Today we have a great delicious slurry of donated cool from the webcomic community.

Most of these goodies are going into the general lottery, but we’ve got a good number of auctions, too. We’ve got guest appearances in various comics, some signed art, a few cool collections, and a frikkin Dr. Who scarf that will be going to the highest bidder.

First we’ve got some stuff from Blind Ferret Entertainment

• Five sets of Looking for Group Volumes 1-4 by Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza. Volumes 1-3 are signed.

There is a place, set in a reality and time unlike our own, where the eating of small children is not necessarily frowned upon; where beings of extraordinary power can destroy entire villages with only “because I could” as an excuse; where families are comically torn apart and sold into slavery in exchange for powerful weapons or a really nice hat; where prophecy, magic, and adventure is as common place as setting fire to and then re-animating a chipmunk into a skeletal minion (it happens more than you’d think); and where an epic journey can begin by an accident of fate. This is the world of Looking For Group.

• AUCTION: Guest appearance in Looking for Group webcomic by Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza.

The winner of this auction will work with webcomic writer Ryan Sohmer, on making a guest appearance in Looking for Group. The guest appearance will happen sometime in February. It will be a one-time event with the possibility of a few pages. The winner of the auction will be put in touch with Ryan.

You can bid on this auction over here.

• One set of Least I Could Do Volumes 1-7 and The Black and White Collection by Ryan Sohmer and Lar Desouza. Signed by Ryan Sohmer and Lar Desouza.
  

“Least I Could Do is what comics should be. It makes you laugh, sometimes it makes you a little sad, but more often than not it makes you think, about who you are, and where you are going. Perhaps if everyone had just a little tiny spark of Rayne in them (and I do mean tiny. Dear God, too much Rayne would make for a terrifying world), perhaps our world would be a better, more honest place… If you aren’t reading Least I Could Do yet, then click your browser over there and get started. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.” – Geek-life.com

• AUCTION: Signed Hardcover of The Absolute Ultimate Gutters Omnibus Volume 1 by Ryan Sohmer

Pat’s Note: I didn’t know about this project by Ryan Sohmer until the book showed up for the fundraiser. I like to think that I’m pretty on top of the good comics that are out there, but the fact that I didn’t know about Gutters proves that I’m desperately out of touch. It’s really clever stuff.

The Absolute Ultimate Gutters Omnibus Volume 1 is the first printed collection of the wildly popular Gutters comic. Written by Ryan Sohmer (Least I Could Do, Looking For Group), Gutters is a series of standalone pages that parody the comic book industry and the heroes and characters that dwell within. Each page is penciled, inked and colored by a different artist, varying from the industry veteran to the newcomer.

Volume 1 is an over-sized full color (and glossy) printed book. With a cover by Darick Robertson (The Boys, Transmetropolitan) and a forward by Daniel Way (Deadpool, Wolverine), you won’t want to miss this.

You can bid on this giant book over here.

• Four sets of Skull-Kickers: 1000 Opas and a Dead Body with a comic of Four More Tavern Tales by Jim Zub, Edwin Huang, and Misty Coats. Signed by Jim Zub.
  

Pat’s Note: Okay. Fine. This isn’t a webcomic. But the lovely Jim Zub donated these books after we’d posted up the list of graphic novel donations. Rather than save these for next year, we decided to tuck them in here…

Two nameless mercenaries are mashing monsters and making a name for themselves. Image’s new hit fantasy action-comedy series has gone through multiple printings of each issue released so far and is getting rave reviews from readers and critics alike. Pick up the first collection and find out what all the excitement is about. Collects Skullkickers #1-5 and the short stories from Popgun Volumes 2 & 3.

• One collection of xkcd volume 0 by Randall Munroe.

Pat’s Note: XKCD is one of my favorite comics. Smart, funny, plus extra smart and extra funny.

Randall Munroe describes xkcd as a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. While it’s practically required reading in the geek community, xkcd fans are as varied as the comic’s subject matter. This book creates laughs from science jokes on one page to relationship humor on another.

• One set of The Book of Biff, #1-5 by Chris Hallbeck. Signed and doodled by Chris Hallbeck.

Pat’s note: I can’t remember when I first stumbled onto Biff, but these comics are like little zen stories. They’re little haiku of bizarre misery. Fun stuff.

• One set of four comics Super Stupor Comics from Randy Milholand of Something Positive. Each comic includes a signed and doodled sketch.

