Category Archives: upcoming publications

Rejected Author’s Notes Part One: Beginnings and The Names of Things

Last night, I was going to post up a story about The Narrow Road Between Desires as a “review” over on goodreads. But logging in, I discovered there were already 200+ reviews on there.

Nobody’s actually read the book yet, obviously. It won’t be published until the 14th. Most of them were 1-star hate-reviews from people pissed it wasn’t Doors of Stone, which means the current rating for the book is around 2.1 stars.

Not gonna lie, took the wind out of my sails a bit. Sucks to have 200+ 1 star reviews before your book even comes out. It almost guarantees that it will never even hit 4-stars.

Same thing happened to Slow Regard, now that I think of it.

(Though to be fair, it’s a weird little book. Not everyone’s cup of tea.)

So instead, I decided to share this story here instead. It’s probably a better place for it to live long-terms anyway…

What story is that, Pat? I hear you say.

Or rather, I imagine hearing you say it. Or rather, I imagine not-hearing you think it to yourself, because I’m guessing not many of you are reading this blog right now and asking questions out-loud. Probably. (If you are, that’s fine. I don’t judge.)

This is, simply said, the story of how The Narrow Road Between Desires came to be.

But Pat! How did this story of how it came to be, come to be? I hear you not ask. Because even if you’re a bit of a weirdie who reads a blog and talks to himself, you wouldn’t say a sentence like that. (Okay, I’m judging a little.)

Well, this might surprise some of you, but sometimes I have trouble writing a thing. And when it came time to send Narrow Road off to get published, I had a hell of a hard time writing the author’s note.

Or rather, I had an easy time writing things I *thought* were the author’s note. I wrote an odd bit about art and mystery and Robert Frost. A funny bit about trying to find a title. I wrote about making art with Nate. An essay on Embrils. (You don’t know what those are yet.) A historical bit about the origin of the Aturan penance piece….

(You don’t know about those either, but we made some.)

For the most part, they were fine little bits of writing, but they weren’t… um… good. Or rather, they weren’t good as author’s notes.

All told, I wrote about 8,000 – 10,000 words, and only used 1500 of them.

This is one of the bits that felt like it was worth keeping. A a story about how a story came to be. Not something most folks would be interested in. But if you’re here, I’m guessing there’s a chance you might be into that sort of thing….

*    *     *

Once, years and miles away, I started writing a story.

It was 2009, an almost incomprehensibly long time ago. I’d only been published a couple years and was an odd mixture of dewy-eyed newbie and professional writer who’s had a taste of success. I was getting fanmail, going to conventions, and the paperback edition of NOTW had just hit the New York Times Bestseller list.

I was new enough that when I got an invitation to write a story for an anthology, it was a stunning event. Keep in mind that I’d been trying, and failing, to get published for about a decade. Getting *invited* to write a story for publication was just baffling. The opposite of rejection.

What’s more, this anthology was a Big Deal. Edited by Martin and Dozois. It was full of fancy authors I admired. What’s more, the theme was a good fit, and I had an idea for a story about Devi. I was so excited to go play with the cool kids….

Unfortunately, at that point I was also struggling and failing to finish The Wise Man’s Fear. I’d missed deadlines. Then more deadlines. People were pissed at me, and I was more pissed at myself. The delays were making trouble for my publisher, and I was terrified that I was ruining my career.

After agonizing for a while, I politely declined the invitation. I was still new to being a professional writer, and thought if I trimmed everything out of my life except Writing The Book, it would get done, like, ten times faster. (That doesn’t work, just in case you were wondering. Turns out you just get ten times sadder.)

I regretted the decision for years. Still do, honestly. As I’ll never know what I might have learned about Devi’s character. But years later, when the editors reached out again, my regret spurred me to accept the invitation.

The new anthology was titled Rogues, and my plan was to write a story about Auri. I assumed most of the other stories would feature more standard thieves and rascals. Con men. Artful Dodgers. Auri would make a cool counterpoint to that. Not a burglar or a rake. She would be more playful, sort of a trickster….

I worked on Auri’s story for months, and it went in every direction except what I’d planned. It was too long. Too strange. There were no characters, no action. Eventually I started to wonder if it was even *was* a story.

But eventually, two things became clear: Auri wasn’t a rogue, and what I was writing wasn’t going to be appropriate for the anthology. So I grit my teeth and abandoned the story.

