Tag Archives: Equus Battle Royal

Equus

Equus Battle Royal — Round Four

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Fourteen Equus contributors have agreed to pit the equine in their story against all the other horse-like creatures in the anthology and fight it out until only one is left standing. That victor shall win bragging rights which is the best prize of all. Almost.

How it Works:

Each Tuesday the competitors will be announced and voting will open. Every vote a story receives counts as one point.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the competitors will each roll a twenty-sided die. The resulting number of points will be added to their own score. I will update the scores via a comment on the blog post and social media.

Voting closes on Sunday at midnight MST.

Monday the winner (the story with the highest score) will be announced and move on to the next round.

VS.

Story Title: A Mother Unicorn’s Advice to Her Daughter

Author: J. J. Roth

Equine Combatant’s Name: Mother “Badass” Unicorn

Species: Unicorn

Strength: 16

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 9

Intellect: 16

Charisma: 12

Special Attacks: Self-esteem (psychic) – her certainty of herself makes her enemy doubtful and easier to attack; Mother-flurry (dark) – she talks at her quarry, giving them unsolicited advice until they flee for their lives

Special Defences: Camouflage (usable in forests only), stealth, running away at high speeds

Story Title: To Ride a Steel Horse

Author: Stephanie A. Cain

Equine Combatant’s Name: Aenbharr of Manannán

Species: Each Uisge

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 15

Constitution: 16

Intellect: 14

Charisma: 18

Special Attacks: Sharp teeth for ripping flesh; sticky skin to capture rider; eats cattle and humans.

Special Defences: Can shapeshift between enticing human form and dangerous equine form; is an extraordinarily fine riding horse when it can’t see salt water.

How to Vote:

Comment on this blog post with the title of the story/stories you are voting for.

For example, if this week’s competitors were:

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

and you wanted to vote for Star Trek you would leave a comment that said, “I vote for Star Trek.”

It’s just that easy.

Cover by Jonathan C. Parrish

Pre-order Equus now:

World Weaver Press
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
iBookstore

Cast your votes now, and may the best equine win!

Equus

Round Three Results

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After a week of dice rolling and vote collecting the results of round three of the Equus Battle Royal are in.

Our victors are:

Story Title: The Last Ride of Hettie Richter

Author: Cat McDonald

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): The Demon of Richter Hollow

Species: Demon

Photo courtesy of Worth1000.com
Photo courtesy of Worth1000.com

Story Title: Riders in the Sky

Author: V. F. LeSann

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Peregrine

Species: Damned soul

They will be moving on to compete in future rounds, but not right away. Starting tomorrow our combatants will be:

A Mother Unicorn’s Advice to Her Daughter by J.J. Roth vs. To Ride a Steel Horse by Stephanie Cain

Equine Battle Royal

Excerpt from “Stars, Wings, and Knitting Things” by J.G. Formato:

I didn’t tell him the news until I’d placed the last raisin in my oatmeal. The wise and wrinkled happy face I’d created was quite encouraging. “Marcus,” I said, waiting for acknowledgement and eye contact. His eyes were still mostly contacting the Wall Street Journal, so I cleared my throat and dinged my spoon on his mug. Announcement style.

He emerged from the paper and frowned at the ripples in his coffee. “Why’d you do that? I was reading.”

“Were you?” I asked, genuinely curious. I always thought his morning paper was like an adult security blanket. But instead of making him feel safe and loved, it made him feel all grown-up and professional. Ready to join the Rat Race. Reading it for fun was a totally different story and not nearly as endearing.

“Of course I was, Annie. Now, what were you going to say?”

“I think the house is haunted.”

“You think the house is haunted?

“Mm-hm.”

“Why?”

“Because I saw a ghost.” Why else would I think the house was haunted?

“Where?”

“In the backyard. It was kind of swooshing all around by the swing set.”

“So, really, you think the backyard is haunted.” He looked very pleased with himself, like he scored a point or something. All those years of law school must have really paid off.

“Okay, fair enough. If you want to pick nits, I think the backyard is haunted.”

“What did it look like? Your ghost?”

“It was white, of course. And shimmery. Oh, and it had wings.”

“Like an angel?”

“No, not like an angel. Angels don’t haunt people’s backyards.”

“Of course.” He smacked his forehead—but in a smartassy way, not an oh, duh kind of way.

Excerpt from “Above the Silver Sky” by Daniel Koboldt:

“What do you want for your birthday, Neshka?” father asked.

