Category Archives: hodgelany

Love, Money, and Milk: Geeks Doing Good

Hey there space cowboys. I’ve got some exciting stuff to talk about today…

Those of you who have been following the blog for a while, probably know about the work I do with a charity called Worldbuilders.

(It delights me when people don’t know I actually started Worldbuilders on this blog, by accident, back in the day. But that, as they say, is another story.)

Worldbuilders does a lot of things. But most notably we raise money for Heifer International during our big End-Of-Year fundraiser. Over the years, we’ve raised more than $11,000,000 for Heifer, helping parents feed their children, helping little girls go to school, helping communities drink clean water, helping people have the training, tools, and education that they need to take control of their lives.

It’s a big teach-a-person-to-fish thing. Except with goats and chickens and cows and bees and trees. No. Not fishing for goats. And no, you don’t fish *with* a goat. You milk them. The goats, not the fish…

Okay. Let me start again.

It’s like this: If you give a hungry family a goat (and the tools and training to care for it) they’ll milk that goat. Then every day this happens.

(I’m writing this on father’s day. And this picture makes me weepy.)

That. That right there. That’s what Worldbuilders does. We help. We want to make the world a better place.

We’ve raised money for charities other than Heifer too: we’ve helped with Puerto Rico’s hurricane relief, with Syrian refugees, with children’s literacy, and medical supplies to marginalized communities during the pandemic…

(We kinda do a lot, actually. Kinda too much to list here. But if you like, you can go look at the map of our projects over here.)

What not as *many* folks know is that Worldbuilders also runs an online store full of delightful geek treasures: Signed books, comics, cool games, original art prints, T-shirts, Jewelry, and other assorted bits of lovely geekery. We make and sell those things to help creatives make money while giving their communities a chance to show their support (and do the geek equivalent of showing their gang colors.)

(Throws underthing gang sign.)

[Side Note: I support creators making money off their art and merch, as artists need to eat. That said, a lot of the folks who partner with Worldbuilders let them keep the royalties they would otherwise earn, myself included.]

The items we sell in the store help generate money for Worldbuilders, too. This is kind of a big deal, as Worldbuilders needs to do things like pay its electricity bill and buy paperclips and stuff. We also like to pay our employees so they can do things like buy food and clothes so they can… y’know… keep being alive.

This is one of the big reasons Worldbuilders is different from a lot of other charities. When we run a fundraiser, say, to support Mercy Corps, we pass along 100% of what we raise to that organization. Most other pass-through charities keep a small percentage of what they raise, then use that money to keep themselves running, which is important because if the business side of things fails, then no charity happens. (Of course, as you know, some charities pass along almost none of what they raise. But Worldbuilders doesn’t work with folks like that. And ultimately, that’s a story for a different day.)

Here’s the thing though. I love that Worldbuilders gets to pass along 100% of what it raises. But it *does* make things kinda tricky on the business side. It means we can raise two million dollars to feed hungry kids… and then have trouble paying our water bill or fixing a computer when it breaks.

That’s why several years ago, we started running the Geeks Doing Good fundraiser.

The purpose of GDG is manifold:

  1. We need to make that munny, yo. We gotta keep the lights on.
  2. We experiment with new products and creative partnerships.
  3. We make weird, fun stuff we might not normally have in our store.
  4. We offer limited-time deals to reward the folks on our mailing list.
  5. We raise awareness of the fact that Worldbuilders makes and sells cool stuff.

So. Here we are. Now you know why we’re doing this.

(You can just click and go over there right now, if you want.)

It’s a big week-long fundraiser where we try to raise awareness of the fact that *yes* we’re a charity, but we also run an online store full of cool stuff that you simply can’t find anywhere else.

What kind of stuff, you might ask?

How about cool Kingkiller art prints from Marc Simonetti?

Or for you Dresden Files fans out there:

A bargain on the only comic I’d ever compare to Calvin and Hobbes?

We also have some rarer stuff, too.

We’re also bundling things together to save you money, and bringing out things that haven’t been for sale in ages…

 

 

(So. Much. Stuff.)

Many of the Kingkiller-specific items have a “7” in the price, so they’re easier for y’all to spot.

Anyway. There’s SO much stuff over there. Way too much to mention here. You should go look yourself.

Fair Warning: many items are limited quantities, so they might sell out. But the good news is: new stuff is getting added every day. So there are always more reasons to stop back in and take a look around.

Also, and I can’t stress this enough, remember that unlike Kickstarter, you can buy more than one item. 