“R. K. Milholland has created one of the most entertaining web comics online right now. He has done this through excellent character development, precise comedic timing, a cynical attitude and a craftsman’s attention to detail in his art. The strip is not for everyone. It can be offensive, cynical, and textually graphic. Language is not filtered at all, and so the strip is not suitable for children. If you enjoy cynicism, dislike stupidity or self-righteousness, or if you simply wish you could express yourself with a baseball bat rather than a snarky letter to the editor, you’ll enjoy this.” – A.G. Hopkins at The Webcomics Examiner

• One set of Hijinks Ensue Volume 1 and 2: Godspeed, You Fancy Bastard and My Heart Is A Hate-filled Pineapple by Joel Watson. Signed by Joel Watson.

“Watson’s account on the origins of his webcomic is a fascinating read on how he came to the decision to quit his job and do HijiNKS Ensue full time. It’s a nice testimonial on the values of following your dreams and leaving a legacy. Watson doesn’t hide the fears he has of failure. I appreciate the sometimes uncomfortable honesty of a man who’s willing to risk it all on a crazy dream.” – TheWebcomicOverlook.com

• One set of Roomies! Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Beer, Shortpacked! Pulls the Drama Tag, Shortpacked! Is Totally Gay, and Shortpacked! And the Tome of the Ages by David Willis. Signed by David Willis.

“When Willis flexes his crazy, nerdy sense of humor, he can squeeze out classics. And while the content is catered toward basement dwellers, Willis does possess a sense of comedic timing that makes the strip funny for everyone, even if you have no idea what a KISS Player Transformer is. (Philistine.)” -TheWebcomicOverlook.com

• Auction: Guest appearance in Real Life comic by Greg Dean.

The winner of this auction will collaborate with webcomic artist Greg Dean, on making a guest appearance in a Real Life comic. While only one comic is guaranteed, the guest appearance may span more than one strip if the character becomes entangled in a longer storyline. And while the nature of the strip will be collaborative, the final call on content does belong to Greg. The winner of the auction will be put in touch with Greg.

You can bid to be in the Real Life world here.

• Auction: Fourth Docter Who Scarf donated by Greg Dean.

Proving just how cool and talented he is, Greg Dean of Real Life Comics fame, has donated this amazing reproduction of the Fourth Doctor’s famous scarf. What makes this total win? Greg Dean spent around 70 hours knitting this beauty on his own. A month of toil led to the creation of 13 feet of woolen Doctor Who splendor. Just to make sure it was up to snuff, Greg wore the scarf a bit this winter before sending it to Worldbuilders. He also wore it in Real Life as well. So not only are you getting this neat Doctor Who inspired swag, but the creator of Real Life Comics made and briefly wore it.

You can bid here for this delicious scarf.

• One collection of Volume 2 of Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques. Signed by Jeph Jacques.

“Questionable Content is kind of like if the guy from Office Space turned into a disaffected twenty-something year old with a pet robot who spent his off work hours hanging out with baristas and discussing indie-rock, poop, relationships, and ladies’ bottoms.” – Examiner.com

• AUCTION: Jeph Jacques Signed Print of Questionable Content Character Role-playing.

Gaming fans will appreciate this awesome imagined scene that Jeph Jacques has created featuring the cool characters from his quirky webcomic Questionable Content.

This print measures 11 inches by 17 inches and is signed by the man himself.

You can view and bid on the auction here.

• AUCTION: Signed & Numbered The Complete Collection of Girly by Josh Lesnick.

The super sexy Complete Collection of Girly by Josh Lesnick. Pat is donating this signed and numbered collection, 270 of 500. Josh Lesnick’s cool comic was published at girlyyy.com from 2003 to 2010 and now this auction winner can get one of the few copies of the Complete Collection of Girly.

This auction also comes with a signed illustration from Josh Lesnick.

To view and bid on this auction, click here.

• One hardcover collection of The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack by Nicholas Gurewitch & The Perry Bible Fellowship. Signed by Nicholas Gurewitch.

“For more than 20 years, various cartoonists have jostled for the title of spiritual heir to Gary Larson, the famously weird creator of the groundbreaking strip The Far Side. Web cartoonist Gurewitch is a solid contender for the title. His preferred subject matter certainly tracks Larson: murderous mimes, vengeful T. Rexes and adulterous rolls of coins all make appearances… Subtle, sly and deeply, deeply weird, The Perry Bible Fellowship is one of the best comics out there.” – Publishers Weekly

AUCTION: A full set of the signed Girl Genius softcover collections AND your name will appear in Girl Genius in 2012.

That’s right, a full set of the Girl Genius softcover collections (That’s 10 books, each with a cover price of $22.95) mailed to you or to that special friend who once saved your life. They will all be signed by Kaja and Phil, AND- The high bidder will see their name appear within Girl Genius sometime in the next calendar year. Maybe you will just run a shop in Mechanicsburg. Maybe you will be a walk–on character with lines. Maybe you will become a recurring major villain with your own mini-series and sexy minions and an action figure and underoos and everything (this is extremely unlikely, but in an infinite universe, anything can happen).

