A fortnight ago we had a fabulous Sunday Surprise from Heather Craik of Shades of a Dream fame. Incidently, if you don’t already, go talk to her on Twitter or over at her place. As you’re about to find out, she’s very entertaining It was a humorous but thought provoking post which … actually, if you’ve not read that yet you really should. It will make the context today soooo much easier to appreciate. Don’t worry, I won’t carry on without you. Go ahead …

Did you read it? It’s OK, I kinda had my suspicions that you might not. But at least this way it hasn’t spoiled the ending for you

So after reading Heather’s post I immediately thought that this would make a great audio post. I put the idea to Heather and, in her own words:

“I had a fun idea that, unless you object, I’m going to incorporate. I have a list of mythical creatures – A to Z. While I’m telling the story I’m going to try and fit them all in, in order; as a challenge. We could engage the readers to listen out in case I miss any, and if I don’t, you could lay a wager with them that they have to give a brick, or go comment on my blog, or something small like that. Upshot being that if I do miss one I have to donate ten. I’ll only record the audio once, in the morning,”

Life being what it is, we changed our minds slightly and Heather ended up recording a video instead. However, it wasn’t until after filming that Heather discovered her camera wouldn’t allow her to edit or remove the water mark without paying a fee. Seeing as we’re doing this to raise funds for Give A Brick, that seemed a little counter-productive That left us with two options: re-record using someone else’s equipment or publish as is. We went for the latter since if nothing else, it shows that Heather was good for her word and did this in one take.

If you’d like to see Heather’s A to Z, a printable version is available but you can also read the list here:

• Ampithere (type of small feathered dragon)
• Basalisk
• Cerberus
• Doppleganger
• Ettin (three headed giant)
• Faun
• Gremlin
• Harpy
• Imp
• Jiang Shi (life-draining reanimated corpse china)
• Kapre (malevolent tree spirit philippines)
• La Sayona (venezuela female ghost that punishes unfaithful husbands)
• Munchkin
• Nymph
• Ouroboros (serpent eating its tail)
• Pixie
• Quinotaur (Frankish five horned bull)
• Rakshasa
• Succubus
• Troll
• Unicorn
• Vampire
• Wampus cat (Cherokee human-cougar hybrid)
• Xenu
• Yeti
• Ziz (Jewish giant bird)

So, it is my pleasure to introduce Heather and her Give A Brick audio challenge. If you’re in a rush, bookmark this page because you really need to enjoy this with a nice cup of tea or glass of wine. Some things are definitely worth taking time over and this video is no exception.

We both look forward to hearing what you think and remember, if she does it without error, you need to hit the “Paypal Donate’ button to donate £1 to Give A Brick. Thanks

Heather, take it away:

So, how did she do? Here’s the Paypal button if you would be so kind and don’t forget to tell us what you thought it the comments below before hitting the re-tweet button on your way out the door Finally, if you enjoyed today’s video and would like to complete your own challenge, please get in touch. Thank you