Marcus Sakey winner!

Today's giveaway was the Marcus Sakey Brilliance Trilogy!

You guyz had some interesting strategies!

The guilt-trip strategy! Lennon Faris noticed I was late to the launch today (sorry!)

..Because I've been refreshing your blog page ever since I sat down to breakfast? :)

As did E.M. Goldsmith

I too refreshed blog page through my morning meeting.

This from Susan is just beautiful, but it's also 97 words.

I once believed in a better world.

Then I grew older and the world whispered its secrets, revealing her deepest scars.

So I dreamed of a better world.

Then along came loss and illness, scattering hope with the slightest touch, all those castles crumbling to the ground.

So I fought for a better world.

Then those scars turned to armor, shielding me from the darkness but blocking out the light.

So I decided to build a better world:

Shedding my defenses, I wandered the world, collecting stray bits of hope to lay beside other castles.

But when I arrived, hope was already there.

Dena Pawling cracked me up

One. Two. Three books!

That was exhausting. (Lawyers aren't known for their math skills. I even had to remove a shoe to finish the calculation.) I need to lie down.

Lay down?

I need to recline. Relax. Rest. Be horizontal.

Which means I need books (three!) to read.

Please.

Jennifer R. Donohue referenced one of my great annoyances: stopping in the middle of a sentence!

I sank into the first 6 pages of BRILLIANCE in the Amazon preview and it leaves off in the middle of a sentence. My across the hall coworker heard my howl of despair and had to make sure I was okay.

Catalog says it's on the shelf downstairs. I might have to trot down and get it. My library doesn't own books two and three.

oh how well you know me Daniel Bennett! You ALMOST had me at spite!

Absolutely no reason you should. So feel free to do so out of spite.

Just Jan gets no sympathy from me since I too was at work when it opened and I'm still at work, deciding on the winner. I only hope you love your job as much as I do, and have as many witty writers to read as I do here!

Today I deserve these books because I was at work when this contest was posted, and I'll still be at work when the contest ends!

kdjames asked

And now I want to know-- what were the three prizes you changed your mind about?

Not telling. I may want to use them later. They just weren't BRILLIANT enough for today though



John Davis (manuscript) Frain, (who is fresh off a win a while back that netted him THREE Lou Berney books), steps up with this gem:

It's an ironic thing that had Susan Lucci won an Emmy award after her fourth or fifth nomination, none of us would know her name. Only because she was nominated nineteen (19) times did we all learn about her. I could not identify another daytime actress even if you burned me with a match till I came up with a name.

Therefore, it is only out of sheer benevolence that I suggest you give Steve Forti his much-deserved fame by bestowing today's books upon ... me. It is the best favor I can do for the man.

Steve, you'll thank me as soon as you've finished cursing me. I'll grudgingly read all three works and send you a book report on each. The least I could do.

Which is 126 words, and thus disqualified.


 
Colin Smith will now have a rule named after him:

*double-checks rules* *doesn't see anything about multiple entries*

But of course, the winner in a tsunami is:

Steve Forti

Steve said something so superb, so sensational, Senorita Shark simply succumbed. Shell-shocked, she sent Steve several splendid stories. Steve’s subsequent soft, satisfied susurrus shall signify studious scrutiny.

Surely Supreme Sharkliness senses Steve’s significant soliciting. She shares such sentiment. She’s sold. Steve scores!

And yes I had to look up susurrus.

Steve, I need your mailing address so I can send you the books!

Congratulations on a swell entry.




And thanks to all of you who commented. You enlivened a day at work that draaaged through the afternoon as we counted down toward end of day.

Yes I am ready for vacation!

But not quite yet. Another round tomorrow?