Those of you who get my newsletter are super special blessed! As you know—and as those of you who haven’t quite graduated up to full-scale invasion* now know, and you should totally sign up!—I ran a contest over Labor Day weekend. The entries that came in were pretty spectacular!
What’s Underfoot?
As the newsletter says, the goal was to come up with brilliant ideas to place beneath IllustratedMe’s upraised Captain Morgan-pose foot. Let’s look at the ideas that welled up from the depths of your collective disturbed psyches, shall we?
Justine suggests: a steampunked to gilt & hilt Victorian typewriter, with some coiled, clever levers & knobs, & forward pointing, pivoting holder for your lady’s punked gun, to shoot any flamers down. ;)
Kristen offers: A steam punk trunk tipped on it’s side perhaps spilling some lovely items she might use.
Kayleigh let the creative juices flow!
- A half-clockwork, beat from the heart snake. Fangs on display, winding up a leg; poised to take a bite – symbolic of opening a book and being seduced from reality for a time.
- A cut-off bar stool hooked with a countdown calendar hanging like scroll-work, gilded with neon lettering/symbols.
- A pierced skull with a slogan etched across cheekbones and a colour-tinted goggle strapped over one eye socket.
- A heart-rate monitor that interprets beats as ink, possesses a mirror exterior, and a column of coins on both sides of a balance scale – one higher than the other.
- A mechanical half-collapsed ship – webs for sails, cannon balls readied, and a cat snuggled around your foot, miffed at chirp-chirp engineered birds flitting around.
- A ball and chain wrapped around an ankle – and slung over it: keys to certain mysteries hung and tied on criss-crossed whips. … Gunpowder smeared shackles rooted to a dilapidated birdcage, the inhabitant long gone and contents strewn.
Whew! Way to go, Kayleigh, that’s some strong imagery there, no?
On Twitter, the ideas just kept piling up under, well, foot!
@LisasLovesBooks went where we all wanted to: Your foot should be propped on a sexy guy’s butt!
@DustMiteBunny has a flash of brilliance: Oh! How about some kind of steam-punk gremlins that are either evil (and you defeated them) or their your minions! And then, later: You should have your foot on a steampunk octopus. When that wasn’t enough, she makes the ultimate sacrifice: I’ve got it! ME! I’ll hold a sign that either says “Karina’s #1 Fan” or “Karina’s #1 Stalker.” :D
@BooksofBounty goes ladylike: a victorian- era-velvet-with-gold-tassles-hassock (because even a steampunk princess needs some velvet and tassles)
@Michel_Lee_King likes the aesthetic: My idea for #underfoot is an old fashioned trunk with a massive lock on the front in the same cog/gear styling as the likeness. Antique-ed?
And lastly, Pam keeps it classic: you should have foot propped up on stack of BOOKS!!!
One Metric Screwton of Books, Coming Up!
I get to pick the first winner, yay! Going over everything, I can’t tell you how tickled I was to get all these suggestions. In the end, while I love all of them, I’m going to have to go with the shameless self-aggrandization that made me laugh out loud when I read it.
DustMiteBunny, in gratitude for your selfless sacrifice of self and dignity, you are winning a metric screwton of books! Used and unused; YA, paranormal, category romance and more! All yours. Congratulations!
What’s Really Underfoot?
So who actually had the best idea for the artwork? Stay close, my delicious co-conspirators. I’ve sent these to the amazingly talented artist and we’ll see if any of them work for the design. We won’t know for a little while, but once it’s up, I’ll send a shout-out to the winner and everyone!
* Newsletter Correction: The newsletter says that Gilded is out 12/26/2013—that is an error. Gilded will be out 12/26/2012; this December.
To enter into the drawing to win, just do this:
