Published: February 5, 2012

Final Donations, Final Days

This is a Worldbuilders blog.

This is it, folks. The last blog of author-donated books for this year’s fundraiser.

We’ve got some really good stuff in here, enough books for two blogs, really. But these are the final days of the fundraiser, so we’re going for one big, action-packed blog instead.

As I write this, we’re less than 500 dollars away from breaking $250,000. I honestly didn’t think we were going to make it. Now I’m curious to see how high things will manage to go before the fundraiser is over at midnight on Feb 7th.

And just to be clear that includes all of Feb 7th. And yes, I know I should technically say the fundraiser ends at 11:59 PM CST on February 7th, but that’s cumbersome. We all know what midnight on the 7th really means…

Will I still count your donation if it’s a little late? Yeah, we’ll probably still include you in the prize drawing and match your donation 50%. But why wait when you can just head over to the Worldbuilders Team Page and donate right now?

And remember, for every 10 bucks you kick in, you have the chance of winning some something from among the thousands of books folks have already donated.

Plus the books we’re adding today, of course….

  • An Advance Reader Copy of Redshirts by John Scalzi. Signed by the man himself.

(Book modeled by the Amazing Athena)

Though I’d never say it to his face, John Scalzi is a hell of a nice guy.

I’m not just saying that because he’s always been kind to me and given me good advice. I’m not saying it because invited me to be part his Clash of the Geeks anthology a while back.

It’s not even because he recently teamed up with Bill Schafer of Subterranean press to donate a week’s worth of profit from his most recent e-book to Planned Parenthood after Komen pulled their support. (If you head over there and buy a copy before the 8th, you can support the cause, too.)

No. The real reason I’m fond of John Scalzi is because he sent me an early look at his upcoming novel Redshirts.

At 20 pages in, I was really enjoying it. At 30 pages in, I was laughing out loud in the restaurant where I was sitting, reading it. Around page 43, I got out my phone and called him just to gush about how much I was enjoying it.

I finished the book later that day, thought I should have been doing other things, and was delighted to discover that it was brilliant to the very end. (Which isn’t always the case.) When I e-mailed John to tell him that I’d love to blurb it, he offered to donate an Advance Reading Copy to Worldbuilders.

That means if you win it in the auction, the lottery you can read it long before it comes out in June. This will improve your herd rank among other geeks and give you a great opportunity to be smug.

I won’t go on about how much I loved the book. But if you’re really curious, you can read the review I wrote on Goodreads.

  • Six copies of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Signed by the author.

This is one of the handful of books that I liked well enough to blurb last year. The publishers liked the quote well enough that they put it on the back cover of the UK edition:

Laini was also cool enough to send along four copies of the audiobook of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, too. So we’ll add those to the fundraiser as well.

  • Four audio book copies of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

  • One hardcover set of The Mortal Instruments Books One through Three: City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass by Cassandra Clare.  Signed by the author.

“Clare’s atmospheric setting is spot-on, informed equally by neo-gothic horror films and the modern fantasy leanings of Neil Gaiman. Fans of the smart/chic horror typified by Buffy the Vampire Slayer will instantly fall for this new series.” – Publishers Weekly

  • One hardcover set of The Infernal Devices Books One and Two: Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare.  Signed by the author.

“Mysteries, misdirection, and riddles abound. . . . Fans of the Mortal Instruments series and newcomers alike won’t be disappointed.” – Publishers Weekly

  • One paperback set of Goblin Hero and Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines.  Signed by the author.

“Hines recognizes that wisdom is most often common sense, and that mouthing off to the big guy with the sword is a very bad idea.” – Tanya Huff, author of Smoke and Ashes.

  • One hardcover set of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell.  Signed by the author.

“Tobias S. Buckell is a dazzling new voice.” – Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids

“Tobias Buckell is stretching the horizons of science fiction and giving readers a hell of a lot of swashbuckling fun in the bargain.” — John Scalzi, bestselling author of Old Man’s War

  • One first edition hardcover set of The Edge of Reason and The Edge of Ruin by Melinda Snodgrass. Signed by the author.

“If H. P. Lovecraft and H. L. Mencken had ever collaborated, they might have come up with something like The Edge of Reason. This one will delight thinkers-and outrage true believers-of all stripes.” – George R. R. Martin

  • One set of Wild Cards novels: Wild Cards I, Inside Straight, Suicide Kings, and Busted Flush, edited by George R. R. Martin. Signed by many of the authors.

“Delicious… Everything I’d hoped for in a new Wild Cards book. The character interactions and plot twists have exactly the complexity, surprise, and unsentimental realism I’d expect out of a George R. R. Martin project.” – Austin Grossman

  • One set of Jennifer Brozek-edited anthologies and an audiobook of The Tasty Collection, read by Andrew Mayor.  All signed by Jennifer Brozek.

“You’ll hear echoes of Stephen King’s The Stand, David Brin’s The Postman and even Cormac McCarthy’s The Road as you read this series of stories about the survivors of a great plague. The stories are varied and lively, and their talented authors lead you (sometimes kicking and screaming) toward sanctuary.” – Patrick Swenson

  • Two sets of the complete Rai-Kirah series: Transformation, Revelation, and Restoration by Carol Berg.  Signed by the author.

