Our Final Day:
Tomorrow, Worldbuilders is over for another year.
More precisely, after Friday Dec 17th 2:00 PST Worldbuilders will be over.
While this has been our best year so far, I feel a little bad that I wasn’t a little more organized.
I was planning on doing more author interviews like the ones I did last year. I wanted to write a blog about my adventures on House on the Rock to accompany Gaiman’s book. I wanted to write another about how I met Paolini at Comic-con to go with his donations. I’d planned on finishing the second half of my Perils of Fanfiction post from months ago.
Unfortunately, edits on book two took a lot more time and energy than I expected. And as a result, I had to let some of those plans go.
Because of that, we have a lot of items in this final blog that are cool enough to be set aside in blogs of their own.
But there’s just no more time. So you’re getting them all at once. Try not to let their combined awesome overwhelm you.
A Final Goal:
So yesterday in the blog that posted Neil Gaiman’s donation, I said I hoped we might be able to hit 150,000 dollars before the end of the fundraiser.
We hit that goal in less than ten hours. So I’ve decided to re-set the donation thermometer one last time.
Our last goal, the goal that I really don’t know if we’ll be able to meet, is going to be 166,700 dollars.
It’s an odd number. But if we raise that much money on our Team Heifer page it means that after Worldbuilders makes its matching donation, we will have raised a quarter million dollars for Heifer International this year.
That would be an amazing milestone. Plus when I’m trying to persuade people to donate books next year, I could say to them, “Last year we raised a quarter million dollars.” That’s a persuasive piece of information…
I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it. But I’m excited to try…
- A copy of the UK and a copy of the US version of The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. Signed by the author.
I did an interview with Brent Weeks last year. And this year he’s not only kicking in some books, but stepping up to the plate and helping me match donations as well. This earns him a warm place in my heart forever.
Black Prism is his new book, and BSC review says that it’s full of “Multiple twists and compelling characters…a page-turner.”
- A set of The Night Angel Trilogy: The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge and Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks. Signed by the author.
- A set of Graphic Audio books of Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks. Both signed by the author.
“I was mesmerized from start to finish. Unforgettable characters, a plot that kept me guessing, nonstop action and the kind of in-depth storytelling that makes me admire a writer’s work.” – Terry Brooks
As I mentioned above, this is one of the donations I wanted to set aside in its own blog.
You see, I met Paolini at Comic Con this year. He’s a hell of a nice guy. He conducted an interview with me on Suvudu. It was the first interview he’d ever conducted, and he did a way better job with it than I did with my first interview earlier that day with Sandeep Parikh.
The blog I was writing was a tricky one, and I talked a lot about the strange place Paolini occupies in fantasy. In some ways he is the biggest rags-to-riches story we have in the genre. Young kid writes a book, gets published, gets a movie, becomes an international bestseller.
A ton of people read his books. A ton of people love his stuff. Published in 50 countries.
On the other end of the spectrum there’s a big camp of people who get all bitchy and snarky whenever his name comes up. They talk about plagiarism and such.
My blog talked about my own preconceptions about Paolini’s work. Most importantly it talked about something embarrassing: that I judged his books without ever reading them. That’s a hard thing to admit, because I like to think that I’m better than that.
After months of tinkering on the blog, doing research, finding links. It was finally finished. It was about 2000 words long. I was going to post it last Sunday night. It was going to lead off our final week of the fundraiser. I even got my friend to illustrate it, depicting me in all my ignorant judgmental glory:
Then, about 45 minutes before I was finished with the blog, my computer crashed and I lost it.
I’ll reconstruct that blog eventually. Then everyone will get a chance to voice their opinions and discuss in the comments.
But not today. This isn’t the time or place for it, understand? During Worldbuilders geeks of all genres come together and make the world a better place. We do not snark and froth at each other no matter what our differences of opinion. Follow me?
In addition to these signed books that we’re adding to the general lottery, Christopher has offered up another set of books for auction….
- A set of Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, signed and personalized by the author.
If you win this auction, Christopher Paolini will sign and personalize these books to you however you like.
To see more pictures or bid on this auction you can follow this link.
- A copy of 3 Dead Princes, An Anarchist Fairy Tale by Danbert Nobacon and illustrations by Alex Cox. Signed by the author and illustrator. Donated by Exterminating Angel Press.
“This is a beautiful book. The illustrations are wonderful. It definitely rocks! I ought to know.” – Iggy Pop
- A copy of Sorceries edited by Katharine Kerr. Signed by Katharine Kerr.
