Image
  • Writing
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • About my Novels & Writing
    • All Writing Posts
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Scrivener – Writer’s Word Processor
    • iPad for Writers
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Books
    • Book Review Index
    • Favorite Fantasy Novels
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Short Story: Harvard Divinity
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • About the Book
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Games
    • My Video Game Career
    • Post Archive by Series
    • All Games Posts Inline
    • Making Crash Bandicoot
    • Crash 15th Anniversary Memories
    • World of Warcraft Endgames
    • Getting a Job Designing Video Games
    • Getting a Job Programming Video Games
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Movies
    • Movie Review Index
  • Television
    • TV Review Index
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • A Game of Thrones
  • Food
    • Food Review Index
    • Foodie Club
    • Hedonists
    • LA Sushi Index
    • Chinese Food Index
    • LA Peking Duck Guide
    • Eating Italy
    • Eating France
    • Eating Spain
    • Eating Türkiye
    • Eating Dutch
    • Eating Croatia
    • Eating Vietnam
    • Eating Australia
    • Eating Israel
    • Ultimate Pizza
    • ThanksGavin
    • Margarita Mix
    • Foodie Photography
    • Burgundy Vintage Chart
  • Other
    • All Posts, Magazine Style
    • Archive of all Posts
    • Fiction
    • Technology
    • History
    • Anything Else
  • Gallery
  • Bio
  • About
    • About me
    • About my Writing
    • About my Video Games
    • Ask Me Anything
  • Contact

Archive for Contest

Coffin Hop for Halloween

Oct24

This year I am taking part in the fangtabulous Coffin Hop Blog Extravaganza. Over a hundred masters of horror all sharing their work with the world.

In the meantime please take the opportunity to go and hang out with some of my horror writer pals by taking part in this year’s Coffin Hop Blog Hop.

GO HERE TO LINK UP WITH ALL THE BLOGS TAKING PART

You’ll discover some amazing reads and very talented writers along the way.

First off, if you want to be really creeped out, just pick up my dark fantasy novel The Darkening Dream. The book fuses intense action with a love of history and all things supernatural. On the eve before creation God created ten special things, among them the Archangel Gabriel’s horn, destined to sound the End of Days. But what happens if you’re a seventeen year-old girl and an ancient evil thinks it’s hidden in your basement? Find out here.

Or you can check out for free the sinister origins of Pastor John Parris, warlock and lover of all things demonic.

CHECK IN WITH THE COFFIN HOP HEAD QUARTERS BY CLICKING HERE. You will be able to find out more about the event, the authors, artists and giveaways.
_
If you are hankering for some winning, I’m running two different contests:
_
  1. You can win paperback copies of The Darkening Dream, drawing will be held on Halloween!
  2. Or win all sorts of signed video game and book swag at The Naughty Dark Contest!
_

Related posts:

  1. Harvard Divinity
  2. The Look – Pastor Parris
  3. Near Dark – The Hurt Coffin
  4. Big Giveaway!
  5. Truly Deeply Sick and Twisted
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Writing
Tagged as: Arts, Coffin Hop, Contest, Fiction, Halloween, horror

Big Giveaway Winners!

Jun30

The Darkening Dream$0.99 sale and giveaway week is over and was a resounding success. It’s time to announce the winners:

Grand Prize Winner: Amy Eye

$100 Amazon Gift Card, a signed paperback copy of The Darkening Dream, a signed copy of the video game Crash Bandicoot, a 13″x18″ poster of the book cover, collectable bookmarks

Second Prize Winners: Jay Uppal and Scott Pilgrim

Signed paperback copies of The Darkening Dream, a signed copy of the video game Crash Bandicoot, a 13″x18″ poster of the cover, collectable bookmarks

Third Prize Winners: Tanya, Ashley Williams, Amanda Artemis Speer, April Barger Hays, and Alicia Marie Ezell

Signed 13″x18″ posters of book cover, collectable bookmarks

Cool Name Award:

Amanda Artemis Speer

No additional prize, but being named after the goddess of the hunt is a prize all in itself, and backing that up with a last name that sounds like spear, which along with the bow is sometimes an attribute of the goddess: double cool!

But even with the sale over, you can still:

Buy the book on Amazon!

The official Rafflecopter widget is here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

About The Darkening Dream

As the Nineteenth Century gives way to the Twentieth, modern science and steel girders leave little room for the supernatural. But in dark corners the old forces still gather. God, demon, and sorcerer alike plot to regain what was theirs in Andy Gavin’s chilling debut, The Darkening Dream.

1913, Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Engelmann’s life is full of friends, books, and avoiding the pressure to choose a husband, until an ominous vision and the haunting call of an otherworldly trumpet shake her. When she stumbles across a gruesome corpse, she fears that her vision was more of a premonition. And when she sees the murdered boy moving through the crowd at an amusement park, Sarah is thrust into a dark battle she does not understand.