There was nothing I truly needed. The rain that fed our valley gave us grain and berries and dew squash. We had sheep and hogs for meat, goats for milk. Bees for honey, and a never-ending stream of cool clean water. But mostly, we lived on the mushrooms. Soon my father would begin to teach me the arts of mushroom-tending, and one day I’d take over for him. I watched a trickle of rainwater as it meandered down a stepladder of red-and-white toadstools, each one just shorter than the next, and told myself it would not be so bad. But my lips betrayed my heart to him, and I said, “I want to see the horses.”

“Neshka,” my father said, in his sternest voice. “You know better than to ask for that.”

“Please, father? I only want to look.”

“That’s exactly what your mother said. She only wanted to look, and then the horses took her away from us. Is that what you want? To leave?”

“Of course not.” My voice sounded as small as I felt.

“Good.”

A pool of vague sadness welled up in me, for I’d meant to fight harder to see the horses. He would say no, then I’d throw a fit, and we’d meet somewhere in the middle. Maybe that was creeping up to the edge of the prairie-lands to watch them from a distance. Maybe it was simply hearing the story once more about my mother and the time she rode one. But the hurt in his voice took me aback, and his accusation stilled the arguments upon my lips.

Not that it mattered anyway, because at that moment, the rain stopped.

The gentle patter of raindrops faded into silence, a numbness against my ears. The trickle of water on those red-and-white toadstools slowed, then died. My father and I looked at each other, then up at the silver sky in askance.

“Has this ever happened before?” I asked.

He frowned up at the sky. “No.”

Pre-order Equus now:

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Equus

Equus Battle Royal — Round Three

26 Comments

Fourteen Equus contributors have agreed to pit the equine in their story against all the other horse-like creatures in the anthology and fight it out until only one is left standing. That victor shall win bragging rights… and maybe I’ll make a little ‘I won!’ graphic of some sort 😛

How it Works:

Each Tuesday the competitors will be announced and voting will open. Every vote a story receives counts as one point.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the competitors will each roll a twenty-sided die. The resulting number of points will be stolen from their competitor and added to their own score. I will update the scores via a comment on the blog post and social media.

Voting closes on Sunday at midnight MST.

Monday the winner (the story with the highest score) will be announced and move on to the next round.

credit: Dillan Formato

VS.

Credit: Worth1000.com

Story Title: Stars, Wings, and Knitting Things

Author: J.G. Formato

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Pegasus

Species: Pegasus

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 7

Intellect: 16

Charisma: 9

Special Attacks:

Cosmic Kick- Pegasus rears back and kicks with his powerful front hooves.

Double Team- The little Pegasus, Equuleus, swoops in for an assist. They attack together like some Nintendo Ice Climbers.

Tickle Torture- Pegasus shoots feathers from his wings and tickles the opponent into submission.

 

Special Defences:

Star Wall- Pegasus pulls the stars from neighboring constellations to create a barrier between him and his opponent.

Epic Flap- Pegasus flaps his mighty wings, propelling the opponent backwards and stunning them briefly.

Supernova- An explosive flare bursts forth from the stars, blinding the opponent temporarily.

Story Title: Riders in the Sky

Author: V. F. LeSann

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Peregrine

Species: Damned soul

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 15

Constitution: 16

Intellect: 13

Charisma: 12

Special Attacks: Iron hooves that get red-hot for kick attack. Stubborn horse-logic. Flame mane and tail for striking. Occasionally bursts into flame and moves at ghost-speed. He will bite. Plus when fighting demons.

Special Defences: Soul-bound and telepathically linked with a fully-armed and generally cranky Rider. Shared health pool with the Rider. Can look in someone’s eyes and judge the weight of their souls. He is not considered a living creature (damned/undead)

And

VS.

Story Title: Above the Silver Sky

Author: Dan Koboldt

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known):

Species: Equus argentum volantes

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 8

Intellect: 8

Charisma: 9

Special Attacks: Road apples from above. This horse can fly, and when high above his opponent, he’ll do what horses do best.

Special Defences: Herd defense. This horses’s band-mates are always on guard, making surprise attacks all but impossible. When you do attack, you’ll have to catch him first. That’s not easy, because he can fly.

