I’ve been cutting back on conventions this year so I can focus on revisions and my pretty new baby.
I’d even decided to skip Wiscon this year, even though it’s in Madison, which means it’s practically in my backyard.
But then I found out my friend Nnedi was going to be Guest of Honor there this year. (Remember Nnedi? I interviewed her for Worldbuilders last year, and talked about her book a couple months ago.) Anyway, getting asked to be GOH at Wiscon is a pretty big deal, and I don’t see Nnedi nearly as much as I’d like, so I decided to go.
Then the people at Locus dropped me an e-mail, asking if I wanted to do an interview. I said, “Sure.” Because Locus is a pretty big deal in the Sci-Fi Fantasy publishing world. And I like doing interviews, especially when they’re in person. I spend enough time typing.
So I meet up with the lovely folks from Locus. The interview is fun. They ask good questions. We hang out. Then they say, “Do you mind if we take some pictures?”
And I’m like, “Sure, if you’re into that sort of thing.”
Then a couple weeks ago, this shows up in the mail:
My first thought? “If I’d known they were going to put me on the cover, I would have gotten a haircut….”
My second thought was, “I’m on the cover of Locus.”
My third thought was, “Shit. This is kind of a big deal. I hope I don’t sound like an idiot…”
Then I open up the magazine and burst out laughing. Here’s what I see:
Why don’t we zoom in on that a little?
Yeah. There you go. You can click that to embiggen it if you want, but you might want to be careful, lest the intensity of my sheer awesome reduce you to a quivering wreck.
For those of you who are curious. My t-shirt says: “My Marxist feminist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.” It’s a very specialized sort of joke, and there really isn’t any point in me explaining it if you don’t get it. Suffice to say that Wiscon is a feminist Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention. It’s the only place I can wear the shirt where people think it’s funny.
Anyway, after I had a good laugh at this picture I was much more relaxed. I get very nervous when people take me too seriously.
I read the interview and was very pleased that I didn’t come off sounding like an idiot. It was a lot more wide-ranging than a lot of the interviews I do, and we talked about some stuff I don’t normally talk about.
If you want a taste of it, there’s a few excerpts over on Locus’ website.
Still revising. One week ’til deadline.
pat
64 Comments
I just ordered the issue. Pleasure acquired.
Hail the letter “R”!! This is just great.
Good luck on your last week. There are some folks pullin’ for you!
Jennifer Newcomb
You’d think that big flaming “R” would burn the beard right off me, but it wasn’t so bad at all…
It looks pretty dangerous, but I’m sure they have all kinds of safety precautions and whatnot. I’m just glad that you and the beard are okay. :)
I figured it was your beard’s amazing powers that were controlling the flames.
Where do I go to submit that image for Photograph Of The Year?
I’ve seen that shirt before. But like most things from that site it made me think, “heh, that’s funny, but who would wear it and when?” Now I have my answers.
Yeah. I have a lot of shirts like that. It’s hard to wear my “Wang” PA shirt to the grocery store…
My brother just got into playing a certain game, and his neighbor actually has a shirt that says “I’ve got wood for sheep”. His wife forbids him to wear it except during games…
All hail Settlers! Now if only I had some bricks…
Wait. They make a shirt for that?! I thought I was the only one who couldn’t stop giggling whenever I offered wood for someone’s sheep…
This issue of Patrick Rothfuss’s blog is br0ught to you by the letter “R” and the number AWESOME!!! :)
Diana
That is sheer fantastitude.
A pirate joke: what letter would be emblazoned above Pirate Rothfuss’s head in the event that he yelled at the heavens for his battle-cry?
AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
That cover is the first I’ve noticed that you have gray streaks in your beard. Either you’re getting old or you’re changing for Pat the Gray to Pat the White. Please explain.
All the great wizards are doing it…
Sorry for the double post, but I was confused by your “one week ’til deadling” comment, so I went back to your blog about when WMF is coming out. I totally forgot you said you would have it done by September! I had 2 reactions to this.
1) goosebumps everywhere
2) I was really happy for you that you are almost done
Good luck and thank you for all your hard work. I can’t wait to get my greedy little hands on the thing.
It’s not done yet by any stretch of the imagination. But this is a big step. I’m excited too…
That is so awesome! I wish we sold Locus at my work. :( Any idea where I can get one or am I just going to have to order it offline?
Break a leg with the revisions. I imagine it being a lot like term papers or a dissertation.
I went to the Locus website, this page, and clicked “Add to Cart.” You may need to have PayPal, though, to get it. About ten bucks including shipping, in the US or Canada.
I saw that t-shirt a long time back and fell in love with it. I never bought it, but I’ved used that line to describe my political views ever since. Liberalism plus humor is an ideal combination!
Pat, your shirt made me squeal with glee and frighten the neighbours. I must have one immediately. Where on earth did you get it?
You can get one here.
I will be seeking out a copy of that magazine. Their readership may increase by one due to this.
I’m glad to hear only a week left on revisions, is this the final round?
Jesse
If I’m not mistaken, flaming letters that are produced through the power of one’s beard cannot singe said beard… it’s science.
XDDD good one!
That makes a lot of sense.
I really love the way you do your interviews.
It’s sooo easy to read your answers no matter how long they are.
and they are funny, too. Many interviews are boring, yours are such a pleasure to read. Go, pat!
Do you actually put a lot of thought into your t-shirt-choice when going to a public event or an interview when you know pictures are going to be made?
Or do you just put on …whatever? :D
(omg what an awful sentence, please excuse me and my bad english.. i’m german.)
greetings from overseas :) sonja
I’m just shocked that you, a WRITER – and a damned good one, used the not-word “snuck” in your interview… I thought you had a degree in English? Shame on you! You better not teach that to Oot.