So you can go hog wild in there.

So go…

pat

P.S. Oh. Also, I’m doing a 12 hour promotional stream today on Twitch, so if you want to see me play games, answer questions, and explain some of these items in more detail, you can tune in there. (I’m streaming all this week, and we’ll be updating this graphic with new items as they’re added.)

I’m super excited about this one in particular….

Okay. Thanks much for caring. Help us spread the word!

Also posted in College Survival Guide, cool news, cool things, Geeks Doing Good, Worldbuilders | By Pat6 Responses

News From Temerant

It’s been a while since I posted up a blog full of interesting things that have been happening around the world that relate to my books. So let’s do that today, shall we?

Here’s something that kinda stunned me when someone passed it my way: The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra performing a piece called “Arliden & Laurian” by Nicolas de Ferran, inspired by The Kingkiller Chronicle.

Yeah. That’s a thing that really happened.

The Guardian included Tak in its monthly write up about board games, and they had some incredibly flattering things to say, especially considering how hard it is to get your hands on a copy of it over there.

(You can buy it over in the Tinker’s Packs, BTW.)

And speaking of games, a Reddit user made a Name of the Wind themed Monopoly game a while back, and shared their design elements with the community. The folks at Tor.com got in on the action too.

name-of-the-wind-monopoly

(Click to embiggen)

That’s all for now. If you spot cool things like this you’d like to share, feel free to drop us a line in the contact form, and I’ll toss them up here in a future blog.

Best,

pat

P.S. Don’t forget we’re having a t-shirt design contest, and you still have a week and change to enter.

Posted in hodgelany | By Pat22 Responses

WMF Photo Contest Part XII: Art and Hodgelany

Today we bring you part XII of the photo contest. The penultimate photo contest blog

  • Miscellany.

The first category today is sort of a miscellany….

DSC_1747

Though truthfully, miscellany is a bit of an understatement. This collection is a little more random that that, even….

The Second Coming. But don't worry there's still a third book to look forward to

It’s almost more of of hodge-podge. And with that in mind, I would like to officially class these photos as a hodgelany.

aaDSC_0391

(Creepy….)

Here we have a photo of WMF between a pair of 16,000 year-old mammoth bones (a radius and ulna, if you’re curious).

219176_1634284508667_1583310081_31198402_1467357_o

It *is* kind of a mammoth book….

SAM_2470

Here’s my book taken with a statue of Gandalf in the Hyewha District of Seoul, South Korea.

Ana is in love with Kvothe

“She looks pretty enthralled by statue-Kvothe’s serenade. I bet Kvothe would make a pretty kickass bard in D&D actually.” – Amanda

I know you’re just trying to bait me with your bard-talk, Amanda. And I’m not going to take that bait….

Kvothe and friends

This is certainly the happiest I’ve ever seen my books looking….

Winner:

isawthemostamazingthing

But this one is our winner. It’s made Amanda giggle on more than one occasion. You’ll have to embiggen it to see why.

Here’s the photostream of all the random miscellany.

  • Artistic:

A lot of really beautiful pictures came in, too. Some of my favorites have been pictures that don’t even look like the books are included at first glance.

Pictures that were taken with the artistry of the photograph itself in mind, rather than with the purpose of telling a story, making a joke, or focusing on a theme….

Mandolin

Okay. Some of them play a bit with theme too….

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

But mostly they’re just cool…

SONY DSC

Many of them are designed to give the viewer a moment’s pause before figuring out what’s going on.

WiseMan's-fear

I’m still not sure how this one was done. But I like the tone….

A colorful book

Oh man. It just occurred to me. This might be a reference to the book being a good yarn….

Honorable Mention:

wsfeye

Behold! The last of the contest’s honorable mentions. I’m terribly fond of this one.

Winner:

002

As you can see if you embiggen the picture, the words all down this reader’s arm are quotes from my books. Apparently, the lyrics from Jackass Jackass were still in between her fingers when she sent in her submission.

From the early days of the contest we had an inkling that this would be one of our winners, so we contacted her a while back and sent along her set of gold talent pipes.

And here she is, wearing those pipes, in front of the very same bookshelf….

WMFcomp

(Her shelves are so much tidier than mine…)

I’m so pleased to end the blog on this particular winner, as the photos she sent in were some of my absolute favorites.

If you’d like to see the other pictures she submitted, you can check them out in the final photostream.