Another donation from Katherine Kerr who was nice enough to donate an original manuscript to the auction this year. Sorceries has been out of print for a while, so this signed copy is pretty cool.
- A set of anthologies: Timeshares; Terribly Twisted Tales, signed by author Kelly Swails; and Stalking the Wild Hare, signed by author Dylan Birtolo.
Here we’ve got three different anthologies; a veritable buffett of new authors and stories to sample from. You have twisted faerie tales, hard sci-fi, epic fantasy, urban fantasy. A little bit of everything…
- A copy of Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance edited by Lori Perkins. Signed by the author.
This anthology only needs two words to describe it: Zombie Romance.
Yeah. A whole anthology of Zombie Romance. I’m going to have to pick this one up…
- A set of the October Daye Novels: by Seanan McGuire. Signed by the author.
“A refreshingly original story told in a wry, confident voice. Rosemary and Rue is a treat to read.” – Kelley Armstrong
If you’re a geek trying to raise geek children, you might want to check out this charming picture book for kids. It’s received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and is a 2011 ALSC Notable Nominee.
Here we have some lovely donations from Apex Books.
“Fresh, inventive, stylish and captivating, the work of a writer of unusual promise.” – Dean Koontz
“This literary window into the international world of imaginative fiction, the first in a new series, is sure to appeal to adventurous sf fans and readers of fiction in translation.” – Library Journal.
“Burrow’s debut is a swift-moving, pathos-free, creatively amusing riff on zombies from the zombie perspective.” – Publishers Weekly
“Braoddus and White are an unlikely pairing of talents that works astonishingly well. Orgy of Souls is a powerful, innovative work of fiction and one I recommend wholeheartedly. A damned fine read.” – James A. Moore
“Michael A. Burstein is an Isaac Asimov for the new millennium” – Robert J. Sawyer
“A remarkable collection, bursting at the seams with thought-provoking ideas and shattering visions.” – Brandon Massey
*Â Â Â Â *Â Â Â Â *
- Two hardcover copies of The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade. The 11.5 Anniversary Edition. Signed by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins.
Earlier this year, I got a bit of thrill when I was mentioned on Penny Arcade on their blog.
Okay. That’s a slight understatement. I was giggly as a schoolgirl. It might even be fair to say that I was twitterpated.
When it happened, I realized that my life was pretty cool. I also decided that since I don’t get to play many video games these days, I was going to start celebrating the cool things that happen to me by giving myself achievements.
Getting mentioned on Penny Arcade, I decided, would be the first achievement I officially unlocked.
I even got a friend to do an illustration to commemorate the event:
Note to people who don’t read Penny Arcade: Wanged is a technical term.
Suffice it to say that I love me some Penny Arcade, and these books are lovely collections. If you want more details than that, you can read the interview with Jerry Holkins I posted up just a couple hours ago.
“Sanderson knows how to wrap things up cleanly. He spins a world that’s easily complex and mysterious enough to warrant sequels, but prefers to end it climactically, answering many of his biggest questions, while leaving others to the imagination.” – The Onion
*Â Â Â Â *Â Â Â Â *
Lastly, we have another set of donations I wanted to put into its own blog.
The lovely folks at Badali Jewelry make rings, necklaces, pentants and pins. What’s more, some of the stuff they make is based off the jewelery in fantasy novels.
They got in contact with me recently in order to talk about plans for… things. Secret things. Things which will be revealed in the near future.
When they found out about Worldbuilders, they were eager to donate some of their stuff to the fundraiser.
Then I dropped Brandon Sanderson a line and asked if he’d be willing to donate some books to go along with the Jewlery. He said he would, because Brandon is a hell of a nice guy.
- A hardcover set Mistborn, The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages of by Brandon Sanderson. Signed by the Author.
With accompanying Steel Alphabet Medallion from Badali Jewelry.
“Intrigue, politics, and conspiracies mesh complexly in a world Sanderson realizes in satisfying depth and peoples with impressive characters.” – Booklist
- A hardcover copy of The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Signed by the Author.
With accompanying set of Asha’man Dragon pin and a Dedicated Sword pin from Badali Jewelry.
“The Wheel of Time . . . is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.”—Chicago Sun-Times
With accompanying Aon Omi Love Pendant from Badali Jewelry.
“Outstanding fantasy debut . . . . The intrigue and excitement grow steadily in this smoothly written, perfectly balanced narrative; by the end readers won’t want to put it down.” – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
I think that’s a great item to end the fundraiser on, don’t you?
I don’t need to mention that I can actually read what’s written on this ring, do I? That I can actually recite it from memory… in the original language?