You may recall a certain Doctor Rothfuss who made his own appearance in the Girl Genius world…

We love Kaja and Phil. They are awesome clever folks. Check them out on their webpage.

And check out this tempting auction here.

• One copy of The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Signed by Gabe and Tyco.

Pat’s Note: If you’re interested, last year I did a fun interview with Jerry.

“If you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years or so, you might not have heard of the web comic Penny Arcade. Produced by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, the comic, featuring two cameo characters called Tycho and Gabe, covers not only the ins and outs of the latest news and releases from the video game industry, but geekdom in general. Well-known SFF figures such as John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton are staunch fans of the comic and well acquainted with the authors in real life; the foreword of this book is written lovingly by Scalzi himself… The book is an easy, often hilarious read, and an absolute must-have for fans of the comic and newcomers alike.” – SFSite.com

• Three copies of Penny Arcade Volume 7: Be Good, Little Puppy by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Signed by Gabe and Tyco. Introduction by Pat Rothfuss.

Pat’s Note: I got to write the intro to this book. Which makes me feel like a big man…

“Do not be deceived by this cutesy cover of Tycho and Gabe having fun with a puppy and butterflies, for within these pages lies tales of damnation and lust; whatever you do, don’t let a child get ahold of this book… and for those who are already familiar with the unforgettable and endlessly entertaining comic know as Penny Arcade, then this cover works as an excellent camouflage for the sordid-laughter-inducing artwork within its pages…” – Bookbanter

• One set of Penny Arcade Volumes 1-7 by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Signed by Gabe and Tyco.

“Forget your warm and fuzzy newspaper strips. Penny Arcade is a scathing send-up of geek culture with jokes sharp enough to injure an eye… To say that Tycho and Gabe, its, uh, heroes, are video-game enthusiasts would be like saying that Anakin Skywalker has issues.” – Booklist

• AUCTION: Penny Arcade Signed Print of When Larry Met Mary.

Pat’s Note: Can I be honest here? Having Kvothe make a cameo appearance in a PA comic might be the biggest geek-out moment of my life. Seriously. I love Mike and Jerry with the nerdy passion of a thousand white-hot suns.

This signed print comes right from the fine folks at Penny Arcade. Pat’s mentioned this particular treat in his blog last spring. Starting as a Penny Arcade strip, this clever 12” x 18” print is signed by Gabe and Tycho.

Shouldn’t you have a visual of Kvothe and his prowess hanging from your bedroom wall?

Place your bids for this beautiful print here.

*     *     *

Remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on our Team Page, you get a chance to win these books and thousands of others. 

For a list of all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running, you can head over here.

If you want to see all the other items that have been donated to Worldbuilders, or just learn more about the fundraiser itself, you head over to the main page.

I like graphic artists. I like them because they do something I can’t, which effectively makes them magicians.

They’re also fun to have dinner with. You can get them all worked up about the weirdest shit. They’ll get all frothy talking about color. They’ll doodle on napkins. They’ll criticize the layout of the menu.

Best of all, if they have an ipad with them, you can look at their stuff while you’re waiting for your food to show up. This is not something you can do if you are, say, an author who writes 400,000 word fantasy novels.

At that particular dinner in Reno, Lee did have his ipad on him. He showed me some of his work: book covers, posters, commissions….

“Hold on,” I said, pointing at a tiny thumbnail. “What’s that?”

“Oh,” he said, “That’s a project I’m working on. They’re pin-ups based on literary figures.”

He brought it up on the screen:

“That’s really cool,” I said.

He smiled and pulled up another one:

I had to look at this one for a while. The Twain reference was obvious, but this…

“Oh god,” I said. “That’s Hawthorne, isn’t it? It’s Hester Prynne from the Scarlet Letter. She’s got an A tattooed on her chest!”

He brought up another one:

“That’s got to be Dickens, right?”

Lee nodded.

“What are these for?” I asked.

“A calendar,” he explained. “Literary pin-ups.”

“That’s something I’d hang on my wall,” I said. “Sexy but not smutty. Clever. Bookish. Where can I buy one?”

“I’m having trouble finding someone to print it,” he admitted. “I think people would love it, but the big calendar companies don’t seem interested.”

“You have twelve of these?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s pretty much all ready to go.”

I looked at the sexy chimney sweep. She smiled at me.

“Hell,” I said. “I’ll print it.”

Lee looked at me oddly. This is not a thing authors normally say to illustrators.

“You see,” I said, “I run a charity called Worldbuilders….”

*     *     *

Fast forward to today.

