Hi everyone. My name is Ian Thomas Healy and I drop in here from time to time to enter contests. I'm a writer of superhero fiction, and I have a new novel coming out on September 1 of this year, called THE ARCHMAGE. It's a sequel to my novel JUST CAUSE, which you may have heard of or possibly even read. Anyway, to celebrate the upcoming release, I'm hosting a character contest here on HeroMachine.
What I want is for you to make me a character from any of the Just Cause Universe stories or the novel JUST CAUSE itself. Right now, there are three ebook short stories online, and two of them (GRACEFUL BLUR and THE SCENT OF ROSE PETALS) are free, so you don't even have to spend any of your hard-earned money to enter. The third short story (THE STEEL SOLDIER'S GAMBIT) is only 0.99 USD, and the ebook version of JUST CAUSE is $2.99, so if you decide to pick characters from either of those tales, you aren't risking much money, and I promise you're getting a lot of bang for your buck. The normal HeroMachine character contest rules apply:
- All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine forums, ImageShack, PhotoBucket, or whatever);
- Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
- Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his "Bayou Belle" character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
- Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). See this post on how to get the direct link for most sites.
You may enter once per story, so you have up to four chances to win.
And why should you bother with this contest? OMG FABULOUS PRIZES! Two winners will win a signed digital ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of THE ARCHMAGE two weeks before it goes on sale, and the Grand Prize Winner will get a signed print edition ARC (Note: International shipping may be slow if applicable, so the Grand Prize Winner ALSO gets a digital ARC). These are exclusive books/ebooks that you can flaunt and show off to your friends because you got 'em first.
- One runner-up will win with the best interpretation of the character as I have imagined him or her.
- One runner-up will win with the best original interpretation of the character.
- The best overall character design will win the Grand prize.
This contest will run from August 1 to August 15.
Here are the characters you may want to design. Of course, you can just run with the brief descriptions I've included, but to really get a feel for the character and win one of the runner-up prizes or have a shot at the Grand Prize, you're going to want to read at least one of them:
From THE SCENT OF ROSE PETALS (A 1940s period piece. Costumes should be period-appropriate):
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*Also available in the Apple bookstore
- Lady Athena (a Greek female, dresses like a Legionnaire, carries a spear)
- Dr. Danger (a Caucasian male non-powered archer)
- Colt (a Caucasian female speedster)
- Flashpoint (a black male with light-themed powers)
- Kid Crash (a Caucasian male teen who has contact explosion powers)
- The White Knight (a Caucasian male with a suit of "light" medieval armor)
- John Q. Public (a male who has human-only shapeshifting powers)
From THE STEEL SOLDIER'S GAMBIT (A 1970s period piece. Costumes should be period-appropriate):
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*Also available in the Apple bookstore
- John Stone (a male living granite statue)
- Tornado (a Caucasian male with wind powers)
- Javelin (a Hispanic male with a battlesuit kind of like Iron Man)
- Lionheart (a male with lionish characteristics and related powers)
- The Steel Soldier (a battle android)
From GRACEFUL BLUR (A contemporary piece, set sometime after the events of the novel of JUST CAUSE)
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*Also available in the Apple bookstore
- Mustang Sally (a Caucasian female speedster)
- Mastiff (a huge Caucasian male brick)
From JUST CAUSE (A contemporary superhero piece)
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*Also available in the Apple bookstore
(From the Lucky Seven, one team in the book)
- The Spark (a male Caucasian with an electric whip)
- Tremor (a female Caucasian with vibration powers)
- Juliet (a black female with psionic powers)
- Trix (a Caucasian male with random powers)
- Stratocaster (a Caucasian male with a magic guitar)
- Bullet (a black male with flight powers)
- Carousel (a female android with super speed powers)
(From Just Cause, the other team in the book)
- Mustang Sally (female Caucasian speedster)
- Juice (black male brick with energy absorption powers)
- Doublecharge (female Caucasian with electrical powers)
- Crackerjack (male Caucasian with invulnerability and tactical gear)
- Desert Eagle (female Native American with wings and pistols)
- Forcestar (Asian male with Green Lantern-type powers)
- Glimmer (male Caucasian with psionic powers)
- Mastiff (male Caucasian brick)
And the bad guy:
- Destroyer (fifteen-foot tall battlesuit with four arms and a variety of weaponry)
Good luck, everyone!