“Superbly textured, splendidly characterized, this spellbinding tale provides myriad delights for the fantasy connoisseur.”  – RT Book Reviews

  • One complete series of The Novels of the Collegia Magica: The Spirit Lens, The Soul Mirror, and The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg.  Signed by the author.

“Set in a world in which the implacable laws of science war with the resonances of magical power for supremacy, Berg’s novel is rich with vivid characters and unforgettable places…an infectiously enjoyable series opener that fans of thought-provoking fantasy and intriguing mystery should appreciate.”  – Library Journal

  • One bound galley of Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg.  Signed by the author.

“Berg brings to life every stone in a peaceful monastery and every nuance in a stratified society, describing the difficult dirty work of ordinary life as beautifully as she conveys the heart-stopping mysticism of holiness just beyond human perception.”  – Sharon Shinn, author of Troubled Waters

  • One US trade paperback re-release of The Song of the Beast by Carol Berg. Signed by the author.

“Berg’s fascinating fantasy is a puzzle story, with a Celtic-flavored setting and a plot as intricate and absorbing as fine Celtic lacework…. the characters are memorable, and Berg’s intelligence and narrative skill make this stand-alone fantasy most commendable.” – Booklist

  • Two first edition hardcover copies of Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. Signed by the author.

“This book is an achievement. Readers… will be transported.” – Sunday Times

  • One hardcover copy of Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed.  Signed by the author.

“Ahmed is a master storyteller in the grand epic tradition.  Swashbuckling adventure, awesome mystery, a bit of horror, and all of it written beautifully.  A real treat!” – N. K. Jemisin, Locus award-wining author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Pat’s Note: This book is also an ARC. The final version of the book won’t be hitting the shelves until June. So if you win it, you get to be reading way ahead of the curve…

“The best debut I’ve read all year! Nightshifted is simply amazing!” – Kat Richardson

  • One set of Jabberwocky and Hatter by Daniel Coleman. Signed by the author.

“The surprising story inspired by Lewis Carroll’s epic poem. You might know how it ends, but you won’t believe how it happens.”

  • Seven Hardcover copies of The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Signed by the author.

  • Four sets of The Magicians, The Magician King (audio book) and a Brakebills University t-shirt from Lev Grossman. Book and audio book are signed by the author.
Pat’s Note: I did a gushy write-up about The Magicians back when I first read it. I liked it enough to write a blog about it over here.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Take George Martin’s instead: “The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea.”

*     *     *

Well folks, that’s the last of the books for this year.

Remember that for every 10 dollars you donate on the Worldbuilders team page, you get a chance to win these books and many, many more. What’s more, worldbuilders will match your donation by 50%.

We also have a few auctions still running, you can find them 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 the main page here.

Posted in Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat43 Responses
Published: February 3, 2012

The League of Reluctant Adults

This is a Worldbuilders blog.

Well, after yesterday’s post, we cleared our previous goal of 225,000 dollars, and it was with some hesitation that I moved our new goal up to the full 250K.

I hope we can make it in the next four days.

Today we have a bunch of books donated by The League of Reluctant Adults. A group of authors who have banded together in order to fight crime and protect our world from alien threats. When they’re not doing that, they also maintain a pretty interesting blog.

In this blog, they’ve banded together to send Worldbuilders a bunch of signed books…

  • A first edition of Succubus Blues and the first four issues of Dark Swan by Richelle Mead. All signed by the author.

“Richelle Mead delivers sexy action and tongue-in-cheek hellish humor—if damnation is this fun, sign me up! ” —Lilith Saintcrow.

  • One audio book of Downpour by Kat Richardson. Case is signed by the author.

“Reading a Greywalker novel is the pinnacle of literary escapism for me. It’s full immersion from the very first words. Downpour begins in typical Richardson style – a brilliant hook and a subtle reference to Chandler all in the first few sentences.”–Paul Goat Allen

  • One set of four books of The Simon Canderous Series by Anton Strout. All signed by the author.

“Following Simon’s adventures is like being the pinball in an especially antic game, but it’s well worth the wear and tear.” – Charlaine Harris

Pat’s Note: As I have mentioned on several occasions, Anton Strout is my mortal enemy. He is the focus of many of my evil schemes, and I once had fortune cookies printed up that encouraged people to kill him.

But still, that doesn’t keep us from occasionally doing a podcast together as demonstrated by Episode 18 of his Once and Future Podcast…

  • One copy of A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang. Signed by the author.

“Fun and utterly vibrant! Anyone looking for wit, verve, and a fascinatingly complex world in their urban fantasy can stop right here! Allison Pang has what you need.” – Jill Myles

  • One set of Mark of the Demon, Blood of the Demon, Secrets of the Demon, and Sins of the Demon by Diana Rowland. All are signed by the author.

“Rowland’s hot streak continues as she gives her fans another big helping of urban fantasy goodness!… The plot twists are plentiful and the action is hard-edged. Another great entry in this compelling series.” – RT Book Reviews

  • One copy of My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland. Signed by the author.

“An intriguing mystery and a hilarious mix of the horrific and mundane aspects of zombie life open a promising new series from Rowland… Humor and gore are balanced by surprisingly touching moments.” – Publishers Weekly

  • One set of the Disillusionists: Mind Games and Double Cross by Carolyn Crane. Signed by the author.

Pat’s Note: Disillustionists is one of those titles that I wish I’d come up with first….