* * *

Okay folks. Tomorrow is the four-year anniversary of the end of the contest, and we’ll be posting the final blog which only contains one winner. But oh… it’s *such* a winner. You really have no idea….

They really went above and beyond, so be sure to tune in for that one.

In the mean time, feel free to peek at the previous blogs:

[Prologue] [Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV] [Part V] [Part VI] [Part VII] [Part VIII] [Part IX] [Part X] [Part XI]

pat

P.S. I deliberately made nine puns in this blog. Because I’m just in that that sort of mood. First folks to spot and list them in the comments win the right to feel kinda smug for the rest of the day…

Also posted in fan coolness, Photo Contest 2011 | By Pat19 Responses

Link Salad

It’s been a while since I posted up a blog full of random interesting links.

Here’s a few having to do with my books:

It’s odd to me, showing up on the same list as Aldus Huxley, Angela Carter, and Margaret Atwood.

Again, very flattering company. And I like the quote they used. I remember writing that one and being proud of it.

Over the years, I’ve been described as the next Tolkien, the next Scott Lynch, the next George Martin…. And while it’s flattering, I’d really rather be the first Pat Rothfuss. I have much more experience being that.

Now that I post up these three links, I realize they’re all lists of some sort. Which makes me feel kinda awful. My only saving grace is that I didn’t find these by clicking through horrible clickbait websites. (You’ll never believe what these authors did! Number 5 will surprise you!)

Speaking of, have you seen The Onion’s new parody site? Clickhole?

Clickhole

(Click to Embiggen. Seriously.)

It’s lovely as only The Onion can be.

*     *    *

In other news, here’s an article on Facebook being a whole new kind of dick.

And a blog where Vi Hart is being a whole new kind of cool.

Lastly, many of you remember Tabletop episode where I played Lords of Waterdeep with Wil Wheaton, Brandon Laatsch, and Felicia Day.

(Don’t know what I’m talking about? You can see the original, delicious half-hour episode over here.)

I laughed my ass off at the original episode, but the game was edited down considerably to get it to be 35 minutes long.

If you were ever curious to see how the whole thing played out in detail. If you ever wanted more owlbear jokes. If you ever wanted to watch my terrifying strategy unfold like a delicate flower made entirely of razor wire and the screams of angels….

Well, now you can. Because they released the extended version of the episode. More than two hours of solid gaming goodness. 

Fondly,

pat

P.S. Have I mentioned something kinda awesome is happening on July 7th?

It is. It very is.

Stay tuned for details.

Also posted in Beautiful Games, cool news, cool things, Felicia Day, Geek and Sundry, videos, Wil Wheaton | By Pat35 Responses

On the Making of Metheglin

As part of the NOTW card Kickstarter a couple months ago, I promised if we hit a stretch goal I would post up my personal recipe for Metheglin.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you a few things before you go and try to replicate one of my experiments.

1. I got interested in brewing mead while I was writing my books, way back in my college days. It’s not something that I brought to my books, it’s something my books brought to me.

2. I used to be a bit of a chemistry geek. I originally went to College to study the equivalent of chemical engineering.

3. I did not stick with that line of study very long. I never took it very seriously, but I enjoyed the labwork, and I have a great fondness for all the gear involved. I’m a bit of a geek for it, and I know enough to be dangerous.

So. The stage is set. Here’s the story.

It’s 1999 or so, and I’m thinking that I’m going to take a crack at making some mead. So I start doing some research. I buy some books. I look on the early proto-internet for information.

And I learn some interesting things. I learn that the name “metheglin” comes from the old English term for medicine. Metheglin was mead with a bunch of herbs in it. Because, as you know, herbs are good for you.

But as I read more it all started sounding like a *huge* pain in the ass. The books went on and on about about how I’m supposed to check the ph level and… I don’t know, hydroginize things or some shit like that.

What it sounds like is a lot of fiddly bullshit work to me, and that’s not what I signed up for. I wasn’t looking for a part time job. I didn’t want to babysit this goddamn thing for 6 months, petting it and taking its temperature and cooing sweet nothings in its ear.

No. I wanted to muck about with glass bottles and tubes for an afternoon. I wanted to make a potion. I wanted to do some goddamn mad science and then not think about it again until the stuff was ready to drink.

Then I thought to myself, “Self,” I thought. “This is bullshit. Vikings made this, and I guarantee that they did not own a hydrometer. They just thumped it together in a barrel and then drank it and pillaged some shit.”