The calendars are back from the printer and they’re gorgeous. We pulled out all the stops with satin finish and nice heavy paper. They really turned out nice.

I was going to wait until we officially started Worldbuilders to put them up in the store. But the truth is, I’m too excited to wait….

So instead, I’ve decided to give y’all a chance to order the calendar before the fundraiser officially starts up this year. Not only can you get some of your holiday shopping done a little early, but if you order now, we’ll be able to ship them out to you right away, before Worldbuilders starts making things crazy busy around here.

If you’re curious what some of the other months look like, here’s a peek at the back cover:

(Click to Embiggen)

A few additional notes:

1. As always, all the money you spend in The Tinker’s Packs goes directly to Worldbuilders.

2. If you order three calendars, you can get free shipping anywhere in the US. (Or 8 bucks off international shipping.) Just enter the code: LITERACY when you’re checking out.

3. You might want to order sooner rather than later. We’re probably not going to do a second print run of these, so when they’re gone, they’re gone….

4. [Edit 7:30 AM] Please be aware that there are two *different* calendar listings in the store. One of them is for art collectors. It’s signed by the artist, and it doesn’t have any holes punched in it. We’re only doing 50 of those, and we’re selling them for 75 dollars. The regular calendar is much more reasonably priced….

And one last time, just in case you missed the link to the store.

Share and enjoy, folks.

pat

P.S. If you don’t know what Worldbuilders is, you can take a peek at last year’s fundraiser over here.

Don’t care about the Spanish pub date, but still want to see something kinda awesome? This video is also for you.

Don’t like awesome things? Then you, my friend, are reading the wrong blog….

Honestly, I’ll never get tired of seeing these foreign book trailers.

I’m considering watching this one again and again, so that when I get to Spain, I’ll be able to recite the whole thing. That will be the only Spanish I’ll be able to speak, so whenever someone asks me a question, I’ll just recite the whole thing to them, doing my best to mimic the narrator’s deep, dramatic voice….

pat

Unfortunately, for the vast majority of that month, I was too busy to get a full night’s sleep, let alone write any sort of cohesive blog.

So, somewhat belatedly, here’s a few of the things I wish I could have mentioned then:

Real Life:

The lovely Greg Dean over at Real Life gave the book a week-long mention in the comic, where he had some fairly cogent (if geeky) musings on the similarity (heh) between sympathy and string theory, among other things.

Here’s the beginning of that cameo.

Goblins:

Back in the long-ago. Back in the beforetimes. One of my favorite webcomics helped me spread the word about the paperback release of The Name of the Wind.

When The Wise Man’s Fear came out, we collaborated on another comic where I got to make a few good old-fashioned D&D jokes.

Girl Genius:

I’ve been fairly open and honest about the amount of love I feel for Girl Genius. I wrote a rather effusively gushy blog about how much I loved Phil and Kaja’s stuff not too long ago.

So it’s not entirely surprising that when I stumbled onto a charity auction on ebay that contained some Girl Genius Swag, I was delighted. I hovered on ebay, and crushed all who dared oppose me in the bidding.

As a result, I was the proud recipient of:

1. Signed copies of all the Girl Genius books.

2. A personalized sketch that I’ve been looking for an excuse to show off for months now….

(Guess which piece of art was the first thing I’ve ever had professionally framed…)

3. The promise that my name would appear in a girl Genius comic at a time and a place of Phil’s choosing.

I was expecting that my name might appear on a street sign, as he’s done occasionally in the past. Or perhaps he might name a disease after me, or something.

Much to my delight, I actually appeared in a brief cameo….

If you aren’t reading these comics, you might want to consider giving them a lookie-loo, as they’re some of my personal favorites.

Later all,

pat

But first I should deal with the current news: Kvothe got a mention in Penny Arcade today.

This fills me with a geeky joy which words can hardly express. I’m a long-time fan of Penny Arcade. When they called me this weekend to give me an early peek at the comic, I bolted upstairs to my hotel room in a most undignified manner. Then, when I saw it, I laughed uncontrollably for a solid minute.

Did they make fun of the book? Of course they did. That’s their job.

The more important question is, “Did they poke *legitimate* fun at the book.” Did they mock something that, viewed in the proper light, deserved to be mocked a little?

And the answer, again, is yes. That’s what makes them more than mere humorists. Mike and Jerry consistently stride the lofty realms of satire, where they harvest raw platonic truth, forge it in the white-hot fire of their anger, then hurl it down at the howling monkeys below.

I, for one, am honored to be their monkey.

Does it sting? Nah. Not really.

For one, I know them. They’re lovely people. And being gently mocked by skilled professionals is a treat. Like I said, they make a fair point.

