Mark Lawrence: As promised - my biggest giveaway of a decade!

CONTEST CLOSED

[after a long delay for a hospital stay with my youngest child we have a winner - they were chosen by dice roll - I reasoned that the average star rating was less than 3, and so there were fewer than 600 stars given out between the 200 entries. I set out to roll a number between 1 and 600, then count down that many stars and see who I landed on (if I went past the end, repeat the process). This video shows the rolling - the first roll was a 7 so I ignored it and rolled again getting a 2, 8, 6 - if my counting down to the 286th star is in error then that's just part of the random process - the winner is final.

The winner is entry #66, Joe.

I looked at giving a prize to all the 4* entries, but there are 13 of them and one 5*!

Instead I'm giving a prize to #118, Krystal (our only 5 star) and I randomly selected #70, Ase and #177, Christina from the 4 stars to get prizes too. Just email me at empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk and we'll figure something out.

Very many thanks for all the fine entries - I'm sorry there can be only one!

Come August Prince of Thorns will have been in publication for 10 years! 😮

Ten!

And, moreover it has recently surpassed 100,000 ratings on Goodreads - some of them even 5*s!

These numbers cannot pass unmarked. And, as promised, I'm giving away something big. I've been delayed in this effort by a stay in hospital with my youngest when she had her third septicemia of the pandemic, and then by the release of my latest book in the US ... and then the UK.

BUT!

Here it is - I'm giving away this!

Look how big and fat it is - the book, not pandemic-me.

Number #998 of the 1000 sold.

Originally a mere $100, but now look what they're going for on ebay 😮

One sold for $650!

How can this be yours? For free? Posted internationally?

A competition of course, but one with random winners.

All you have to do is send me a picture of words "Prince of Thorns" written by you. I will mark your efforts out of 5* and each * is an entry in the draw. If you just write Prince of Thorns on a piece of paper and email (empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk) me the photo, that's the basic 1* entry.

Here's a fine example from the Prince of Fools contest I ran 7 years ago - it would have got many stars.

So - easy entry - every entry has a chance - better entries have better chances. There's no downside.

Email me! empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk

All entries will be posted here.

Entries (I'm being mean with the stars to save room for the best entries!)

(remember, star-giving is a black art and a bit of fun, not a judgement on your soul)

(note ** gives you twice the chance of *)

#200 Alton ***

#199 Aditya *

#198 Mordechai **

#197 Andrew ** (work in progress!)

#196 Ann **

#195 Claire *

#194 Aleena *

#193 Emilie *** (Made in Sim City, with each letter a furnished room)

#192 Fuyuki ****

#191 Steve **

#190 Joanna *

#189 Lee *

#188 Gian *

#187 Ana **

#186 Ben *

#185 Teliha ***

#184 Patrick ** (Prince of Thorns as a Non-Fungible Token!)

#183 Lizanne *** (3rd star for effort - honeysuckle woven into back fence)

#182 Paola ***

#181 Maxine **

#180 Rich *

#179 Florencia *** (I'm told the thorns drew blood!)

#178 Hooman **

#177 Christina **** (car sticker!)

#176 Audrey **

#175 Steve ** (interesting skyline!)

#174 Christian **

#173 Craig *** (grimbread)

#172 Selma ***

#171 Isadora ** (edible arrangement!)

#170 Andy **

#169 Mitch * (with a little help from Mitch Minor - a fine effort)

#168 Oliver *

#167 Shauna *

#166 Milica **

#165 Sarah ***

#164 Gwen *

#163 Teresa *** (extra * as it's original - lip reading required!)

#162 Zaineb ** (Pins of Thorns!)

#161 Spencer **

#160 Anna *

#159 Marion *** (extra * since it seems to have involved a lot of work, including crochet!)

#158 Alyssa ** (who got her boss's permission to use this 'out of office')

#157 Abdulrahman ** (the pen is mightier than ... the alternative?)

#156 Felicia *** (sign language is a first - not sure if it's US or UK)

#155 Maymuna **

#154 Sinead and self-made minions **

#153 Rainier *

#152 Cam **

#151 Becca ** (Prince makes a 2nd showing!)

#150 Lua ** (on a code editor)

#149 Shane **

#148 Loane *** (Tomato-based products rather than blood!)

#147 Thomas **

#146 Jens **

#145 Amber ** (Prince IN Thorns)

#144 Andras ** (not self-harm, just sensitive skin I'm told)

#143 Jaime *

#142 Paul *

#141 Olga *** (biscuit, bread, not sure but it's the first baked entry!)