“A violent U-turn in a fresh direction… this is urban fantasy’s new shot-in-the-arm.” – National bestselling author Vicki Pettersson

  • One copy of A Shot in the Dark by K. A. Stewart. Signed by the author.


“Lots of fun, deftly witty, and one of the most appealing central characters of recent years.” – New York Times Bestselling Author Simon R. Green


“Dark, dangerous, and delectable…Impossible to put down!” – Gena Showalter, New York Times Bestselling Author

  • One copy of Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells. Signed by the author.


“Hold on tight — a gritty new heroine has joined the pantheon of shoot-first, ask-questions-later protagonists. Despite the blistering pace and darkness of the plot, [Wells] neatly balances things with a deft smattering of humor.” – Romantic Times Book Lovers magazine

  • One set of Staked, Revamped and Crossed by J. F. Lewis. Signed by the author.

“Raucous, raunchy blood-opera… very satisfying.” – Dark Realms magazine

  • One set of The Anna Strong Chronicles by Jeanne C. Stein. Signed by the author.

“A heroine with the charm, savvy and intelligence that fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Kim Harrison will be happy to root for.” – Publishers Weekly

  • One set of The Iron Druid Chronicles: Hounded, Hexed and Hammered by Kevin Hearne. Signed by the author.

Pat’s note: I recently red these and really enjoyed them. Odds are if you enjoy Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, you’ll dig these too….

“Kevin Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original.” – Nicole Peeler, author of Tempest Rising

Pat’s Note: This is actually an ARC of the book that won’t be released until March. So winning this book not only means you get a cool book and a good read, it means you get to taunt your friends….

“Gritty and raw with powerful truths. An addictive read.” – Sophie Jordan New York Times bestselling author of Firelight

*     *     *

Remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on the Worldbuilders Team Page, you get a chance to win these books and over a thousand others.

To see the other books folks have donated, as well as our auctions, and the items we’re selling in the store, you can head over to our main page HERE.

Or, if you’d like to see all the auctions Worldbuilders is running, you can find them over here.

Posted in Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat21 Responses
Published: February 2, 2012

200K Blog: The Golden Ticket(s)

This is a Worldbuilders blog.

Back in 2009 we ran a few Worldbuilders auctions as an experiment to see if people would be interested.

Much to our delight, folks jumped all over the option of bidding on books and rare manuscripts. My read-and-critique sold for over a thousand dollars. In the blog comments people said I should auction things like “Dinner with Pat” or “Have Pat wash your car” or “Run your hands through Pat’s majestic beard.”

There were even a few e-mails requesting I auction… *ahem* intimate things. Things that I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to sell unless you live in some of more socially progressive parts of Nevada.

Anyway, there were a lot of these comments and e-mails, so I decided to have some fun with it.

I decided to auction off a favor. If you won the auction, you could ask me for something. And if it was within my power, I’d do it. (With a few limitations, of course.)

I called the favor the Golden Ticket because it sounded slightly less geeky than referring to it in terms of a D&D spell or a Disney movie:

(Is it just me, or is this picture a little creepy?)

I put it up on e-bay, and to make a long story short, the Golden Ticket sold for over 15,000 dollars.

The auction was a success. But it was a mildly disturbing success. I could *one* person out there who wanted a favor enough to spend 15,000 dollars on it. But for the bidding to get that high meant there had to be TWO people like that. It weirded me out a bit…

Over the years, hundreds of people have asked what the winner wanted. My response has usually been, “I should really post about that on the blog, shouldn’t I?”

So, finally, here’s the answer:

The winner was Bill Schaefer of Subterranean Press. (He’s the one who published The Adventures of The Princess and Mr. Whiffle.)

What happened was this: When Bill found out about the auction, he called me up and asked if he could use the golden ticket to get me to write a novella for Subterranean press.

At this point, the bidding was already at a couple thousand dollars. So I told him, “Sure. But you’ll have to wait until I’m done with book two. People would kill me if I did a story with you before I finished that….”

Bill agreed, then waded into the bidding, fists swinging. In the end, he won. What’s more, he offered to buy the novella from me and pay the $15,000 to Worldbuilders out of his profits. Which means he was effectively paying for it twice.

Since then, Bill has been waiting with Buddha-like patience for his story. After three years, the novella is almost finished. It’s the main thing I worked on when I tried NaNoWriMo this year.

And to preemptively answer your questions: There’s no title yet. There’s no pub date yet. You can’t order it yet.

Rest assured that I’ll post about it here as soon as there’s solid news to share.

Since then there have been a few other golden ticket winners. When cashing in their favors, people have requested that I:

  • Have dinner with them while we were both out at San Diego Comic-Con.
  • Come to their college and do a reading/workshop about creative writing.
  • Give them a full body massage.

I’m just kidding about the last one. Probably.

There. Now that you know the story of the previous Golden Ticket winners. Let’s add two to this year’s fundraiser:

Edit: Just to be clear, I’m adding two tickets. One is going into the general lottery. The second is being auctioned off on e-bay.

  • The Golden Ticket.

This is going into the general lottery. That means anyone who donates at least 10 dollars on the Worldbuilders team page has a chance to win it. The more you donate, the better your chances.

This year though, some things will be different.

Here’s a few details you should know:

The golden ticket will actually be a ring.

