Contest Winners & THE VAMPIRE COMBAT MANUAL Contest!

 My contest for iPhone skins of Dark Companion, Last Rites, and Girl of Nightmares is over. Thanks to all who entered! All the winners will get a few of my promo bookmarks and:

Carmen wins Girl of Nightmares & Dark Companion phone skins

Jane wins Last Rites and Dark Companion phone skins

Tore and Rachel V win Dark Companion phone skins

Congratulations, winners!

I also have a contest for an ebook of Marie Traenor's Serafina and the Silent Vampire, which runs through September 20. Can a psychic con artist help out a hunky vampire in a kilt? We certainly hope so!

I recently received a few books from Penguin/Berkley Publishing, so I'll be having contests for them through the next week. The first is The Vampire Combat Manual: a Guide to Fighting the Bloodthirsty Undead by Roger Ma, the author of The Zombie Combat Manual. Roger really has to work out his issues of paranoia!

In the inevitable event of a vampire attack, the average citizen will be forced to engage in vicious hand-to-hand combat. To avoid serious injury, disfigurement, or death by exsanguination, you need to know the proper combat strategies and techniques to ward off a stronger, faster, more agile undead opponent looking to drain the life from your body. Are you prepared? With detailed illustrations and firsthand accounts from vampire combat veterans—as well as interviews with actual members of the undead—this manual provides you with the information you need to survive with your life and blood supply intact, including:

• Debunking myths, i.e.: vampire flight, animal metamorphosis, physical attraction to humans

•  Crafting the most lethal vampire weapons from everyday materials

• The pros—and cons—of decapitation

• Weaponizing Ultraviolet (UV) light against an undead opponent

• Using the Domicile Histodiscordant Reaction (DHR), otherwise known as “The Vampire Invitation,” to your advantage

• Solo attacks, team-based combat, and much more… 

 This book is scheduled for release on October 2, but you can get a head start on Christmas gifts for yourself or the guy in your life who sneers, "Reading another one of those vampire books?" You can read an interesting interview with Roger Ma at The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.

CONTEST RULES: It's easy as always. Just leave a comment about what kind of videos you'd like me to post here. Do you like the multifandom ones, the classic Buffy videos, or those set to sad songs? Do you prefer action or romantic videos? NEW DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 7. Contest is limited to the US and Canada, and you must include a real email address in your comment.

GRATUITOUS VIDEOS OF THE DAY

The theme is a song that I find endlessly amusing. Enjoy!