal number to me.

Post a new comment
120 comments

Log in

On the twelfth day of Hogswatch, your Seanan gave away...

Error