Kristen Callihan's Winterblaze, book 3 in her Darkest London series, is on many readers' must-buy-get-outta-my-way-no-really-move-it shopping lists this week, and to celebrate the release, she and her publisher, Hachette, have put together a really spiffy prize pack.
Here, have a look:
The winner will receive:
- 1 pink fan (this one can NOT be used for beheadings)
- 1 bottle of Sephora by OPI nail polish in “Shiny Dancer” (dark silver)
- 1 leather notebook (such as the one Winston used to tell his story)
- 1 sterling silver necklace and topaz snowflake pendant
- A set of the Darkest London books signed by Kristen Callihan
The items are all related to various characters in the series – and I rather covet that pendant.
Plus five runners-up will receive a complete set of the four books in the Darkest London series in digital format, including the prequel novella, which is digital only:
To enter, leave a comment sharing your favorite or funniest unexpected weapon (and if it's a fan, awesome!). I'll select the winners at random on Friday 1 March.
Standard disclaimers apply: void where prohibited. Open to international residents to the extent permitted be law. Must be over 18 and ready for some kind of battle to win. Measure twice, cut once. The film may have been modified from its original version to fit your screen. Do not write below this line.
Good luck!
An unexpected weapon . . . how about a little mosquito buzzing around the head of the big bad villain.
I could see the hero about to jump from behind the jungle/forest/trees (wherever the good guys hide) and lo and behold the bad guys is swatting a mosquito and doesn’t reach for his knife/gun/switch blade/machete/rope/blade, etc. in time!
I would say my favorite weapon is when the cat attacks. of course, my hubby doesn’t think it’s funny 😉
I have not read any of these books, so I can’t name an odd weapon. 🙁
Sounds like I need to win this. LOL
My favorite weapon will always be a handbag – female power! Love you website!
It always amazes me how nunchaku (better known as nunchucks or nunchuks) can be an effective weapon in the right hands.
Definitely Alexia Tarabotti’s parasols.
I love when a girl uses her high heels to stab a vampire. Even if she is checked for weapons no one ever expects her shoes to kill.
Thank you for the giveaway! Favorite weapon? I’d go for a poisonous lipstick à la Poison Ivy. Deadly yet feminine. Of course, knowing me I’d probably accidentally poison myself with it.
Supernatural has some of the best worst means of killing – in Season 1 alone there are bugs, a scarecrow and an oil painting of a murderous little girl.
I’m a huge fan of slapstick, so I’ve got to say a garden rake. 🙂
“You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have – arm yourselves!” – doctor who
Home with vomitus 9 y.o., so I must cite the best weapon we’ve used to successfully bypass unwanted immigration lines: pulling out that 9 year old. Who knew that Immigration would wave us all through to a bathroom with barely a glance while calling for HazMat b/c my son chucked everywhere? (This by the way is a long family tradition, dating back to a case of food poisoning acquired on my last day of honeymoon in Bali, so it’s a serious arsenal we’ve built in the Richland household.)
The parasol from Soulless!! Obviously!!
Favorite unexpected weapon, 2nd level of a bunkbed that would drop through if you rolled sharply toward the wall. Last use, winning the “that’s my stuffed animal” war by dropping on top of said stuffed animal complete with shock and awe and a bit of amusement park ride gravity drop included.
My favorite weapon happens to be a glass of water. Nothing remotely evil about it. But if someone gets to close or becomes sassy, throw the water in their face. It allows quite a few seconds for an escape. The person hit is so overcome by embarrassment, they let the “thrower” get away.
Soapy water with a hint of lemon juice, from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Excellent for melting wizards.
I have my grandmother’s old-fashioned iron (made of iron) by my bedside as a home defense/doorstop… also when I was having a bad situation at my previous job I used to carry around a ball-peen hammer in my trunk. If there is one thing zombie movies have taught us, it’s “Don’t stop until you see brains.”
Good gracious, chiming in late. But such an awesome giveaway!
So here’s my entry for best stealth weapon: Flat-faced windows.
Because no ledge is the ultimate weapon.
I give this to Patricia Wrede and The Frying Pan of Doom; the short story surrounding it still makes me laugh every time.