But also, my best friends have always been very honest people. Mockery has always been the way we’ve shown each other love. I’d flatter a stranger. But if I’m making fun of you, you know that I like you.

So I guess what I’m saying is this: “Thanks Jerry. Thanks Mike. I love you too.”

Here’s a link to the strip. Be warned: there is some very mild spoilerage. If you’re a purist and haven’t read through Chapter 128 yet, you might want to wait before you check it out.

It’s getting late, and I’m still recovering from the convention. So I think I’ll tell my other stories in a day or two. If you want a teaser though, I’ll say this: The romance convention was a headtrip, and the reading with Amber Benson was, well, sexy.

More soon,

pat

While reading them all, I’ve also found three letters similar to this one:

Dear Pat,

I read name of the wind long, long ago back in 2007. And I’ve been a reader of your blog for just about as long.

Back in 2008, when the paperback version of The Name of the Wind came out, you did a photo contest. I remember it was a ton of fun seeing all the photos people took of themselves and your book. Do you remember the girls that got naked and painted themselves with your book covers?

So I was mostly wondering, are you going to do a photo contest again? I remember you saying you were planning on it, but that was a long time ago…

Best Wishes,

Sandra

“Do you remember the girls that got naked and painted themselves with your book covers?”

This is perhaps the most ridiculous question in the history of ever. Of course I remember that picture. I still consider it one of the absolute high points of my writing career. The blog I wrote about that picture back in 2008 is as true today as it was back then.

You want to know one of the best things about this picture? The women were honest-to-goodness rocket scientists. I shit you not. They were aerospace engineers.

The truth is, Sandra, I planned on doing a photo contest as soon as the second book came out. But with the chaos of revision followed by the book tour, I just plain forgot about it.

But now my failing memory has been jogged by you and several other diligent readers. Looking over the blogs from the first contest has warmed my heart and reminded me how much fun it was seeing all of those pictures.

Like this one of the most furious baby in the world:

Or the one where someone made pants for my books:

(Yes. Pants. For my book.)

All the entries from Captain Joe. My favoritest fan I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet.

(The name of his steed? Thunderplumb.)

Or one of my favoritest, simplest pictures:

So hell yes. Photo contest. Let’s do it again.

Here are the rules.

1. The picture doesn’t need to include you, but it does need to include the book.

2. Photo manipulation is legal, but by no means required.

3. Multiple entries are allowed.

4. Pictures will be judged on their general coolness. Categories will include anything I feel like, for example: “Most Awesome,” “Most Funny.” “Most Sexy” “Most Dramatic” and “Most Best.”

4b. I reserve the right to add extra categories, remove categories, and pretty much do whatever I like when it comes to the organization and presentation of the pictures.

5. You can’t do anything illegal or recklessly dangerous.

5B. Yes. Even if it’s cool.

5c. Yes. I’m serious. I won’t post up your picture at all if it’s obvious you’re playing in traffic or climbing a fence into a military base. Play nice. Be smart.

6. Winners will win. Winning will include some manner of prize. The nature of the prizes is yet to be determined, but I’ll do my best to make them cool.

7. All photos will be judged in a completely arbitrary and subjective manner.

8. Pictures should be jpgs no larger than 4 megs each. (Lest y’all crash my gmail account.)

9. You have one month to get your pictures submitted. The contest is over April 30th at Midnight.

[Edit April 25th] Contest Deadline Extended! New deadline is May 15th.

For those of you that are interested, here are the blogs that show some of the best pictures from the last contest:

Photo Contest Part I – Shrines

Photo Contest Part II – Babies

Photo Contest Part III – Anthropomorphic and Athletic

Photo Contest Part IV – Celebrities and Foreign Climes

Photo Contest Part V – Driving, Reading, and Animals

Photo Contest Part VI – Miscellaneous

Photo Contest Part VII – Drama

Photo Contest Part VIII – Eros, Filius, and Agape

Photo Contest Part IX – Covers and Cosplay

Photo Contest Part X – The Grand Prize Winner

If nothing else, you really need to check out that last one. The grand prize winner was awesome to such a degree that I’m still stunned by it. Time has not dimmed its luster by one iota. Their prize was that they got to beta-read book two.

How to Submit Your Picture.

E-mail your pictures to the following address: paperback.contest {swirly at sign} gmail.com

If you send a picture to that e-mail address, make sure to include:

• The photo(s). (duh.)

• Your name.

• How you want the photo to be credited, if it’s different than your name.

• Your mailing address. (Where to send your fabulous prize.)

Are you ready? I’m so ready. I think this is going to be awesome.

pat

P.S. If folks want to suggest things that might make good prizes, I’m open to suggestions in the comments below.

