Category Archives: a billion links

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 audiobooks, I mock because I love, upcoming publications, videos | By Pat37 Responses

Postcards, Pre-orders, and the Quest for Imperfection

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: [email protected].

Also posted in book covers, The Quest for Non-Perfection | By Pat40 Responses

Bad Analogies, Kielbasa, and all-star D&D returns…

Hey there everybody,

It feels like it’s been a hundred years since the fundraiser, and it also feels just like yesterday. I don’t know if 2020 has permanently damaged my ability to perceive time in an accurate way, or if this is just my regular post-December recovery and fugue state.

Things are going good around here. Though as I type that, I pause and think, “Hold on, that can’t be right. Everything’s awful forever now. Right? Hold on. Let me check my notes….”

Then I riffle through some papers in my head and think, Yeah, it’s still pandemic o’clock. Politics… still there. Isolation and quarantine, check. What’s wrong with me that I feel like I can say things are good?

But… that’s not *all* that’s going on, right? Vaccines are happening, too. That’s nice. We haven’t had a natural disaster in maybe three months or so? I found a new Korean restaurant in town with really nice dumplings….

Oh. Also we have a new president now, which is pretty fucking great. And democracy is still… kinda here? Mostly? Like a car we weren’t sure was going to get us all the way home through the Furiosa-style dystopian wasteland, but it did. Sure we were driving the last bit on the rims, and the windshield is gone, and it’s chugging and smoking and it looks like we tried to have a poorly-negotiated threeway with an anklyosaur and Zuul. But it got us all the way into the garage, and now we can take a deep, shaky breath and spend a *lot* of time repairing it.

Okay. Maybe that’s not my best analogy ever. Let me try again.

You know the incessant low, thrumming dread you feel when you’re really nauseous for a long time, followed by the sour, hunched misery of puking your guts out? It’s a pretty universal human experience, and we can all agree for the most part that it sucks.

But do you also remember how *good* you feel when you *stop* throwing up?

I think that’s what I’m feeling right now. Like all of 2020 was me just puking and puking forever. And now that I’m not anymore, it’s just nice.

I mean, is this the world I’d wish for if I had a pet Genie? No. You can tell because Firefly is still canceled and pizza has calories.

But you know what? There are still good things in the world. Plus my books are here. Right now, I’m pretty happy with half a loaf.

*      *      *

So far, this year has been fairly low-key over here at Rothco. I’ve been catching up on my sleep and getting my house in order. (Both literally and figuratively. My underwear drawer is *orderly* folks.) I’ve been livestreaming over on twitch fairly regularly. I’m mostly continuing my second play-through of Numenera, but I also dipped in to do some Among Us with Felicia and her crew last week. A game where I was categorically bad at everything and was forced to resort to use my Bene Gesserit powers.

Here’s a moment from that stream that I’m particularly proud/ashamed of.

It’s the first highlight I’ve ever made of a stream, but I’m not smart enough to embed it here, apparently.

On the home front, I’ve mostly been focusing on spending time with the boys. We’re currently reading The Princess Bride (which starts really slow, but picks up nicely after the introduction.) I help the boys stay on top of their at-home school stuff and deal with not being able to see their friends in person.

(Yeah. I’m 100% that dad.)

We’ve also been wrapping up the Fundraiser. While most of the flashiness of that happens in December, there’s a lot of organizing that happens beforehand, and a lot of tying up of loose ends afterwards. But despite the mad state of the world, I think we’re more on top of those things than we’ve been in years. It’s a good feeling.

Those of you who were tuned in for the fundraiser this year probably caught some of the games we played online to help spread the word about our shindig. I *hope* most of you caught at least a few of them, because this year’s games turned out amazingly.

Especially this one:

Let me tell you, folks. I’ve played some D&D in my day. I hang with some cool cats. I even occasionally pull up on with the new whip,  though I’ll admit that’s exceedingly rare.

What I’m trying to say is that I’ve had the luxury of playing with a lot of really amazing folks over the years. So hear me when I say that this game was as much fun as I’ve had in YEARS. My first time *ever* playing a bard.

That would be impressive enough, but what makes it truly crazy is that this if the first time I’ve ever played with half of the other folks at the table. Brennan, Saige, and Aabria were complete strangers at the start of the video. And I didn’t even know B Dave four months ago…

Despite that, it was so much fun that at the end of it, everyone said they really wanted to come together and play again…. if we hit a follow-up charity stretch goal. It was terribly sweet, as they’re all busy people.

