Two contests for the price of one! Well, actually for the price of two ...

While I’m slaving away over the second short story, I think I’ll put my wonderful readers to work. That’s right, it’s time for another contest! Or, in this case, TWO contests!

One of the most interesting aspects of running Masks as a monthly web serial back in the day was the fan art I’d get. Some of it was pretty darn cool, and some of it made me laugh, and occasionally it made me wonder what kind of medication my readers were taking, but it was always entertaining. I’ve gotten a little bit of fan art while I’ve been hyping the book, but I kind of miss the zaniness of seeing my universe through others’ eyes.

So for the next six weeks, I will be accepting fan-art submissions for the new contest. The fan art can take pretty much any form as long as it produces an image—drawing, painting, photograph, video still, whatever. The art can draw on existing Masks characters and stories, or expand the universe in some way (hint: dozens of masks died in the superhero purge ten years ago—and I’ve only named about ten of them so far!). If you’re not comfortable with a pencil, go crazy with the contents of your closet and take photos. Paint up an action figure like Guillermo did in “Zephyr Street.” Use screen captures from an MMO like Erik Johnson did for his Masks project in City of Heroes. If you're musically inclined, post a video of a song! Wacky videos are acceptable, as long as you made them yourself and you don’t mind my sticking a screen capture in the album for reference. I’m not looking for Hollywood-caliber production values here—anything that’s fun and superheroic (or supervillainous) is fine by me.

Pretty much any kind of art will do as long as a) it stays PG-13 (no profanity, nudity, sexual content, or racial slurs, please); b) it’s not going to get me in trouble with the copyright monkeys (no Superman or Dr. Horrible—but your own original character is fine); and c) people looking at it can tell it’s associated with the book somehow. Feel free to plaster the title on the image.

Submit the art to this blog or the book’s Facebook page on or before September 27—I’ll be developing an album on the page so everyone can see what gets turned in. After the submission period closes, I’ll post a link so the fans can vote to choose the best submission. Ah, democratic anarchy!

And oh, yeah, there’s a prize! The best submission wins a bloodthirsty animal sidekick with which to battle the forces of evil. That’s right, the Pocket Coyote is finally coming along … and the best fan art wins one, handmade by yours truly! Photos of it soon.

But wait! I hear you saying, “Rebekah, I have the artistic ability of a poleaxed goat. I can barely hold a crayon, let alone a needle or a camera, but I want to win a Pocket Coyote, too!” Well, never fear, because there’s a contest for you as well! We’re having another fan drive, something like the last one.

Invite your friends to Like the book’s Facebook page OR sign up to follow this blog (that’s right, if they do both it counts TWICE), and comment on the blog or the page to identify who invited whom. Whoever gets the most new fans between today and September 27 (i.e., fans that join or follow between now and then) gets a Pocket Coyote of their very own in the mail. I'll send the thing to any location the postman can find in the United States or Canada.

Unless it’s John K, who won last time. Fair’s fair.

Ready? On your mark … get set …