A couple of years ago, I ordered a few sets of the British "Mythological Creatures" stamps, thinking they'd make a great Book Aunt giveaway. Besides their topic, they are linked to children's books because Neil Gaiman—a good stand-in for Jack Skellington, the Halloween King, in more than one way—wrote the text that describes each stamp on the lovely enclosure card. How cool is that? In fact, Gaiman teamed up again with his favorite illustrator, Dave McKean, who did the darkly beautiful artwork. Here is a sample of Gaiman's writing, from the description of giants:
The remaininggiants sleep, lost in deep slow dreams, covered in earth and trees and wild grass. Some have clouds on their shoulders or long men carved on their sides. We see them from the windows of cars and tell each other that from some angles they look almost like people.
So here's how this works: leave a comment describing your favorite monster or mythological creature in 1-2 sentences. On October 31, I'll pick the best of the comments that actually do some describing, as opposed to simply naming a beast. You're welcome to throw in a metaphor or two! I have three of these stamp sets, so after selecting the best and second-best comments, I'll simply do a drawing for stamp set #3.
Meanwhile, I hope your costume plans are coming together, your leaves are turning orange or gold and falling in slow motion, your spiderwebs are trembling in the moonlight, and you have at least one jack-o-lantern on your porch, maybe even a tribe.
Note: As usual, this giveaway is open anyone on the planet. I'll be happy to pay the postage if you're a winner in Japan or New Zealand or Kenya! Wherever you're from, you should either leave your contact info in your comment, or just be sure to check back on November 1 to see if you won.
Update: Participants, see my note in the comments!
