The entire The Life & Times of Baby Otto Zeplin series will include ten volumes, four of which will be themed. What I mean by “themed” is that there will be an over-arching adventure, recurring character, or abstract idea that runs through the entire 25-page volume. For example, in the current volume, Otto is a hobo, traveling the rails of the United States. I already have ideas for two of the three remaining themes, but I thought it might be fun to have the fourth theme be reader-created.
To enter: Email me with your theme idea (multiple submissions are more than welcome). Below, I will keep a current list of all ideas sent to me. I will keep track of who sent which idea and will announce the winner once I have decided. That lucky person will receive a free copy of each volume, as it gets released, through the end of the series. (If the winner already owns Volume One, his/her free copies will begin with Volume Two)
I feel it necessary to keep my two already-decided themes a secret. In the event that you suggest a similar idea, please do not feel cheated that you didn’t win the contest, but instead feel proud because great minds think alike.
Contest ends August 3rd, 2008!
THEME IDEAS:
- Anything involving sasquatch
- Oregon Trail (the computer game)
- The advent of electricity
- Vividly insane dreams born from eating like 5 sticks of butter or some other form of food poisoning
- Dismemberment (losing an arm or leg) or blindness or polio
- A gold rush
- Otto gets married
- Otto visits relatives in Germany
- Otto meets bizzaro Otto
- Otto invents/fights a robot
- Otto finds oil
- Otto invents rock n roll
- Otto publishes his memoirs
- Otto competes in the Olympics (3)
- Otto meets Mark Twain (Addition from 2nd source, also meets Mark Twain’s characters)
- Otto runs away to Las Vegas
- Baby Otto in Time and Space (time portals and space ships)
- Baby Otto and the Old West
- Baby Otto becomes a detective
- Baby Otto becomes a werewolf
- baby otto creates 25 different inventions
- baby otto travels to alaska
- baby otto directs a play
- baby otto talks w/ a young albert einstein (and/or other famous figures)
- baby otto goes to the world’s fair
- baby otto discover an uncharted island with strange creatures and vaguely canibalistic natives
- Otto gets an office job
- Otto runs for president
- Otto at a speak easy (ok it’s a little early for prohibition)
- Otto and the Aztecs
- Otto gets tattoos
- Otto gets a job
- Otto in the haunted mine
- Otto goes around the world in 81 days
- Otto at the circus
- Otto inherits a million
- Otto and the motor car
- Otto and the flying machine
- Otto at the opium den
- Otto and the gentleman dandy
- Otto in New York
- Otto meets Queen Victoria
- Otto learns the blues
- Otto in Australia
- Otto escapes from prison
- Otto stars in silent film
- Otto and the Japanese empire
- Baby Otto gets bullied at school
- Baby Otto gets kidnapped
- Baby Otto goes on a cruise
- citizen zeplin: the newspaper tycoon
- Otto attends an automobile show.
- Otto eat the thirty-second hamburger sandwich ever.
- Otto attends the State fair.
- Otto organizes a baseball league.
- Otto is befriended by Leon Czolgosz or Gaetano Bresci.
- Otto joins the Signal Corps.
- Otto starts the precursor to the Bilderberg Group.
- Otto becomes the personal seussaphone player for J.P. Morgan.
- Otto rides as a jockey in the Kentucky Derby.
- Otto perfects method acting. Takes off-broadway by storm.
- Otto builds a radio but has to burn it to keep warm for a night.
- Otto ends up in Japan and has a run-in with Baby Emperor Hirohito.
- Otto survives an earthquake, saves a family.
- Otto becomes a celebrated fashion designer. Falls apart when he tries to start a goggles-on-forehead fad. Ahead of his time.
- Otto builds a roller coaster amusement ride.
- Otto has run-ins with Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid.
- Otto tries his hand at table tennis.
- Otto takes on work at a farm.
- Otto saves the world without anybody realizing it.
- Otto visits the dentist.
- Otto works at the zoo
- Otto develops a gambling problem.
- Otto builds a cabin and befriends the owls.
- Otto is put on trial, demonstrates his filibuster skills.
- Otto fakes his own death for the sake of good showmanship.
- Otto goes on a fox hunt.
- Otto starts his own penny candy factory.
- Otto meets Aleister Crowley and gets mixed up with the occult.
- Otto versus Cthulu.
- Otto becomes a lumberjack.
- Otto joins a wild west show.
- Otto visits Russia.
- Baby Otto becomes a Dad