The bad news is that I haven’t been online for more than ten days. There are more than 2000 messages waiting for me in my e-mail. More than 500 pieces of fanmail. Two dozen packages are waiting for me downstairs, unopened. I hope none of them contain food. Or, like, a puppy.

The good news is that as of today I’m finally back from my book tour. I have some stories to tell.

In addition to finally being home, something else cool happened today. This might not be news to all of you, but it’s pretty cool for me, so I thought I’d share it…

For those of you that don’t know, every week the New York Times publishes a list of books. Nobody knows exactly how the books are selected for the list. But generally speaking, the more copies of your book you sell in a given week, the higher up you are on the list.

It’s called the New York Times Bestseller list. If your book makes it into #15 or higher, it’s a New York Times Bestseller. It’s a pretty big deal in the publishing world. As I mentioned before on the blog, I was lucky enough to hit #11 with The Name of the Wind.

Here’s a picture of the book section from today’s (Sunday’s) New York Times.

(Click to embiggen.)

Why don’t we get a little closer….

Can you see the coolness yet? No. I’m not talking about the copy of The Guild up there.

Ah hell. Let’s zoom all the way in:

Yeah. There’s The Wise Man’s Fear. Right up there at #1.

Thanks for helping me make it up there everybody…

#1 on the NYT is a pretty big deal, and I feel like I should be doing something monumental to celebrate. Something rockstar. Something with hookers and hot tubs and cocaine. Something that ends with me throwing a television out a hotel window and getting arrested for conduct unbecoming a novelist.

But honestly, I’m too tired for that to sound like a lot of fun right now. Plus I don’t think Stevens Point has any hookers. Besides, my TV is in the basement, so I’d have to carry it up a flight of stairs before I threw it out the window. And then tomorrow I’d have to clean it up off my own porch. Maybe I’m getting old, but that just doesn’t seem like a lot of fun to me.

So I’m guessing I’ll probably hold off on the rockstar celebrations for now. Instead, now that Sarah and Oot are asleep, I think I’m going to install Dragon Age 2 and make some Mac & Cheese.

That’s right. I’m not going to dig into my e-mail at all. Not tonight. Tonight it’s just Dragon Age 2 and Mac & Cheese. I make some badass Mac & Cheese, let me tell you. I put all sorts of cheeses in there. Plus spices and shit. And corn. It’s really something.

Man. I’m really looking forward to it. You really have no idea.

Maybe I will also drink some rum while I play Dragon Age. Because…. well… because I can. And because that makes it just a little bit rockstar. It doesn’t hurt to be just a little bit rockstar sometimes…

Night all,

pat

I had no such thing. Nor did I really have any desire to write one. Not only do those brief narrative summaries always bore me to death, but I suck at summarizing my own book. My best advice, of course, is that if you really can’t remember what happened in book one, you should probably re-read it. Most of what’s in there is pretty important to the story, y’know. I put it all in there for a reason…

Still, a lot of people were asking. So I got together with Nathan Taylor and we did…

Well, just have a look. You can see for yourself what we did:

There you go folks. Share and Enjoy.

pat

Nate is the guy who illustrated The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle. He’s also the one who did the Kvothe Online comic I put up on the blog a while back.

I thought he might have sent me some of the sketches for an upcoming project we’re working on. Or maybe the original art for the Kvothe Online comic.

But what I found inside was treasure of an entirely different sort.

You see, Nate is one of the few people that read The Name of the Wind long before it was ever in print. I met him when I was in grad school back in 2000.

Even rarer, Nate is one of the people who has role-played in my world. I’ve run a few games over the years.

He’s also one of the people I recently trusted to read a beta version of book two and give me some feedback on it.

That means Nate knows all kinds of things about the world that other people don’t. Nate knows all manner of secrets.

This is what he sent me:

When I unrolled the poster, I laughed. It was a big evil-mastermind kind of laugh. Because once again Nate has managed to ring the bell beyond all reasonable expectation. This is the perfect depiction of the Amyr. It fills me with a dark and terrible joy….

In other news, for those of you who would like a small, pretty-much spoiler-free peek at a piece of book two, you can find a small scene over here.

Share and Enjoy,

pat

In brief, I’m a fan.

This year is the year I officially made contact with them. Mike mentioned my book on their page and talked about how he used some of the ideas out of it in his D&D campaign. So when I was at San Diego Comic Con I plucked up my courage and went over to their booth to talk to them.

This took a little bit of doing on my part, because in the realm of the geeks, these guys are… well… monolithic. They’re bigger than Oprah.

And, as I’ve said, I’m a fan. When you’re a fan of someone’s work, it’s hard to approach them and make small talk.

But small talk we did. Then we quickly moved beyond that and started in on the geek talk, which is more fun. At the end of it, we formed a little mutual admiration society.

Later on, Jerry was nice enough to read a beta version of WMF and give me feedback on it. Then I donated some books to their charity: Child’s Play. (I was delighted to chip in, as watching them start Child’s Play was one of the things that made me realize I could maybe run my own charity.)

They, in turn, donated some books to my charity, Worldbuilders.

• Two Hardcover copies of The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade. The 11.5 Anniversary Edition. Signed by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins.

Lastly, I asked if Jerry would like to do an interview to go along with his books. He graciously accepted. He’s cool like that.

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Heya Jerry.

Is that cool? Can I call you Jerry? Are we at that point in our relationship?

I think so.  You did let me look at your book before it was done, which I imagine was difficult, and it’s my policy to simply reflect the way people treat me, so yes.  We tight.

Okay let’s just jump right into the meat of things here. When I was younger, I played Zork. King’s Quest. The original Fallouts. Games that made you think. Games where you could occasionally screw things up so badly that you destroyed your chance of winning without even knowing it. Games that were at times so hard that I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what to do.

In short, these were awesome games. They were games I was proud of when I’d finished them.

So here’s my question. Are games today predictable pap compared to that, or am I just being a curmudgeonly fuck?

My worldview allows for people who are curmudgeonly fucks and a game industry that offers predictable pap.  As far as games go, though, there were plenty of bad ones then as well.  There are bad books, too, not your books of course, but they’re out there!  Watch out for them.  There are both mediums, with all the standard ratios.  I can help you find what you want, though.  This is a service I often provide.

That’s one of the things I’ve always admired about y’all at PA. If you think something is crap, you say so. Boldly. With many invectives. That’s a freedom I don’t really have as an author….

Yes, well, you’ll have to content yourself with the fabrication of entire universes, then.

We all have our cross to bear.

What were your favorites games as a kid? Did you play Infocom games too?

Oh, sure.  And not just Infocom games, but the Trillium series that was based on much-loved science fiction and fantasy novels, all the way through the Sierra adventures that build a graphical world atop the parsers of old.

When I was trying to remember the name “Trillium,” I came across the following link:

It’s one of the most interesting/funny/sad things I’ve read in a long time.  We were, at one point, genuinely worried – there was an actual debate – about whether or not the introduction of graphics was a boon or a curse.

Heh. I remember back in 1994 when I used to MUD. I was out for dinner with some friends and the concept of a graphic mud came into the conversation. Everyone dismissed the idea as absolutely ridiculous. As technologically infeasible as teleportation. Everyone also agreed that the addition of graphics would remove much of the social element from the game.

Fast-Forward to now. It’s hard to even imagine a world without WOW, or The Guild for that matter…

At the PAX keynote, Warren Spector said that art forms are either disappearing from view or are co-opted by the larger culture.  I think it’s pretty clear which way it went.

So at this point you have a following that can legitimately be referred to as a horde. Does it ever get a little weird for you?

Well, if they were here underneath my desk all the time, maybe.  As it stands, it’s only a couple times a year that I’m genuinely exposed to the extent of the enthusiasm/antipathy for the site.

Extra points for use of the word “antipathy.”

I didn’t know we were writing for points.  I would have done everything differently!  I would have used an augur; I might have held forth on the Uyghur.

Man. Even I had to look that last one up.

When did you first realize that you were famous?

When people started asking me questions like that, and worse, when they started expecting me to know the answer.  Fame, as a force, is an external entity.  I’m sure you know what I mean; you were working at night all the time on the book, more or less alone, and I’m certain that didn’t feel especially famous.  That felt like work.

Yeah. That was pretty much when it hit me too. One of my friends looked at me and said, “You do realize you’re a celebrity now, right?”

Of course, he immediately followed it up with, “A tiny, kinda shitty celebrity. But still…”

Indeed.  We need a stupid word to denigrate this state of quasi-importance.  Cewebrity, maybe?  I feel like that more or less destroys any pleasure to be had in the concept.

Be honest now. Do you ever get up in the morning and think to yourself, “Fuck, I’ve got to go to the office and play Videogames again…”

Good Christ, I wish that I could say something like that and have it be true!  This week, just to give you an example of the kinds of things I’m tasked with generally, is:

Generate Names For  (Top Secret)
Write 6-Page Animated Comic For (Top Secret)
Finish Penny Arcade: Book Seven (“Be Good, Little Puppy”)
Precipice

This is in addition to strips and posts and descriptions for the store and any other thing that needs text.  I’m not complaining; I like doing this stuff.  But there’s always lots to do!

Ah. That’s embarrassing. I made the same mistake about you that most people make about me. People assume being a writer is just divine inspiration, book tours, and rolling around in money. But a ton of time goes toward the business end of things, talking to translators, contracts, talking to the publisher.