A third thing was becoming clear to me, too. I had no idea how to write a short story. It should be easy. Name of the Wind was a quarter million words long. Wise Man’s Fear was over 400,000. A short story is nothing compared to that. Typically 3-5 thousand words. A lot of authors could write one in a couple days, give it a quick edit, and turn it over for publication in less than a week.

Me? I was months into the project and didn’t even have an idea, let alone a draft.

Checking my meticulously crafted project timeline, I found I was now at step 6b. (Have an existential crysis about whether or not I’m a *real* writer.)

Closely following that was step 6c. (Panic about missing your deadline, embarrassing yourself, and delaying the entire anthology.)

Luckily, I’m very clever, so I managed to do both of these steps simultaneously while I frantically rummaged through my files. I found the first 50-60 thousand words of a novel I’d started about Laniel Young-Again. I yanked out a piece of that, tried to mash it into something story-shaped, and sent it to the folks managing the anthology with all of charming aplomb of a sweaty drunk trying to use an expired credit card three minutes before the bar closes.

Luckily, the editors did me a great kindness by not letting me get away with that bullshit. They very gently and professionally pointed out what I’d sent in wasn’t very Rogue-ish. Plus there wasn’t much of a through line. Or a plot. Or an ending.

And… well… it wasn’t really a story now, was it?

They were right, of course. I withdrew the story and I was back to square one, later than ever.

Finally inspiration struck. What about Bast? He was a fan-favorite, fun to write, and rogue-ish down to his bones. And since I was struggling to write something short, I could pull inspiration from old faerie stories and folk tales…

After that, it was almost easy. True, it didn’t really turn out to be much like a faerie story. And yeah, it didn’t end up being short either, clocking in at over 20,000 words. But it held together. There were funny bits. Sad bits. A beginning and an end, and I managed to get the middle in between them. Best of all, I got to explore a part of my world nobody (including me) had ever seen before.

I wrote the entire thing in a month, from first word to final draft. For me, that’s wildly fast. I normally struggle with titles, but even that was easy. It was obviously, “The Lightning Tree.”

I submitted it, and breathed a sigh of relief, and hurried off to put out the other fires in my life that had sprung up in the meantime. Half a year later, the Anthology came out, and there I was, in print with the other cool kids, next to Neil Gaiman and Gillian Flynn.

Some folks liked my story. Some folks didn’t. Most didn’t seem to care one way or the other. But while there wasn’t any fanfaire, there was also a marked lack of hue and cry: nobody was declaiming me as a fraud and impostor. I’d hoped to feel a sense of accomplishment, but I mostly felt relief. In keeping with the theme of the anthology, I felt like I’d pulled off an elaborate con of my own. I’d fooled people into thinking I knew how to write a short story, when what I’d *really* done is bluff my way through with a novella-length vinette.

But, like any good con-man, I made my getaway quickly and quietly. Slipping into the night having learned my lesson, that short-story writing wasn’t for me…

*    *    *

…except I didn’t.

Auri’s strange story story kept tickling at me, so I finished it to get it out of my head. I it was unpublishable, but much to my surprise, my editor liked it. We got the fabulous Nate Taylor to illustrate it, and, feeling like I was performing some sort of strange experiment, we published it as The Slow Regard of Silent Things.

(The whole thing would have been worth it just for a one of Nate’s Illustrations.)

To my surprise, turns out there were people who *did* want to read a weird story where nobody talks and nothing happens. Some folks told me it was their favorite book I’d written.

Fast forward to a couple years ago. I was livestreaming when someone mentioned that Slow Regard was their favorite book *ever.* When I asked if they’d ever read “The Lightning Tree” they said they’d never even heard of it. Didn’t have the first clue it existed.

My wheels began to spin, and I bounced the idea off my publisher: What if I brushed up the text of The Lightning Tree, did some art with Nate, and we put out a book along the lines of Slow Regard for people who didn’t even know it existed?

Should be easy. I’d work with Nate on 8-12 illustrations, give the text a little spit-and-polish, fix some typos, maybe add a flourish or two. Easy peasy. Done in a month. Right?

Right?

I was wrong. Coming back to the story after almost 10 years, I saw a *lot* of missed opportunities. All in all, I re-wrote about half of the original story, then added about 15,000 words on top of that. I shifted and re-organized, added scenes, and spent *way* too much time fiddling with the words so things sounded just right.

