Those who have read my novel The Portent, sequel to The Facade, know that the last chapter of The Portent and a short postscript dropped a riddle on readers based on the novel’s content. There was also a companion handbook to the novel with another clue. The challenge was simple: solve the riddle, get a character named after you in the third installment. I’m happy to announce a winner — and that the contest will continue until year’s end.

Only one person out of all the entries (and you can try more than once) succeeded in solving the riddle. That isn’t unexpected. It isn’t easy. Most who tried saw quickly that the riddle had something to do with the two witnesses in Revelation 11. But that was a given element in the riddle, not the answer. It was a starting point. Conveniently (for me) the winner’s name and nickname give me four first names to choose from. In alphabetical order they are: Arnold, David, Merlin, and Michael. The winner runs a dance studio in Louisiana. Look for one of those names (or some foreign derivative, e.g., Michel is the French equivalent of Michael) in book three.

Since I’ve had only one winner and don’t have to worry about getting too many names, I’ll keep the contest open until year’s end. Keep trying!