So, figuring that while I wasn’t a chemical engineer by any stretch of the imagination, my understanding of organic chemistry was at least as good as a  Viking’s.

In proud Viking mad-scientist style, I bunged a bunch of stuff into a big glass jug, shook it up, and brewed what would come to be known among my friends as “The Mindbender Mead.”

Metheglin page

For those of you who don’t want to strain your eyes, here it is typed up.

4.5 lbs Wildflower honey
1 pint apple juice
2 packages champagne yeast (LALVIN brand) -EC-1118
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
3 drops willow tincture
3 tbsp orange rind
7 whole cloves
1/2 tsp morning glory seeds (black)
1 tbsp clover seeds
1/4 (unit missing) bee pollen
1/4 oz stick cinnamon – well broken
1/2 tsp cardamom seed
1/2 tsp hysop
2 pinches brown flaky stuff
1 tbsp poppy seed
1/2 tbs fenugreek (whole)
1 lean pinch wormwood
+1 gallon distilled water (I don’t know why this is written there.)

Note the scientific rigor with which I recorded the ingredients, such as the “brown flaky stuff” that I knew was some sort of herb, because it was sitting on a bottle on my shelves. I can see it in my mind. I wonder if I still have it downstairs?

Hmm…. No luck. But here, I took a picture of one of my shelves that I just scoured to see if I could find it.

My shelves

There’s some stories on *that* shelf, let me tell you. Not the least of which is one of my my failed coffee experiments from back in 2002.

A few notes about the above recipe:

1. The stuff in pencil was me trying to make it ferment again. I thought it was stuck, but in fact, it was just finished.

2. I don’t know why it says +1 gallon of distilled water. I used a 3 gallon carboy, so I know I put more water in than that….

3. I used morning glory seeds because I had heard that they contain a substance similar to LSD. However, I used hand-gathered seeds, because store-bought ones are typically treated with anti-fungal agents you don’t want to ingest.

4. I used some wormwood because I knew it contained a substance similar to THC.

5. Note that I didn’t use much of either one. Mostly because I didn’t want people to drink it and lose their shit all over my house.

I put all the miscelaneous herbs and whatnot into a mesh bag and put it in the mead. But the mead was all bubbly with science and fermentation. It floated to the top, rather than steeping, releasing all of its healthful goodness.

This angered me. So I thought to myself, “what do I have here in the house that I can put in the bag to make it sink?” It must be heavy, but it also must be small enough to fit through the relatively small opening at the top of my carboy. It should also be somewhere inside the house, because I am lazy.

So I picked out a piece of Lapis Lazuli I had laying around. Because, among other things, I am a bit of a rock geek. Have been since I was a kid.

Why did I use a piece of lapis instead of, say, a chunk of gravel or a spoon? Because I was making a fucking potion, that’s why. And if I want to put some gemstones in there then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

And this

(Also introducing: My Foot. And now you know.)

Lapis is a semi-precious stone, and though you can’t tell in that picture, it’s a lovely bluish color.  The piece I put into the mead was almost exactly the same at that one up there, because I bought them at the same time.

It didn’t really weigh the sack down that much, but I was done fiddling about, and decided to call it good enough.

Several months later when I bottled the mead and re-claimed my piece of lapis, I discovered it was no longer a pretty bluish color. It was no longer polished smooth.

Now its surface was pitted and crumbly and white. The mead, you see, had eaten away the outside of the stone.

I was equal parts impressed an terrified. So it was time for more research to figure out if drinking this was going to give me cobalt poisoning or something similar.

And what do I find out? Apparently lapis is mostly composed of stuff some brewers use anyway, to clarify and stabilize their wines or beers. (And there isn’t much chance of their being arsenic or cobalt at all. Hurray!)

The moral of the story is either:

1. I’m really lucky.

2. I played too much D&D as a kid.

3. Even when I’m just fucking about and making shit up I’m pretty goddamn clever.

It was my first batch of mead, and it was probably the best one I’ve ever done. It was strong stuff, and when my friends came over and drank it, the room got a warm, mellow feel. Which could be the wormwood. Or it could be the arsenic….

Or, you know, the booze.

So there you have it: Mindbender Mead.

Please brew responsibly. I am not legally responsible for your stupidity.

With love,

pat

P.S. If you ordered stuff from the Kickstarter, they’re finalizing the orders even as we speak. You should have received e-mails telling you how to log onto the Pledge Manager and confirm your order. This is important, because you’ll have the chance to add anything you missed in those hectic final days.

The folks at Albino Dragon tell me that about 2500 people haven’t finished confirming their orders. So if you *haven’t* seen an e-mail, you might want to check around in your spam filter.

Because the deadline for all this is pretty much today. Monday Sept 30th.

If you don’t confirm things on time, it will slow down your order. And if enough people drag their feet, it will slow down *everyone’s* orders.

So jump to it.

P.P.S. If you *didn’t* order stuff from the Kickstarter and wish you had, there’s no need to wail and gnash your teeth.

Ditto for those of you who are reading this after the deadline has passed. Or the folks who wish they could add a few things, but are strapped for cash at the end of the month.

Rest assured that after we fill all the orders, we’ll be putting most everything from the kickstarter up in our online store: the Tinker’s Packs.

Also posted in Arts and Crafts, I Fucking Love Numbered Lists, small adventures, Terrible Science | By Pat63 Responses

Signed Art and Awesome Miscellany

This is a Worldbuilders Blog.

Today we’ve got kind of a mixed bag of cool things, a lot of it is art-related. Some of it’s comic-related. It’s really kind of a big batch of cool hodgelany.

No big preamble today. Let’s just get right to the goods.

  • A copy of the Penny Arcade Kvothe strip, signed by Gabe and Tycho.

I got a ridiculous amount of geeky joy when Penny Arcade did a strip about The Wise Man’s Fear. I count it as one of my proudest geeky achievements so far in life.

This 12″ x 18″ print is on heavy cardstock, signed by both Gabe and Tycho. I can sign it too, if you like….

If you want to celebrate Kvothe having sex with two ninjas, you can bid on this lovely item here.

  • Original Name of the Wind cover art giclee, number 22 of 1000.  Signed by Donato.

For those of you who have never seen a first edition of Name of the Wind, you might have never seen the original cover art, done by the Hugo Award winning artist Donato.

Donato was nice enough to donate some smaller giclees for to us to sell in the Tinker’s Packs. But we also have one of the numbered, full size copies as well.

It’s a beautiful print in a plastic case. This isn’t just a poster, the paper and printing are much higher quality than that.

It’s signed by Donato, and if you want, I’ll happily sign it too. But only if you win the auction over here.

This is a really cool comic concept.  Here’s what Paul had to say on his website:

“The book is an experiment in visual storytelling that attempts to use comicbook visual language in a free-form way; a kind of ‘visual poem’ on the theme of the human search for knowledge and other life, inspired by SETI, and Carl Sagan’s series Cosmos.”

So yeah.  Pretty cool.

3 of these are going into the lottery, but one will be an auction.

  • 2 sets of Zed Vol. 1, Insanely Twisted Rabbits, Parables: An Anthology.  All signed by Michel Gagné.

(Click to embiggen)

The art here is really like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s some crazy stuff.

One set will be put into the lottery, and one set is an auction over here.

  • 4 copies of the Looking for Group Omnibus.  Signed by Ryan Sohmer.

Fuck yeah you want this.  Just look at it. Can’t you hear the 2001 music playing in the background?

3 of these are going into the lottery, but one will be an auction right here.

This book is so cool.  It was a Kickstarter that turned into an awesome project.  It’s about a first time parent’s relationship with their child, and it depicts it though some truly beautiful paintings.

As a dad myself, it makes me all misty. But then again, I get weepy at the drop of a hat these days.

24 of these are going into the lottery, but we thought we’d auction one off over here.

  • Auction: Bloom County Complete Vol 4.  Signed by Berke Breathed, #441 of 500

Bloom County was one of the top comics through the ’80s. It was crazy, topical and filled with social and political commentary. At this point, this book is almost a time capsule that reflects the me-decade. The brilliant part is that Breathed’s characters and humor are timeless, keeping most of the humor accessible. 

This numbered, limited edition is signed by Breathed himself. To bid click here.

  • Auction: The Art of George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice & Fire 2005 Fantasy Flight edition.

This is the first edition of The Art of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire from Fantasy Flight Publishing. It came out *ages* before the HBO show back before Martin was more famous than the Beatles, so this edition is pretty rare.

This volume includes all kinds of illustrations from sketches to full paintings, all depicting your favorite characters and scenes from Martin’s epic series.

If you’re a Martin fan, you should go bid on this over here.

Priscilla and Jim have been great to us this year.  Jim was in the 2013 calendar with Priscilla as his model, and they’ve both been extremely supportive of the cause.