But we hit that goal. And now we’re getting the band back together. This weekend.

That’s right. We’ll be getting together to continue this adventure on Saturday, January 30th, from 2-5 pm, CST.

After we played the first time, I said I’d post up a blog with everyone’s info, so you could find them all on in their various fastnesses and demesnes out there on the webs.  I view this as a service to the community, as they deserve more attention than they get, and your dreary, turgid quarantine-laden existences will be vastly improved by getting more of them directly into your eye-holes.

(For those of you who have been waiting for this, sorry it’s taken so long.)

Our cool cast (and where to find them!):

B. Dave Walters is a Storyteller & proud Scoundrel American. He is best known as the writer and co-creator of Electropunk, Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish for IDW comics, and creator and DM of the Darkened Wish streaming show for Wizards of the Coast. He plays Baron Victor Temple on Vampire the Masquerade: LA by Night on World of Darkness Twitch and Freely on Silver & Steel on D&D Beyond on Twitch.

Taliesin Jaffe is an American actor, voice actor, ADR director and screenwriter. He is a regular cast member of the Dungeons & Dragons actual play series Critical Role, playing Percival de Rolo (“Percy”), Mollymauk Tealeaf (“Molly”), and Caduceus Clay.

Aabria is an American GM and RPG player that has contributed to a multitude of projects, including Failed Save on PixelCircus, Creature Collectors on Critical Bard, and hosting the Storybenders Podcast.

Performing Artist, Communication Specialist, Consultant, E-Sports Professional, Miss Oregon USA 2011, and overall Entertainer, Anna Prosser wears many hats, but for one purpose – to make a positive impact on the world around her! Anna can currently be seen on Echoes Of Eternity each Monday at 6pm PT and Extra Brains each Friday at 1pm PT on her Twitch channel. She can also be seen playing on Nights Of Eveningstar on the official D&D Twitch channel each Tuesday at 4pm PT.

Saige Ryan is an Actress, Host, Singer, and Dancer born and raised in California. She began dancing at the age of 3 and began her acting career at just 7 years old. You may recognize her from films such as I Heart Huckabees, Believers, Forget Me Not, and Maybe Someday, or her 40+ national commercials. The film Maybe Someday in which Saige plays the lead role of Abigail Donnelly was nominated for Best Picture at the 2016 Carmel film festival, and recently released on digital platforms. Saige can currently be seen contributing to the PixelCircus Twitch channel and streaming on her channel at Twitch.tv/NotSaige.

Brennan Lee Mulligan is an award-winning actor, writer, creator and producer. As a cast member of CollegeHumor, he wrote and starred in the sketch Tide CEO, which won a 2019 Webby Award and received over seven million views. He is executive producer, writer and Game Master of Dimension 20, a series produced for the CH streaming service Dropout, and also hosts Dropout’s fantasy gaming vodcast, The Adventuring Academy. Brennan is author and co-creator of the popular webcomic and graphic novel series, Strong Female Protagonist, which was selected as an Autostraddle Favorite, and was on io9’s list of Best New and Short Webcomics.

Little is known of this rare salt-type murder-hobo. This elusive narrativore does not take well to captivity, and while rarely seen in the wild, he occasionally strays near urban areas, where his barbaric yawps can be heard for a distance of up to two miles at night. Sleep cycle: Crepuscular. Mode of locomotion: sessile. Verbosity: Gregarious with occasional yeeting.

God it’s late. I don’t know what I’m even saying anymore. Bed for me.

Hope y’all are well. Hope to see some of you this Saturday for the game….

pat

Also posted in a few words you're probably going to have to look up, Beautiful Games, cool things, gaming, geeking out, videos, Worldbuilders 2020 | By Pat67 Responses

My Far Travels: PAX South

Heya Folks,

Just so y’all get an official heads-up, I’m going to be swinging by PAX South again this year. (For those of you who don’t already know, it’s this upcoming weekend, from the 12th-14th in San Antonio.)

Last year was the first time I made it down there, and I had a pretty good time. This year looks to be even better, because in addition to all the regular convention goodness, this year PAX South is also hosting True Dungeon, which is doing two runs based off my books.

((If you haven’t guessed, one of the runs features Felurian. And Bast.))

For those of you who have never experienced it, True Dungeon is some geek fun of the highest order. It’s one part puzzle room, one part tabletop D&D, with a little bit of LARP thrown in for seasoning.

I’ve been playing it for years now at Gencon. I’ve been hooked ever since I did a run with Wil Wheaton way back in the day.