Story Title: The Last Ride of Hettie Richter

Author: Cat McDonald

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): The Demon of Richter Hollow

Species: Demon

Strength: 18 (The demon takes the shape of a plough horse of abnormal height and strength)

Dexterity: 7 (It has hooves)

Constitution: 18 (Just huge man)

Intellect: 4 (The Demon of Richter Hollow is a creature made entirely of hate. It lacks any other decision-making or problem-solving skills.)

Charisma: 14 (The Demon of Richter Hollow is magnetic in the way all hate is.)

Special Attacks: None.

Special Defences: The area surrounding the Demon of Richter Hollow is hot, so hot that vegetation scorches and burns, wood catches fire, and water boils.

How to Vote:

Comment on this blog post with the title of the story/stories you are voting for.

For example, if this week’s competitors were:

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

and

Pirates vs. Ninjas

and you wanted to vote for Star Trek and Pirates you would leave a comment that said, “I vote for Star Trek and Pirates.”

And you don’t need to vote for something in each bracket–if you didn’t have a preference between Star Trek and Star Wars you could totally just vote for Pirates.

It’s just that easy.

Cover by Jonathan C. Parrish

Pre-order Equus now:

World Weaver Press
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
iBookstore

Cast your votes now, and may the best equine win!

Equus

Round Two Results

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After a week of dice rolling and vote collecting the results of round two of the Equus Battle Royal are in.

 

Our victors are:

Story Title: Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat-Ray

Author: M.L.D. Curelas

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Beezus

Species: Thoroughbred cross

Kelpie by Kasey -- http://kasettetape.tumblr.com/post/96373863232/this-was-just-supposed-to-be-a-sketch-but-then-i

Story Title: The Boys from Witless Bay

Author: Pat Flewwelling

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): unknown

Species: Kelpie

They will be moving on to compete in future rounds, but not right away. Starting tomorrow our combatants will be:

Stars, Wings, and Knitting Things by J.G. Formato vs. Riders in the Sky by V.F. LeSann

and

Above the Silver Sky by Dan Koboldt vs. The Last Ride of Hettie Richter by Cat McDonald

Equine Battle Royal

For now, let’s enjoy short excerpts from the stories whose equines were eliminated in this round–because even though they didn’t prevail today they are great tales, and they’re all good equines, Bront.

🙂

Excerpt from “A Glory of Unicorns” by Jane Yolen:

A tapestry, a tempest, we

Have nothing sentimental. See

That herd of odd-shaped stallions cross

The valley, sort of, kind of horse

With horn.

Excerpt from “Lightless” by K.T. Ivanrest:

Already Fulsa was halfway across the room, nerves coursing around his stomach while he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on a nearby chair. Immediately the room grew lighter, and desperate hope fired in his heart. Perhaps he was brightening after all. Perhaps his nightmare was finally over.

He slid a sheer coat across his shoulders and then studied his hands, but could discern no difference in their glow. Here in this secluded tower with only Phaios for company, he had no way to determine whether there had been any further dimming. Beside the lightless slave he always looked radiant, so bright he could almost forget what was happening, and then the empress would visit and he’d see just how quickly his dignity and worth were seeping out of his skin.

A last glance out the window while he clenched his fists and tried to calm his heartbeat. Another last glance toward Phaios, whose silent nod spoke more clearly than any words.

Then he knelt before the door and waited.

Aithra’s footsteps were mere tps on the polished stone, her presence announced instead by the brilliance which preceded her up the staircase, pressing away the shadows with proud disdain and careless ease.

“Your Majesty.”

Her gossamer coat rustled softly, scattering specks of light like jewels for the less fortunate. Even knowing how much of it was unnatural, he envied her splendor. To have so much to shed…

Pre-order Equus now:

World Weaver Press
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Kobo
iBookstore

Equus

Equine Battle Royal — Round Two

40 Comments

Fourteen Equus contributors have agreed to pit the equine in their story against all the other horse-like creatures in the anthology and fight it out until only one is left standing. That victor shall win bragging rights… and maybe I’ll make a little ‘I won!’ graphic of some sort 😛

How it Works:

Each Tuesday the competitors will be announced and voting will open. Every vote a story receives counts as one point.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the competitors will each roll a twenty-sided die. The resulting number of points will be stolen from their competitor and added to their own score. I will update the scores via a comment on the blog post and social media.

Voting closes on Sunday at midnight MST.

Monday the winner (the story with the highest score) will be announced and move on to the next round.

VS.