They both signed this awesome, heavy-duty map and sent it along for us. To bid on it, go to the e-bay listing here.

  • Auction: A poster for Legend of Neil.  Signed by the cast.  Includes the DVD.

Legend of Neil was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on the net. Written and Directed by Sandeep Parikh, it also features Felicia Day in the memorable role of a psychotic faerie. If you haven’t seen it, you’re really missing out.

The DVD came out just this year and is packed with extra awesome. Bid now.

  • Auction: A collector’s edition of Faeries.  Signed by Brian Froud. Comes with 8 prints and a pullout poster.

Originally published in 1978, this collection of world famous fantasy illustrator Brian Froud’s faerie art has become something of a benchmark by which all other faerie art is measured.  It also features 8 frameable prints of some of the more popular images in the book, as well as a pull-out poster. We don’t know what the poster is, because we didn’t pull it out. That’s for you, if you want.

If you want to see the secret poster, click here to bid on it.

  • Auction: Dreamquests: the Art of Don Maitz.  Signed and doodled by Don Maitz.

If you’re not sure if you’ve ever seen Don’s work, assume you have. He’s been doing commercial art for years, running the gamut from book covers to commercial art. If you’ve ever poured a glass of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, you’ve seen Don’s art.

He’s everywhere. Don’t even try to escape.

Click here to bid on the awesome.

  • Auction: A copy of Tell Me a Dragon.  Signed and doodled by Jackie Morris.

This book is about dragons. Specifically, the details that set one person’s dragon apart from the dragons of others: some are big, some are small, some breathe fire, some know the music of the wind… which sounds like a cool thing to know if you ask me.

The art is really beautiful, truly above and beyond. And the artist has done more than merely sign the book, she’s drawn a dragon on the title page.

Click here to bid.

  • Auction: A hardcover copy of the French edition of La Royaume Enchanté.  Signed by Paul Kidby with a bookmark and signed promo card.

This is a gorgeous hardcover edition of the French printing of Paul Kidby’s Le Royaume Enchanté, a collection of his non-Discworld art.  It’s gorgeous, even if it’s in French so I have no idea what it says.

To bid, head over to the auction here.

Last and sure as hell not least is this shiny print of Mal and Serenity.  Jason Palmer donated it, and signed it, but even cooler is that he got Nathan Fillion to sign it too.

Bid on it. Buy it, and hang it up in your living room. Brag about it.  Show it off.

Go on. Live the dream.

*     *     *

It’s crunch time, folks.  If you want to be in the lottery, go donate on the Worldbuilders Team Page. For every $10 you pitch in, you get another chance to win thousands of books and DVD’s.

There were tons of auctions in this blog, and we have even more running. You can view all of our current auctions over here.

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

Also posted in Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat12 Responses

A Holiday Hodgelany

 

This is a Worldbuilders Blog.

Today, we bring you… well… everything we wanted to get out before Christmas.

We’ve got a bunch of new stuff in the store. Most of these new items we only have a few of, so you might want to move quickly.

We’ve also got a *ton* of auctions running and some of them are going to be over in only a day.

We’ve got books, art, and one-of a kind items like this…

All parts of the doll and accessories are hand made. All of the sewn clothes were done by Shannon’s mom, Karen Rivera, the rest was made by Shannon herself.

I’ll tell you the truth folks, until Shannon sent this to Worldbuilders, I’d never even seen the word Amigurumi. Now, I can only assume that it’s Japanese for “Soooo Cuuuute.”

(Amanda’s Editorial note: According to Shannon, Amigurumi is the Japanese style of knit/crochet dolls where the main objective is disproportionate cuteness. So Pat apparently knows more Japanese than he thinks.)

(There’s so much cute in this picture I now have diabetes.)

I can hardly express how adorable this little Kvothe doll is. Everyone at Worldbuilders was talking about it, but I didn’t get to see it until yesterday. And when I did. I *had* to pick it up and play with it.

(And a little plushy Totoro.)

His clothes are all real. His little boots come off and everything. And when I undid his cape, (using the little talent-pipe pin that Shannon *made*) I found out that his cloak had little pockets…..

So of course I spent the next hour finding little things to put in those pockets. Little things that Kvothe would make a point of carrying with him at all times.

All of these things will be yours if you win the auction. But you should hurry up and bid before Amanda runs away with the doll. Seriously. We took the photos, and then had to sneak up behind her and crack her over the head just to get it away from her.

This is a beautiful book, and it’s been signed by pretty much everyone ever. To see more pictures or check out the signatures, you can head over here.