Simply said, there are lots of rooms with puzzles, monsters, and obstacles that you need to solve, kill, and/or traverse. Honestly, True Dungeon is one of my favorite parts about going to GenCon these days, and I’m thrilled that they’re finally expanding it out to more conventions over these last couple years.

As I mentioned before, this year’s games are based in Temerant (My world.) I helped write and design the adventures, and they’re chock-full of creatures and lore from the books. Some of which hasn’t even shown up yet anywhere other than my own head.

Some of the treasure and equipment tokens might look familiar to you, too.

(I’m pretty fond of the Greysdale mead Treasure Token.)

If you’re still not convinced, there’s going to be a free 24-minute demo being run (if you get in line and wait your turn) so you can test things out. If you end up liking it (you will), or you know you want in, you can buy tickets for the full two-hour adventure.

Every year at GenCon, True Dungeon tickets sell out weeks and weeks before the event. But since this is their first year at PAX South, there’s still a few spots available. If you want to grab a ticket, click here. If you’re interested in volunteering or participating in another way, check out their website for more info.

Beyond True Dungeon, I’ll be around doing a few other cool things during the con. All of the time listed below are in Central Standard Time, which is relevant since a couple of my events will be livestreamed as well…

Friday, January 12

  • 6pm-8pm: Acquisitions Incorporated Autograph Session, Signing Area
  • 8pm-9pm: An Evening with Pat Rothfuss, Falcon Theatre

My Evening with Pat Rothfuss events are always a little bit hard to describe. I do some rambling, take questions from the audience, tell anecdotes only mildly related to the questions, and occasionally give Amanda heart attacks if she’s backstage while I expound on the societal pressures of monogamy or something like that.

She won’t be there this time, but since this event will be livestreamed on the PAX2 Twitch channel, we’ll probably feel her cringing from 1,300 miles away while she watches.

Saturday, January 13

  • 2pm-5pm: Acquisitions Incorporated, Main Theatre

Acquisitions Inc is why I go to so many PAX events. I love playing D&D with this group, and being Viari gives me an excuse to say dumb shit like “What Ho!” a lot.

This is being streamed on the main PAX Twitch channel, so you can watch as I swing from chandeliers live.

Sunday, Jan 14

  • 3pm-5pm: Pat Rothfuss Autograph Session, Signing Area

The folks at Table Titans are going to be here selling books for my signing, but if you can’t make it to this, they’ll also be selling books and Pinny Pins at their booth, # 10436.

* * * *

So that’s the schedule, folks. You’ll likely catch me around other places, and I’m definitely going to watch the Acquisitions Incorporated C-Team game as well (Sunday the 13th at 12pm CST, livestreamed right here), so if C-Team is your jam you might want to see that one as well.

Hope to see you there…

pat

Also posted in conventions | By Pat14 Responses

Immortalization & Manuscript Critiques

As I write this, the Worldbuilders fundraiser is at $82,000 dollars. That can buy a lot of families a lot of goats, or chickens, or even cows….

But sometimes what people need isn’t materials. One of the other essential things Heifer provides is straight-up training and education. Specifically, sustainable agriculture training of the sort they gave to people like Lotale Chatayika.

Lotale is the sole breadwinner for his household (Which consists of his parents, wife, brother, and two sisters). He has worked hard for many years on his farm, but wasn’t able to produce enough food to feed his family. Because of this, he’s forced to find other temporary labor work (which is notoriously inconsistent and low paying) in order to afford enough food for everyone.

But in 2015, he was selected to participate in the Sustainable Agriculture Lead Farmer Programme with Heifer. They trained him in sustainable agriculture technologies like pit planting, fertilization techniques, and mixed cropping. (Pit planting is making pits on your plot for water to collect and be retained, as well as to reduce erosion.)

After his training, Lotale made 1560 pits on his quarter-acre plot. He added compost and manure to his maize and soya fields for fertility.

Before joining Heifer and receiving training, Lotale was able to produce 50 pounds of maize in a season. Now the same plot yields more than 880 pounds of maize a season. A 1600% increase. Enough so that he can feed his family with plenty left over to sell.

Heifer estimates that training of the sort that Lotale recieved costs about $72. (Bountiful Harvest Training) Since y’all have already donated over $82,000 that means they now have the resources to train over 1,100 people like Lotale. Changing their lives and the lives of their families. Forever.

And we’re only 5 days into the fundraiser….

***

Today’s blog continues two of my favorite Worldbuilders traditions, professional critiques of manuscripts and people getting to make guest appearances in upcoming books.

Let’s jump right in.

  • Manuscript Critiques

This is something I would’ve killed for when I was first sending the book off to publishers. The opportunity to have your manuscript read by a skilled editor, agent, or author is huge. It doesn’t just have an impact on your book, this sort of feedback can help you develop your craft as well.

We always put a bunch of these up for auction, and this year is no exception.

But even better, this year we have critiques available in the lottery, too. Back when I was in college I couldn’t have afforded an expensive auction. So now I’m delighted to give unpublished writers a chance to win a professional critique by donating to the Professional Manuscript Critiques team page.

For every $10 you donate, you’ll get the chance to win a critique, as well as all the other goodies in our prize lottery.

So, if you want to jump in on that option in the lottery, donate right here. If you’d like to be a little more certain that you’ll get a critique, then this next section is for you. We have THIRTEEN different critiques going up in the auction.

A NOTE BEFORE YOU DIVE IN: We’ve made each critique expandable here, so if you’re interested in one, you can click on it to expand out more information. PLEASE READ THIS INFORMATION CAREFULLY.

Everyone is offering something a little different. Each author, editor, or agent is handling their auction in their own way…

  • Everyone has different skills, and they’re each offering something different.
  • Critiques are for different lengths of manuscript. From 7,000 to 150,000 words.
  • The professionals below are busy people. Critiques will have to fit in their schedules.
  • When auctions mention “X pages” of a manuscript, that’s standard manuscript format.
  • Most importantly, it’s important to realize that what you’re getting here is a critique. You’re not buying an introduction to someone’s agent or editor. You’re not winning representation with an agent. Or a foot in the door with an editor. That’s not what’s on the block. You’re getting writing advice from a professional.

Okay. Enough preamble. Let’s get to the auctions.

Professor Eric Dahl: A Real-Life Physicist will review your worldbuilding for consistency and realism.

Whether you just want to do away with the pesky speed-of-light limit or are inventing an entirely new reality, there are some ways to do physics that just feel more real than others.  This auction gets you one physics professor’s critique of your world building — what laws are broken, what is or is not consistent, and what crazy inventions your ever-attentive readers might create for your universe….

The winner should submit no more than 7k words describing their world (plus figures if you’d like). Eric will give feedback on this submission.

This is such a weird and cool opportunity to make sure the worldbuilding and magic system in your series FEELS real. If you want to bid on it, click here.

 

Laura Anne Gilman: Publishing Industry and writing talk with a veteran editor and author.

Laura Anne Gilman was excited to provide something for our critique this year, but wasn’t sure she could commit to a full manuscript critique. Instead, she’s offered up a 30-45 minute Skype call where she’d discuss anything publishing-related you’d like. It could be plot ideas, career worries, or anything else.

Laura worked as an editor for over  15 years, and has published more than twenty novels, so she clearly knows her stuff. If you have burning questions, or need plot advice, you can bid on this auction here.

 

Holly Black: 1-hour plot brainstorming session with Holly based on up to 10,000 words of story material.

Holly has offered up something truly awesome here. Before you get too deep into writing, Holly is offering to spend an hour on the phone (or Skype) plotting/brainstorming with you, based on 10,000 words of story material you send to her whether it be outline, chapters, or anything else.

On the phone, she’ll help you try to figure out what you’re stuck on, and where you can go with the story overall.

If this sounds perfect for you, you can bid on it right here.

 

 

Jennifer Azantian: Critique and commentary of your entire submission packet.

Jennifer Azantian is offering a detailed critique and commentary of your submission packet (query, synopsis, and first three chapters up to 15,000 words). She’ll include her thoughts on pacing, impact, characterization, world-building, and more with in-line notes and an editorial letter within three months of receiving your submission. Though she makes no promises, she would be a fool not to consider representing a project if it truly blows her away.

Critiques of submission packets are key to getting your work picked up by agents and publishers. If you’re ready for that step, bid on the auction here.

 

Brad Beaulieu: Critique of up to 12,500 words of your story.

Bradley P. Beaulieu is pleased to offer one story or chapter critique of up to 12,500 words. Brad will draft a formal review that will cover such things as how well the story opens, complicates, and closes, how well the characterization works, dialogue, tone, pacing, tension, and a host of other issues. Essentially, he’ll provide a formal review on the positives and negatives found in the story.

If this sounds good to you, you can read more about Brad and bid right here.

 

Jeffe Kennedy: First chapter and synopsis critique.