I figure if I’m going to keep doing this, I should stop stealing from Roald Dahl’s books and start stealing from my own.

So, in the fine traditions of the Maer’s court, you’ll be getting a gold ring with my name on it. The ring will be real gold, designed by the same lovely folk at Badali Jewelry who did the Eolian talent pipes.

(In a perfect world, I’d have a picture of the ring to show you. But the design isn’t finished yet. Just trust me for now. The folks at Badali do amazing work. It will be cool.)

This ring will be the physical embodiment of the favor. When you want to cash in the favor, you’ll give the ring back to me. If you want to keep the ring forever, you can. You can keep it forever and never cash in the favor at all, if that’s what you want to do.

If you give the ring to a friend, then they give it to me, I’ll do a favor for them instead.

If you lose the ring, you’re screwed. You’ve lost the favor.

For more than a month now, I’ve been trying to decide if this is a stupid idea. I’ve worried it will make me look too geeky.

And you know what? I decided I don’t care if it’s kinda geeky. I mean really, what’s the point of being a fantasy author if you can’t be a bit of a geek now and then?

What sort of favor can you ask for?

Here are some guidelines:

1. The favor has to be legal. (More or less.)
2. The favor has to be something I can actually do. (Duh)
3. The favor can’t be something I find morally reprehensible.

I won’t do something like endorse a political candidate I found disgusting. Along a similar line, wouldn’t blurb your book as a favor. I’d *read* it as a favor, and if I really enjoyed it I’d give it a blurb. But blurbing a book I don’t *really* like would be dishonest.

Other than that, the rules are going to be old-fashioned common sense. No, I won’t give you all my money. No, I won’t kick a puppy. No, I won’t change book three so that, say, Kvothe and Elodin have a sex scene. Or Kvothe and Ambrose have a sex scene. Or so someone dies, or doesn’t die, or has a threesome with Bast and Chronicler, or whatever. Sorry.

What *can* you ask for? Here’s a few things I’d easily agree to:

  • We can hang out over dinner at a convention we’re both attending.
  • I’d critique your manuscript.
  • I’d come to your convention or do a reading at your local library/bookstore.
  • I’d perform your wedding ceremony. (Someone asked about this.)
  • I’d put your name in book three.
  • I’d let you be a beta reader for some of my upcoming stories.

Some things will require a little negotiation, of course. I’ve discussed getting your name in the book on the blog before, for example.

Similarly, if someone wanted me to come out to their house, make them dinner, and tell them a story, I’d be cool with it provided:

1) They didn’t mind waiting until I can work it into my travel plans.
2) They like pasta.
3) They don’t kill me and wear my skin like a coat.

See how easy I am to work with?

Now that that’s clear. Let’s put another golden ticket up for auction:

  • AUCTION: The Golden Ticket.

(It won’t really look like the One Ring. It won’t be surrounded by fire, either. But trust me, it will still look cool.)

Bill from Subterranean has told me that he will be bowing out of the auction this year. So as of now it’s anyone’s game.

Rather than get bogged down in endless rules or examples. Here’s the plain-language commitment I’m making to you if you win this auction.

If you win the golden ticket, I’ll do my level best to fulfill any reasonable favor you ask of me.

Click here to bid on the Golden Ticket auction.

Or, if you’d like to see all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running, you can click  here.

*     *     *

Remember, if you chip in on our team page before February 7th, Worldbuilders will match 50% of your donation. And every $10 you donate gives you a chance to win all manner of cool stuff in the lottery.

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

Posted in Golden Ticket, Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat78 Responses
Published: January 31, 2012

150K Blog: Rare Books and a Chance to Game with Pat

This is a Worldbuilders blog.

As I write this, we’ve raised over $202,000 which means we’ve beaten last year’s total by over ten thousand dollars.

This seems to indicate that we, as a group, are awesome.

I’m going to celebrate by moving our donation goal up to 225K. Part of me wants to shoot for 250K. It would be nice to say, “We raised a quarter million dollars this year.” But we only have a week left, and I don’t want my reach to exceed my grasp….

Unfortunately, this burst of generosity draws attention to the fact that I haven’t posted the 150K bonus blog yet.

I’ve been slow posting this blog because I wanted to do something a special for this milestone. Specifically, I wanted to post up a video of me reading a picture book to y’all.

The book is called Beatrice’s Goat, and it’s the story that made me fall in love with Heifer International.

I’m donating 10 copies to the fundraiser:

I’ve been planning this for months. I got permission from Heifer International to read the book in a video. I found a guy that does video editing here in Stevens Point. I looked into the proper pronunciations for the names….

I even (and this should really underline how seriously I was taking things) got a haircut so I wouldn’t look like a hobo on the video. Or at the very least, I’d look like a halfway respectable hobo.

Lastly, in a stroke of genius, I decided to bring my son into the project. He’s way more photogenic than I am, and he loves books. Why wouldn’t I shoot a video of me reading the book to him?

So yesterday I got the edited video back, sat down to to watch it…. and was appalled.

The problem is my voice, you see. I never realized that my voice goes up about three quarters of an octave when I read to little Oot.

You know how that uncomfortable feeling you get when you hear your own voice played back from a recording? That’s how I felt watching the video, except about a hundred times worse. I was in a constant state of cringe.

