Thursday 22 July 2010

MASSIVE Horus Heresy giveaway - Black Library!

Okay, I am SO excited about this giveaway - in fact, I wish that I could win it myself! I am giving away a FULL SET of the Horus Heresy novels (as published to date) from the Black Library. That is 13 novels. 13. Count 'em!

1. Horus Rising - Dan Abnett
2. False Gods - Graham McNeill
3. Galaxy in Flames - Ben Counter
4. The Flight of the Eisenstein - James Swallow
5. Fulgrim - Graham McNeill
6. Descent of Angels - Mitchel Scanlon
7. Legion - Dan Abnett
8. Battle for the Abyss - Ben Counter
9. Mechanicum - Graham McNeill
10. Tales of Heresy
11. Fallen Angels - Mike Lee
12. A Thousand Sons - Graham McNeill
13. Nemesis - James Swallow

The giveaway will also include The Dark King and the Lightning Tower and Raven's Flight - two audio dramas.

Click through on any of the titles above to find a corresponding review - virtually all of these books are held up as being excellent science fiction novels in their own right, but absolutely canon when it comes to the WH40k background.

So... what do you have to do to win this prize? It is simplicity itself!

Send me an email to magemanda AT gmail DOT com (taking out the AT and DOT, of course), with HORUS GIVEAWAY as the subject line. Include your name and full snail mail address. And that's it - what could be easier? In addition to this, the competition is INTERNATIONAL! That's right - wherever you are in the world, you are eligible to enter. So get emailing and good luck!

I will run this competition until midnight on Friday 30th July (a week from now, give or take) and then announce the lucky winner.

For the benefit of anyone who is worried: be assured your personal details will not be passed onto any third parties. I might be an accountant, but I do have some integrity. Your address is being asked for so that I don't have to chase at the end of the giveaway and can get YOUR books that YOU have won out to YOU as soon as possible! I do hope this clears up any concerns.

28 comments:

  1. Send my full snail mail address *before* I've won anything to an accountant who does book reviews in her spare time? Now there's a great data protection and privacy issue waiting to happen! Who knows who the information could be sold to... Then again, there are free books available...

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  2. Nobody's forcing you to enter - if you don't like the terms, just don't take part, simple !

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  3. @IBBoard As the data controller and data subject it is your right to not send details as you see fit. However you will not be entered into the competition if you don't. It's not a difficult concept to get your head around really.

    also what does someone's professional occupation have to do with their ability to host a contest on their blog and why is it relevant in any way?

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  4. ooh yeay yes please :)

    Email already winging its way :)

    @IBBOARD- names and addresses are available to anyone if you are registered to vote anyway

    xxx

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  5. @IBBoard Ah,yes! Not everyone knows that accountants are the advance army of the lizard-men of Planet-X. (The planet that orbits on the opposite side of the sun from the earth.) Glad you caught on thet they, in cooperation with the Illuminati, gathers your address on the internet so they can come home to you and steal your blood. -Also remember to use a tin-foil hat when using electronic devices so they can't read your thoughts.

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  6. The wonders of the internet, eh?

    This is a marvellous competition, and I have exercised my personal freedom of choice by sending in my postal address as the rules state.

    It's pretty simple really. If you don't like it, don't enter.

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  7. Entered! Good luck all.

    @IBBoard - the line for haters is to the left, cheers dude. ;)

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  8. There's just no pleasing some people!

    @Weirdmage That's some brilliant advice there! lol

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  9. *sigh* Show a bit of sensible caution in a world where people are all too willing to bare all and everyone thinks you're crazy. Given that the government can't keep stuff protected (which is a requirement of the Data Protection Act for people who collect/process information) then trusting an individual on the web with unnecessary information seemed a bit odd.

    As for the accountant comment, that was an indicator that it isn't even as if it as a company doing this, like an official GW giveaway with a properly assigned co-ordinator and data protection officer.

    The sensible thing would, of course, have been to say "send in an email if you want to enter, then I'll ask for the address of the winner and pick again if I don't get a response", then no unnecessary information was collected. I'm fine with people who want to give away all their personal information, I just think people aren't aware of how often it happens with unnecessary information.

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  10. While I don't agree with him about addresses being important private information (easy enough to trace IP addresses after all), he kinda has a point about not really needing said address in order to pick a winner.

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  11. I have added an additional paragraph to my post which I do hope clears up any concerns.

