And the Winners Are…

Coffin Hop 2012, like all good parties, has left us with new friends and good memories. I enjoyed the variety and inventiveness of your Hop posts, and I was thrilled with the comments left here on my blog. I’m sure we’ll bump into one another again sometime, and then we’ll smile and say, “Remember when?”

xoxo,

-aniko

~~~~~~

Prizes were drawn by writing each commenter’s name on a slip of paper and putting it in a lovely felt basket with an owl applique. People who commented more than once got an additional entry for each comment. Once a slip of paper was drawn from the lovely felt basket with the owl applique (and green LED eyes!!), that paper was not put back for further drawings.

Haunted House Group Scream Winners

( Receive a copy of Stolen Climates )

Penelope Crowe

Erik Gustafson

Kim Koning

Carrie Crain

Milo James Fowler

Ann Michaud

Jennifer Stuart

James Garcia, Jr

Jolie du Pre

Jeanette Jackson

Jason Darrick

Bn100

Nina D’Arcangela

Joseph Pinto

Laura Thomas

The Blood-Curdling Scream Winners 

( Receive a signed Stolen Climates Postcard )

Carrie Crain

Erik Gustafson

Inion N. Mathair

Jason Darrick

Blaze McRob

fuonlyknew

Nina D’Arcangela

Joseph Pinto

Liese2

Anne Michaud

The Strangled Scream Winners

( Receive a Signed Stolen Climates Poster )

Nina D’Arcangela

Blaze McRob

The Pleasant Surprise Scream Winner

( Receives a bundle of fiction by The Emissaries of Strange )

Erik Gustafson!!!

The Grand Prize Scream Winner

( Receives the Stolen Climates themed goodies + the felt owl basket )

Kim Koning, come on down!!!

Congratulations on winning my Grand Prize! I hope you enjoy the waffle mix from Kerby Lane, which is a 24-hr diner in Austin that’s amazing. You could eat waffles and read The Haunting of Hill House, of which I’m sending you a physical copy. I’m also including a packet of cosmos seeds to grow in your garden, a signed Stolen Climates poster, and a severed hand!

All packed in a lovely felt basket with an owl applique!

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Happy Halloween!

Welcome, Coffin Hoppers! 

Prizes! Ghost! Spooky! Another ghost! Gross! Dark Spirit!

Quick Win: Leave a comment with the phrase “Mother Nature is not just a metaphor” to win Stolen Climates!

Today is the crowning wonder of the year for horror aficionados. It is also the last day of the 2012 Coffin Hop. I’ve enjoyed the variety and inventiveness of your posts, and hope you had a good time at my party!

Until 11:59 PM PST tonight, you can still enter to win several prizes, including the Grand Prize!

Stolen Climates inspired goodies!!

One lucky, lucky reader is going to get a pack of fiction by The Emissaries of Strange, authors of Speculative Fiction.

How do you enter? By leaving a comment. I’ll post the winners here on Sunday, November 4th.

Happy Hopping!

xoxo,

aniko

Going for the Gross Out

Welcome, Coffin Hoppers! Prizes! Ghost! Inspiration! Another ghost!

Quick Win: Leave a comment with the phrase “Mother Nature is not just a metaphor” to get an ebook of Stolen Climates.

Our visit to the field left us chilled, so we decided to warm up in the living room. The paprika colored walls reflect the warmth of the fire, and every now and then someone cuts through the room, dragging the cold outside air along behind them like a ghost. We’re on the couch, sipping scotch and pretending that it is only the temperature making us shiver.

When the party gets quiet, as even the rowdiest parties do, we can still hear the distant screams. The sound steals in through the chimney, moves through the flames, joins us on the couch. As the one who set the mood by telling a ghost story in the middle of a haunted field, I feel obligated to lighten things up a bit; like any writer, the only thing I can think to talk about is writing.

The most I can promise is that this particular story won’t involve ghosts. It might go for the gross-out, but that’s just the risk you take. I top off our drinks, set the bottle on the end table and move slightly closer to you.

Not everything in Stolen Climates was inspired by other artistic creations. A bit of it was lifted from real life. From my life.

In the backyard, near the door, there is a flower bed. The first year we lived in the house, a plant that looked like a cross between a sego palm and a philodendron grew in that flower bed. We thought the drought of the following summer killed it; there were no more leaves, just a cactus stump no more than a few inches high. That fall, I crouched to pull weeds and fallen leaves out of the bed; my knees were pressed into the dirt, my gloved hands seeking. It is possible I was listening to music, and it is possible the wide sky was blue. All I remember clearly is the pain. A sudden, literally stabbing pain.

I peeled my glove from my left hand.

A thorn was shoved under my fingernail. It was a quarter inch long, and I could see the thick line of it under my nail. It stuck out of the tip of my finger, a fat wooden stake.

Apparently, the sego-philodendron grew a crown of thorns and, apparently, I had bad luck.

The thorn hurt, but it was too strange and too unbelievable not to share. I went inside, to where my husband sat in his office. I think I asked him if he wanted to see something cool.

I added that scene to Stolen Climates, although I amped up the supernatural causes for it. You can win a copy just by commenting, and every comment is another entry to win one of my Scream-y prizes. Don’t be shy!

 

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Welcome, Coffin Hoppers!

 

Help yourself  – the keg’s full of ice cold Oktoberfest cheer. There’s candy corn, multicolored popcorn balls, assorted cheeses, and crisp apples. Feel free to explore the yard and relax near the chiminea. If you feel adventurous, take a short walk across the way to the empty field where there’s a cold spot that is always chilly, even in the brutal Texas summer. If you stand there long enough, you will hear either the owl or the other thing. If you hear the owl, you are in good company. If you hear something else –  run!

No Halloween party is complete without door prizes, and the Coffin Hop is a week long party! To participate, all you have to do is be a registered member of the Coffin Hop. To win, all you need is a little luck or the help of spirits conjured over candlelight and cauldron.

Prizes ( Ranked by Scream )

The Haunted House Group Scream:

Leave a comment with the phrase “Mother Nature isn’t just a metaphor,” and I will give you Stolen Climates, my horror ebook.

The Bloodcurdling Scream:

Ten commenters will get a signed Stolen Climates postcard.

The Strangled Scream:

Five commenters will win a signed Stolen Climates poster.

The  Pleasant Surprise Scream:

One commenter will win a  delectably twisted set of dark fiction ebooks by #TESSpecFic  authors, including:

The Imaginings, by Paul D. Dail

Valknut: The Binding, by Marie Loughin

Corridors of the Dead, by Jonathan D. Allen

100 Unfortunate Days, by Penelope Crowe

Stolen Climates, by Aniko Carmean

The ‘I Won The Grand Prize!’ Scream:

One person will receive a Stolen Climates themed goody pack! This includes:

Gauss Hotel’s Award Winning Waffle Mix (just add sytra!)
Helena’s Cosmos Seeds
Margot’s Hand – It’s Not Just for Breakfast Anymore!
A (previously enjoyed!) paperback of The Haunting of Hill House
A signed Stolen Climates poster

Come back and comment often! Multiple comments mean multiple chances to win. And you know you want a prize to go with that fine beer buzz and the thrill of walking out into the haunted field!

xoxo,

-aniko, the happy horror writer

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