It was the textual equivalent of starting to put up new wallpaper in a closet, only to have the project snowball until you’re putting in a skylight and have torn apart the walls to bring the wiring up to code.

As always, working with Nate Taylor was a delight. By which I mean he never choked me even once, even though the original plan for 10-12 pieces of art turned into over 45 illustrations…

As for the art itself? Well that, as they say, is another story….

*    *    *

See what I did there? I set things up for tomorrow’s blog, where I’ll be sharing ANOTHER attempt at an Author’s note which was an interview between Nate and I where we talk about our artistic process.

I’ll post that one up tomorrow (Monday) night. And then on Tuesday…

(This.)

 

Also posted in the business of writing, the craft of writing, The Cutting Room Floor | By Pat104 Responses

This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things…

A couple weeks ago, I talked about the upcoming audiobook, and how Recorded Books had made a movie-trailer style promotion for the upcoming audio release of The Narrow Road Between Desires.

(I suppose it’s just a book trailer, isn’t it? Not a Movie-Trailer-But-For-An-Audiobook….)

Anyway, like I said, I was surprised and impressed by how well they turned out. If you’re curious, you can see those trailers and read the blog over here.

What I didn’t mention, is that when they sent me the trailers, I was struck by how cinematic they were and felt bad about how skeptical I’d been when they’d pitched it. So I watched the videos with my boys, and did an audio recording of our reactions as a way of showing that I really *did* like them.

Then, since I was on a roll, I recorded some fake voice-overs for the trailers in my best movie-narrator voice. (I’ll be honest, I’d had a *lot* of coffee that day.)

I didn’t think any more of it, so imagine my surprise when a couple weeks later, they sent me some… edited versions of the videos using the audio I’d sent them.

But not *just* the audio, as you can see from this screencap:

(I already suspected they were proper geeks, but it’s nice to have proof.)

I know not everyone here will get the reference. But I’m guessing if you read this blog, you’re more likely to appreciate it than the general population.

So without further ado, here’s the one with me and the boys:

And here’s the one that’s just me:

(If you’re on your phone, here’s versions of the videos formatted for that.)

Me and the boys (Phone version):

Pat’s voiceover – (Phone version):

I don’t want to say I like these *more* than I liked the originals, but I certainly laughed more while I was watching them. And then cringed more, because I’d forgotten that one of my voice-overs took a turn and ended up being an improvisational love letter to Lin Manuel Miranda…

So… yeah. Audiobook. It’s a thing, and if you appreciate the fact that the folks at Recorded Books took the time to turn my silly joke into something cool I could share with you… maybe consider pre-ordering a copy as a way of thanking them?

Share and Enjoy,

pat

Also posted in a billion links, audiobooks, I mock because I love, videos | By Pat37 Responses

Concerning Minecraft, Faerie Bargains, and an Early Peek into The Doors of Stone.

Okay. There’s a story I’ve been wanting to share here for a couple days, but with all the chaos of the fundraiser, I haven’t been able to manage it.

Sorry it’s taken so long, as it’s related to Book Three, and I know that’s something everyone here is interested in to some degree or other.

So here we go:

Once years and miles away, there was a man who loved books, and games , and stories. He did not consider himself wise, but was still wise enough to know he was happiest when he was being a bit of a fool. He was an odd sort, beset by melancholy, and often felt as if he didn’t fit into the world. He was uncommonly lucky, and uncomfortably honest, and he always kept his word.

All of this taken together led some folk to wonder if his mother had been visited by the sort of odd folk who always seem to be showing up in the dark hours just as children are being born. The sort of people that leave no footprints, and speak oddly, so it’s hard to tell if they’re good oracles, bad poets, or merely self-important busybodies who lack proper jobs and have too much time on their hands.

Other people suspected it had nothing to do with events surrounding his birth. Instead they thought perhaps he had a demon riding in his shadow, or a single drop of faerie blood, or that one of his long-forgotten ancestors had lay down among the Gorse…

His name was Patrick Rothfuss. Those who knew him, knew he enjoyed a good wager. But those who knew him better knew the truth, and that was that he *loved* a wager, especially if it was reckless and unwise….

*     *     *

About a week ago, we fired up our yearly Worldbuilders fundraiser.

It’s going pretty well so far, by the way. As I write this, we’re just on the cusp on unlocking a new chunk of Matching Money….

