I would like to, once again, offer Dan congratulations for being our FIRST winner. Yes, first, as in, there will be more.

So, keep commenting and let me know what you would like to see reviewed!

As was proposed back in November, View from Valhalla ran a contest coinciding with the release of our 26th weekly Podcast Review. A name was selected at random on Twitter on Friday, May 15, 2010. The honor (guilt, culpability, blame, etc) of drawing the name went to our good friend and regular commenter  Richared Green (aka Mainframe) who had asked to be excluded from the drawing himself.

After the drumroll ended, Richard provided us with the number matching that of DanDanTheArtMan, who is a right nice guy, fan of podiofiction and has posted here regularly.

As his prize, Dan selected the wonderfully funny and charming Christiana Ellis’s Nina Kimberly the Merciless. Ms. Ellis was kind enough to agree to allow us to purchase directly from her, and send send an autographed copy to Dan.

I would seriously like to thank all of you who have commented. I know it wasn’t for hopes of winning a book (well, I don’t know, and if it was, you are motivated, well and true) but I hope you had fun with the contest anyway.

I hope to be able to continue to run this contest 2 times yearly, so don’t forget, keep those comments coming! And yes, disagreeing with me counts JUST AS MUCH as agreeing. See you after Podcast Review 52!

Original contest rules can be found here.

This got me to thinking, and inspired me to run a contest here at View from Valhalla.

The rules are pretty simple. Approximately every 1/2 year, I will draw a name at random from all the people that have posted a comment to one of the reviews. Yes, even if you hated my review and left a post telling me what an idiot I was, that puts you in the running. The winner will choose a book (or something of equitable worth) from a selection of the authors/podcasters that have been reviewed during that period. I will purchase that book, and if the author agrees, get it signed and then pay the author to ship it to you. And yes, if you’re an author that posts a comment on a review of your own or another’s podcast, you get to play too.

Each time you post, your name is added again. I’m not really doing this in an effort to drum up posts, (although I wouldn’t be unhappy if that were to occur) but rather in an effort to thank those that frequent this blog. Let’s face it, at once every 1/2 year, we’re not talking about immediate gratification here.

If you have an idea how we could make this better, let me know. If you’re an author that has been reviewed (or will be) and are willing to provide your signature, please let me know- here, Twitter, email, phone, telegram, doesn’t really matter how, just get me the info.

With Podcast Review #4 dropping within the next 8 hours, you can expect the first drawing to occur (with much fanfare) around Review 26-30.

Thank you to all of you that have (and hopefully will) post.

You see, I am a huge fan of technology. I love the iPod. Including my iPhone, I have five. I discovered, and fell in love with, podcasts about six years ago. My how the market has grown during that time.

I also have a daily commute that leaves me alone in the car for a minimum of an hour a day. Due to all of these factors, I have become a huge fan of serialized fiction.

As a way to thank these authors that give so freely of their efforts, I try to donate to them directly when I can and purchase their books that are in print whenever possible.

However, I’ve been thinking lately that I’d like to do more. Since starting this blog, I’ve found that I have a previously umdiscovered joy, knowing that people are actually reading the thoughts that I’m electronically making available. That thought led me to the obvious realization that listeners are probably what the authors would appreciate most.

So, the challenge…

I want everyone to pick their favorite (or two, or six or however many) podcast(s) and somehow get that podcast five or more new subscribers.

Rules are simple: the podcast should be one that is currently in production. If we want to do one with legacy ‘casts, that would be cool too, but let’s keep them separate. I am going with Weather Child, because as I’m sure you’ve guessed from reading the first ever post on this blog, for some reason I seem to have an emotional investment in this story (Thanks Pip) (Tee, I’m REALLY trying to be patient for Legacy). I’m going to download and burn the first nine episodes to cd and hand them out to people at work, then follow up with them and see if they’re enjoying it. If so, I’ll ask if I can help set them up to subscribe.

Now here’s the catch. Accountability. I created a hashtag on twitter for everyone to keep tally. As you get someone to subscribe just tweet to #podcastchallenge the podcast you’re fighting for and the number of new subscriptions you’ve garnered for it. I would love to see one hundred or more subscriptions, for all ‘casts combined, come out of this.

If you don’t twitter, feel free to post your efforts here and I will tweet them on your behalf. Please feel free to post your comments or lay down your own challenge as well.

You’ve been challenged.

Are you up to it?