#140 Taylor *

#139 Daniel *

#138 Bence **

#137 Sannidhi ****

#136 Harkeerat *

#135 Dennis *** (pyrography)

#134 Chernz *** (an ornithologist's imagination runs wild!)

#133 Kimberly ** (thinking outside the (toy)box)

#132 Frederick *** (gives us the finger)

#131 Juan *** (shamelessly exploits the geek in me - The Game of Life from the mathematician John Horton Conway)

Movie of the evolution here: https://gyazo.com/09897e752ab1db0c264e21c8273dba03

#130 Wilson **

#129 Gary *

#128 Lea ** (CAD model)

#127 Sarah **** (The bees weren't fully cooperating but you can see the Prince - very novel!)

#126 Mark *

#125 Caterina ** (created using nano-magnetism/spin evolution software)

There's a movie too! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IFRlz27gfjGiQ9_XPeunxWuiw6t-AMBv

#124 Jason ** (King or Knave?)

#123 Michael *** (a specially 3D printed Jorg!)

#122 Aurelia ** (on the assumption that the fine artwork behind is pre-existing - pretty sure I've seen it before)

#121 Charmaine **

#120 Twan *

#119 Robert *

#118 Krystal ***** A whole film! Click the link!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OvjUFabnqwJURaH561YP1MjWRuLIBj-e/view?usp=sharing

#117 Mia ** (the more you look the more you see!)

#116 Mads ** (very chemical!)

#115 Hilary *** (well done, minions!)

#114 Sethia **** (The cat's called Jog and the crochet took 25 hours, gotta grab an extra * for that)

#113 Pamela *** (it's a baby hedgehog it needs ***)

#112 Laura *

#111 Ant *

#110 Renier ***

#109 Steven ** (it would have been *** but it's the wrong name 😂)

#108 Danielle *** (sock it to me!)

#107 Jeremy **

#106 Beena ***

#105 Ruben ** (he's used to gambling!)

#104 Tamas ** (a link for more detail, including impale plushies and a folded Dungeon Master screen! I'll give an ungenerous ** cos he always wins!)

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOwmCXIoAs0P-d2LhLXEDN0luR5lH7MQNTbyrpAM4caqfU0h2xuX39gDlIPHDj0mg?pli=1&key=

#103 Fatima ***

#102 May *

#101 Kris **

#100 **** Emma (Justice!)

#99 Ian *** (in map for - took some hours to do!)

#98 May **

#97 Tom *

#96 Brady *

#95 Wizzie ***

#94 SRX *

#93 Kristina **

#92 Rocus **

#91 Nikki *** (to be named Jorg if she wins! - the extra star is to make this happen)

#90 Meny ** (Arrangement of thorns!)

#89 Zsuzi *** (cross-stitch!)

#88 Matt ** (I assume that's a fake tattoo!)

#87 Josh **

#86 Arkadiy **

#85 Matthew **

#84 Abbie **** (looks fun!)

#83 Ben *** (I feel there's a missed opportunity to include some bullet points here.)

#82 Curtis *

#81 Aurel *

#80 Job *

#79 John **

#78 Vannezza ** (written in ancient Filipino - in modern Filipino it's "Prinsipe ng mga Tinik")

#77 Janet **

#76 Mirko ** (I would have rotated it, but honestly I don't know which way up it goes.)

#75 Carole **

#74 Rafa **

#73 Andrew **

#72 Charles **

#71 Ashikur * (assuming this is from a "design your own business card" site, rather than something physical you made)

#70 Ase ****

#69 Impavid * (a fine collection!)

#68 Ile **

#67 Matthijs *** (Prince of Spines!)

#66 Joe ** (a mathmagician! - though the square root of -1 is the obvious route to i)

#65 Amee ***

#64 Phil + daughter ** (I'm insufficiently grimdark not to give a 4 year old girl an extra *)

#63 Li **** (watch it burn! https://1drv.ms/v/s!AkyaZLd8taJ-bm_40bmF9F20odw?e=dFX1C3)

#62 Steve *

#61 Arshia *

#60 Dave ** (a spate of dice entries!)

#59 Andrew *** (got milk?)

#58 Brad *** (two dice and skull entries in a row! - giving this one an extra * for composition)

#57 Josh ** (impressive number of dice!)

#56 Tammy **** (convincing the minion to help was apparently an epic quest)

#55 Lachlan **** (800m below ground - the deepest point of an Australian gold mine!)

#54 Interplanetary Dragon ***

#53 Kieran *

#52 Sharrina **** (Cos-play as Katherine. Unashamedly generous with the * here as Sharrina is seriously ill right now and made a heroic effort to take part)