Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Obligatory Holiday Post

There were a lot of things I wanted to do here on the blog before Christmas.

I was planning on posting up a video of me reading a picture book, but I couldn’t manage to get it done in time.

I thought about posting up a Christmas Card type thinger to mitigate the guilt of not having sent out anything resembling a Christmas Card again this year. Or any year, for that matter. Ever. But that didn’t happen.

I was hoping to post up one more worldbuilders blog. The clockwork, Machiavellian part of me knows this is the perfect time for it….

I was going to try and post up the first of the belated photo contest blogs, too. I know a lot of you have been waiting for that for a *long* time.

But yesterday I realized that with all the busyness of Worldbuilders and whatnot, I hadn’t, y’know, bought any presents yet. Or really done anything much to get ready for the holiday.

So instead of doing any of those things, I’m going to put up a cute picture of Oot decorating the Christmas tree.

I’ll post up fancy blogs next week.

I hope all of you that do Christmas-type stuff have a good time.

Those of you that don’t do Christmas, I hope you have a good time too, doing whatever it is you do.

With all sorts of fondness,

pat

P.S. The orange thing is a giant pumpkin, just in case you’re wondering.

posted by Pat 35 Comments

Season Five of the Guild

Generally speaking, I assume that if you’re reading this blog, you’re a geek of some degree or other.

And if you’re a geek, I assume other things about you. I assume you’ve watched Star Trek. I assume you engage in some type of gaming, be it  computer, board, or role.

I assume that you know who Dr. Who is. I assume you have a tiny shrine to Joss Whedon somewhere in your house.

And I assume you watch The Guild.

More importantly, I assume you know when a new season of The Guild has begun.

But just in case some of you aren’t entirely tuned into the geek allmind. I figure I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that season 5 is already upon us.

If you’re a fan, it would be a shame if you didn’t wander over and check it out…

If you’re *not* a fan… well… then I’m guessing there’s either something wrong with you, or you’ve simply never been exposed to it. And if the latter’s the case, it would be a shame if you didn’t give it a try…

*     *     *

In other, slightly surreal news, NPR recently posted the results of the poll where they asked folks to vote on what their favorite SF and Fantasy books of all time were.

The Kingkiller Chronicles came in #18 on the list.

Out of all SF and Fantasy books. Ever. #18.

Seriously.

pat

posted by Pat 65 Comments

A hurried update

So all the powers of creation have conspired to keep me from attending ComicCon. Last night I got an automated call from Delta telling me, “Hello, your flight is canceled. Yeah. Would you like a later flight? Oh, and by the way would you like a Skymiles Credit Card?”

Then a storm hit Stevens Point like the wrath of an angry god, knocking out all the power in central Wisconsin.

So I used my computer’s battery backup to charge my cell phone. Then I called Delta and cursed them unto their seventh generation. I told them that no, I don’t want their fucking credit card, and when I book a flight for 7:00 in the morning on a particular day, I have certain expectations from them. I expect, for example, a plane to be present. To fucking fly me where I’ve paid money to go. And no, goddammit, I really don’t want a credit card. I want a brick that I will throw through your window late at night.

Then I called my assistant and she graciously agreed to drive me to Minneapolis so I could catch my 9:30 connecting flight. It wasn’t that bad, we only had to start driving at around 3:30 in the morning….

So I packed my bags by candle light, the storm howling angrily outside. I’m not even kidding. It was a real adventure. High drama. Carmina Burana was playing in the background.

Anyway, the result was that I didn’t get to write the blog I really wanted to last night. The blog where I made the big announcement that Badali Jewlery has made some jewelry based on my books.

Specifically, they’ve made talent pipes. And they are awesome.

Seriously.

Unfortunately, I’m writing up this blog on a decrepit hotel computer. I don’t have any of my pictures available to me. I can’t cut and paste. The Control keys don’t seem to work. So all I can do is beg you to click the above link and bask in the glory of the excellent work they’ve done.

They’re also having a sale at comic-con tonight, so if you stop by their booth here at Comic Con on preview night (tonight), you can buy a pair for 30% off….

I’m sorry. I wish I could do this with the fanfare it deserves, but I’m kinda tech-neutered right now.

Lastly, I’d like to point y’all in the direction of Wootstock. They’re doing a show in San Diego this Thursday night. Google it up. It’s going to be a fun time.

I also heard a rumor that this show might have something extra in it…. (he said mysteriously.)

That’s all for now, folks.

pat

posted by Pat 50 Comments

Fanmail FAQ: Where is the Store?

Since I posted up the video interviews with Peter on Friday, I received a dozen e-mails centering around the topic of his Eolian t-shirt.