  • Auction: A limited hardcover 20th Anniversary edition of Polar Express.  Signed by Chris Van Allsburg.

This edition features a special cover with matching slipcase, as well as a CD of the book read by actor Liam Neeson. Find out for yourself why this enduring book earned a Caldecott Award.

To bid, head over to the auction.

  • Auction: A professionally matted and framed Luring the Draccus poster by Phil McDarby.

We received an email from a lovely woman named Menolly, and she told us about how she had her Luring the Draccus poster professionally matted and framed after she bought it from us.

She has since decided to donate it to us.  So she’s awesome.  If you want this beautifully framed poster, head over to the auction and bid your heart out.

(You really need to click this to see the bigger version.)

For legal reasons, we would never imply that any Disney characters ever met a certain Doctor….

But I have to say that Karen did a beautiful job imagining what it would be like if some princesses were extended offers much different than what they’d originally gotten.

We’ve pictured this together to save space, but we’re auctioning each of them individually. If nothing else, you should go look at the auctions to see better pictures than the one I’ve taken here…

For Cinderella, click here.
If you want Belle, click here.
If you want Ariel, click here.
And if you want Rapunzel, click here.

  • AuctionsThe Night Watch and The Wyrd Sisters prints.  Both signed by artist Paul Kidby.

Now’s your chance to own signed copies of some of Kidby’s marvelous discworld illustrations.

The first of these shows Carrot, Vimes, Colon, and Nobby keeping the streets of Ankh Morpork safe. Bid here.

The second features Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. Bid over here.

This lithograph reproduces some richly detailed pencil illustrations by Paul Kidby and is signed by Kidby and author Terry Pratchett.

This gorgeous print features finished pencil illustrations of Discworld’s rather highly strung Bursar in three bizarre reaction poses (you can practically hear Ridcully shouting “BURSAR!!”) followed by a fourth, more normal pose of an abnormally large smile. We’re guessing frog pills are some kind of opiate.

I would like to stress that this limited, numbered print is signed by both Pratchett and Kidby.

It can be yours if you win the auction over here.

  • Auction: A set of Twisted Elephant and a Twisted Rabbit prints.  Signed by Michel Gagné.

Twisted Bunny & Twisted Elephant

Artist and animator Michel Gagné (Saga of RexZed: A Cosmic Tale) cooked up a demented collection of off-kilter sketches called Insanely Twisted Rabbits. This auction features two prints signed by Mr. Gagné: a Twisted Elephant and one of the spikier Twisted Rabbits.

To bid on these insanely twisted prints, head over here.

PORTAL GUN!

  • Auction: A limited edition, 1:1 prop replica of the Portal Gun.  Signed by the Portal Team.

We here at Worldbuilders are a bunch of nerds, for the most part.  So to say we were excited when ThinkGeek donated this item is a HUGE understatement.

It is a perfect replica, with blue and orange lights and different sounds depending on which portal you’re shooting.  Amanda used it for a few minutes to defend her little Kvothe doll, until she was overpowered.

To bid on this auction, head over here.  There’s cake!

New Items in the Store.

In keeping with the Christmas spirit, we’ve put up a bunch of new stuff in the store recently.

  • Greysdale Mead T-Shirts

Nicole withstood the terrible Wisconsin winter without a coat just to take these pictures for you in some natural light. And so she could look pretty, of course.

To buy a t-shirt, head over here.

  • More Bear Steins and More Different Bear Steins.

(Click to embiggen and see their faces…)

The last time we put up some steins from Sea Bear Pots, they sold out in about 24 hours. So Charlie offered to make some more for us.

Then, in a fit of kindness, he offered to make some for  the Worldbuilders Team itself. Unfortunately for him, he offered to personalize the mugs, and he paid for it. Just to give you a sense of the sort of folks that work here, you can read Brett’s personalization form, or Nate’s.

If you’d like to snap up some of these Steins from Sea Bear Pots before they’re gone, click here.

When we sold out of bear steins early on in the fundraiser, a gentleman named Frank emailed us.

See, he makes bear steins too. So now we’re selling two different kinds of bear steins. Because obviously you guys have a burning desire to quaff like the vikings you are.

To buy one of the Bear Steins from Off-Center Ceramics, click here.

  • Jayne Hats, Cthulu Plushies, and Chibi Totoro Plushies.

Here we have Amanda, sporting the latest in eclectic fangirl fashion.