No. I didn’t think so. Let’s pretend that I’m not quite that much of a geek.
*Â Â Â Â *Â Â Â Â *
Well folks. That’s it for this year. Remember that for every 10 dollars you donate on the Team Heifer page you get the chance to win these cool donations and hundreds of others.
We also have a few auctions that are still running for a little while. You can find them here.
Lastly, here’s the link to the main Worldbuilders page. You can head over there to see all the other donations and cool things.
Thanks again for eveything folks. Here’s hoping we can make our final goal.
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
The Final Day, our Final Goal, our Final Donations.
Our Final Day:
Tomorrow, Worldbuilders is over for another year.
More precisely, after Friday Dec 17th 2:00 PST Worldbuilders will be over.
While this has been our best year so far, I feel a little bad that I wasn’t a little more organized.
I was planning on doing more author interviews like the ones I did last year. I wanted to write a blog about my adventures on House on the Rock to accompany Gaiman’s book. I wanted to write another about how I met Paolini at Comic-con to go with his donations. I’d planned on finishing the second half of my Perils of Fanfiction post from months ago.
Unfortunately, edits on book two took a lot more time and energy than I expected. And as a result, I had to let some of those plans go.
Because of that, we have a lot of items in this final blog that are cool enough to be set aside in blogs of their own.
But there’s just no more time. So you’re getting them all at once. Try not to let their combined awesome overwhelm you.
A Final Goal:
So yesterday in the blog that posted Neil Gaiman’s donation, I said I hoped we might be able to hit 150,000 dollars before the end of the fundraiser.
We hit that goal in less than ten hours. So I’ve decided to re-set the donation thermometer one last time.
Our last goal, the goal that I really don’t know if we’ll be able to meet, is going to be 166,700 dollars.
It’s an odd number. But if we raise that much money on our Team Heifer page it means that after Worldbuilders makes its matching donation, we will have raised a quarter million dollars for Heifer International this year.
That would be an amazing milestone. Plus when I’m trying to persuade people to donate books next year, I could say to them, “Last year we raised a quarter million dollars.” That’s a persuasive piece of information…
I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it. But I’m excited to try…
I did an interview with Brent Weeks last year. And this year he’s not only kicking in some books, but stepping up to the plate and helping me match donations as well. This earns him a warm place in my heart forever.
Black Prism is his new book, and BSC review says that it’s full of “Multiple twists and compelling characters…a page-turner.”
“I was mesmerized from start to finish. Unforgettable characters, a plot that kept me guessing, nonstop action and the kind of in-depth storytelling that makes me admire a writer’s work.” – Terry Brooks
As I mentioned above, this is one of the donations I wanted to set aside in its own blog.
You see, I met Paolini at Comic Con this year. He’s a hell of a nice guy. He conducted an interview with me on Suvudu. It was the first interview he’d ever conducted, and he did a way better job with it than I did with my first interview earlier that day with Sandeep Parikh.
The blog I was writing was a tricky one, and I talked a lot about the strange place Paolini occupies in fantasy. In some ways he is the biggest rags-to-riches story we have in the genre. Young kid writes a book, gets published, gets a movie, becomes an international bestseller.
A ton of people read his books. A ton of people love his stuff. Published in 50 countries.
On the other end of the spectrum there’s a big camp of people who get all bitchy and snarky whenever his name comes up. They talk about plagiarism and such.
My blog talked about my own preconceptions about Paolini’s work. Most importantly it talked about something embarrassing: that I judged his books without ever reading them. That’s a hard thing to admit, because I like to think that I’m better than that.
After months of tinkering on the blog, doing research, finding links. It was finally finished. It was about 2000 words long. I was going to post it last Sunday night. It was going to lead off our final week of the fundraiser. I even got my friend to illustrate it, depicting me in all my ignorant judgmental glory:
Then, about 45 minutes before I was finished with the blog, my computer crashed and I lost it.
I’ll reconstruct that blog eventually. Then everyone will get a chance to voice their opinions and discuss in the comments.
But not today. This isn’t the time or place for it, understand? During Worldbuilders geeks of all genres come together and make the world a better place. We do not snark and froth at each other no matter what our differences of opinion. Follow me?
In addition to these signed books that we’re adding to the general lottery, Christopher has offered up another set of books for auction….
If you win this auction, Christopher Paolini will sign and personalize these books to you however you like.
To see more pictures or bid on this auction you can follow this link.