With the help of Alex, a Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to Salem’s brutal factory workrooms, on a clandestine maritime mission, and down into their foe’s nightmarish crypt. But they aren’t prepared for the terrifying backlash that brings the fight back to their own homes and families. Can Alex’s elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah’s own rabbi father help protect them? And what do Sarah’s darkening visions reveal?

No less than the Archangel Gabriel’s Horn, destined to announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling conflict is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be herself.

“Gorgeously creepy, strangely humorous, and sincerely terrifying” — Publishers Weekly
“Wonderfully twisted sense of humor” and
“A vampire novel with actual bite” — Kirkus Reviews
“Steampunk Lovecraftian Horror by way of Joss Whedon”

Buy Sample Characters Reviews Reviewer Info

Related posts:

  1. Special Prize Winners
  2. More Special Prize Winners!
  3. Announcing the Naughty Dark Contest
  4. Round 1 Winner Selected!
  5. Round 2 Closed!
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Contests, Darkening Dream
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Contest, Crash Bandicoot, Darkening Dream, Giveaway, Rafflecopter, The Darkening Dream

Round 2 Closed!

May31

I’ve official “sold” all 100 tickets in ROUND TWO of the Naughty Dark Contest. So I fired up the Ruby interpreter and asked it to compute the appropriate pseudorandom number, which turned out to be 3.

Counting from zero − I’m such a programmer − this turned out to be a ticket owned by Levi Tinney of California!

They chose the following prize: A signed ARC of The Darkening Dream! I threw in a bonus poster too.

A signed ARC of The Darkening Dream

But just because ROUND TWO is finished, doesn’t mean you can’t win. Check out the rules and get submitting, round three is open. As soon as it sells out another 100 tickets, there will be yet another drawing. And the special prizes are available to anyone, anytime!

Which speaking of, we have two new special prize winners:

Zac Mitchell of Sydney Australia

and

Matt Wallace from West Sussex England

For more info on the contest, a detailed list of prizes and rules can be found here!

The prizes are below:

Zac went for a signed Crash 1 and I threw in some extra stuff

Matt is a double special prize winner with signed Crash 1 & 2

Related posts:

  1. Round 1 Winner Selected!
  2. Special Prize Winners
  3. More Special Prize Winners!
  4. Announcing the Naughty Dark Contest
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Contests, Darkening Dream
Tagged as: ARC, California, Contest, Contests, Naughty Dark Contest, Prizes, The Darkening Dream

Special Prize Winners

Jan03

The first round of the crazy Naughty Dark Contest already has not one, but two special prize winners! And these lucky guys are both from Crash’s home country, Australia.

Tyson Cleary of Tasmania

and

William Errey from Perth

For more info on the contest, a detailed list of prizes and rules can be found here!


Both guys also wanted copies of the original Crash Bandicoot and here they are prior to shipping. I signed both cover and CD, including my special unforgable “symbol.” Yes, like Prince, I have a symbol. But you’ll have to ask the Painted Man what it means.

Thank you both immeasurably!

It’s also worth noting that this has made the virtual hat for the first round even more lucrative for the rest of you. Due to their prize winning each first round ticket is worth at least a 2% chance of winning a prize now — and if someone else claims a special prize, it could be even greater. So read up on the rules and participate.

Start by purchasing The Darkening Dream!

Related posts:

  1. Announcing the Naughty Dark Contest
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Contests, Darkening Dream, Games
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Australia, Contest, Contests, Crash Bandicoot, Giveaways, List of prizes medals and awards, Naughty Dark Contest, Tasmania, The Darkening Dream

Announcing the Naughty Dark Contest

Jan02

This is the kickoff post for my new experimental — and hopefully permanent — giveaway program. Via this contest you, dear reader, will have the opportunity to win signed copies of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter games as well as my books and cool toys. All you have to do is participate in my gleefully elaborate scheme to help sell and promote my new novel, The Darkening Dream.

A detailed list of prizes and rules can be found here!

Or by clicking anytime on the big contest icon in the sidebar.

So if signed copies of any of the following look up your alley, read the rules and participate! And even if you aren’t a collector they apparently have significant dollar value because a set of four signed Crashs sold on Ebay recently for over $453!

Related posts:

  1. Naughty Dog – 25 Years!
  2. Crash for Charity
  3. Naughty Dog – A Pedigree Breed
  4. New Naughty Dog Franchise – The Last of Us
  5. 11 reasons you should buy The Darkening Dream
By: agavin
Comments (5)
Posted in: Contests, Darkening Dream, Games
Tagged as: Andy Gavin, Contest, Crash Bandicoot, free, Giveaways, Jak & Daxter, Naughty Dog, Prizes, The Darkening Dream
All Things Andy Gavin
Copyright © 2026 All Rights Reserved
Programmed by Andy Gavin