Our Pick Your Mansfield Man winners and a special summer sale for Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires

For the past couple of months, I have asked Jane Austen fans to declare their allegiance for one of the leading men of Mansfield Park or in simpler terms, are you Team Edmund or Team Henry?

Part of the reason for that is due to this year being the 200th anniversary of Mansfield Park, the one novel in Jane Austen's cannon that causes the most kerfuffles amongst readers and critics to this very day. With all of it's misgivings, it still has enough resonance with it's themes of moral judgement and guidance that there is plenty of food for thought to be had on this small shelf in Austen's literary cupboard.

The other reason is my Pick Your Mansfield Man contest, where one champion from each corner would win a free copy of my e-book Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires(currently on sale this month,more about that in a moment).

Well, the dealing is done and for Team Edmund, the winner is Wordy Nerdy Sarah, for her great essay on why "We Should All Give Edmund Bertram A Break"-thank you,Sarah for your thoughtful and spirited defense of Edmund(who I must confess,I favor here also):

While I find Henry Crawford to be quite the scoundrel as well as being more in love with the idea of being in love with Fanny, I am willing to give that charming devil his due,along with his ardent fans.

After all, I made him a vampire(along with his sister Mary) in my MP monster mash for that very reason; his smooth operator style and easy manner with words as well as women. Yes, I know that there are Darcy vampire stories but in truth, does not Henry Crawford seem to be more suitable to that True Blood night life? Maybe it's just me.

So, for Team Henry, the winner is AGreatReader who makes a good case for the merits of Mr. Crawford and the good that could have come from a long lasting relationship with Fanny:

Thank you AGR, for your share of the conversation and congrats to you and WNS -to claim your prize, please send the e-mail address of your choice to me at livingreadgirl@yahoo.com so that I may send you both a gift copy of Fanny Price,Slayer of Vampires to download from Smashwords.

Speaking of Smashwords, they are holding a big summer sale in July for many of their titles and Miss Price was bold enough to join them. From now until July 31st, FP:SOV is available at half price( from $1.99 to 0.99) with the coupon code SSW50-this discount only pertains to Smashwords, as they are my publisher, and I hope that many of you who have yet to explore this dark side of Mansfield Park will take this opportunity to do so.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this contest and any MP discussion out there. I wish you all a happy and not too overheated summer and do remember that there are plenty of Jane Austen men to go around,so let us not quarrel amongst ourselves too much: