So over the last couple months, I’ve meant to write about two dozen different blogs. The upcoming book got a cover, for example:
(As always, guest starring my thumb.)
But I’m guessing by now you’ve already seen that. We have a UK cover too. There’s some promotional stuff going on with the book, where if you pre-order The Narrow Road Between Desires, you not only can get a signed copy, but you’ll also get one of the promotional postcards we made to showcase some of the fabulous art Nate Taylor did for the book:
(Sleepy child shown for scale.)
By the way, if you haven’t pre-ordered a copy yet, there’s still time to do that. I signed a *bunch* of books so that they could be available everywhere, B&N, Books-a-Million, as well as a any indie bookstores that would like to prepare. You can pre-order and get a signed book and postcard at the Worldbuilders Marketplace too, of course. But we wanted you to be able to buy from your local bookstores, too. Because we *love* local bookstores around here.
If you don’t have a local bookstore, here’s a link that will show you all the different places where you can buy the book.
But back to my point, I’ve had a bunch of things to share with you. A lot of things I’d love to talk about…
…but I haven’t posted any of them. Partly because… I’ve signed more than 30,000 books over the last month (some for the US, some for the UK) so that (hopefully) y’all can get copies even though I’m not doing a signing tour. Partly because I’m helping my boys with school and trying to be a good dad, partly because there’s a lot of other stuff in my life that eats a truly unfortunate amount of my time and energy…
I’ve also been doing interviews, livestreams, and other things to promote the upcoming book, of course:
(I’ve got one of these happening tomorrow, FYI.)
The other reason I haven’t written about a lot of this stuff is that… well… it’s important to me. And if it’s important, I want to do it really well. REALLY well. Perfectly, in fact. And it takes a long time to write a perfect blog… More time that I usually have.
So today I’m trying to change that by writing an imperfect blog. This is it, by the way. It’s a blog where I just tell you some things and try to come to grips with the fact that the blog isn’t as funny, or detailed, or clever as I’d like it to be.
So… with that in mind. Here’s the most recent piece of news I mentioned at the end of last week’s livestream….
Yeah. It’s a Bast-themed calendar.
It started as a joke. I was working on the illustrations for Narrow Road, and getting some feedback from Julia Maddalina, (an amazing artist I’ve worked with for years. You’ve seen her work in the worldbuilders store.)
While we’re chatting, I made some comment about Bast being sexy, it’s a shame he doesn’t have a pin-up calendar, etc etc… Then 20 minutes later, Julia sent me a sketch Bast. I honestly can’t remember what the first one was, because we joked about it for weeks, and she sent me sketches of him washing a car in daisy dukes, dressed up as a lumberjack, and just generally being the hot fae he is.
Then eventually, it started seeming less like a joke and more like a fun side project I could release alongside the book to make some money for Worldbuilders.
I hesitate to call it a pin-up calendar. As there’s a lot of baggage that goes along with that term, a lot of sexism and objectification. But we *have* pulled a bit from that tradition for some of the images.
(This is one of my favorites)
But a lot of the art we developed doesn’t follow in the pin-up tradition. It’s just playful, and silly, and fun…
(Not really a pin-up)
While working on the calendar, I never really talked about it, as I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get it finished this year, and the last thing I wanted to do was get people excited about something and then not be able to deliver it on time. But it’s at the printers now, going through final proofs, and now I wish I *had* been talking about it for months, because Julia’s art is amazing, and this has turned into something I’m really proud of.
(Yeah. That’s Bast as a sexy Mr. Tumnis…. Plus Noir. I don’t know why I’m proud of it. But I am. I’m really, *really* proud of it.)
Last week, I was showing the finished project to a friend who runs a bookstore down in Madison because I was excited about it being finished, and they ended up ordering a hundred copies for their store. It was only then that I realized that some of you were in direct contact with a bunch of people who would love to buy something like this….
Aaaand. That’s it. An imperfect blog. The story of how I accidentally made a Julia draw bast without his shirt off a bunch, for charity.
Here’s the tricky bit. We’ve done calendars in the past and learned the hard way that they’re not an evergreen product. I don’t want to print, like, 150 of these, then run out and have a bunch of people be sad because we ran out and they can’t have one.
