Contest!

I’m holding a contest.  Not just any contest, but a contest wherein people make art about one of the mechanical characters in my new novel, Songs for a Machine Age. This character is a 300-year-old secret whom no one understands, a cornerstone of history and culture in Devien, where Songs takes place.

Here’s the deal:

You email me at heather at heathermcdougal dot com, saying you’d like to participate, and I’ll send you a document with snippets from Songs, along with some extra information about the Steam Beast, a very mysterious and mechanical character.  In fact, you will receive a segment of never-before-seen writing from the prequel to Songs, in which the Steam Beast is being worked on by its creator.
What I’m looking for is artwork showing the Steam Beast.  It can be computer-made, hand-drawn, painted, mixed-media or sculpture; whatever you are best at.  You create it, and send me high-quality digital images of it (1 image for 2-D work, and 3 images for 3-D work) by midnight on Sunday, October 28th.  I’ll be the judge, and you will hear back to me by Wednesday, October 31st (Halloween!).

• The winner will receive $200 and a signed copy of Songs for a Machine Age
• The three runners-up will each receive a signed copy of Songs, and will be posted (with credit, of course) along with the winner on this website, Cabinet of Wonders, and Facebook, among other places (more to follow on that; I have some very interesting places up my sleeve).

For some early tidbits about the Steam Beast, you can see the video at my Indiegogo campaign, or go to my blog-serial Neddeth’s Bed, where the Steam Beast was first conceived.

Let the art-making begin!