Story Title: A Glory of Unicorns

Author: Jane Yolen

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): A glory of unicorns

Species: Unicorns

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 14

Constitution: 15

Intellect: 16

Charisma: 16

Special Attacks: Can hypnotize with the rhythm of their hooves, are a tempest of flesh and blood, sinew and horn. The herd can trample and pierce, turn like a page and appear anywhere at a thought.

But their horn is proof against poison and can cure any ill-gained wound for foe and friend alike, especially if it is brought against a young horse. Or young page.

Special Defences: Have the ability to mesmerize lesser beings and make them question their reality (and the unicorn’s very existence). Run in a herd making individuals difficult to target. Vanish in a heartbeat.

Story Title: Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat-Ray

Author: M.L.D. Curelas

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Beezus

Species: Thoroughbred cross

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 18

Constitution: 12

Intellect: 7

Charisma: 12

Special Attacks: Beezus’s Thoroughbred blood has gifted her with speed. She can start and stop on a dime. She also uses her fast breaks for surprise attacks, quickly closing the gap between her and her foe. Once Beezus has brought the battle to her enemy, she will crush their skull with her hooves. Beezus’s speed also makes her ideal for delivering payloads.

Special Defences: Beezus has highly developed senses, especially her hearing and sense of smell. Those senses aid Beezus’s tactical skills, helping her choose the ideal battle grounds. Her natural agility, honed by her field-hunting training, allows her to elude attacks. In tight situations, Beezus will employ deadly force with her teeth and hooves.

And

VS.

Story Title: Lightless

Author: K.T. Ivanrest

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Sona

Species: Selphoros (space pegasus)

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 16

Constitution: 12

Intellect: 5

Charisma: 10

Special Attacks:

Wing Strike: A strike to the opponent with the wing(s); can only be used while the selphoros is on the ground

Capriole: A midair strike; the selphoros leaps into the air and strikes out with the back hooves

Plummet: A flying attack in which the selphoros flies above her opponent and drives downward—can be used to knock a flying creature off course, or to crash down upon a creature on the ground. It hurts. A lot.

Special Defences:

Starfire: A selphoros’ fiery coat will burn any creature which comes into contact with it; the longer the contact, the higher the damage

Story Title: The Boys from Witless Bay

Author: Pat Flewwelling

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): unknown

Species: Kelpie

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 9

Constitution: 12

Intellect: 16

Charisma: 16

Special Attacks: Super sneaky musical abduction attack! Underwater zombification of enemies!

Special Defences: Superglue skin, now with more hazardous waste slime!

How to Vote:

Comment on this blog post with the title of the story/stories you are voting for.

For example, if this week’s competitors were:

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

and

Pirates vs. Ninjas

and you wanted to vote for Star Trek and Pirates you would leave a comment that said, “I vote for Star Trek and Pirates.”

And you don’t need to vote for something in each bracket–if you didn’t have a preference between Star Trek and Star Wars you could totally just vote for Pirates.

It’s just that easy.

Cover by Jonathan C. Parrish

Pre-order Equus now:

World Weaver Press
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
iBookstore

Cast your votes now, and may the best equine win!

Equus

Equus Fight Round 1 Results

2 Comments

 

After a week of voting and rolling and social media pleas for support round one of the Equus Battle Royal has come to an end.

 

Our victors are:

"Swimming

Story Title: To Ride a Steel Horse

Author: Stephanie A. Cain

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Aenbharr of Manannán

Species: Each Uisge

Story Title: “Rue the Day”

Author: Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Nova & Reaver (they’re a team)

Species: Unicorn

They will be moving on to compete in future rounds, but not right away. Starting tomorrow our combatants will be:

A Glory of Unicorns by Jane Yolen vs. Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Heat-Ray by M.L.D. Curelas

and

Lightless by K.T. Ivanrest vs The Boys from Witless Bay by Pat Flewwelling

Equine Battle Royal

 

For now, let’s enjoy short excerpts from the stories whose equines were eliminated in this round–because even though they didn’t prevail today they are great tales, and they’re all good equines, Bront.

🙂

Excerpt from “Different” by Sandra Wickham:

Nerves made my palms sweaty and Kyra’s tiny hand slid out of mine… She ran in her lopsided way, straight toward the unicorn.

“Kyra, stop! It will hurt,” I yelled. Kyra ignored me and threw her arms around the unicorn’s lowered neck.