A first chapter & synopsis critique, along with genre analysis – particularly apropos for anyone writing in romance/romantic elements crossover novels in SFF.

She is an award-winning author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. Her essays have appeared in many publications, including Redbook.

If you want to get your synopsis critiqued by an award-winning author, you can bid here.

 

Joe Ducie: Critique of up to 100,000 words of any manuscript.

Joe Ducie will critique up to 100,000 words of any manuscript, with an eye toward YA, Urban Fantasy, or Spy/Thriller. If you’ve read his The Rig or Reminiscent Exile series, you know what you’re getting into. He’s got a knack for writing books that read like an action scene. If you’re writing a thriller or other lean, fast-paced fantasy, Joe’s opinion will help quite a bit!

Joe was kind enough to offer us TWO critiques, so one is up for auction right here, while the other is in the lottery on the Professional Manuscript Critiques team page!

 

Sherwood Smith: Critique of up to 150,000 words of your fantasy manuscript.

Sherwood Smith is the author of the Inda series, the Crown & Court series, and co-author with Rachel Manija Brown of the brilliant YA series Change. She will read your fantasy manuscript, up to 150,000 words, and critique it, giving you her opinions on everything from character and pacing to plot and more. She’s a brilliant writer who creates memorable characters and intricate worlds. She’s also been workshopping for years, and teaching at the Viable Paradise science fiction and fantasy writers’ workshop.

Thisa is an amazing opportunity you won’t want to miss, so if it’s at all tempting to you bid here.

 

Joshua Palmatier: Critique of up to 7,500 words of your short story.

Joshua Palmatier (co-­editor of the DAW Books anthologies AFTER HOURS: TALES FROM THE UR­BAR and THE MODERN FAE’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY and the Zombies Need Brains anthologies CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE: STEAMPUNK vs ALIENS, TEMPORALLY OUT OF ORDER, ALIEN ARTIFACTS, WERE-, ALL HAIL OUR ROBOT CONQUERORS, and SUBMERGED) will read and evaluate your short story (up to 7500 words in standard manuscript format) within six weeks of submission. He will write a general evaluation of the story and mark up the manuscript using comments and track changes in the document itself, although this will NOT be a formal line or copy edit, simply commentary at specific points in the short story.

It’s hard to find people with so much experience with short stories, so if you have one you’d like critiqued you should bid here.

 

Jaime Lee Moyer: Read and Critique of the first 75 pages of your manuscript.

Jaime Lee Moyer has offered many critiques over the years, and we’re always grateful. This year’s critique is for the first 75 pages (double spaced) of your manuscript, where she’s comment on plot, character arc, voice, pacing, and other overall, general impressions of the story.

PLEASE NOTE: Jaime has a very tight schedule this year, so she’s requested that the winner be ready to send the manuscript to her within four months of auction end (by March 2018 at the absolute latest). So this is for someone who’s ready to hand over their manuscript soon.

If that someone is you, head over here and bid.

 

Richard Shealy: A Professional copyedit of your fantasy or science fiction manuscript.

Richard is offering a copyedit of novel-length manuscript (or short story and its pitch). Includes typo correction, continuity observation, voice/character consistency, context-appropriate grammar adjustment, fact-checking where needed. This copyedit will be completed sometime in 2018, since Richard is a pro and booked solid for the remainder of 2017.

For a list of works he has copyedited, visit http://sffcopyediting.com/index.php/what/ and scroll down until you see the wall of cover images!

A copy edit is a really big deal, and honestly something that most people don’t think about. Most authors don’t get this chance until their book has already sold, but it makes a huge difference in the readability of a manuscript. If you’re ready to take this on, you can bid right here.

 

Seth Fishman: Critique of up to 25,000 words of a sci-fi/fantasy novel.

Seth is a literary agent who has worked with Worldbuilders before to bring folks critiques, and he’s also done two different livestreamed Q&As about the industry as part of previous fundraisers. He did one on how to write an effective query letter (with one of his clients, Django Wexler) that you can watch right here, and one on the publishing industry as a whole from his perspective as an agent, which you can watch here.

Needless to say, he knows his stuff. If you want his advice on your novel, you can bid here.

 

Patrick Rothfuss (me): Critique of the first 20,000 words of your manuscript.

Patrick Rothfuss (international bestselling author, lover of women, and hirsute iconoclast) will read the beginning of your manuscript and give you critical feedback. (Up to, say, 20,000 words.) We’ll schedule this based on when your manuscript will be ready and the endless madness of my own schedular constraints.

