Hello!
And welcome to The Festival of the Deadlands.
We’re excited to have you for this month-long extravaganza of shenanigans, giving, and fund raising.
What can you expect from The Festival of the Deadlands
Here’s an overview of what we’re doing this month:
A Kickstarter to Raise Funds For Another Year of The Deadlands
A month of art prompts for artists to draw The Deadlands-themed work every day
A coloring contest
Giving away 100 POUNDS OF CANDY CORN to charity (and also not to charity)
A live reading hosted be C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez
One-sentence stories about death from Christopher Barzak, Elizabeth Bear, Cherie Priest, and more!
A costume contest with a $500 prize for 1st place, $100 for runner-up, and $150 for fan favorite
Why are we doing a whole entire Festival?
Why not?
It’s October.
It’s Splooky season
We are trying to celebrate our existence and have some fun, while also trying to raise money for another year of life for The Deadlands.
Why Kickstarter, Though?
Kickstarters, they’re so hot in the world of creating a running zine…
It’s a solid platform that a lot of people are already familiar with, so it made sense to use it as a tool to centralize all the cool merch we had made (wait ’til you see it you are going to figuratively die) and to let people see how our fundraising is going.
Speaking of merch…
We made you a coin to pay The Ferryman with…
It’s an actual factual physical coin you can hold in your hands and have your loved ones place in your mouth when you pass beyond the veil (many many, many years from now).
Just look at it, this gorgeous coin:
When we took away subscriptions a few months ago, this is largely what we are offering as a way for people to support The Deadlands and also get something beautiful in return.
Each year we will offer a coin with a different design on the reverse side. This year’s design was inspired by an actual, existing coin (called Charon’s Obol), and features a bee with some deathly markings. This limited edition challenge coin can serve as a memento mori you can carry with you everyday. Every coin will have its own serial number, and you will be able to grab the same number in future coins we produce, creating your own matched set.
And other incredible merch:
Hoodies:
Mugs:
Hats, pins, stickers, and much much more.
Head over to the Kickstarter to check it all out.
We also have SEVERAL incredible announcements to make this month (if our funding goals are met. Yes, we did this on purpose!) 😉
Weekly Coloring Contest Rules
- No entry fee.
- You do not have to be an artist! You do not have to stay inside the lines! You do not have to be satisfied with only the lines that the art came with! You do have to keep it family-friendly so everyone can play!
- The black-and-white line art will be posted each Monday during October 2022, and entries close at midnight Pacific time on the following Saturday.
- When you tweet your image, don’t forget to tag us @thedeadlands and to use our festival hashtag, #FOTD22!
- There won’t be any judges, because we want everyone who puts in the effort to have an equal chance. Entering gets you put in a drawing! The staff are allowed to color the pages and post them, but we won’t be eligible to win the prize (and neither are our family members or pets).
- The prize is a secret until Halloween! It is tangible, non-perishable, and can be mailed to any address as long as you live on Earth.
- This isn’t a rule, but look at the hashtag and if you see an entry you like, say something nice to the artist. For some people, this might be the first time they have colored anything, and it may be your kindness that convinces them to make more art. (: Have a happy Festival of the Deadlands!
Here’s the week of October 25th’s coloring page:
(click here for the large image)
Costume Contest Rules
From October 23rd to October 31st The Deadlands will be hosting a costume contest–the contest will take place entirely on Twitter:
We are very excited to announce our three judges for the contest:
Meg Elison
Meg Frank
Fran Wilde
We have prizes!
First prize will be awarded a $500 cash prize
Runner up will be awarded a $100 cash prize
Fan Favorite will be awarded a $150 cash prize (fan fave determined by which costume has the most likes)
Here are the rules–please read them ALL before entering:
- No entry fee.
- Between October 23rd and 31st, 2022, post at least two images of yourself in costume. One photo must include you holding a sheet of paper that says #FOTD22 and the date.
- Costumes have to be family-friendly.
- Post photos to Twitter, and tag us @thedeadlands and using the hashtag #FOTD22costumes.
- Judges will determine the winner and the runner-up.
- Fan favorite will be determined by Twitter likes. If the contest winner also has the most likes, the costume with the second-most likes will be awarded fan favorite.
- The Deadlands staff may absolutely post their costumes and use the hashtags, but are ineligible to win any of the categories (including fan fave).
- Entries submitted after 8pm Eastern (GMT-4) on October 31st will not be considered.
- We will announce the winner of the contest on November 1st.
- Prize money will be awarded by November 15th.
Candy Corn Giveaway Rules
We are going to give away 100 pounds of candy corn this month (availability of candy corn permitting).
Here’s how this will go down…
- No entry fee.
- We’ll give 30 pounds of candy to CasaLuz just like we did last year, 30 pounds of candy to a NEW charity, and 30 pounds of candy to a random person.
- The final 10 pounds of candy corn will be shipped to our poetry editor Nico!
- US residents only (for shipping reasons, sorry).
- RT our candy giveaway tweet starting October 5, 2022 to enter the personal giveaway. HERE IS THE TWEET.
- QT our candy giveaway tweet with a charity name and why they need candy corn. HERE IS THE TWEET.
- In this case, Twitter likes are votes, but our publisher will be the final judge.
- Giveaway ends October 15, 2022.