Hey there folks,
We’re coming up on the end of the fundraiser. As I type this, we’re at $417,000 and we’re closing in fast on last year’s total of 433,000 dollars.
Traditionally, this is the time of year where I kick something into the fundraiser that’s a little… unique. Something to give a little extra incentive for people to donate here at the end of things.
This year, I have three items that might be extra-appealing to readers of my books….
Here are the three things I’m putting into the lottery today:
1. Prototype sets of Cealdish currency
2. Faerie stones
3. The chance to be one of my beta readers
I’m putting three of each of these into the lottery. Hence the title of today’s blog. Three threes.
Now, if you’re interested in winning these things, I need you to read carefully, because there’s a potential problem:
Back in the day, Worldbuilders used to mostly be fans of my books. But it’s grown over the years, and now we are strong with the collected might of many different geek clans.
And that’s a good thing. A *great* thing.
The problem is this: the things I’m putting into the lottery today are a little…. specialized. They’re the sorts of things some of you are going to geek out about. But other people aren’t going to care about them at all.
I’ve been trying to figure out how I give the hardcore Kingkiller geeks a chance to win these items, while keeping them out of the hands of people who aren’t interested. How can the Worldbuilders team pull some folks into a super-special Rothfussians-only lottery for these nine items?
So here’s what we’re going to do.
If you want to be eligible to win these items, you have to go and make a donation to Heifer International on the Worlduilders Team Page. Same rules as before: every $10 you kick in gets you another chance to win.
But if you want to be eligible to win these things, your donation should end with .33 cents.
Enough for honeybees? $30.33. Enough for a goat? $120.33. A Heifer? $500.33
You follow the pattern here?
If you donate with .33 at the end of your total, in addition to being entered in the main drawing for tens of thousands of dollars worth of books, you’ll also get entered into this smaller, side-lottery for the hardcore Rothfuss fans only….
What’s more, if you made other donations under the same name, we’ll include them in this separate lottery too.
So. Just to be clear. Let’s say you donated 60 bucks back in December. But you read this blog and want a piece of the action, so you go log onto our team heifer page and donate $33.33. That means your total donation would be $93.33. So you’d have nine entries in the main lottery, and nine entries in the Rothfuss-specific one too.
You got it? You can donate over here.
1. Three sets of prototype Cealdish currency.
Here we have an iron drab, a copper jot, a silver talent, and a gold mark.
A few of you have seen the jots and drabs before, but this is the first time I’ve had a full set to show off.
I’m a bit of a geek for old coins. So I’ve been working with Tom Maringer from the Shire Post Mint to develop currency for my world. If Tom’s name sounds familiar to you, it should. Last week we showed off some of his handiwork when he donated a bunch of currency from Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones.
For the Cealdish currency in my world, we’re doing something a little different. Rather than starting with the modern coins (The coins that Kvothe would be using.) We’re actually developing the historical coins first, then evolving the currency forward in history.
This set of coins would have been from about 500-600 years ago. Back when they were only a few short steps removed from bartering tokens.
The jot is solid copper. The drab is steel with a fusion crust.
The talent is made of an alloy called billion. It’s 20% silver and 80% copper. It was commonly used for coins here in the real world. It’s normally a rosy color, not bright silver like these. You see, if you heat billion in a furnace, some of the silver naturally migrates to the surface. Then, if you hammer it, it spreads the silver out so it looks much brighter, like a solid silver coin.
That’s what they used to do before electroplating. And that’s what we’ve done here.
The gold mark actually has gold in it. Not a *ton* of gold, but a little. (Even a little gold is pricey.) The rest of it is silver and copper. It’s an odd molten red color I’ve never seen before, and it’s polished and buffed to the point where it looks like it’s been enameled.
We’re doing a limited run of these. We only made 1000 jots. And there will be fewer talents and marks. When they’re gone we’re moving on to the next batch. That set will be from 300 years in Kvothe’s past. The designs will be more developed, the alloys different, and the maker’s marks more complex.
We’ll be selling these in the store eventually, but first we have to make more of them, get packaging straightened out, develop the product descriptions, etc etc…
But I have three sets now. And you can win them if you donate.
2. Three Faerie Stones.
For those of you whose educations have been sorely neglected: a faerie stone is a stone you find on the shore with a hole bored all the way through it. They’re supposed to protect you from the fair folk. The specifics vary from story to story, but it’s generally agreed that they help you see through glamour and guard you against their charms.
When I was in Brighton for World Fantasy last November, I went looking on the beach for faerie stones. And I found some. And I brought them home.
I gave one to Oot, who promptly used it to wish for a horse. I gave one to Sarah, because I don’t want the fae to be getting all seducy on her, or pulling any changeling shit with Cutie.
Why would I give them away? Well, here’s the thing…. Some traditions say that faerie stones are only effective if they’re given to you. A freely-given gift.
I have three of these stones left, and I’m putting them in the lottery.
3. Three chances be my beta reader.
So ever since I talked about my writing process on the blog a couple years ago, I’ve had hundreds of people e-mail me, asking how they can get to be one of my beta readers.
Generally speaking, the simple answer is this: go back in time 15 years and get to know me back before I was published.
You see, back in the day, anyone could be my beta reader provided they were willing to slog through 250,000 words of unpublished fantasy novel.
These days, the main requirement is that I trust you.
Why? Because if an early version of Book Three gets leaked onto the internet, the results will be catastrophic for both me and my publisher.
But I *could* let someone beta my new novella about Auri….
(Art Courtesy of Amy on Deviantart.)
You’ll sill have to sign a truly draconian non-disclosure form. Then I’ll mail you a copy of the story with some instructions and a red pen. After you’ve had a chance to read it, and scribble some notes, I’ll give you a call, see what you thought, and pick your brain a little bit.
And maybe, *maybe* if things work out well, and I feel I can trust you, and the stars align. Then I might add you to my list of permanent beta readers….
If any of these things seem like they might be up your alley, remember, all you need to do is head over to the Worldbuilders Team Page and donate directly to Heifer International.
And don’t forget, end your donation with .33….
Good night, Nightvale.
Goodnight.