I always pictured you a living in some sort of sybaritic pleasure dome. Your days filled with nothing but Fallout and Doritos.

Straighten me out. Roughly how many hours a day do you spend playing video games?

On a good day, with a game I want to play more than I want to paint miniatures or write, and no outstanding projects I can get a head start on, I can put in two and half/three hours. That’s the time from “after my bride goes to bed” up until midnight.

Wow. That certainly puts things in perspective.

So I’ve recently managed to spawn and I’m finding it to be a surprising amount of fun. I know you’ve got a youngins of your own… How old are they again?

I’ve got Elliot Jacob, who is five, and I’ve got Ronia Quinn, who is a wee lass of sixteen month.

How are you liking it so far?

I have a high opinion of the process, in general.  I was reading a book with Elliot yesterday, the Big Little Book For Dads or something like that, and it had a recipe in there for something called “Tennessee Corn Pone.”  I don’t know what Pone is, I’m good on Corn, but the regional distinctions specific to the various Pones are not known to me, and for some reason Pone just as a clump of sounds wadded together is funny on its own, and the two of us laughed uncontrollably at exactly the same thing.

That’s one example from a day full of incredible challenges and the occasional fleeting success.

That’s right, she’s just about the same age a Little Oot. He learned how to say “no.” Has Ronia figured that one out yet?

Nope, not yet.

Lucky duck. It was really cute at first, but he quickly realized that he could use that word to effectively re-shape reality. It’s like he’s leveled up and sunk all his points into this one ability: Power Word No, unlimited uses per day.

Is Ronia much of a talker? Oot pretty much sticks to “No” and “duck” at this point.

She’s started in with the compound signs – “more bye bye,” means let’s go, “cookie give cookie give cookie give,” that’s one we see a lot.

In all fairness, “cookie-give” really should be its own word.

I wish we would have done more baby-sign with Oot. There are times I can see that he’s frustrated because he wants to express himself and just can’t make the right words yet….

Okay. Serious business. I’ve been reading the stuff you’ve been writing: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.

What’s the deal with that? I’m feeling a little threatened here. You’re supposed to make with the funny comics. I’m the one that writes the elaborately interwoven narrative thingers.

In the future,  I will try to interweave the thingers in a less elaborate way.  I’m horrified to think that my bullshit is in the same category as your work, on the same Internet.  Precipice is  process I’m using to learn how to write.  Like I said before, text is my responsibility, and I strongly suspect I’m going to be called on to make a book for Lookouts at some point.

Oh man. I loved Lookouts. That would be the coolest.

Seriously though. You have a hell of a turn of phrase. And not only can you write funny, which is the hardest kind of writing there is. But you manage to get some touching and disturbing in there too. A lot of folks can do one or two of those, but all of them? Not so much…

Truth is, your stuff reminds me of a unholy hybrid of Douglas Adams and Lovecraft. That’s never a combination I expected to see in my lifetime.

I don’t want to make a habit of quoting myself, that’s not who I want to be, but after I got Wise Man’s Fear in the mail to read through, I wrote this:

“I could never decide if I wanted to be Douglas Adams or H. P. Lovecraft when I grew up, and now that I’m grown up, I’ve decided that I don’t have to choose.”

That’s exactly who I want to be, so the fact that any of that is coming through at all means that maybe I’m doing okay.

Could you ever see yourself writing a novel?

A very, very short one maybe.  It might be that writing comic strips isn’t good training for longer form writing, because it’s my instinct to take a belt sander to every phrase until it’s ready for three tidy panels.

It shows. You’ve got a tight grip on your language. Usually that’s something I only see in folks that write a lot of poetry. It never occurred to me that you could develop the same sort of thing writing comics. Makes sense though. Limited space makes for a tight line.

The arc of my life thus far has been that something needs doing, and I become the person who is needed to do it.  I think we’ll need someone to write a book someday, maybe someday very soon.  I am preparing myself for this eventuality.

If it happens, I’ll come over and we can celebrate and/or console each other, depending on how well our respective projects are going.

Thanks so much for being willing to do this little interview. I really appreciate it.

Any parting words?

Congratulations on finishing your book, Pat.  I can’t wait to read version 1.0!

Aw shucks… I’ll make sure to send you and Mike a copy once it’s off the press…

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Remember folks, for every 10 dollars you donate to Heifer International, you get a chance to win cool books like these.

In addition, Worldbuilders is matching 50% of all donations made on our Team Heifer page until noon on Dec 17th.

For more details, or to see the other books you can win, you can head over to the main page HERE.

Stay tuned folks, the final blog of the fundraiser will be posted in just a couple hours…

pat