I know it’s a silly thing to be embarrassed about, but I don’t know if I want a video out there of me reading to my son in this goofy-ass voice.

Why am I telling y’all this? Well, over the last month, I’ve told a lot of people that I was planning on posting the video, so I figured I owed you an explanation as to why I’m not posting it up here with the books.

Sorry to sissy out on y’all…. Let me make it up to you by tossing some more cool stuff into the fundraiser.

*     *     *

As some of you on facebook might have already seen, when I was out at Confusion a week ago, a bunch of authors got together and played a game of D&D. Old school D&D. AD&D.

There was a lot of talent at the table: Peter V. Brett, Joe Abercrombie, Jim Hines, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and Jay Lake. Myke Cole and Saladin Ahmed ran things.

Brent Weeks did a write up of the adventure over here, if you want to hear the epic details of how we were almost killed by goblins.

Simply said, it was a great time. I got to cast Magic Missile and everything.

In order to pass on some of the geeky love, I’ve decided to run a game at the next convention I’m attending: Stellarcon 36.

So if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have an adventure in the Four Corners, this is your chance to find out.

The winners of this auction will get to play in a one-shot role-playing geekfest set in the Four Corners world. You will join Pat Rothfuss and Steve Long of HERO Games for a collaborative storytelling experience of such intensity that it will doubtless leave you a shattered wreck of a human being.

Pat will pre-generate characters and provide a brief explanation of the HERO gaming system. (You don’t need to know the system in order to play and enjoy the game.) The game will be run on Saturday, March 3, 2012 in the afternoon or evening.

In addition to a seat at the gaming table, the winners of these auctions will receive free memberships to StellarCon 36 where the game will be held.

StellarCon 36 runs from March 2nd – 4th, 2012. The convention will be held at the Best Western High Point Hotel in High Point, North Carolina.

Please note: this auction does not include food, lodging, or transportation to the convention.

Two more seats will be in auctioned or raffled off at the convention itself on March 3rd. Folks who are through registration by 11:00 AM will definitely still be able to throw their name in the hat and/or bid on those at the convention.

You can bid on the first game seat here.

The second seat here.

And the third seat here.

Or you can stalk all the auctions at once by following this link.

  • 10 first edition hardcover copies of The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. The first WMF books ever signed by Pat.

I wasn’t going to include any copies of my book in the fundraiser, then Penguin sent a couple boxes of books along to help out with the fundraiser.

They were the last remaining books that I signed in New York back in January of 2011, months before the book was even out. I wrote about the surreal experience in the blog.

I’ve taken the liberty of dating these books January 26, 2011. Which makes them something of a rarity, as they’re dated two months before the publication date.

  • One hardcover copy of Subterranean Press’s Tales of Dark Fantasy.

A long out-of-print collection featuring an early version of my short story, “The Road to Levinshir,” as well as stories by other notable authors like Mike Carey and Poppy Z Bright.

  • Three first edition copies of The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle. Signed by the authors and doodled by Nate Taylor.

These are first edition copies that Nate was kind enough to doodle in:

I wish I could doodle….

  • Three hardcover copies of Gollancz 50th anniversary edition of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

Gollancz printed retro-style copies of 5 classic fantasy books in celebration of their 50th year in publishing. The fact that Name of the Wind made it into the mix still makes me blushy with pride.

The introduction in this book by Steaphen Deas makes me kinda blushy, too.

  • One copy of Your College Survival Guide. Signed by Patrick Rothfuss and doodled by B.J. Hiorns.

This book was my first publication from back in 2005. A shameful piece of my sordid past.

It’s a collection of of humor columns I wrote for the college paper between 1999 and 2003. Columns dealt with pressing philosophical issues such as the fast zombie/slow zombie debate as well as everyday problems like how to bribe your professor or start a career as a prostitute.

The book is full of illustrations by BJ Hiorns, the same guy that occasionally illustrates my blog. It also contains annotations where I explain how some columns got written, the lies I told, and what sort of trouble various jokes got me into.

Only 500 of these were printed, and I have less than a dozen left.

The last time I looked online, the only ones I could find were being sold for over 800 bucks on Amazon:

Here’s the doodle Brett did in this one.

You can see why I love him….

  • AUCTION: One-of-a-kind Leather-bound Hardcover of  The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

(Click to Embiggen. It’s worth it.)

Last but not least, we have a real gem.

This is a one-of-a-kind copy of The Name of the Wind, hand-bound in leather by bookbinder Hunter Ford.

This hardcover book is bound in blue Northamptonshire goat leather and decorated with gold acrylic paint. Printed on acid-free paper with marbled end pages, it is 636 pages with size 12 font and narrow margins.

It’s not just a rare book, it’s a unique book. And I’ll gladly sign it to the winner, if the winner so desires.

Our thanks to Hunter Ford for this treasure.

To see more pictures or bid on this book, click here.

*     *     *

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

Even better, if you chip in before February 7th of 2012, Worldbuilders will match 50% of your donation.

If you’d like to see all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running, you can find them over here.

Or, 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.

Posted in a billion links, BJ Hiorns Art, gaming, geeking out, Tales from the Con, Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat40 Responses
Published: January 30, 2012

Gaiman and Goats: Gifts that Keep on Giving

Those of you who have been following Worldbuilders for a couple years will probably recognize this book.

