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Once Upon a Time…the end draws near

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(From The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo)

Monday morning. There is a light rain falling, giving this traditional start of the work week a deliciously melancholic air. It is in that same bittersweet spirit that I remind you that the Once Upon a Time Challenge is in the final days. In fact, counting today, only four days remain.

I have been so pleased with the results of this challenge. Many of us have had the opportunity to read several books in a genre that is dear to our hearts. Many others have joined this challenge to explore a genre that they were not familiar with, or had not visited in a long, long time. In the process provided our fellow bibliophiles with many more titles to add to our ever-growing too read lists via book reviews on the Once Upon a Time Review Site (currently up to 276 reviews!). It has been an amazing journey, but it is not over yet.

You still have time to win some amazing prizes, including:

The Tiny Story Contest Prize:

– a copy of the art book/DVD set of A Knock at the Door
– a 6 card set of art cards (one not pictured)
– the wonderful tree magnet
– two, yes two, little red poppets of your very own
– a poppet planet bookmark (not pictured)
– and, of course, the dreaded Stainless Steel Droppings Envelope o’ Goodies

I have received several tiny stories submissions and am hoping for more. Rules and larger pictures of the prize contents can be found here.

The Neil Gaiman-Inspired Prize Pack:

– gently used VHS copy of the BBC television series of Neverwhere
– a copy of the Ray Bradbury/Dave McKean book The Homecoming
– a new copy of the Death manga with art and story by Jill Thompson
– the Ellen Kusher book, Thomas the Rhymer
– a copy of The Sandman: King of Dreams book by Alisa Kwitney
– a Neil Gaiman postcard
– your very own little red poppet
– a few items from my recent antique store shopping
– some home made Neil Gaiman inspired items (not pictured)

To qualify for this prize you merely have to read or have read a Neil Gaiman book during the challenge and post a review of it on your site (including linking said review on the challenge review site). Each Gaiman book read qualifies you for one entry into the drawing. Get reading, you have four days!!!

and let us not forget

The Once Upon a Time Challenge Grand Prize, including:

*An unopened, shrink-wrapped copy of Spectrum 13, the premiere book of fantasy and science fiction art on the planet. This book is incredible! Do you enjoy my Friday Favorite posts? The Spectrum books are my inspiration.

*An unread copy of The Conquering Sword of Conan with lush illustrations by Gregory Manchess.

*A signed art print by Matt Wilson, a frequent presence in the Spectrum art books.

*Your very own Lisa Snellings-Clark Little Red Poppet

*A candle (because candles and fantasy just seem to go together)

*A few items from my recent antique store/anniversary trip

*One of my favorite Alphonse Mucha cards

*A Kinuko Y. Craft postcard

And MUCH, MUCH more. Not pictured:

* A copy of the soon to be released Vol 5 of Hi-Fructose Magazine. This is a great art magazine and it just so happens that this volume will feature James Jean, one of the most amazing fantasy illustrators working today.

*A gently used copy of one of my most recent favorite films, Stranger Than Fiction (I ended up with two and thought this would be a lovely addition to the fantasy challenge grand prize pack as it has such a wonderful fantasy thread weaved throughout the story.)

*A set of Duirwaigh Gallery art cards

*A white XL Endicott Studio t-shirt (pictured here)

*and lots more fun little things. It will be HUGE!!!

To qualify for that grand daddy of a prize all you have to do is finish the challenge and let me know you have done so, either by posting that fact here, posting it in the comments section of the original Once Upon a Time Challenge post, or sending me an email at cvincent68@comcast.net .

In addition, there will be a couple of Special Prizes awarded for participants in the challenge.

As the week draws to a close, I will be preparing the Once Upon a Time Challenge Newsletter, similar in form to the one I did for last year’s inaugural R.I.P. Challenge.

On Friday morning your Tiny Stories will be forwarded to the celebrity judges for review (I hope for a quick turn-around time with the results).

On Monday morning I will annouce the Gaiman Prize, Grand Prize, and Special Prize winners in the Newsletter post.

This week’s Friday Favorites is a special one, done to commemorate the one year anniversary of the loss of a dear internet friend. I tell you this now hoping that you’ll stop by and share those memories with me.
_________________________

Allow me to conclude today’s post with a belated Happy Father’s Day to my dad, a father without compare (in my humble opinion), and I wish the same to all of you fathers out there, and to your fathers as well.

