According to Wikipedia, the number 254 is an even number... a composite number with four divisors... a semi-prime number... a square-free integer... a number nontotient... the maximum number of regions in which a plane can be divided by 22 lines... and a congruent number.

It's also the number of entries that I received for the September Shanville Monthly competition!!! :-)

With 7 complete sets of the Cirque Du Freak manga up for grabs (in various languages), that meant each entrant had just over a 1 in 36 chance of winning -- not terrible odds at all, but it did mean that for every jubilant, elated Shanster, there would be another glum, disheartened creatures of the night who would have to trudge away muttering to themselves, "Maybe next time..."

Anyway, in the order drawn, here are the names of the lucky 7 who will be tucking into 12 of these beauties in the note too distant future. Well, except for Maria and Cooper -- because of Covid restrictions, I can't currently post their prizes to them, so they're going to have to wait until normal mail services resume. :-(

Lisa Bell, UK.
Becca Bang, USA.
Jacob Woodfield, UK.
Bianca Thom, Germany.
Maria Rehm, Pakistan.
Cooper, Australia.
Chloe Proulx, Canada.

Thanks to everyone who entered. Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the losers -- but hey, I hope to run another competition before the end of the year, so stay tuned to the Shanville Monthly, and next time it might be YOU... https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly