So Many Books from DAW….

We just finished our second week of Worldbuilders, and as I type this we’ve raised $375,000. That’s an amazing amount of money that will help improve the lives of people all over the world.

But Pat!” I hear you cry. “Exactly *how* will this money make people’s lives better? For someone willing to spend eight pages describing how someone makes soap, it seems like you’re being pretty vague here….

Fair enough.

Let’s say you donate $60. That’s enough for Heifer to go into an area and provide education, support, and seedlings. That’s everything a family needs to plant some trees.

If you’re running a small farm, or even a garden, trees are more important than most people think. They provide shade for animals and prevent soil erosion. Many poverty stricken parts of the world have been deforested to a disastrous degree. And you can’t maintain a farm or pasture if the ground itself keeps washing away….

Even better? That cute little girl up there gets to supplement her diet with fresh fruit or protein-rich nuts. The nuts or fruit the family doesn’t use can be sold. Giving a family a small orchard or grove of nut trees is effectively the same as giving them a small business.

And what if you want to grow your business? You actually, literally, grow it. Using the education and tools Heifer provides, people can plant part of what they harvest, not only improving their own lives, but the lives of their friends and neighbors.

That’s what sixty bucks does, folks. It changes people’s lives. Forever.

And when you donate directly to Heifer on the Worldbuilders team page you also get the chance to win thousands upon thousands of books like the ones that DAW has sent us.

Did I mention that DAW sent us a bunch of books? They did. They very did.

* * *

DAW is one of the few publishers that has been involved in Worldbuilders from the very beginning. But this year they’ve outdone themselves…

  • Set of the first 8 books of the October Daye series. All signed by Seanan McGuire.

seanan2

“Action, intrigue, and a dash of romance.” —Jim Hines

All 8 of these are signed, and they’ll get you a really good start on the series. Collectors could love it, and people looking for new books in the name of charity could love it.

twelvekings

“A memorable heroine, a poetically told tale of revenge, and superb worldbuilding make Twelve Kings in Sharakhai a splendid read.” –John Marco

Brad supports us on his own, but as I mentioned before, he’s part of the DAW family now, and everyone at DAW is really excited about his book. So much so that they sent us fully 20 ARCs of it to share with all of you in the lottery.

bookofphoenix

“This is a horrifying, inspiring, painful, joyous book.” —io9

I love Nnedi. She and I were winners in the same Writers of the Future contest, and I’ve always enjoyed her writing. Enough that they put my quote about her books right on the cover here.

I hope the 32 people who win this love it as much as I do.

ancient peace

“The action is solid, and the marines are an entertaining mix of oddballs.” –Locus

nova

“NOVA grabbed me from the first chapter, and never let go. What a ride! Unforgettable, fast-paced and original, this book kept me guessing to the end” –Amie Kaufman

This is a new one, and the author is actually a fellow Wisconsinite. Over the summer my editor, Betsy, came to visit and told me all about her, so I’m happy to see that there are so many copies available in the lottery for all of you lovely people to enjoy.

dentonhill

“Maresca’s debut is smart, fast, and engaging fantasy crime in the mold of Brent Weeks and Harry Harrison. Just perfect.” —Kat Richardson

empire

“Bedford mixes romance and intrigue in this promising debut, which opens the Psi-tech space opera series…. Readers who crave high adventure and tense plots will enjoy this voyage into the future.” —Publishers Weekly

dragonbone

“Sprawling, spellbinding…weaves together a multitude of intricate strands, building to a suitably apocalyptic confrontation between good and evil.”—Publishers Weekly

Let me tell you a story. Just a short one, I promise.

Back in the summer of 1995, I’d been writing my novel for a couple of years. And, to be completely honest, I was feeling a little hopeless. I wasn’t anywhere done with the story I was trying to tell, but my book was already *really* long. (I hadn’t yet realized it would need to be more than one novel.)

Then I read The Dragonbone Chair and it gave me hope. I knew someone out there was publishing big fantasy books. So maybe I had a chance….

Needless to say, this book has a special place in my heart.

  • And Many, Many More!

lottery_vertical

DAW moved offices recently, and in that move, a lot of the staff finally got around to reorganizing their office libraries, which led to boxes upon boxes of books getting donated to Worldbuilders on top of the already substantial traditional DAW donation.

There’s a lot of stuff here, folks. Hundreds of books making up more than 160 prizes. There are standalones, first-in-a-series, new books, old books, and everything in between. And they’re all going into the lottery.

That means anyone who donates at least $10 dollars on our page has a chance to win them. If you were to donate more, say… 60 dollars (enough for some tree seedlings) you’d have six chances to win one of the over 1,000 prizes we currently have in the lottery.

Yeah, we’re giving away a lot of stuff here, and we haven’t even reached the halfway point yet…

Here’s one more link to the donation page if you need it.

This entry was posted in Worldbuilders 2015By Pat8 Responses

8 Comments

  1. lykashii
    Posted November 23, 2015 at 6:54 AM | Permalink

    So many books! I think I would just spend all my time in the room with all the books if I worked at Worldbuilders. There’s something about being surrounded by walls of books that just… eases the soul.

    “Hey could you possibly send out some of these-?”
    “Sorry, I’m sitting with the books.”
    “Forgive me! I didn’t realise! As you were!”

    • mmtauff
      Posted November 24, 2015 at 10:15 AM | Permalink

      This reminds me of Neil Gaiman’s short story in Trigger Warning about his igloo of books. This desire to wall in with books must be more common than I thought

  2. Knightrous
    Posted November 23, 2015 at 7:17 AM | Permalink

    Whoops!

    “And when you donate directly to Heifer on the Worldbuilders team page you also get the chance to win thousands upon thousands of books like the ones that DAW has sent us.”

    The link in that sentence is to the Worldbuilders 2014 page!

    • Amanda
      Posted November 23, 2015 at 9:19 AM | Permalink

      Thanks for pointing that out, it’s fixed!

  3. Kthaeh
    Posted November 23, 2015 at 8:51 AM | Permalink

    Okay, this is entirely tangential, but…Pat said, “And what if you want to grow your business? You actually, literally, grow it.” — Which leads me directly back to this gem of a video…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pDTiFkXgEE

    (Maybe it’s only funny to those of us who actually produce food. Please share it with Maria if she hasn’t already seen it.)

    And oh, by the way, Yay! for Worldbuilders! Can’t wait to see how much money we end up raising this year. Go, team, go!

    • Amanda
      Posted November 23, 2015 at 9:10 AM | Permalink

      Thanks for sharing that, everyone who’s here right now (including Maria) got a real kick out of it :)

  4. kdculb
    Posted November 23, 2015 at 11:18 AM | Permalink

    Has Pat played Fallout every day or has Book 3 won any? A running score card would be nice. Keep up the good works!

    • Amanda
      Posted November 23, 2015 at 11:43 AM | Permalink

      Fallout has won every night so far, and most nights it’s been by a pretty big margin, though we’ve had one or two close ones.

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