Congrats to the Winner of the Immortal Giveaway

Has May 15 already come and gone? The time practically flew by for me. I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I posted our Interview by an Immortal, Plus a Contest. And if it has seemed the blink of an eye to this mere mortal, then how much more must it have been to our good friend Adam? I mean, what's three weeks against a backdrop of 60,000 years?

Author Gene Doucette was kind enough to pass Adam some coffee and help sober him up long enough to give us his pick for the winning entry. As with anytime we let Adam take the mic, I can only cross my fingers in hopes he doesn't make a complete fool out of me.

Once more, from the top, Adam...

First, I’d like to thank everyone for participating in this little exercise. We received some entertaining and creative responses.

Before announcing the winner, I’d like to talk a little bit about meeting the founders of religions, since hanging out with Jesus, Mohammed and the Buddha figured in multiple lists.

It’s essentially impossible to have lived for as long as I have without having run into somebody who ended up founding a religion. I’ve met hundreds, and if you’re willing to expand your definition of "religion" to include "something one guy believes fervently" then I’d put the number in the low thousands.

However, Jesus wasn’t one of those people. Neither was Siddhartha Gautama. Mohammed was, but I wouldn’t call the encounter particularly memorable. Which brings me to another point: famous historical people were nearly always more famous after the fact. It’s not that they weren’t famed in their time so much as that there were plenty of other contemporaneous people who shared comparable levels of fame.

So, back to Jesus for a second. I could have met him, and had I known you’d all be talking about him two thousand years later I would have, if just for the story. But while I happened to be working as a fisherman in Nazareth during his brief lifetime, we never crossed paths. And back to the second point: there were a lot of itinerant rabbis walking around at that time, so it’s unlikely I could have picked him out of the crowd.

Now I know this is your list and not mine, and so while I did not personally meet Jesus or the Buddha, you would have if given the chance. All I’m saying is, absent hindsight it wouldn’t have been that simple.

Now, Alexander the Great is another story. Great guy. Threw some really amazing parties too.

The winner: Bilblogins, who appreciates the importance of a really good knot.

Thanks again for all the entries.

And thank you, Adam. That wasn't so bad, really. Must have been some strong java Gene gave him.

Here's what Bilblogins had to say:

"the top five things you would have done if you, yourself, would have been alive for the past 60,000 years."

5 - Lie about my good looks - and then move out of town. A lot.
4 - Learn to tie a really good knot.
3 - Invent/perfect the concept known as "The Long Con."
2 - Procrastinate.

1- Learn not to get too attached to "possessions." Or "friends."

Whether you've read the first book, or you're simply itching to see what other tales Adam has up his sleeve, you may want to check out this excerpt from the sequel Hellenic Immortal. Just a bit of a warning: It's about a succubus and gets a little racy.

Thanks for playing, everyone!