In other news, I MUST know where you get your t-shirts!
Most people who have studied such things agree – once a word is used enough, even if it wasn’t a word before, it becomes a word.
Plus, “snuck” just plain sounds better than “sneaked.” :)
Might I add there are several other “non-words” that Pat uses that nobody seems to have a problem with?
Case in point:
“embiggen”
“enshorten”
“bugfuckeringly”
Quod Erat Demonstrandum
“Quod erat demonstrandum, baby.”
“Ohhhhh! You speak French!”
– Thomas Dolby
I suppose you’re not gonna sleep much these next days….
Sweet, I have that shirt. It is hard to find occasion to wear it, though, especially since I currently live in Tea Party Central. But I will definitely have to wear it if I can make it to any of your signings ever!
P.S. – I am pretty sure you are my evil male twin, overall.
That looks fantastic :) Now I really want that magazine, just like everyone else, apparently.
I’ve always been rather impressed by your collection of t-shirts. Someday you should do a photo shoot of all your awesome ones and post them here, just so we can all be super jealous.
Oops. Didn’t mean to reply to you with that.
But I do feel sorry for you, living in Tea Party Central. I send you e-hugs and hope that they don’t try to convince you that Obama was born in the darkest depths of Mordor.
That picture of you has to be one of the tshirt design options!
seconded for sure, I would buy one. You need to contact them and see if you can use it…
While I’m waiting for the WMF with patient but baited breath, I really want to see the urban fantasy series you described come to life. Any thoughts on when you might do that? (Do we have to wait all the way until the Kingkiller Chronicle is over?)
I was the one who posted on Facebook to you about this cover — and had gone running around the library showing my co-workers. That pic with the flaming R is too good…… and the interview’s not bad, either
One of my favorite shirts reads “2 + 2 = 5 (for extremely large values of 2)” Almost no one outside of a mathematics degree program laughs at it — which is sad because it’s a nice shirt and never did nothing to them. So I’ve decided to go more mainstream with the one that reads “There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don’t.”
Also, this just in: large, floating letters made entirely of fire are win.
Haha, I think it’s funny, Hojiman. And I even got them the first time I read them. I think I can be a little proud of myself, can’t I? A little at least… ; )
I just had to make this…
http://www.zazzle.com/pd/realviewpopup?url=http://www.zazzle.com/rlv/isapi/designall.dll%3Faction%3Drealview%26pdt%3Dshirt%26id%3D7B19D518-D8A9-46D6-8BB1-2430C15C241F%26rvtype%3Dproduct%26view%3Dfront%26max_dim%3D738%26bg%3Dffffff%26square_it%3Dtrue%26draw_relative_size%3Dtrue%26rev%3D12826206522798860_front_vert_41%26side_front%3Dvert%26group%3Dmens%26lifeStyle%3Dclassic%26style%3Dbasic_dark_tshirt%26color%3Dblack%26size%3Da_l%26context%3Dmfong%26drawareaboundingbox%3Dtrue%26dv%3D52%26view_auto%3D1.4&dim=738
If you look real close you’ll see some text somewhere. ;-)
Sorry wrong link…
http://www.zazzle.com/flaming_rothfuss_tshirt-235532419420855099
That is the epitome of cool!
“If I’d known they were going to put me on the cover, I would have gotten a haircut….”
Yeah, I call your bluff on that one. ;-)
Uh oh! It looks like it was Talk Like A Pirate Day!
Nah, that isn’t for another 4 weeks or so. I think this was poker-speak.
Yeah Liquid…your calendar’s a little off.
Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19.
Don’t ye be furgetten that ye bilge rat…arggg
I got my Locus last week, and was thrilled to see that you were on the cover. It IS a big deal as Locus is pretty much the most awesome magazine ever.
This was a great interview. I laughed and cried, and then said to myself, ‘god, what a pussy I am when an author interview makes me cry’. Still, it was a good one.
I’d like to second the comment that the urban fantasy idea you mentioned would be excellent. I’d read it. At least, I could rely on you to do it right. I still haven’t picked up the Twilight series, nor do I have plans to. Parodies in just about any form make my world go ’round, superhero ones especially.
My brother went to San Diego with his girlfriend and all he brought back for me was this magazine… AWESOME!!!! Good luck with your last week of revisions Pat!
Once the little fella gets to an age where he’s reading those “alphabet books”, you’ve got to slip a copy of that picture onto the “R” page.
Rather epic!
I am beyond excited for this stage of your revisions to be completed! Many gods will be receiving sacrifices this fortnight on your behalf! Wood and sheep may be among them…
Where’s the Mud?
…being used to build the altars, of course!
Does the back of the T-shirt you wore for the interview say, “I’d tell you, but I’d have to charge…”?
Sweet, set as my new desktop background. :D
Oooo, Seth, good idea.
“…but this socially maladaptive freak of nature has to go to college somewhere.”
Pat. I love you. That is all.
Aww, what a great cover pic, Pat! Your smile is so kind–captures you perfectly! And I love the shirt… definitely the right thing for Wiscon. ^^ Am going to B&N to buy this issue today!!!
P.S. Good luck on your final week of revisions! Won’t it feel great to finally be done with it? :D
I can’t wait for Book 2! I read your book 3 times off of my iPod Touch. I bought an official copy. No worries! =] Congrats on your interview. I read every single question and I agree wholly on your responses.
So they didn’t even say anything about what the pictures were for? Wow, you’d think they’d let you know it was for the cover.