Father’s day was good to me, I got a copy of the movie Chungking Express from my wife…one that I really enjoy and has been on my wishlist for awhile now! My daughter gave me the gift of a week alone with my wife as she went off on a youth trip yesterday morning and will not return until Saturday evening (Mary and I haven’t decided if this is a blessing or a curse, because none of her chores will get done this week unless we do them! 😉 )

To close, a bit of book porn from the past week. Happy Monday, everyone!!!

40 thoughts on “Once Upon a Time…the end draws near”

  2. I did, thanks Angela. My sister Abby and her husband Mike took us to a Kansas City Royals baseball game in the afternoon. We got tickets from Abby’s law office and despite it being a 90 degree day, we were cool and comfy sitting underneath the upper deck overhang, with a cool strong breeze blowing. It was great! And to top it off, the Royals actually won! 😉

    I hope you had a great day with your father as well!

  3. gosh Carl.. what will you do when all the challenges are over?? Poor baby!

    I hope you keep the fantasy review site up and running and anyone reading fantasy books still links there. It’s been so fantastic for me to go there each morning and read the reviews!!

    Good to hear you had a nice Father’s day! Your dad too! (really good looking parents you have there! wow!)

  4. I do plan on keeping the fantasy site going and I am hoping for the same thing to happen.

    As soon as this challenge is over I will be plotting and planning for September’s R.I.P. Challenge II and for next year’s Once Upon a Time Challenge. I have already begun to gather prizes for the R.I.P. Challenge and am looking forward to expanding upon last year’s, including having a review site for those books.

  5. Ooh, great bookporn! I was trying desperately to see what was on the shelves behind, but my eyes are not that good :p

    I agree with Deslily, I’d love to see the review site continue. It’s been so much fun! Oh, and I’ll go ahead and let you know now that I finished the challenge! and got my Neil book in and I think I emailed you a tiny story too. I don’t know how I actually managed to do all that!

    This has been such a great experience Carl and I really appreciate everything you’ve done. I’ve met so many other great bloggers through this and despite being an avid fantasy fan, my knowledge of the genre has expanded even more. Huge kudos to you. This was so much more than just a book challenge.

  6. Well….I won’t be able to finish the challenge (although I will be reading all the books…just won’t be done in time!) I have loved this challenge so much! I’m one of those that never really read fantasy before, and I have found a calling!! I am just finishing up Stardust (my third Gaiman!) and can be put on the list of HUGE fan! Thanks for hosting such a great challenge.

    I can’t wait to see that the RIP has to offer!!

    (Glad you had a great father’s day!)

  7. Okay Chris, just for the sake of your future sight, the backshelf includes (though not all are visible):

    Dracula ~Bram Stoker, illustrated by Edward Gorey
    Life’s a Scream ~the autobiography of Ingrid Pitt
    Captain Bligh’s Portable Nightmare ~John Toohey
    Galileo’s Daughter ~Dava Sobel
    The House of Sight and Shadow ~Nicholas Griffin
    Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories
    The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy ~Tim Burton

    Oh, and here’s a better picture of the wonderful covers of the books I got last week:

    Stephanie, glad to see another HUGE Gaiman fan in the fold!

  8. You’re such a generous guy, Carl! You do such a great job organizing challenges!! I managed to finish three of my four books, and I am still planning on reading the Shakespeare, though I probably won’t get it done until the weekend. I still need to write something up for the fantasy book I finished last weekend. I don’t think I would have read Gaiman or the fantasy book had I not joined your challenge, plus I have several more books on my TBR pile that other readers recommended. It was fun even though I didn’t accomplish as much as I set out to. It’s always good to read outside of your comfort zone sometimes! I told myself no more challenges this year, but I did give myself an out as I’m sure I won’t be able to pass up the RIP challenge later on. Great job!

  9. Thanks Danielle, I really have fun doing this and am glad for the opportunity to give stuff away. I count on you for the R.I.P. Challenge, you picked some great books last year that got added to my to-read pile, so I expect your inspiration again this year.

    Oh, and before anyone complains about me being a bad pusher and making you want to buy more books, the Austenland book is one I bought for my wife this week, but I like Shannon Hale so much that I wanted to give her a plug, and you can blame both John Scalzi (for his front cover quote) and Neth for at least two of the books in my pile:

    I bought Mainspring because the Martiniere cover and Neth’s review made this one sound intriguing, and while there I saw the cover for the Elizabeth Bear book and had to get that. Thankfully Neth reviewed it today and rates it highly! 😉

  10. Great covers! And I didn’t know there was a version of Dracula that was illustrated by Gorey…that’s awesome! I think I’m going to have to find that one for the RIP challenge.