Some people merely wanted to express their geeky joy at the sight of his shirt. Some people proclaimed terrible envy. Some people asked if I’d ever thought of getting t-shirts like that made so I could sell them. Some people knew there was a store somewhere, but they had no idea where to find it….

So I realized I should probably make a post with a link to our store: the aptly-named The Tinker’s Packs.

A lot of you who have been reading the blog for a while probably already know about the store. But for those of you who only tuned in recently… there you are. You can get t-shirts and books and such there.

Best of all, all proceeds from the store go to our charity: Worldbuilders.

We’ll be re-vamping the website relatively soon, and when that happens, the store will have its own permanent place on the webpage. But for now, we’ll have to do with a link here on the blog.

Meatier blog soon,

pat

posted by Pat 32 Comments

Signed Copies of The Wise Man’s Fear: Part II

A couple weeks ago I took a trip out to New York to meet up with my publisher and do some promotional stuff. I did a video interview. Recorded a podcast. And, as I’ve already mentioned, I got to touch and hold my first-ever copy of The Wise Man’s Fear.

I also signed some books. Kind of a lot of books. Three thousand books.

I’ve signed a lot of books over these last couple of years. But signing The Wise Man’s Fear is a different feeling. The paper feels different, for one thing. Plus, it’s my new baby, and that counts for a lot.

To be honest with you, I thought that I was going to spend most of the day alone in a room, working my way through stacks of books. I was kind of looking forward to it, actually. I’d brought an audiobook to listen to (Jim Butcher’s White Knight) and I was anticipating it being a pleasant, low-key day.

Luckily, the marketing people at Penguin know a lot more than I do. There’s more to signing this many books than just writing my name a bunch of times. The books need to be unpacked from the boxes, flapped (that means turned to the appropriate signing page), stacked, then reboxed.

That means I had a team of 4-5 people working with me all day, getting books ready for me to sign, then taking them away when I was done and re-packing them.

Here’s the team, hard at work. I’m behind the stack of boxes on the right. All you can see of me is my hand, blurring with preternatural speed, and possibly caffeine.

It was actually a lot of fun. We chatted. I told a few Ole and Lena jokes. I might have even sung a song or two. I tend to do that, occasionally.

The team was great. They kept me well-supplied with books and tea and good company for hours. Eventually, I asked if we could take a group photo.

Here’s one where I think I said something really inappropriate to make everyone laugh:

Here’s the one where I told everyone to do crazy eyes.

I totally win at crazy eyes. Nobody does it better than me.

What I learned over the course of the day is that 3000 books is a hell of a lot of books. It took about eight hours to sign them all. I burned through several pens, and for the last couple hours my shoulders actually hurt.

What do three thousand books look like?

Well, if you have twelve books in a box, then it looks like this many books:

Plus this many books: (Note that this stack is two layers deep.)

And then this many more books….

Also, hidden somewhere in these boxes, are a few copies of the book that I had the entire team sign.

You have no idea how hard it was to get some of them to sign their names. They looked so scandalized when I suggested it. My argument is that if you spend eight hours in a room with me, listening to me sing and tell bad jokes, you should get to sign a couple books too. The signing is the fun part, and I’d feel bad hogging all of it myself.

Now the big question. What are all these books for?

Well, ultimately, they’re for you. They’re for people who can’t make it to one of my signings, but who still would like a signed copy of the book.

[Edit: As of Feb 20th, the Signed Page is no longer taking orders for signed books. But many of the bookstores on my signing tour are still more than happy to mail you a copy.]

Now you’ve got another option: At the end of this blog is a list of all the stores that these books will be going to.

Hopefully, one of these stores is close to you, and you can just swing in and reserve yourself a copy.

But even if none of them are close to your house, I’m guessing that a lot of them would love nothing better than to sell you a copy and then mail it off to you.

My advice though? You might want to contact the stores sooner rather than later and place your orders. These are all first-edition books, and I think a lot of people are going to be snatching them up pretty quickly. I know I wish I’d picked up a few more first editions of The Name of the Wind….