As you can see from this year’s swank thermometer, it’s not just direct donations that will help us hit that goal. We’re also factoring in bids on our vast array of auction items and all the holiday shopping y’all are doing over in the Worldbuilders Market.

And as many of you know, I’ve been doing a lot of streaming over the last week. Talking about the charity. Playing games and doing various promotional events.

None of that is particularly new, of course. I’ve streamed a lot to promote the charity over the last 5 years.

What *is* different is that this year, I decided to kick off the fundraiser with a Marathon Minecraft Stream (TM) where I vowed to keep playing until I beat the Ender Dragon or my actual human real-world body failed me.

(Fig 1. promotional graphic.)

It was just some goofy fun. I enjoy Minecraft, but I’m not great at it. I’ve never beaten the Ender Dragon, or even made it to the end. I’ve never even found to the Stronghold or made an eye of Ender, now that I’m thinking of it.

And I knew it beating the game would take longer than normal because I’d be pausing to give away prizes and talk about charity. And I hadn’t played Minecraft much in the last six months, so I was pretty rusty….

Even so, I was pretty sure I could do it. I mean, I’ve seen people beat the whole game on youtube in under twenty minutes.

I know I’m no speedrunner, it might take me 8-9 hours. But that’s nothing. I’ve streamed 14 hours straight in previous fundraisers. Plus, I knew that me struggling and sometimes failing would be just as fun for people to watch as me succeeding, if not more so….

Fast forward. Charity is going well. Money coming in. People watching the stream. My Minecraft run was…  unimpressive. I was playing the long game, and making methodical progress. Hadn’t died. But I had no diamonds. No enchanted gear. No real lucky breaks. My base was a haphazard hole in the ground. The opposite of a hobbit hole. My farms were like something Dante would have written about if he wanted to scare cows into being better Christians.

Fast forward. More money. More stream. My boys came in to cheer me on. They brought me water and cuteness and comic relief. Perfect pit crew.

Fast Forward: I read the boys their bedtime story live on the stream (a chapter from Something Wicked This Way Comes). Then I went to tuck them into bed and came back to do charity and search for diamonds. I was fully prepared to play straight through the night until I had to drive them to school in the morning, then come back and keep soldiering on until I finally won or collapsed.

Then came the first wager. In a fit of hubris, I bet the chat that I could beat the Ender Dragon before they raised $100,000 on my team page. I dared them. I taunted and cajoled….

…I told them if they won, I’d read them the prologue of Book Three.

And thus the deal was made.

(Would you buy a used car from this man?)

But life is what happens while you were making other plans. My boys had been vaccinated that day, and over the next 4-5 hours, when I went in to check on them, they were increasingly sweaty and restless. So after 12 hours I bowed out of the stream with the blessing of the chat so I could go be a good dad. Because when you wake up sweaty and sick in the middle of the night, it’s nice to have your dad right there ready to take care of you…

And then, packing lunches, and school, and organizing and promoting the fundraiser, and scheduling events and being a dad…

… and I honestly I forgot about the wager.

But forgetting doesn’t make a wager go away. And, to make a long story short, after picking up my playthrough on my stream two days later, I lost.

So I brought to bear the fullness of my power. I summoned up the fullness of my will and wit, my terrible persuasion. All this and more I focused on the folk who were tuned in to the stream. And thus I spoke:

Yes they’d won wager. I would read them the prologue. Absolutely. They had it. Fairly fought and fairly won.

But a prologue. What is that, really? Just a taste. A tease. A paltry page. It’s barely a bite. A meager morsel for those whose hearts are hungry for a story.

Wouldn’t they like a chance to win… more? To wager what they’d won in hope of greater gain? Wouldn’t they like the chance for More? More secrets? More story?

Thus I offered them a second wager.

Their stakes: the prologue they had fairly won.

My stakes: Three things. Three secrets from Temerant:

  • I’ll read the prologue of The Doors of Stone live on stream.
  • I’ll provide a full, self-contained, spoiler-free chapter of Doors of Stone.
  • I’ll share some early, finished pages of my the comic I’ve been working on for years with Nate: the illustrated version of the Boy That Loved the Moon.

This is what I offered the chat of the livestream. A chance not just to win, but to win so much more….

But only if they raised more money for charity. Only if they got the donations on my team page all the way from $100,000 to $333,0000.

BEFORE I beat the Ender Dragon.

And then we took a vote:

I’ll embiggen the relevant portion myself so you can see…

(As you can see, the folks who follow my stream enjoy a wager too)

And so the deal was struck.