On the other hand, I also don’t want to throw away a thousand calendars when February rolls around. It’s a huge waste of money, and feels like an ecological hate-crime.
So right now we’re doing a pre-order sale in Worldbuilders online store. For a couple days, if you buy multiple copies, you can get a big discount. (That sale is going to go away when we put in our final order this week.
You can also put together a bunch of different bundles over there, where people can get a discount by buying a bunch of things at once. Like a copy of the new book, a calendar, and one of the new coins we make with shire post to celebrate the release of Narrow Road.)
(These show up in the book, and I’m *really* happy with how they turned out.)
So… there you go. Many announcements made imperfectly. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and go into more detail about some of these things later, but at the very least I’ve managed to mention them to y’all.
And now, I’ve got to go make breakfast for my boys.
Later space cowboys,
pat
P.S. If you happen to be a cool indie bookstore, and want to sell some sexy Bast during the holidays, drop us a line over at: sexybastcalendar2024@patrothfuss.com.
40 Comments
You mentioned you signed some copies for pre-orders in the UK, but I don’t see any UK store in your “buy” page. I’d love to pre-order the book (even more if there’s a chance of getting a signed copy), but I don’t where to order for the UK 😅
The first place in the UK that comes to mind for the new upcoming book, and even offers a signed copy option, is Waterstones. Here is the link to the signed copy listing: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-narrow-road-between-desires/patrick-rothfuss/nate-taylor/9781399622783
Hope that helps!
Ari
Thanks! Since it wasn’t mentioned in the list, it didn’t even occur to me to take a look… my apologies 😅
Ordering now! Thanks again!
Thanks! I just ordered my signed copy from Waterstones as well. I’m looking forward to the audio book too. :)
You’ll probably also find them in places like Forbidden Planet and (for us Londoners) Foyles.
Hi! First of all, I was surprised (and delighted) to see the words “Sexy Bast Calendar” in my email inbox earlier this week. Julia’s illustrations are lovely and hilarious! Secondly, I have a question regarding preorders– and if this isn’t the right place to ask, please let me know. But I was wondering: can any of the Worldbuilders discount bundles be applied to preexisting preorders? Basically, I preordered Narrow Road back in May, but both the calendar and the coins are rather enticing…
We made some bundles specifically for our *favorite* people. (Which is to say, people like you that jumped in and pre-ordered immediately.)
So you can get a bundle with *just* coins and a calendar if you want. I know a lot of people wanted to shop at their local bookstores, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.
That’s perfect! Thanks so much :))
Happy to see you active and can’t wait to see all the things you do. Looking forward to this entry! You are a treasure Pat and don’t let anyone tell you different. You were my main gateway back into fantasy and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Thank you Pat!
IM SO EXCITED!!! JUST PREORDERED THE SIGNED DOORS OF STONE. I CANT WAIT. THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOOK SERIES OF ALL TIME AND IM SO EXCITED FOR THE EXPANSION OF BAST. LOVE YOU PAT YOURE AN INSPIRATION AND YOUR BOOKS GIVE ME LIFEEE! -a random 16 yr old from Florida:)
Happy to have an imperfect blog from you. Keep up the good fight.
These are fantastic. You are fantastic. I also struggle with perfectionism (rethinking this comment as I write it), and I greatly admire this blog post and your honesty. Oh Bast 😂😂 I’m gonna need one of these calendars!
Let’s hear it for imperfect blogs! Perfection is the enemy of done. ;-)
Love the calendar! Can’t wait to read the new book.
This seemed like a perfectly perfect blog to me, with critical information about the book preorder that I likely would have otherwise missed. Keep being you.
Way to power through the brain demands to make an imperfect blog post! I know it doesn’t help much to hear that we love your imperfect, but it’s a good reminder anyway. We love your imperfect. Your perfect is transcendent, but your imperfect is pretty rad, too.
This actually helps more than you know…
Thanks.
I was just thinking about your blog earlier this morning and felt so excited to see this post. Anything worth doing is worth doing imperfectly, and anyway, you bring beauty wherever you are. Thanks for sharing this cool news with us – can’t wait to read the book!
Great to hear from you. “Imperfect”is a term as loaded with baggage as “pinup.” In this instance, good’s enemy stayed home and the spice was a river. Thank you.
Good point there.
C’est dommage pour les lecteur quebecois pour les dedicase a moin qui en ai aussi pour des tome en francais ??? Moi qui suis une mega fan depuis mon secondaire je lis que en francais et jattendait se tome avec impatience jespere qui sortiras bientot en français coordialement celiane
Imperfect, overthinking friends (Wait, friends? Is that too bold?) unite!!
So do I understand correctly that if I pre-order my book anywhere, even if it doesn’t specify it, it should be an autographed copy? But only the Worldbuilder one has the postcard, right?
Thanks so much for offering all of this!!! I was at your signings in Seattle for Wise Man’s Fear and Slow Regard of Silent Things and when I heard this was coming out knew I wouldn’t be able to safely chance a signing for it due to health issues. I really appreciate being able to get the matched signed first edition on my shelf and the sexy Bast calendar is an amazing cherry on top. Bonus points to get it all while staying safe and knowing you are going to be safe and healthy as possible as well. I’m so excited for my everything bundle to show up and I grabbed a bunch of games from worldbuilders I’ve been meaning to pick up for a long time while I was there :D
*hearthands*
Do you know if there’s any local bookstores in Australia who will have signed copies?!
That’s a good question, let me look into it.
I’m going to be doing an FAQ blog soon, if I find an answer, I’ll post it there.
Any chance you can let me in on which Madison bookstore exactly may have these calendars? Also, howdy from wonderful south central Wisconsin.
Pat: (whispering) It’s Room of One’s Own.
*waves from central Wisconsin*
Pat, I have 7 words for you:
Imperfection that is loved is not imperfect.
There is a French saying:
“Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.”
It somewhat translates to:
“The better is the enemy of the good.”
I love your imperfect posts, and I am always glad to hear from you. On good days, and on bad days. And this one felt like a good day!
Love your work, and I can’t wait to read the upcoming novella.
Ps: any chance we might hear you voice Kerrek in the upcoming Legend of Vox Machina season 3 ? I know you already have a gazillion things on your plate but… no harm in asking!
Is Bast seen with Auri in the apple drawing? That would be interesting!
Say hi to Kvothe for me. I think of him often ❤️
(Perfect is an illusion. ‘Imperfect’ is just a word for genuine, real life.)
Some of us dig your imperfect enough that we still randomly start to type your blog address into the browser bar (letting autocomplete finish the job) every few days.
Also, the Tumnus image couldn’t be more perfect—I thought, “That seems like it’s Mr. Tumnus, but…I feel like I’m missing…” then read what you said about it, and “…ahh, plus Noir. Yep.”
I love that you let go of your perfectionism for this blog! Congrats on making that step.
All the loves,
Flip
We love you Pat! (at least I do).
Just wanted to leave this here.
Greetings from Germany!
As they say, perfect is the enemy of done. It’s nice to hear from you again! When you’re feeling up to talking more, we’ll be around. 🙂
you imperfect blogs are still fun to read. Also we’re happy to hear from you no matter the form.
Hey, congratulations. This is one of exactly four books I’m getting this year! This is the last of them. I’m terribly excited, even though I’ve read The Lightning Tree a few times.
Julia’s work has really evolved over the years, too. It’s so interesting how differently Julia and Nate design him, and how differently I see him.
I’d hoped you’d come to the UK for a tour. Oh, well. I hope you pop around on your next release! I saw you walking in London once, years ago, but you seemed preoccupied and I didn’t want to be a bother; I learned later you’d done a book signing. You’ve given me enough pleasure over the years that I’d regret not taking the next opportunity to thank/embarrass you in person at the next reading, though.
I just ordered the book + calendar. Very excited! I’m so glad you get to follow these unusual ideas wherever they lead, especially when the result is more Bast!
I just ordered my signed copy. I’m very excited to read this book!
Thanks for the imperfect blog Pat.