Contest Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Left On Mission contest. This one had the most entries yet for a Double O Section contest, and I enjoyed learning readers' literary tastes. Thanks also for all the nice comments about the blog. Unfortunately, there can be only two randomly-chosen winners, and they are...

Paul Bishop, of California (the very first person to enter, oddly enough), and Christopher Mills of Maine

Both cited Donald Hamilton (a very popular choice) as their favorite spy writer, and Paul also listed Anthony Horowitz as his favorite current author.

Unsurprisingly, Ian Fleming was the runaway favorite spy writer among contest entrants. Hamilton (author of the Matt Helm books) made a strong showing for second place, with Greg Rucka and Len Deighton also getting a lot of votes. There was quite a diverse group overall, with other favorites running the gamut from Adam Hall to Robert Ludlum to Alan Furst. The biggest surprise, for me, though, was that not a single reader picked John Le Carré! Odd.

Thanks again to everyone else who entered. You'll all have another chance to win something soon; I've got a few more contests coming up in the near future! In the meantime, I do highly recommend seeking out Left On Mission in your local bookstore (or on Amazon); it's a great read. I'll have more coverage of that coming up soon as well.