And now, even if you weren’t there, you know the story.

And t’know what? As a gesture of good faith, I’ll give you the first page of the comic right here and now, out of the goodness of my heart…

(Never let it be said I do not bargain in good faith.)

So. If my team page hits $333,333 before I beat the Ender Dragon. You win three things.

If I beat the Ender Dragon first, you lose.

That’s the Wager.

I’ve taken a break off from my playthough to manage the fundraiser and run other events. Also, I promised I wouldn’t continue my run until I’d made the announcement here on my blog to let y’all know the whole story. To let you know what was happening. What the stakes were. And as you all know, I keep my promises.

But I’ve done it now. Shared the news. Told told story.

As soon as I post this, I’m jumping back onto my livestream, and will be heading for the Ender dragon with marked determination. Because I *do* love a wager. But I also always play to win.

So. The clock is ticking.

Here’s the link to my Team Page.

Come at me.

pat

Also posted in Beautiful Games, Book Three, calling on the legions, cool news, graphic novels, hubris, My brilliant ideas, my dumbness, My Iconoclastic Tendencies, Nathan Taylor, side projects, Stories about stories., video games, Warning: Mild Literary Faffery, Worldbuilders 2021 | By Pat39 Responses

Slow Regard of Silent Things: The Touring

First, very quickly, I should mention that I’m going to be out in New York this weekend, attending NYCC. If you’re attending, I look forward to greeting you with genial but non-contagious fist-bumps.

Not a convention sort of person? I’m also doing a show with Paul and Storm on Friday night at 8:00. You can get tickets here.

Don’t live in New York? Well, check out the rest of the blog, because I’m hitting several cities this month, and odds are you’re close to one of them….

*     *     *

So. The Slow Regard of Silent Things comes out at the end of the month.

20141009_051940

(As always, guest starring my thumb.)

That means it’s time to talk book tour.

When book two came out, I did my first for-real tour: 16 events in 15 days. Nobody was quite sure what was going to happen, least of all me.

It was brutal, exhausting, amazing, fun, surreal, and strange.

On the first day over 600 people turned out in Seattle, and we filled the University Bookstore until it was overflowing….

Book tour pictures 003

If you embiggen that picture, you can see tiny figures stretching back to the back wall. And it doesn’t show a similar amount of people off on the lefthand side. Or the ones behind the bookshelves, or around the corner, or standing on the stairs….

Our event in San Fransisco ran out of space weeks before the event, so I did a second reading/signing at Borderlands Books. 300 people showed up to that second event, despite the fact that it was midnight on a Thursday.

Book tour pictures 005

In Portland, so many people showed up that Powell’s ran out of books.

Yeah. Think about that for a second, Powell’s ran out of books.

That was just the first three days of the tour. The biggest thing we learned was that there are a *lot* of you. More specifically, there are a lot of you who want to come to these readings/signings. People drove for hours. People skipped work. People flew in from out of state. People attended on their birthdays and anniversaries.

Over the years, I’ve coined the phrase “Catastrophic Success.” Some of my signings were like that. They were so successful that things couldn’t help but go wrong. Lines were hard to manage. Fire codes were violated.

Worst of all, people that came to hear me read and answer questions didn’t get to hear me. Or they didn’t get a seat. Or both.

What’s your point, Rothfuss?

My point is, for this tour, we’re trying something different in a few cities. Knowing we’re going to get a lot of people, some bookstores went out of their way to get bigger venues. Places that have seats for 600-800 people. Places with good sound equipment.

Unfortunately, that means the bookstores have to pay for these venues. Which means they have to sell tickets to the events.

This is something I’ve always tried to avoid. But at this point it seems like the only way to keep things manageable. And you can show up to the signing knowing that there will be space for you, and you won’t have to stand at the back of the bookstore behind a bookcase where you can’t see or hear anything that’s going on.

First off, let me stress that if you end up going to one of the ticketed events, the cost of the ticket will include a signed book. 

Every event is a little different though. Different venues have different rules. You should look below for details, and if worse comes to worst, ask a question in the comments and I’ll answer it.

Tour Stops (in chronological order)

  • October 28: Portland OR
7:30pm, Hosted by Powell’s Books,
Newmark Theatre
1111 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97205
 
Facebook Event
Tickets available here. Tickets are $28.95 and include a copy of the book.

