Writer's Grove
Nerdscape Contest!
Let’s have some fun, shall we? I ran this contest once way back when I was a newbie author and I think I got less than twenty entries. But it was less than twenty entries of AWESOME, so I think it deserves another go!
A nerdscape is a still life in which you let your geek flag fly. While there may be any number of goodies featured in it, there are three base requirements to every nerdscape:
1) A book. Or books!!! They may be comic books, textbooks, whatever. If you have only an e-reader, then it must be turned on and the cover image of a book must be plainly visible. But come on. BOOKS.
2) Junk food.
3) An action figure or figures. These may be fully articulated figures, statuettes, Heroclix, miniatures from your WarMachine games…you know. We basically need sculpted, painted plastic or metal shaped like a fictional character from comics, movies, or games. Stuffed animals, while cute, do not count as action figures. They’re allowed to be in your nerdscape in addition to your action figure, though!
Again, you’re welcome to put other stuff in your nerdscape. Cell phones. Video games. Your motherboard. Your mother. It doesn’t matter, so long as there is also a book, an action figure, and some junk food in there.
I did a couple super-fast to give you an idea. I’m sure you’ll be *much* more creative. First one:
See there? Good times. My first nerdscape contains hardcover editions of Alan Dean Foster’s Taken trilogy, Cherry Darling from Planet Terror, and a box of Samoas. Since I like baseball I put in my D-backs hat too. It is a shrine to my geekery. Let’s do another!
I have a bag of Cheetos and a can of Coke for junk food; an action figure of the Ted Kord Blue Beetle; and a copy of Ganymede by Cherie Priest. I also threw in Atticus the otter and a mini-statue of Ganesha, because they are my constant companions while I write.
Neither of these are going to win me any points in photography school; I just threw these together on my kitchen table and didn’t do much in the way of extra staging and bonus goodies. Yet they both show off stuff I love to geek out about. We should all document this, right? This is the still life form of our time! I will endeavor to create a much better one and post it later.
So that’s how you enter the contest. Send me YOUR nerdscape. Have fun trying to cram everything you love into one picture—or artfully arranging the minimalist essence of your geekery. Email a jpeg of your nerdscape to kevin (at thingie) kevinhearne dot com.
What You Can Win
1) One awesome winner will see their name in book seven of the Iron Druid Chronicles! That’s right, I will name a character after you in SHATTERED if you kick all kinds of ass with your nerdscape. You must understand that the character will bear absolutely no resemblance to you apart from your name and gender and will most likely die a horrible death. But I can guarantee that Atticus will have a sad when he hears that the character with your name has snuffed it, so there’s that. This prize can be won by anyone, anywhere. All other prizes, which involve shipping heavy things through the mail, will be US only.
2) I’ll send one winner of my choice a signed set of the series so far, books 1-5.
3) There may be additional prizes from my spiffy peeps at Del Rey because they love their nerdscapes in New York. These prizes will be of a bookish nature. I do not know how many there will be or what they will be, but I am fairly certain they will be good books because that’s what Del Rey publishes. You might even get an ARC of something coming soon. When I know more about what these prizes might be, I’ll let you know exactly what they are and how winners will be chosen. Check back for updates.
4) I’m going to send somebody sausage. Why? Mostly because it amuses me to think of someone checking their email, finding a note from me, and then shouting “I WON SAUSAGE!” in their home or workplace. This will be someone chosen at random.
The primary goal here is to geek out on stuff and share the nerdery we love, so you have until Valentine’s Day to enter. I’ll post all entries in albums on both my Facebook author page and Google Plus, and after Valentine’s Day we’ll find out who won. HAVE FUN! Can’t wait to see your nerdscapes!