“This is a beautiful book. The illustrations are wonderful. It definitely rocks! I ought to know.” – Iggy Pop
Another donation from Katherine Kerr who was nice enough to donate an original manuscript to the auction this year. Sorceries has been out of print for a while, so this signed copy is pretty cool.
Here we’ve got three different anthologies; a veritable buffett of new authors and stories to sample from. You have twisted faerie tales, hard sci-fi, epic fantasy, urban fantasy. A little bit of everything…
This anthology only needs two words to describe it: Zombie Romance.
Yeah. A whole anthology of Zombie Romance. I’m going to have to pick this one up…
“A refreshingly original story told in a wry, confident voice. Rosemary and Rue is a treat to read.” – Kelley Armstrong
If you’re a geek trying to raise geek children, you might want to check out this charming picture book for kids. It’s received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and is a 2011 ALSC Notable Nominee.
Here we have some lovely donations from Apex Books.
“Fresh, inventive, stylish and captivating, the work of a writer of unusual promise.” – Dean Koontz
“This literary window into the international world of imaginative fiction, the first in a new series, is sure to appeal to adventurous sf fans and readers of fiction in translation.” – Library Journal.
“Burrow’s debut is a swift-moving, pathos-free, creatively amusing riff on zombies from the zombie perspective.” – Publishers Weekly
“Braoddus and White are an unlikely pairing of talents that works astonishingly well. Orgy of Souls is a powerful, innovative work of fiction and one I recommend wholeheartedly. A damned fine read.” – James A. Moore
“Michael A. Burstein is an Isaac Asimov for the new millennium” – Robert J. Sawyer
“A remarkable collection, bursting at the seams with thought-provoking ideas and shattering visions.” – Brandon Massey
*Â Â Â Â *Â Â Â Â *
Earlier this year, I got a bit of thrill when I was mentioned on Penny Arcade on their blog.
Okay. That’s a slight understatement. I was giggly as a schoolgirl. It might even be fair to say that I was twitterpated.
When it happened, I realized that my life was pretty cool. I also decided that since I don’t get to play many video games these days, I was going to start celebrating the cool things that happen to me by giving myself achievements.
Getting mentioned on Penny Arcade, I decided, would be the first achievement I officially unlocked.
I even got a friend to do an illustration to commemorate the event:
Note to people who don’t read Penny Arcade: Wanged is a technical term.
Suffice it to say that I love me some Penny Arcade, and these books are lovely collections. If you want more details than that, you can read the interview with Jerry Holkins I posted up just a couple hours ago.
“Sanderson knows how to wrap things up cleanly. He spins a world that’s easily complex and mysterious enough to warrant sequels, but prefers to end it climactically, answering many of his biggest questions, while leaving others to the imagination.” – The Onion
*Â Â Â Â *Â Â Â Â *
Lastly, we have another set of donations I wanted to put into its own blog.
The lovely folks at Badali Jewelry make rings, necklaces, pentants and pins. What’s more, some of the stuff they make is based off the jewelery in fantasy novels.
They got in contact with me recently in order to talk about plans for… things. Secret things. Things which will be revealed in the near future.
When they found out about Worldbuilders, they were eager to donate some of their stuff to the fundraiser.
Then I dropped Brandon Sanderson a line and asked if he’d be willing to donate some books to go along with the Jewlery. He said he would, because Brandon is a hell of a nice guy.
With accompanying Steel Alphabet Medallion from Badali Jewelry.
“Intrigue, politics, and conspiracies mesh complexly in a world Sanderson realizes in satisfying depth and peoples with impressive characters.” – Booklist
With accompanying set of Asha’man Dragon pin and a Dedicated Sword pin from Badali Jewelry.
“The Wheel of Time . . . is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.”—Chicago Sun-Times
With accompanying Aon Omi Love Pendant from Badali Jewelry.
“Outstanding fantasy debut . . . . The intrigue and excitement grow steadily in this smoothly written, perfectly balanced narrative; by the end readers won’t want to put it down.” – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
I think that’s a great item to end the fundraiser on, don’t you?
I don’t need to mention that I can actually read what’s written on this ring, do I? That I can actually recite it from memory… in the original language?
No. I didn’t think so. Let’s pretend that I’m not quite that much of a geek.
*Â Â Â Â *Â Â Â Â *
Well folks. That’s it for this year. Remember that for every 10 dollars you donate on the Team Heifer page you get the chance to win these cool donations and hundreds of others.
We also have a few auctions that are still running for a little while. You can find them here.
Lastly, here’s the link to the main Worldbuilders page. You can head over there to see all the other donations and cool things.
Thanks again for eveything folks. Here’s hoping we can make our final goal.