Also, the same story, Utensil Strength in the Book of Enchantments, led the Quick-After-Battle-Triple-Chocolate Cake recipe, which added Milk From A Chocolate Cow to my vocabulary. Not weaponry I know, but that recipe is both hilarious and tasty.
Samurai Jack’s friend the Scotsman has a machine gun for a leg (waaay before that Quentin Tarintino guy did it)
“You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have – arm yourselves!” – Doctor Who
I just finished reading Jennifer Estep’s By A Thread. Gin Blanco used a garbage can lid as a weapon. I kind of loved it!
Icicle, Alexia Tarabotti’s parasol, Stilettos, Throwing darts
Any “pointy object” in a storm!
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”
I know it isn’t a specific weapon, but it is the first thing that popped into my head
The umbrella gun is a Real Thing in the Real World; one use of it is detailed in the opening chapters of John Embry’s The Molecules of Murder. (I think it was an air gun that was used to deliver a fatal dose of ricin, but I might be conflating it with another chapter from the book.)
My “favorite” unexpected weapons are my children’s heads. I was horsing around with my then-four-year-old, and he accidentally head-butted the side of my knee and dislocated it. I do not recommend the experience of do-it-yourself kneecap replacement.
Later that same year, my then-three-year-old head-butted the side of my jaw and it popped (loudly and painfully) every time I opened my mouth for the following year and a half.
I’m thoroughly dreading what the five-month-old will do as he gets older.
A stapler, of course. When I finally lose it at the office, I’m stapling all those biotches to the wall, yo!
Food is my Achilles heel & my most powerful weapon. I draw them & I can repel just as easily.
water gun! filled with….scented water :).
It’s cliche, but I love rings with poison in them!
I once accidental flung sour candy residue in someone’s eye. From their reaction it would seem that it makes a particularly effect weapon. I still feel really bad about that one!
So many choices… Rygel’s flammable urine in Farscape? The lawnmower in Dead Alive? The terrier full of cheap tacos in John Dies at the End? But I think I have to go with one of the villains in Hunter x Hunter, who even unarmed and paralyzed by neurotoxin was able to take out an entire mafia hit squad by biting off part of one guy’s head, spitting out the bone like a bullet to shoot another, and screaming so loud it melted the last one’s innards. Totally badass.
Someone else already took Patricia Wrede’s “Frying Pan of Doom” (from the story of the same name), so I’ll go with the full volume of The Laws and Ordinances of Ankh-Morpork from Terry Pratchett’s “Guards, Guards.” (Good as a weapon for people who have trouble with metaphors, and very good aim.)
In real life, as a young child I had long braids, tied with the figure-eight hair ties that had hard plastic balls on them as decorations. Swing those babies right and someone got whipped in the face with hard plastic. Fun times. I would add as a variant on the stiletto heel that a skilled tango dancer on a crowded dance floor can manipulate his innocent partner to cripple a rival’s Achilles’ tendon and make it look like an accident.
I felled my first suitor with a stack of children’s books in pre-school.
I myself am quite partial to bloodthirsty killer bunnies. Cuddly yet bada**
A wall. People actually walk into them, me included. Reading a book/paper, using your cellphone, or adjusting your glasses… and then suddenly there’s a wall- bam!
My second choice would be the shampoo bottle lids. Those things can be sharp and slippery, a deadly combo for the clumsy.
My best Weapon was a green apple.. When my son was about two, he looked at his apple and then back at me. Dad could see what he was going to do but could not get to him fast enough. My loving child hit me right between the eyes. I don’t know who laughed harder my son or my husband. My son is now 18 and has yet to live it down. Green apples make great weapons.
My best Weapon was a green apple.. When my son was about two, he looked at his apple and then back at me. Dad could see what he was going to do but could not get to him fast enough. My loving child hit me right between the eyes. I don’t know who laughed harder my son or my husband. My son is now 18 and has yet to live it down. Green apples make great weapons.
The African spear I keep behind my front door.
I’m a fan of cast iron pans as I can hardly lift mine let alone smack someone with it.
In Tamora Pierce’s Provost’s Dog Trilogy, Bekah Cooper (who’s job is like a cop) braids a metal spiky thing into her hair. So that if someone tries to grab her hair in a fight, they get a handful of spikes too. I always thought that would be an EXCELLENT thing to have.