Here’s the list of bookstores, organized by state:

I’ve included as much contact information as I have at the moment. Rest assured I’ll be updating it as soon as I have more:

Alabama

American Wholesale Books
4350 Bryson Blvd
Florence, AL 35630
www.booksamillion.com

Arizona

Poisoned Pen
4014 N. Goldwater #101
Scottsdale, AZ  85251
www.poisonedpen.com
(480) 947-2974

California

Almost Perfect Bookstore
1901 Douglas Avenue
Roseville, CA 95661
almostperfectbookstore@yahoo.com
(916) 781-7935

Bay Book Company
80 N Cabrillo Hwy Ste F
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
www.baybookcompany.com
(650) 726-3488

Books Inc
1501 Vermont St
San Francisco, CA 94110
booksinc.net
(415) 643-3400

The Bookseller
107 Mill St
Grass Valley, CA 95945
www.grassvalleybooks.com
(530) 272-2131

Bookshop Santa Cruz
1520 Pacific Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
www.bookshopsantacruz.com
(831) 423-0900

Borderlands Books
866 Valencia St
San Francisco CA 94110
borderlands-books.com
(415) 824-8203

Copperfield’s
139 Edman Way
Sebastopol, CA 95472
copperfieldsbooks.com
(707) 823-8991

M is For Mystery
86 E Third Ave.
San Mateo, CA, 94401
www.mformystery.com
(650) 401-8077

BookShop Benicia
856 Southampton Road
Benicia, CA 94510
www.bookshopbenicia.com
(707) 747-5155

Anderson Books
425 University Avenue Ste 210
Sacramento, CA 95825
Michael@Mjaatty.com

Dark Carnival
3086 Claremont Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
www.darkcarnival.com
(510) 654-7323

Colorado

Bookworm of Edwards
295 Main St. C101
Edwards, CO  81632
bookwormofedwards.com
(970) 926-7323

Boulder Bookstore
1107 Pearl
Boulder, CO 80302
boulderbookstore.indiebound.com
(303) 447-2074

Off The Beaten Path
68 9th St
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
steamboatbooks.com
(970) 879-6830

Old Firehouse Books
232 Walnut
Fort Collins, CO  80525
www.oldfirehousebooks.com
(970) 484-7898

Tattered Cover
1628 16th St.
Denver, CO 80202
tatteredcover.com
(303) 436-1070

Who Else? Books
200 S. Broadway
Denver, CO 80209
www.whoelsebooks.com
(303) 744-2665

District of Columbia

Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington DC, 20008
www.politics-prose.com
(202) 364-1919

Florida

Classic Bookshop
310 S. County Rd
Palm Beach, FL 33480
classicbookshop.com
(561) 655-2485

Idaho

Rediscovered Bookshop
180 N 8th Street
Boise, ID 83702
www.rdbooks.org
(208) 376-4229

Iowa

Prairie Lights Books
15 S Dubuque St
Iowa City, IA 52240
www.prairielightsbooks.com
(319) 337-2681

Maine

Devaney, Doak, & Garrett
193 Broadway
Farmington, ME 04938
ddgbooks.com
(207) 778-3454

Massachusetts

Pandemonium Books and Games
4 Pleasant Street
Cambridge, MA. 02139
pandemoniumbooks.com
(617) 547-3721

Michigan

McLean & Eakin Booksellers
307 Lake St.
Petoskey, MI.  49770
www.mcleanandeakin.com
(231) 347-1180
International Shipping for Wise Man’s Fear

Schuler Books
2820 Town Center Blvd.
Lansing, MI. 48910
www.schulerbooks.com
(517) 316-7495

Schuler Books
3165 Alpine Ave. Ste. C
Walker, MI. 49544
www.schulerbooks.com
(517) 349-8840

Schuler Books
1982 Grand River Ave.
Okemos, MI.  48864
www.schulerbooks.com
(616) 942-2561

Schuler Books & Music
2660 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
www.schulderbooks.com
Phone: (616) 942-2561

New Mexico

Bookworks
4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW
Albuquerque, NM  87107
www.bkwrks.com
(505) 344-8139

New York

Flights of Fantasy
381 Sand Creek Blvd
Albany, NY 12205
www.flightsoffantasy.indiebound.com
(518) 435-9337
mariaoverstock@yahoo.com

North Carolina

Malaprop’s Bookstore
55 Haywood St
Asheville, NC 28801
www.malaprops.com
(828) 254-6734

Oregon

Annie Bloom’s Books
7834 SW Capitol Highway
Portland OR 97219
annieblooms.com
(503) 246-0053

Powell’s Books
1645 Hoyt St
Portland OR 97209
www.powells.com

VJ Books
20140 SW  112th Ave
Tualatin OR 97062
www.vjbooks.com
(503) 750-5310

South Carolina

Fiction Addiction
1020 A Woodruff Rd
Greenville, SC 29607
www.fiction-addiction.com
(864) 675-0540

Texas

Front Street Books
121 E Holland St
Alpine, TX 79830
www.fsbooks.com
(432) 837-3360