It’s a book with a story behind it. And the story goes like this.

2008: A gift from Gaiman.

On a whim in 2008, I decided to try raising money for Heifer International. Things quickly spiraled out of control (in a good way) and soon all sorts of authors were mentioning the fundraiser on their blogs and donating books to help out.

The pinnacle of the coolness/madness came when Neil Gaiman mentioned us to his vast legion of readers. He also donated a rare ARC of Stardust to the cause.

Unfortunately, the mail was slow around the holidays, and we didn’t get hold of the book until after that year’s fundraiser was over. That meant we couldn’t use it until….

2009: Stardust for the people.

The second year of the fundraiser was going well, but I was having a hard time deciding how best to use Gaiman’s beautiful donation. I knew I could auction it off and raise at least a thousand dollars…. but that didn’t seem right somehow.

So in the end, I decided to put it into the lottery, that way anyone who donated to Heifer on our team page would have a chance at winning it. That seemed fair to me, more egalitarian.

At the end of the fundraiser someone wins it, and in a surprise turn of generosity, they donate it straight back to Worldbuilders. Their one stipulation is that I auction it off next year, so it can bring in more money for Heifer next year.

2010: Stardust on the auction block.

During year three of Worldbuilders, we auctioned off all manner of things. And as the previous winner requested, we put Gaiman’s copy of the Stardust ARC up on e-bay too.

After some fierce bidding it sold for over $2500 to a lovely guy named Dan. There were many high-fives in Worldbuilders central. We were sad to see the book go, but $2500 bucks buys a lot of goats.

But when I e-mailed Dan to arrange shipping, he said he wanted to donate the book back to Worldbuilders.

I asked Dan if he was sure. He said he was sure. I asked Dan how he got to be so cool, and he said he was inspired by the story of how last year’s winner re-donated the book.

But most of the credit, he said, should go to his mom. She always made a point of donating to charity even though she never had a lot of money. Not only that, but she was a died-in-the-wool geek like the rest of us: she read fantasy and sci-fi, she played Infocom games…

From everything I’ve heard, she sounds like my kind of lady.

Dan told me she had passed away recently, and that most of the money he inherited from her went into buying this book. He thinks she would be proud and happy to know that the money will go to helping as many people as possible through Heifer.

Dan also said that he was a big Gaiman fan, and that he hoped that this whole exchange didn’t give Gaiman a complex because nobody would keep his book….

Dan’s only stipulation was that we put the book back into the general lottery next year, so anyone would be able to win it….

2011: Full circle.

As per Dan’s request, we’re not including the ARC in the Worldbuilders auctions this year. (Though we do have some other stuff in there from Gaiman and some other big-name authors, if you want to go look.)

Instead, we’re putting the book back into the general lottery, where anyone can win it:

  • A rare, numbered ARC of Stardust. Signed by Neil Gaiman.

Not much remains to be said here. It’s a beautiful book with its own slipcase. Numbered 28 out of 250. Signed by Gaiman.

You have a chance of winning it if you donate on our Team Heifer page before Feb 7th.

How much of a chance do you have of winning this book or one of the other thousands of books that have been donated to the fundraiser?

Well, funny you should ask, because today I’ve been doing a little math….

A brief discussion of odds.

Last year, I tried to calculate what the odds of winning a book from Worldbuilders would be. After careful calculation, I shamed myself by declaring that if someone donated 170 dollars to the fundraiser, they would have a better than 100% chance of winning a prize.

Specifically, they’d have a  106.25 % chance of winning something.

It was bold math, considering the fact that conventional wisdom tells us you can’t have more than 100% likelihood of anything happening.

Luckily some of my clever readers clued me in to the fact that while my math was strong, my understanding of binomial distributions was somewhat flawed.

I’d like to suggest that my carefully calculated 106.25% actually reflected the likelihood of winning a prize in any number of alternate realities, combined with the chance of having two prizes delivered to your house due to a shipping mistake at the post office.

Yeah. Not my proudest math moment. You can see the whole shameful thing over here if you’re interested.

Anyway, this year I looked up what the hell a binomial was and brought in some helpful facebook friends to check my math.

For those of you who don’t care about the numbers, here’s the non-math version:

We have so many books.

(Click to Embiggen and you can actually read the titles….)

This isn’t even all of them. This is just the books on one wall that we’ve put up on the blog. We’ve got another 100-150 books that we’ll be adding before the fundraiser is over on Feb 7th.

So let’s say you donate 20 bucks, enough to give a family a flock ducklings.

Your odds of winning something are really good. They’re like, a hajillion times better than winning the lottery. Roughly two-point-five hajillion times better.

For those of you who do like numbers, here’s the mathy version:

As of now, we’ve raised $185,000 for Heifer, and there are almost exactly 800 prizes in the fundraiser. Not just 800 books. (We’ve got way more than that.) There’s 800 prizes you can win, a lot of those prizes are sets of books, trilogies or longer series. Other prizes are limited editions, signed by the authors, or otherwise rare.

So let’s say you donate $30. That’s enough to give a family a hive of bees that will provide honey and pollinate plants, increasing the productivity of farms and gardens throughout the community.

With that $30 donation, your odds of winning at least one prize are better than 12%.

You could donate $120. That’s enough to buy a family a goat. The milk the goat produces means children have more protein and calcium in their diets, and the family can sell the extra milk as a source of income.