Time slowed as my daughter’s face buried into the unicorn’s mane and I braced for the screams that didn’t come. The mere touch of the unicorn should’ve had her skin burnt to blisters but Kyra only giggled.

“Kyra, come.” I rushed forward to detach her.

“Leave her,” the unicorn said, her voice beautiful and powerful. “Shall we sit, little one? It is not often I meet someone pure enough to hold me so.” My soul filled with light at the kindness in her tone. While Kyra clung to her the unicorn lowered herself, gently easing them both to the soft grass beneath.

Kyra laughed with pure delight and I felt the same giddiness rising inside of me. It was a moment of pure perfection. The unicorn lifted her head and met my eyes. For a moment I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t tell if my heart still beat. Those eyes held centuries of wisdom and a deep magic I could almost see but never understand.

“What do you wish of me?” she asked.

Excerpt from Eel and Bloom by Diana Hurlburt:

The starter’s bell sounded, its deep, echoing boom a world away from the high-pitched shrill of the Thoroughbred track bell. In the same moment, without so much as a wink of warning, the sky opened up. The dust-lit air of the track became rainlight, the lamps spaced along the outer rail sputtering and hissing. Eel leapt forward. His neck pumped and strained against my hands, and I leaned in, forcing my weight down to check him. Sloppy track was no concern for limerunners; in fact it was a blessing, or would’ve been, had not all limeys been mud freaks by birthright. If the sudden slick surface let Eel run faster, well, it was helping his fellows, too…

The cheers and howls of the bettors followed us up the chute and into the woods, the flat accent of the race-caller sinking into bark, muffled by pine needles and sand underfoot. The rain, I could tell, would be a cloudburst and then naught.

A body slammed into us, and my right knee wrenched. Will and Sandy had started off on our right down the track, but once in the woods there was no semblance of order. As long as the limerunners stayed on the path, fair was fair. No lanes, no protocol, nothing but race-riding. Wan moonlight flashed on Hank Fremont’s teeth as he pressed his mount close to Eel, and I decided right then that whoever won, it wouldn’t be Hank. It was time to go to work.

Pre-order Equus now:

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Equus

Equine Battle Royal — Round One

63 Comments

Fourteen Equus contributors have agreed to pit the equine in their story against all the other horse-like creatures in the anthology and fight it out until only one is left standing. That victor shall win bragging rights… and maybe I’ll make a little ‘I won!’ graphic of some sort 😛

How it Works:

Each Tuesday the competitors will be announced and voting will open. Every vote a story receives counts as one point.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the competitors will each roll a twenty-sided die. The resulting number of points will be stolen from their competitor and added to their own score. I will update the scores via a comment on the blog post and social media.

Voting closes on Sunday at midnight MST.

Monday the winner (the story with the highest score) will be announced and move on to the next round.

VS.

Story Title: To Ride a Steel Horse

Author: Stephanie A. Cain

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Aenbharr of Manannán

Species: Each Uisge

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 15

Constitution: 16

Intellect: 14

Charisma: 18

Special Attacks: Sharp teeth for ripping flesh; sticky skin to capture rider; eats cattle and humans.

Special Defences: Can shapeshift between enticing human form and dangerous equine form; is an extraordinarily fine riding horse when it can’t see salt water.

Story Title: Different

Author: Sandra Wickham

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known):

Species: Unicorn

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 15

Intellect: 16

Charisma: 17

Special Attacks: Rising up on forelegs, Stabbing Through the chest with horn

Special Defences: Any touch to the unicorn burns victims

And

War unicorns were considered too fearsome to depict directly, so contemporary artists’ tended to render them in a very stylized fashion.
VS.

Story Title: “Rue the Day”

Author: Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Nova & Reaver (they’re a team)

Species: Unicorn

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 17

Constitution: 16

Intellect: 11

Charisma: 18

Special Attacks: Goring Horn (+8), Striking Hooves (+4)

These specially-trained war unicorns are skilled in the “airs above the ground,” or in RPG terms Acrobatics, and thus can Rogue their way across a battlefield to stomp you dead while simultaneously stabbing your buddy. And there’s not a thing you can do about it.

Special Defences: Magic Circle Against Evil, Too Damn Pretty To Die.

Evil Alignment creatures have difficulty closing distance against a unicorn. They also are a natural example of Reynolds’ Law, being Too Damn Pretty To Die.

