The wind is blowing and leaves are falling off the trees. October is here and that means that Halloween will upon us soon. (Insert spooky music here.)
In honor of Halloween and all things that go bump in the night, I'm going to give away two spooky, yet inspiring, books: HOW TO DRAW ZOMBIES and HOW TO DRAW VAMPIRES. Both of these books were co-authored by Mike Butkis and me.
How can you win one of these books? Glad you asked!
Here are the rules:
I will give away one signed copy of How To Draw Zombies and one signed copy of How To Draw Vampires today, each to a different person.
To enter, you must:
1. Follow this blog
2. Post a comment, telling us about your favorite monster.
3. Mention this post on either Twitter or Facebook
Contest will run for 24 hours and will end tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 9) at noon. Winners will be announced tomorrow. Winners must contact me at: merrie [dot] destefano [at] yahoo [dot] com by Monday, Oct. 11, or their prize will be forfeited.
Thanks for playing!
My favorite monster.....Werewolf. I guess because I am a dog person. Although my favorite on True Blood is Sam and he is actually a shapeshifter. But I think the wolves are beautiful animals.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not think I want ot really meet one.
I am my own favorite monster. Mwa ha ha... But if you're looking for famous monsters, then Shrek.
ReplyDeleteSandy,
ReplyDeleteOooh! Werewolves. I love werewolves and I love dogs. Good answer!
Merrie
Julie,
ReplyDeleteLOL! I love Shrek too. The first movie was SO funny! Great answer. =)
My favorite monster – by which I mean the one I find most utterly terrifying in every way – is probably Monstro, from Pinocchio.
ReplyDeleteMonsters, such as dragons, show up in all kinds of children’s stories. The important point in most of these is that these monsters can usually be beaten. There’s a special arrow made to fly through a special scale in the dragon’s stomach, or a special sword or a special knight. Though frightening, these monsters can be conquered.
But Monstro cannot be beaten. It cannot even be fought. To fight Monstro is the same as trying to fight the sky or the moon.
It was an unusually frightening thing to realize, at such a young age. I now realize that what I found so terrifying about Monstro was an aspect of hopelessness. When it came to this massive, dark, sinister thing that seemed to fill the entire ocean, there could be no struggle, no battle. You can’t fight it. You can only get out of its way.
It was a sentiment that’d later be echoed in many of Lovecraft’s stories – the idea of a monster so vast and huge that we are trivial to it. But the first, and the worst, for me, will always be Monstro, the “terrible Dogfish” of the original books.
Robert,
ReplyDeleteWow. That was a great and scary answer! I need to do some rereading of Pinocchio. I loved your description of Monstro: "To fight Monstro is the same as trying to fight the sky or the moon."
You reminded me who my truly worst monster was: that invisible beast in the movie, Forbidden Planet. That thing gave me a panic attack at seven years old and throughout my teen years I had recurring nightmares about invisible monsters.
Yikes. Monsters are scary!
And by the way, I love the reference to Pinocchio. That's such a classic tale. Many times, especially as a wanna be author, I felt like Pinocchio: I just wanted to be a "real" girl.
Another BTW, I chickened out when it came to watching LET ME IN. But I did something even better. I read the book. Great read! (Almost as good as Mr. Shivers.)
Thanks for stopping by! =)
If memory serves, the book is even more graphic and disturbing than the movie. I read the book vs. film of Let Me In here and came away deeply unsttled: http://www.avclub.com/articles/let-the-right-one-in,25503/
ReplyDeleteRobert,
ReplyDeleteWell, the book was pretty unsettling. But at least I could approach it in small bites. I wish the ending hadn't been quite so ambiguous, but it didn't make me dislike the book. Maybe I'll have the courage to watch the movie now. Best vampire book I've read in years, though.
Favorite monster? hmm... Frankenstein! Quintesential monster, and can be either scary, sweet or humorous! Lots of possibilities have already been explored. :)
ReplyDeletefollower and tweeted: http://twitter.com/BooksThings/status/26782038883
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteIsn't Frankestein great? Pieced together from bits of dead humans. I think in the original Mary Shelley based him on a popular concept in her time period--the noble savage. He was definitely a tortured monster, the result of his creation and someone readers could identify with. Love your answer and thanks for stopping by!
I follow!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite monster is The Bride of Frankenstein! :)
I tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/AGreatBook/status/26782859945
natashajennex@gmail.com
Natasha,
ReplyDeleteOooh. Wasn't her hair the coolest ever? And that scream. She rocks!
My favorite monster is the vampire of course because their super sexy and live forever. Fountain of Youth anyone?
ReplyDeleteI'm a old follower of your blog
I tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/RBJunkies/status/26785920740
Hi Merrie
ReplyDeleteI wish you all the best with your new book.
I was interested to see you have read "The Secret Life of Bees" - I wonder if you could tell me how you felt about it? I am intrigued by the title and would like to get it sometime. Thanks! Alison
My favourite is Frankenstein's monster. Especially Dean Koontz's reinterpretation. So misunderstood! =)
ReplyDeleteI facebooked, tweeted, and I follow you.
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteVampires can be vamps, right? Dangerous, persuasive, and yes, sexy. Oh, yeah, and the immortal part. It all adds up to a Don Juan monster, if I ever saw one! Great answer and thank for posting!
Eastwitching,
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks for the well wishes on AFTERLIFE.
Yes, I read THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES. I love Sue Monk Kidd's writing. There are several woman authors that I adore: Sue Monk Kidd, Janet Fitch (White Oleander), and Diana Abu-Jaber (Origin) to name a few. Sue's got a wonderful lyrical writing style that makes her work almost poetic. I would highly recommend that book, or another one of hers that I love, The Mermaid Chair. Both are excellent. Thanks for asking!
Zita,
ReplyDeleteFrankenstein was great. I've never read Dean Koontz's version. Now I need to get it. That would make a wonderful Halloween book to read. Thanks for mentioning it--I love reading new books! And thanks for letting me know your fave monster.
;)
My favorite monster is werewolves! BTW Can't wait to read Afterlife!
ReplyDeleteBlog follower :)
My favorite monster was The Nothing from the Neverending Story, because you couldn't see it, you never knew when it was going to hit and before you knew it, it was happening all around you and you didn't know how to stop it.
ReplyDeleteBut as far as traditional kinds, werewolves for sure but when I think of terrifying I think of the fae, not cute and sweet and fun like tinkerbell, but the non-lying, devious, mischief filled, unforgiving, viscious kind... most especially the Changeling. how horrifying to find your child has been taken to Faerie replaced with the demented offspring of the fair folk.
These are awesome and my step-daughter would abso. love one! So I'm going to ask her what her fave monster is...Haha, she said Werewolves. Wanna take a guess to why? Jacob!
ReplyDeleteReposted on FB: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=137186969654707
Thanks and have a great weekend everyone!