StarCraft Round Two, Moar Lottery, and maybe some real blood.
More Lottery!
We’ve added a bunch of beautiful jewelry and droolworthy comics to our Lottery Library! Historically, our lottery has been mostly about books, but since Mayfair Games blew it wide open with their generous games donation a few years ago, everything is fair game. And you guys have proven time and again that anyone can be a geek for anything. So if you donated and checked the box for comics or jewelry, have we got some news for you!
There’s been a flood of comics from all sides this year, with a slew of returning comic publishers: Dark Horse Entertainment, IDW, Improper Books, and yes, even John Scalzi (who isn’t a publisher, but he donated a bunch of graphic novels). We have comics and comic-related books for pretty much everyone, from classics to new properties you might have missed. As usual, it’s our aim to try to introduce people to titles they might not seek out on their own, so let’s talk about a few of them!
Dark Horse Entertainment sent us some amazing Aliens books, a bunch of art books for The Legend of Zelda, Overwatch and Over the Garden Wall, and some deluxe graphic novels, like The Fifth Beatle and Fight Club 2. They even sent a copy of one of Brett’s favorites, Lady Killer by Jamie Rich. He won’t stop talking about it to us. There’s so much more from them and you can find them all in the Lottery Library!
IDW publishes some of our favorite properties, from Star Trek to Transformers to Star Wars to My Little Pony. They cover it all, and they sent a bunch of those as well as some Locke & Key and Powerpuff Girls for us to send out to our comics-loving supporters. We’ve always been impressed by the level of care IDW takes in matching writers/artists with the titles they create. There isn’t a bad IDW title, and they’re all in our lottery for anyone to win.
Improper Books have been donating comics for the past couple years as well, and they’re a smaller company with high-quality titles featuring original concepts and groundbreaking storytelling (like the dark, wordless Butterfly Gate), and we’re always tickled to see what they donate to us. This year they just sent a BUNCH of titles like Porcelain, MULP, Butterfly Gate, Briar, and Knight & Dragon to make sure nobody gets left out.
John Scalzi sent along plenty of graphic novels himself, including Tom Strong, Borderlands, some Avengers titles, Galaxy’s Edge and another one of our favorites, Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol. We’ve grouped as many series together as we could, and the rest are all stand-alone titles, so no matter what you win, you’ll be able to start reading right away.
If you checked Jewelry as one of your desired prize options, we have you covered too! Serpent’s Dance is back again this year, and Amber sent some of her beautiful copper pendants. She’s always coming up with new designs, so we have her clever Slow Regard necklaces like a sterling Foxen (complete with a shining gem) and a copper and brass Brazen Gear. Photos don’t do her work justice, but please head over to our Lottery Library to see all of her work.
Asgard Jewellery is joining us this year! This Scottish company makes stunning pewter jewelry with Celtic and viking symbolism, and they sent us a few Wunjo rune necklaces and their reproduction of a sleek, 10th century Swedish piece representing Thor’s hammer. You can’t get more authentic than a Thor’s hammer dating back to viking times. We have photos of these (and all the other cool books, games, and jewelry) in our Lottery Library if you want to check them out.
The StarCraft Tournament
Monday’s carnage was SO MUCH FUN to watch! Chris and Mary Beth were wonderful emcees, teams familiar with StarCraft were captivating with their smooth, assured game play, and those not so familiar were almost more fun because they thought very much outside the box. Everyone had a blast (ha), many of them died, both spectacularly and not so much, and we raised a bunch of money for Heifer International!
Thank you to all the teams who joined us, and big thanks to all their fans to contributed to their team pages. Tonight at 8, the survivors square off to see who comes out on top as our ultimate StarCraft champion. No matter what happens, you will be entertained!
Take a look at all the details, links, and money earned on our StarCraft Page, and tune in tonight at 8pm on our Twitch channel for the second and final round of the StarCraft Tournament.
Remember, all the money you donate to your favorite team gets us closer to our $715,000 goal that will magically turn into a million dollars for Heifer International, thanks to our anonymous donor!
Nice Knowing You, Peat
A few years ago, Myke Cole agreed to let Peter V. Brett shave his head as a stretch goal for our fundraiser. Peat took a scary amount of pleasure in the exercise, electing to use a straight razor. There were shenanigans. Myke feared for his life.
Since time (and styptic) heals all wounds, this year Peat agreed to give Myke revenge a chance to return the favor. Myke will be shaving Peat’s head live from 6pm to 8pm CST, right before the StarCraft Tournemant. The real carnage will stream before the space carnage so you don’t miss anything. The Shaving will occur on Peat’s Twitch channel, and they have a stream on Facebook as well.
All the details and links are available on their event page!
Thanks for joining us for all our random zaniness again this year, and that is to all our donors, StarCraft Teams, and to Myke Cole and (the late…?) Peter V. Brett for looking death in the face and laughing.