With that $120 donation, your odds of winning at least one prize are over 40%. Your odds of winning more than one prize are about 10%.

Let’s say you go all the way and donate $500, enough to buy a Heifer.

There’s a reason the project’s called Heifer International, you know. As their website says:

A good dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day – enough for a family to drink and share with neighbors. Milk protein transforms sick, malnourished children into healthy boys and girls. The sale of surplus milk earns money for school fees, medicine, clothing and home improvements.

Better still, every gift multiplies. The animal’s first offspring is passed to another family. That family also agrees to pass on an animal, and so on. Because a healthy cow can produce a calf every year, a single heifer will eventually help an entire community move from poverty to self-reliance.

If that isn’t enough for you, you should know that a $500 dollar donation gives you a 90% chance of winning some swag.

Lastly, keep in mind that if you donate on our team page before Feb 7th, Worldbuilders will match 50% of your donation. So in addition to getting good odds, and doing good work, you’re getting a good deal with a matching donation, too.

Will these odds change over time? Yeah. A little. As people donate more money, the odds will go down a bit. But we’re going to be adding new books to the fundraiser almost every day for the next week, and that will bring the odds back up.

*     *     *

Y’know, I didn’t plan on this being a long blog. My plan was to talk about Gaiman’s book, throw some odds at you, and call it an early evening.

The truth is, the Worldbuilders is a lot of work on this end, and I’ve been close to burning out. But looking at these pictures and talking about the good work that Heifer does… it’s actually made me excited about the fundraiser again.

Here are some kids in Romania that are growing up happier and healthier because of Heifer. You and me, we’re actually helping make this happen.

How cool is that?

We’ve got a little more than a week left, and I still have books to show you. We have a few more auctions to run, too.

Right now, if you really want to help, the best thing you can do is help spread the word. Talk to your friends. Drop your parents an e-mail. Point people toward the main Worldbuilders blog so they can see all the books that authors and publishers have donated.

Facebook it. Tweet it. Tell that cute hippy boy/girl in the coffee shop about it. You’ve been looking for an excuse to talk to them anyway, and this will make a great conversation starter….

We’ve got a week left, let’s go out with a bang.

pat

P.S. Some of our auctions will be ending soon. You might want to check them out before they’re finished.

Posted in fan coolness, Neil Gaiman, Stardust ARC, Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat36 Responses
Published: January 25, 2012

Miscellaneous Auctions

This is a Worldbuilders blog.

Okay. Today we’ve got stuff up for auction that, doesn’t really fit into any of the other blogs.

Among other things, we’ve got limited edition art from Neil Gaiman and Vincent Chong, signed bookplates from Pratchett and Robert Jordan, and the Arkenstone.

Yeah. Seriously. The Arkenstone.

The folks at Badali Jewelry, the folks that created the Eolian’s talent pipes for me, have been officially licensed by Middle-earth Enterprises to create a replica of the Arkenstone of Thrain.

Your Akenstone replica is made of fine K9 Crystal treated with an Aurora Borealis plating to give the stone a magical glow. The stone is nestled on a black velvet pillow inside a Dwarven crafted chest. The runes on the outside of the chest read Arkenstone, written in the same Dwarvish runes found on Thorin’s Map.

Many thanks to Badali Jewelry for this cool donation.

You can bid on this Arkenstone replica here.

  • AUCTION: Miss Austen Literary Pin-up Giclee by Lee Moyer.

In this numbered giclee print, (#2 of 4) by Lee Moyer we have the early version of the art that eventually became November’s pin-up in the  calendar we printed up for this year’s fundraiser.

For more details or to bid on the auction you can click over here.

  • AUCTION: Signed bookplate by Robert Jordan.

This bookplate bears the signature of Robert Jordan, the late author of the Wheel of Time series as well as many other books.

Rare for obvious reasons, this Wheel of Time bookplate was donated to Worldbuilders by a long-time Robert Jordan fan.

Bonus! This bookplate includes Brandon Sanderson’s signature. He is authoring the remainder of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

You can bid on this over here.

  • AUCTION: Signed bookplate by Sir Terry Prachett, OBE.

This is a signed bookplate by Sir Terry Prachett, OBE. It bears a black and white copy of Terry Prachett’s coat of arms, granted to him by the College of Arms in 2010 when he was knighted.

The motto means “Do not fear the Reaper.”

You can bid on this cool Prachett bookplate over here.

  • AUCTION: One 35mm Vintage Film Cell from The Last Unicorn film.

This is a vintage film cell from the classic animated movie, The Last Unicorn, animated by Rankin/Bass, the same production company that produced the original animated Hobbit.

Donated by Conlan Press, this unmounted film cell comes packaged in a clear envelope signed by Peter S. Beagle, who wrote both the novel and the screenplay for the movie.

You can find more information about the film cells on Peter Beagle’s web page and newsletter.

You can bid on this auction over here.

In keeping with our Last Unicorn theme, we have one 5ml bottle of Touched Twice, a perfume created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab to commemorate the Saturday, August 6th screening of The Last Unicorn/signing with author Peter S. Beagle.

This scent was only available during the signing for four hours. It will never be available again.

This was the very last bottle of the scent Black Phoenix had, and they were nice enough to give it to us for our fundraiser.