But she’s not just geeking out, she’s showing off four new items in the store. (And playing with the portal gun. Because PORTAL GUN.)

1. New Jayne Hats. Better hurry – these sell quickly.

2. Plush Totoros. They’re always there for you, and they’ll always love you.

2. Little Cthulhus (Cthulhii?). Made for us by Heather, who has more stuff up on her Etsy store.

  • Cthulhu Playing Cards.

(Click to embiggen)

The folks over at Albino Dragon were gracious enough to let us sell their decks of standard and limited edition Cthulhu-themed playing cards.

I have to say folks. The designs on these are really gorgeous. You should go look at them in the store if only to see some high-res pictures of the cards. Plus they’re genuine Bicycle cards, not some cheap knockoff. So they have a good feel in your hand.

You can buy your own copies over here on the Tinker’s Packs.

Poor Lovecraft!

When Albino Dragon was doing the Kickstarter for their Cthuluhu cards, (see above) their $1000 dollar donation bonus was that the talented artist Shane Tyree would would design you your own set of cards.

They were cool enough to give us the same package so we could auction it off for Worldbuilders.

That’s right, the artist behind those beautiful cards (and you can see more over at the auction) is willing to design a deck to your specifications.

What are you waiting for?  Go bid!

  • Bookwyrm Pendant

This pendant is clearly beautiful, and it was lovingly hand-made by Amber of Serpent’s Dance.

But it sold out before the blog even went up.  So now you can’t have it.  However, she has an Etsy, and you can probably get other cool things there.

  • ImpSec Silver Eyes Collar Pins.

Are you a Bujold fan? These ImpSec Silver Eyes will strike terror into the hearts of your rivals! Wear you best sinister smile with these etched and antiqued sterling silver collar pins. Made and donated by Paige of YayPrettyColors!

Do you like Bujold? Into the Eye of Horace? Either way, click here and to buy them.

  • Auction: One-hour consultation with award-winning dog trainer Laura VanArendonk Baugh.

Canines In Action

Laura decided to help out Worldbuilders this year by offering up something different from our usual book-and-geekery, because let’s face it, it’s tough to get some good reading done when you’re waiting for your dog to race through the room with half of your bedspread in his mouth.

Here’s what Laura told us:

Got a crazy dog in your life, or know someone whose dog needs some manners before your next visit? Try this one-hour consultation with an award-winning trainer. Pet manners and many specialized concerns can be addressed via consult. Please note I much prefer video where I can see the dog live as we work! (If initial contact indicates that remote consult is not appropriate for the issue of concern, I’ll contribute $75 toward training with the nearest trainer I am comfortable referring.)

Need help with your dog?  Just want to be a better dog owner?  Go over here and bid on this awesome auction.

  • Auction: 2-night *Suite* package at Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage, California!

Rancho Las Palmas

Amanda’s Editorial Note: There have been a couple of complications with this auction, so we’re hoping to get it up tomorrow morning – stay tuned. 

Later Editorial Note: So, it turns out Ebay has different rules set up  when vacations and trips are being auctioned off, for buyer protection.  Worldbuilders has to clear a few security measures, so this auction will go back up after the holiday.  Thanks for your patience, guys!

  • Auction: Play AD&D with eight fantasy authors at ConFusion in January.

 You can smell the writer's musk in the room.

And, last but not least…

Join me and seven other fantasy authors playing a game of classic AD&D at Immortal ConFusion this coming January. Players include some of the best in the fantasy world: Peter V. Brett, Diana Rowland, Jim C. Hines, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Sam Sykes. Authors Myke Cole and Saladin Ahmed will DM the game. I will be there too, playing Master Lambernath.

You can see the video we made of last year’s game over here.

Confusion will provide the winner of this auction with a badge. We’ll provide you with a seat. But you’ll have to arrange your own transport and bring your own dice. Because real gamers don’t share dice. Because that’s how you get diseases.

Later Edit: The winner of this auction will also receive a set of the DVD’s chronicling last year’s entire delightfully geeky event.

Gaming with these people is awesome. And I, while I’m not nearly as cool as they are, I plan on casting magic missile and drinking Mountain Dew, which is a close second place to being awesome.

If you want to be a part of the party, you should bid over here.

*     *     *

Whew… that was a lot.  I hope you all got it, but if not, it might be worth taking a lookie-loo over at all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running so you don’t miss anything.

Taking a minute to check out the Recently Added category of the Tinker’s Packs wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

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

Also posted in a billion links, Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat31 Responses
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