  11. It was put out specifically by Barnes and Noble, Chris. It is a very nice hardcover edition, and not very expensive.

  12. Oh, I must get my grubby little paws on A Midsummer Night’s Dream so I can finish my reads for the challenge.

  13. I’m with Chris and Deslily – it’ll be great to keep the reviews site as a sort of gateway to fantasy reviews.

    I finished the challenge this past weekend, and I cannot thank you enough, Carl, for your kindness and generosity and for creating this opportunity. I met a lot of fellow fantasy lovers and book lovers in general, and that was the best thing about this experience.

  15. I managed to finish everything I set out to do (with a substitution for my fairy tale book, darn that library), but I want to try and squeeze Stardust in by Thursday. I’ll let you know if I manage it…

  16. I have completed the challenge, and updated my challenge blog to reflect this – thank you for running it – I will keep an eye out for the RIP and next once upon a time challenges.

  17. You have put together such a wonderfully creative Challenge. It’s been great fun adding to my TBR list. Since I wasn’t able to finish the R.I.P Challenge, I feel great about finishing this one. I’ll be finished with my extra book in time to read Midsummer Night’s Dream. Thanks for providing all of us with such an exciting and creative time.

  18. That Mouse Guard book looks very intriguing. Well, they all do but that one especially.
    Did you get my tiny story? Sometimes those things get lost in one’s spam filter so I just want to confirm that you got it.

  19. Thanks for all the heart and planning you put into the Once Upon A Time Challenge, Carl. Great work! And I’ll be looking forward to September when you launch RIP Challenge II.

    Would it be rude to ask how old are your parents? They look good. 🙂

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  22. Thank you so much for hosting this challenge Carl. Even though I haven’t been blogging these past few months, I’ve been reading lots of fantasy books (including our beloved Neil – Neverwhere) and am currently in the grips of A midsummer night’s dream, which I’m thoroughly enjoying. I’ll eventually get around to posting about it, but just thought I’d let you know anyway!

  25. They are still pretty young, thankfully, and have alot of life ahead of them!

  26. Carl- I have finished the Once Upon a Time Challenge. It may have slipped my mind to tell you. There is a link to the finished challenge post on my
    blog. Thanks for hosting!

  28. For the official record:

    – I’ve finished the Once Upon A Time Challenge, and my list included one Neil Gaiman review. I’ve also submitted (as of this morning) my lame attempt at a Tiny Story. (So hard! I miss linguistic freedom! ;))

    Happy Father’s Day! And I’m jealous, you get to read Mouse Guard before me! Tell me how it is, will you?

  29. The Mouse Guard review was going up today and then I got swept up in Season of the Witch. The review will be coming early next week, stay tuned! 🙂

  32. Hmmm, is it okay if our book list comletely changed? I’ve easily read 6 genre books but only two off of my original list.

    I’m such a dork. But I can do reviews of the one’s I’ve read to meet the challenge deadline.

  33. Oh yeah, book substitution is cool by me and I try to make that clear during the challenge…it is all about the reading, not about sticking to pre-determined lists.

  34. I just poster my review of “A midsummer night’s dream”, and completed the challenge. Thanks for hosting it – your participation and enthousiasm made this a very enjoyable challenge.

    Enjoy your midsummer night!

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  37. I read 8 new-to-me fantasy books: Neverwhere, all 5 of Susan Cooper’s The Dark is rising sequence, Artemis Fowl, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (which is a BRILLIANT kids’ book) and my children and I are reading The Hobbit aloud (almost halfway through). I attempted Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre affair (and gave up) and am currently reading A Midsummer Night’s dream. So, I guess I sort-of completed it!

  38. Good for you Lazy Cow. Sorry you didn’t like The Eyre Affair, I think it is a wonderful book. I think Fforde got a bit off track in the later books, but this one was really fun for me.

    Great list of books you read. I hope you continue to read the rest of the LOTR books if you haven’t read them. The Hobbit is enjoyable, but in my opinion Tolkiens writing got better with each book. The Two Towers and Return of the King are my favorites.

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