For more details, or to bid on this auction, click here.

  • AUCTION: The Damnation Game Limited Edition Bookmark by Vincent Chong.

Only 150 of these limited edition bookmarks were made. Cast in sterling silver, it is from Vincent Chong’s Illustrated Design Collection.

This special edition bookmark is smithed by Goldsmith Master Dougal Hazel, based on the artwork originally created by Vincent Chong for the Polish edition of Clive Barker’s first novel, The Damnation Game. It comes with a Damnation Game card that is autographed by Vincent Chong.

We got this gorgeous donation from Worldbuilder supporters Vincent Chong, Keith Brunkard, and Doug Hazel. Thanks much!

For more details, or to bid on this auction, click here.

  • AUCTION: A signed print of Thackery Lane by award-winning artist Vincent Chong.

Vincent Chong, five-time recipient of the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist, has sent Worldbuilders this gorgeous print of Thackery Lane. The original commission for this piece was as book cover art for The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell.

This print measures 11 ¾ inches by 16 ½ inches and is signed by Vincent Chong.

You may learn more about Vincent and view his work by visiting his website or his blog.

To bid on this print, click here.

  • AUCTION: A signed print of The Devil’s Tune by award-winning artist Vincent Chong.

Here we have a signed print of The Devil’s Tune by Vincent Chong. This print measures 11 ¾ inches by 16 ½ inches. The original commission for this piece was as book endpaper art for Horns by Joe Hill.

To bid on this print, click here.

  • AUCTION: Limited Neil Gaiman print: “How to Talk to Girls at Parties.”

This limited edition, 12″ x 18″ print by Camilla d’Errico shows us a dreamy interpretation of the otherworldly “girls” from Neil Gaimain’s Hugo nominated short story How to Talk to Girls at Parties. If you’d like, you can read the story here.

The print run on these was limited, and the few that remain are only being sold for charity.

This work of art measures 12″ x 18″ and was graciously donated by Neil Gaiman and Neverwear.

You can bid over here.

*     *     *

If you’d like to see all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running, you can find them over here.

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

Posted in Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat16 Responses
Published: January 24, 2012

Hugo Nominations

So a couple of weeks ago I was reading one of my favorite webcomics, and I noticed the author (Tarol Hunt) talking about the Hugo nominations in his blog.

(For those of you who don’t know, the Hugo Awards are a Pretty Big Deal in the sci-fi and fantasy publishing world. Winning a Hugo is kinda like getting a Grammy, or an Emmy, or an Academy Award.)

Anyway, I was really excited when I read Tarol’s blog, because it made me realize I still had a chance to submit my nominations for this year’s Hugos.

And, embarrassingly enough, I don’t think that’s something I’ve ever done before.

It’s something I *mean* to do every year. And it’s something I *can* do because I almost always go to Worldcon. And it’s something I *should* do in order to be a responsible member of the publishing community….

But the truth is, I’m King of not having my shit together.

Well… that’s a little extreme. Maybe I’m only the Duke of not having my shit together. But I’m probably also the Marquis of forgetting what day it is sometimes, and the Earl of losing track of things when I get busy, and I own substantial lands in the Barony of being profoundly fucking clueless.

It’s pretty complicated. There’s a lot of subinfeudation going on.

The upshot is that I was the kid who couldn’t go on the field trip because he forgot to get his permission slip signed. And I grew up into the guy who typically thinks about voting on the Hugos two or three days before the award ceremony.

But I’m getting better. Last year I managed to vote on the Hugos. And this year, thanks to that well-timed blog, I’m going to submit my nominations and help determine who gets on the ballot in the first place.

Which leads me to the point of this blog.

I’m not going to beat around the bush here. If you’re eligible to vote, I’d like you to consider nominating my editor, Betsy Wollheim, for Best Long Form Editor.

The simple reason is this, if not for her The Wise Man’s Fear simply wouldn’t exist.

Not only did Betsy take a risk on publishing big fat novel by an unknown author back in 2007. But when I was struggling with The Wise Man’s Fear, she gave me the time I needed to finish it.

She didn’t give it grudgingly, either. When I turned in my horrendously rough, patchwork first draft, Betsy told me that we needed to move the publication date so I had the time I needed to make the book better. I fought her on it, but she insisted. In doing so, she not only kept book two from being a incoherent, patchwork mess, but she she probably saved my entire career as well…

Luckily, Betsy knows what she’s doing. If not for her, I would have panicked, rushed, cut corners, and the end result would be that The Wise Man’s Fear would have been ‘meh’ at best. And more likely it would have been an absolute pile of shite.

So yeah. That’s all. I’m not going to go on singing her praises. That makes me feel like a lobbyist. The simple fact is that Betsy Wollheim was responsible for a lot of the goodness in The Wise Man’s Fear. She supported me when I really needed it, and gave me time to write you a book that I’m proud of. I’d like to see her get some recognition for that.

If you’re interested in nominating people for Hugos, here’s the link.

The deadline is for nominations is January 31st. If you’re like me, you might want to go in and vote now, before you forget.

pat

P.S. Some of the Worldbuilders auctions will be ending soon. If you know of someone who’d be interested in getting their unpublished manuscript read by professionals, I’d you might want to point them in the direction of this link.

Posted in accolades, calling on the legions | By Pat20 Responses

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