There are some unfortunate surcharges attached to this ticket price. To make it up to you, I contacted The Doubleclicks, and asked them if they’d be willing to do a couple songs to open the show. They graciously agreed, so you’re going to get a little something extra there.

If I’ve had enough caffeine, I might even sing a song with them….

  • October 29:  San Diego CA
 7:30pm, Mysterious Galaxy
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Phone: 858-268-4747
Facebook Event

People who buy books at the store starting on Release Day will get a number ticket for the line. Everyone is welcome, but folks who bought their books through Mysterious Galaxy will get to be first in line. They’re hosting the event, so that’s fair…

  • October 30:  Seattle WA
7:00pm, Hosted by University Book Store,
University Temple
1415 NE 43rd St.
Seattle, WA 98105
Facebook Event
Tickets available here.

Tickets for this event are $18.95. Each ticket will get seats for TWO people and one signed book.

Also, we’ve got the fabulous Molly Lewis doing a couple songs to start off the show for me. Because I figure if you have a theater, you might as well do some real music in it, and for that, we need a real musician.

There may be singing….

  • October 31: Boswell Books, Milwaukee WI
7:00pm, Hosted by Boswell Book Company
The UWM Union Ballroom
2200 E. Kenwood Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53211
Facebook Event
Tickets available here.

The ticket price is $22.00 and includes a copy of the book. It’s Halloween, so costumes are encouraged….

  • November 1: Lexington KY
7:00pm, Joseph-Beth Booksellers
161 Lexington Green Circle
Lexington, KY 40503
Phone: 859-273-2911
Facebook Event
  • November 2: Skokie, IL
3:00pm  (Note Earlier Time)  Barnes & Noble
55 Old Orchard Center
Skokie, IL 60077
Phone: 847-676-2230
Facebook Event
  • November 3: Fenton, MO
7:00pm, Barnes & Noble
721 Gravois Road
Fenton, MO 63026
Facebook Event

*     *     *

And there we are. Not nearly as many events as I did with book two. But I have two kids now, Oot is five, and misses me when I’m gone. What’s more, Cutie is 10 months old, an age where he is composed entirely of giggles and grinning pink pudge.

20140828_213229

I can’t spend twenty days away from the both of them. It’s not healthy for them, and it’s not healthy for me.

If you have any questions, hit us in the comments below and we’ll do our best to answer.

And if you’re not close to any of those cities, stay tuned to the blog. I’ll be posting up information about how you can get signed copies of the book, even if you can’t make it to a signing…

See some of you soon,

pat

Also posted in appearances, Cutie Snoo, signing books | By Pat103 Responses

A Little Something to Tide You Over…..

Want to hear something strange?

My first short story ever has just been published.

I didn’t even realize it until just now, as I sat down to write this blog. But it’s the truth.

Here’s the thing. I’ve been published in anthologies before. That happened long ago in 2002 with Writers of the Future Vol 18. That was the publication that got me started.

My piece in that anthology was called “The Road to Levinshir.”

But it wasn’t really a short story.

For one thing, if you want to be nit-picky, it was 14,000 words, and that makes it a novella. Or a novelette, to be precise.

But the bigger issue is that the “story” in addition to being not short, wasn’t really even a story. By which I mean it wasn’t a self-contained discrete entity unto itself. It was an excerpt from my as-then unpublished novel, which bore the embarrassing title “The Song of Flame and Thunder.”

(Most of you have read a much-revised piece of this story in its proper context, as a part of The Wise Man’s Fear.)

Later, people asked me if I’d like to reprint that story. Since I’d revised it fairly substantially, my response was pretty much, “Woo! Someone wants to print my stuff!”

Levinshir anthologies

All three of these anthologies contain versions of “The Road to Levinshir” (Or “Levenshir” depending on my mood.)

But as I’ve already mentioned, it wasn’t really a proper short story.

My first proper published short story has just come out in Unfettered.

cover-unfettered

I mentioned it on the blog a while back, letting people know they could pre-order it. But that was more than half a year ago. A lot has happened since then.

This is an anthology where a bunch of authors pitched in stories to help out a friend, Shawn Speakman. He was was having trouble with his medical bills after getting cancer, beating it, then getting a whole *different* type of cancer years later when no health insurance would cover him.

Here’s a list of the authors involved.