BookPeople
603 N. Lamar
Austin, TX 78703
bookpeople.com.
(512) 472-5050

Blue Willow Book Shop
14532 Memorial Dr. at Dairy Ashford
Houston, TX 77079
bluewillowbookshop.com
(281) 497-8675

Utah

King’s English
1511 S. 1500 E.
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
www.kingsenglish.com
(801) 484-9100

Virginia

Prince Books
Main Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
www.prince-books.com
(757) 622-9223

Washington

Third Place Books
17171 Bothel Way NE
Lake Forest Park WA 98155
thirdplacebooks.com
(206) 366-3333

Wisconsin

Bookfinders
1001 Brilowski Road
Stevens Point, WI  54481
(715) 341-8300

Janke Bookstore
505 3rd St.
Wausau, WI  54403
www.jankebookstore.com.
(715) 845-9648

A Room of Ones Own Bookstore
307 W. Johnson
Madison, WI.  53703
www.roomofonesown.com
(608) 257-7888

Barnes & Noble
www.barnesandnoble.com

posted by Pat 114 Comments

Last minute change of plan! Reading changed to 7pm

Hey there everybody, this is Valerie, Pat’s assistant. If you don’t recognize me, normally I talk like this.

Pat just called me to ask that I post this blog. He left this morning to head to his reading in Petoskey, Michigan. He got on the road later than he intended which would have been ok, but then he realized that Michigan is in a different time zone which means that instead of arriving just in the nick of time at 6pm, he will be arriving at 7pm. So if you’re planning on going, please be aware of this. He is going to make every effort to make it by 7pm, if the roads are a little bad he may be late, but rest assured he will be there. He feels really bad about this and he says: “I’m so sorry. I am a freaking idiot. I will make it up to you at the reading by either singing or not singing, which ever will make people happier.”

On the plus side, you’ll have more time to get dinner before the reading and those of you driving in can avoid speeding tickets.

McLean & Eakin Booksellers
307 E. Lake St
Petoskey, MI

posted by Firebirdblaze 14 Comments

Celebrating….

So I’ve been trying to remember what it is a person does when he isn’t working on a book 10 hours a day, then blogging, running a fundraiser, and mailing t-shirts for the other six hours he’s awake.

Sarah informed me that what a person does is go get a Christmas tree. She informed me of this very firmly. Several times. With increasing levels of frantic need in her voice. Getting a tree was very important to Sarah. She made it clear that if we did not go pick out a tree, together, our relationship would suffer irreparable damage.

So we got a tree. We did this pretty much the very day after I posted the last blog. It made me feel like a big man lifting it up and tying it to the roof of the car. Oot watched me with muted awe, amazed that I could lift up something so big.

I sawed off the bottom, which is more exercise than I’ve had in months. And while I wasn’t that excited about it at the beginning, the tree is actually pretty awesome.  It makes the house smell piney and nice.

We also made gingerbread men to hang on the tree, because Sarah wanted to, and I owe her because I’ve been neglecting family-ish things pretty severely over these last several months.

I’ve never decorated a gingerbread man before, but I was pretty sure it was supposed to go something like this:

And so that’s the first one I did. Then I tried to do a Santa, but it really sucked. Then I got bored.

You see, I have a strong contrary element in my personality. Plus I have a real problem when it comes to strictly adhereing to genre guidelines. So my next gingerbread people were more… meta.

I’m especially proud of this one:

To me, his expression really conveys the mute horror and existential doubt occasionally brought about by the holiday season.

At first Sarah expressed a little mute horror of her own at my cookie decorations. But there are only so many cute gingerbread people you can make before it starts to grate on you a little, so eventually she got into the spirit of things and made an emo gingerbread man. I made one too…

I think they’re in love….

After that, just a couple days before Christmas, our car broke down. Sarah was actually driving it down to our mechanic because the clutch was behaving oddly, and it died about a mile before she got there. Transmission was utterly shot. They can fix it, but it will take a couple days to get the parts.

By the time we got the diagnosis on the 24th, all the rental places were closed. And you can’t rent a car on Christmas. And in Stevens Point you can’t rent a car on the Sunday after Christmas either.

So the precious few days I’d been counting on to catch up with my shopping were spent car-less. And since I couldn’t shop, I spent some time playing Fallout New Vegas instead.

Merry Christmas to me.

pat

P.S. In a related Christmas Miracle, the Kingkiller shirts showed up on the 24th. My assistants are off for the holidays, so I had to borrow a car to move them over to the place where we do the packaging. Yesterday I slogged away for about 10 hours to get as many of them packaged up as I could. I really owe the folks at the post office something nice for putting up with me….

So rest assured, t-shirts are on the way as quickly as I can get them out the door.

posted by Pat 35 Comments
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