Story Title: “Eel and Bloom”

Author: Diana Hurlburt

Equine Combatant’s Name (if known): Eel

Species: limerunner (native Floridian cousin to the Scottish kelpie)

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 17

Intellect: 8

Charisma: 12

Special Attacks: Overrun (limerunner hooves are sharp and their kick can exert more than 200 PSI); Jawbreaker (limerunners have carnivorous teeth and strong jaws).

Special Defences: low-light vision, keen sense of smell, heightened stamina for long-distance running and above-average speed (~40 mph) for distances under a mile, dexterity in water or on land.

How to Vote:

Comment on this blog post with the title of the story/stories you are voting for.

For example, if this week’s competitors were:

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

and

Pirates vs. Ninjas

and you wanted to vote for Star Trek and Pirates you would leave a comment that said, “I vote for Star Trek and Pirates.”

And you don’t need to vote for something in each bracket–if you didn’t have a preference between Star Trek and Star Wars you could totally just vote for Pirates.

It’s just that easy.

Cover by Jonathan C. Parrish

Pre-order Equus now:

World Weaver Press
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
iBookstore

Cast your votes now, and may the best equine win!

Equus

Equus Battle Royal

2 Comments

Equally inspired by a conversation with Cat McDonald about which equine from the Equus anthology I thought could beat up all the other equines, and Hal Friesen‘s character Death Match events from a couple years ago, I present to you:

Fourteen Equus contributors have agreed to pit the equine from their story against the equines from all the other stories and fight it out until only one remains standing!

Dun dun dun!

This is going to be a whole lot of fun 🙂

Here is what the tournament looks like:

(Thank you PrintYourBrackets.com!)

Since those titles are abbreviated allow me to elaborate–the competitors are:

  • Lightless by K.T. Ivanrest
  • Rue the Day by Laura VanArendonk Baugh
  • To Ride a Steel Horse by Stephanie A. Cain
  • Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat-Ray by M.L.D Curelas
  • Stars, Wings, and Knitting Things by J.G. Formato
  • Eel and Bloom by Diana Hurlburt
  • Above the Silver Sky by Daniel Koboldt
  • The Boys from Witless Bay by Pat Flewwelling
  • Different by Sandra Wickham
  • Riders in the Sky by VF LeSann
  • A Glory of Unicorns by Jane Yolen
  • The Last Ride of Hettie Richter by Cat McDonald
  • A Mother Unicorn’s Advice to Her Daughter by J.J. Roth
  • A Complete Mare by Tamsin Showbrook

The battle begins on May 2nd when I will post the character stats for the first two competitors and we will open up voting. Because guess what? You get to help choose the winner. You’ll be able to vote by leaving a comment on the blog post.

We didn’t want this to just turn into a straight-up popularity contest though, so our competitors won’t just be sitting quietly and watching votes come in, they will also be stealing those votes.

Each Tuesday I’ll post that week’s competitors. Then on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each of the competitors will roll a d20 (that’s a twenty-sided die for those of you who don’t speak that particular geek dialect) either in 3 dimensions or using Roll Dice Online. They will then steal that number of votes from their opponent and add it to their own total.

I will update those totals as a comment on the blog post as well as on social media.

Votes will close each Sunday at midnight MST, and the winner of that round will be announced the next day (Monday). Just in time for the next set of opponents to be announced on Tuesday.

If all goes well, and I counted correctly, the victor should be crowned the week before Equus comes out 🙂

Combat Schedule
May 2nd
To Ride a Steel Horse vs. Different
Rue the Day vs. Eel and Bloom
May 9th
A Glory of Unicorns vs. Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat-Ray
Lightless vs. The Boys from Witless Bay
May 16th
Stars, Wings, and Knitting Things vs. Riders in the Sky
Above the Silver Sky vs. The Last Ride of Hettie Richter
The schedule after this becomes a bit more complicated because we need to know the results of the earlier rounds to determine who will be competing.
I am excited about this and can’t wait to get started. I mean, I will wait because I said we’d start Tuesday, but I’m anxious for Tuesday to arrive LOL
In the meantime, check out this slideshow of some of the competing character’s portraits!
Kelpie by Kasey
swimming_by_rimfy-d41vs14
Wickham Character Photo
pegasus-1253359_960_720
kelpie_by_skia-d4qmlh1
Pegasus Formato
VF LeSann Photo
Единорог
four mythological seahorses
Vector illustration of Sleipnir
2014_1202_sworders228_large
Baugh---war-unicorns