Terry Brooks
Patrick Rothfuss
Naomi Novik
Brandon Sanderson
RA Salvatore
Tad Williams
Jacqueline Carey
Daniel Abraham
Peter V. Brett
Robert VS Redick
Peter Orullian
Todd Lockwood
Carrie Vaughn
Blake Charlton
Kevin Hearne
Mark Lawrence
David Anthony Durham
Jennifer Bosworth
Lev Grossman
Michael J. Sullivan
Eldon Thompson
Shawn Speakman

Seriously. That’s a hell of a line-up. I couldn’t hope for better company.

My story is set in the four corners world. It’s called, “How Old Holly Came to Be.”

It’s not like anything I’ve ever written before. By which I mean it’s short, and I finished it before my deadline.

I kid. I kid. What I really mean is that it’s a very different sort of story.

You can order the book in all manner of formats over here on Shawn’s website.

Or, if you like, you can buy a copy off the Tinker’s Packs.

I’m not going to lie to you, if you buy a copy in our online store, it’s going to be more expensive. But that’s because not only is money going to Shawn, but money is going to Worldbuilders, too.

But to make up for the expense, I’ll happily sign it for you. And in addition to helping two good causes, you’ll know that you’re getting a first edition copy. Shawn printed fewer than 10,000 of these from what I understand, and I don’t know if or when there will ever be another print run. So it’s kinda a grab-them-while-you-can sort of situation….

And if you’re feeling extra bookish, we’ve got a scattering of signed books from other authors we’ve thrown up recently in The Tinker’s Packs as well. Most of those we only have a a few of, so when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Have a good weekend,

pat

Also posted in Fuck Cancer, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat85 Responses

Pre-Order of Unfettered

So, to cut right to the chase here, I’ve got a story coming out in an anthology next spring.

The anthology is called Unfettered. I’m in there with Terry Brooks, Brandon Sanderson, Tad Williams, Naomi Novik….

Well… a lot of cool people, basically. If you click to embiggen the cover, you can read the whole list of authors for yourself.

You can go pre-order copies over here.

My advice? If you want one of the limited-edition copies, signed by all the authors, you should probably hop over there sooner rather than later. They aren’t going to last long.

And to answer the question before anyone asks it in the comments below: Yes, my story is set in the Four Corners world.

It’s called, “How Old Holly Came To Be.”

If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you might actually remember me talking about how I wrote it in a single day about a year ago.

I’m excited about this anthology for a couple reasons.

First and most obviously, because there are a lot of really good writers in there. I’m actually really excited to read it.

Second, when you write kinda slowly, like I do. And you revise obsessively, like I do. And you write books that are really long, like I do. It means there are long gaps in between your published books. It’s been more than a year since I’ve had anything new to show y’all. So I’m glad this is coming out to help give y’all something new of mine to read….

Lastly, the proceeds from the book go to a good cause. You can read more about that over here if you want.

More news soon,

pat

Also posted in being awesome, book covers, cool things | By Pat51 Responses

And it’s off to the printer….

For those of you who haven’t heard the news, my new pet project is going to be coming out at the end of June.

While I’ve mentioned the book on the blog before, it’s only been while talking about something else, like the fundraiser or my recent road-trip.

Today, after talking about the final edits before we send the book off to the printer, I figured it was time that I give The Princess and Mr. Whiffle its very own blog. Especially as it will be coming out in just a couple months.

The other reason I wanted to mention it here is so that you folks who care enough about my stuff to check the blog regularly have a chance of actually buying one.

So here’s the brief pitch. It looks like a children’s book, but it’s really not. Seriously. It’s more like an old-school faerie tale, and I’m profoundly, almost ridiculously proud of how it’s turned out. If you have a dark sense of humor, odds are you’ll enjoy it. If not, you probably want to avoid it.

Here’s the deal: this book’s print run isn’t very big. And I have a lot of readers. That means there’s a very decent chance that the book will sell out.

In fact, there’s a good chance it might sell out really, really quickly.

That means if you want to make sure you get one, you should probably pre-order a copy. Here’s a link to the publisher’s website.

And before somebody says, “why don’t you just print more books?” let me explain that I’m just the writer here. The publisher makes all those decisions. I don’t have any say in how big the print run is.

Okay. My work here is done. Consider yourselves fairly warned.

Hope y’all have a lovely weekend, folks. Myself, I have to go dress up as Zeus for a parade….

pat

Also posted in cool news, Nathan Taylor, The Adventures of The Princess and Mr. Whiffle | By Pat132 Responses
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