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  12. IBBoard - The security of your personal information in this instance is one's own personal responsibility. You are not compelled to enter the contest, and if is for you to decide your own relative risk of submitting an address over the desire to try and win a couple of books.

    It's a valid concern, but passive agressive comments aren't helpful to anyone.

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  13. @IBBoard - "show a bit of sensible caution"? I think you're missing the point. I have no idea how long you have read this blog, or whether you read it regularly (or indeed other book blogs), but your comments are pretty much saying that you don't know what this website is, you don't know who Magemanda is, and more importantly, you don't trust either of them. You clearly are not a regular as you seem not to realise that while the competition is being run by a "hobbyist" individual, the competition is authorised by Black Library and they have supplied the prize pack. What, did you think Magemanda just went and bought the 13 books from Amazon just to run a competition to data-mine your details?

    So the question is, what are you doing on this blog? If you don't trust the webmaster with your details, then why trust her reviews? She's done her damnedest to create an informative, entertaining review and news blog which runs *amazing* competitions like this (13 books!!) and you've just pissed in the cornflakes.

    If you are concerned about privacy and identify theft, fine. Just don't enter the competition and don't insult Magemanda.

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  14. This has got to be the craziest response to a giveaway I've ever seen... Seriously. Awesome giveaway and hell yes, I trust Mageamanda not to use my address for any other reason than the reason she's stated. @IBBoard What do you think about the internet? Do you realize that your info is stored somewhere and can be accessed by someone? THAT doesn't seem to be a problem for you, yet this is. If you don't like this, maybe you should think of getting off the internet entirely - then you'd probably be *completely* safe; except, that is, from the robbers and crazy people with guns that probably live in your city / neighbourhood...

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  15. What a giveaway! Crossing my fingers....

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  16. Even if she does; well worth it. Who can argue with 13 free books? And if you can, what are you doing on a blog like this?

    MM, I've only just discovered your blog (thanks to this giveaway and an embarrassingly large interest in all things Games Workshop) and I am incredibly pleased with what I've seen. Keep up the good work!

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  17. @IBBOard
    Who do you think you are to be so dismissive of someone taking the time and effort to
    1. Create and maintain a blog in their own personl time
    2. Organise a spectacular giveaway such as this one
    3. Ask for no other details than a name and postal address

    If you are so paranoid, you could have used a PO Box or other holding address and used a fake name. Instead you post a nasty little comment to some one you obviously don't know - because if you did, you would never have posted such a dismissive and frankly rude comment to a genuinely nice person.

    I wonder why you visited the blog in the first place... are you just a troll trying to stir up ill-feeling?

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  18. I've never read the blog before (don't have the money to keep spending on books, so why bother reading reviews?) I just follow BL on Twitter and saw their link. Even if I did follow a blog then I wouldn't necessarily say I "knew" and trusted the writer.

    I know my info is stored on the Net - I run my own websites, so I know I store other people's info - but there's normally limits as to what is necessary. If I sign up for a forum then I generally have to give my email address, but location and address is voluntary because it is unnecessary, and that's how it should be.

    You can track IP addresses, but that won't always give you a person, just an ISP and a rough area. Addresses are generally considered to be "Personally Identifiable Information" (i.e. information that you are likely to be able to conclude the identity of someone from) by legislation, whether you're someone who is willing to give it away or not.

    My comment wasn't nasty, merely a voicing of a concern. I've given away the information I was willing to (an address and not my full name), but am hoping that all emails will be suitably disposed of after the competition in-line with the idea of "only for the purpose and duration necessary".

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  19. I don't care, I'm entering for the books! *evil laugh*

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  20. I am assuming shipping is handled by you? No hidden charges or anything? ;)

    Otherwise, this seems like an extremely charitable competition! <3

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  21. I totally threw all caution to the wind. Good thing my mail box is at end of driveway out of a small blast radius....on the other hand I might get some cookies...hmmm......Very nice give away!

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  22. Thanks for hosting - email is on it's way!

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  23. Just a quick reply to Anonymous above: yes, shipping charges all handled. Nothing hidden. You just get free books.

    Thanks for all the support and the entries so far - it has been truly amazing to see! :-)

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  24. This is awesome! I was wondering which region is this available for? Because there might be limitation on shipping? I wanted to read this type of books but haven't received any recommendations from friends, good thing that i found this sight, a good way to start to read for this week. thanks.

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  25. Excellent. Love this, it would be an orgasm-inducing event if I were to win.

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  26. :) Goodluck to everyone! Great giveaway idea! Love the blog, too!

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