I’ll read through your manuscript, scrawling notes and dirty words in the margins, then I’ll call you on the phone and we can discuss it.

If you want this, you should bid on it quickly. My schedule has become such that I really had to fight my team so that they’d let me do this.

You can Bid right here.

 

That’s all of the critiques for this year, but don’t forget that we have a few more up in the lottery on the Professional Manuscript Critiques team page.

Maybe you could bid on your favorite option (or options) and then if you don’t manage to win on Sunday night, you put the money you were willing to spend on it into the team page. After all, all of the money will be going to Heifer International, and they can do a lot of good with it.

But maybe you don’t have a manuscript. Maybe a tuckerization is more your speed…

  • Tuckerizations

What is a Tuckerization, you may ask? Well, it means different things to different people. Historically, it’s called a Tuckerization because Wilson Tucker used so many of his friends’ names as characters in his stories that it became something of an in-joke. Nowadays, it’s the chance to make a cameo appearance in a story. An author will take your name, or maybe your personality, or your physical description, and use it for a character in their story.

Maybe it’s not your name. Maybe it’s a sister’s, or a friend’s, or that kid you spent a lot of time with in kindergarten before he moved away. Maybe you only *start* with your name, but the author changes it a bit to fit in with the culture of the world you’re being put into. If that happens, you collaborate with the author and reach a solution you both like.

Whatever the case, it’s a chance to be a part of something really cool. It’s a chance, in some ways, at literary immortality.

We have NINE tuckerizations available below for auction, but they’re all a little different, so read carefully.

Brian McLellan will include you in a POWDER MAGE Novel, and maybe even kill you.

Brian McLellan has offered up the opportunity to be a minor character in a new POWDER MAGE novel, his awesome fantasy series. Brian’s a fantastic author, and a generally great guy to begin with, so working with him on this will be a dream.

He’ll work with you to make sure the name fits well in the world, and says that “violent death is optional.”

Fans of the series, or those who are eager for the option of violent death, can head over here and bid.

 

Elizabeth Bear: Get tuckerized into a galactic medical rescue novel + a signed first edition of the book.

Elizabeth Bear is working on a new novel called Machine, a space opera about medical rescue and a galactic hospital, and she’s offering up the chance to tuckerize a Worldbuilders supporter in it. To make things even cooler, she’s included a signed, first edition copy of the book to be sent to you upon release, so you’ll have a collectible to brag about to your friends, in addition to naming a character.

A signed first edition might be enough on its own for some people, so if you want to get your hands on this you’ll have to bid over here.

 

William Alexander will include you in a road trip novel that brushes up against The Wild Hunt and more.

 

William Alexander has been supporting Worldbuilders for a while now, including a give a spirited, Kermit-voice performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream last year. This year he jumped in with an opportunity to appear in the next novel he’s writing.

His current work in progress is a road trip novel featuring the Wild Hunt, the trolls of Vermont, and your name. Maybe.

Bid now for the chance.

 

Joe Ducie will tuckerize you in a spy-thriller novel.

Some of you may remember Joe Ducie from the before-times. He’s our very own Captain Joe, winner of a previous photo contest and all-around awesome person.  Since his first claim-to-fame here on the blog, his YA novel won the 2012 Young Writers Prize, and Joe’s been writing ever since.

Joe Ducie was kind enough to offer us TWO opportunities for fans to be included in his upcoming work! This auction is for an appearance in his upcoming spy-thriller titled THE DARK WINTER. The winner would be on a team of spies/soldiers off to save the world. It’s due to be published around this time next year, and you’ll have the chance to chat with Joe about which member of the team best fits you (or a loved one) and he’ll make sure that character does you proud.

If you’ve always wanted to be a spy, you can bid for the chance hereyes.

 

Joe Ducie (AGAIN) will tuckerize you in his YA time-loop novel.

Joe’s second offering for a tuckerization is in his upcoming urban fantasy novel, THE ONLY REAL PLACE, a YA story featuring an intense time-loop situation.

The novel is still in very early drafts, so there’s going to be a lot of flexibility to the character you’ll be. You will have the chance to chat with Joe about the best way to include you (or a loved one) as a cameo in his book.

You can bid on this one right here.

 

April White will include your character in her new Sherlockian mystery time-travel series.

This isn’t the first time April White has offered a tuckerization, and we’re always so grateful for her offer.

April is offering the chance to name a character (and provide an identifying characteristic or two) in book two of her new fantasy series. In the event the winning bid is higher than $250, that character will have a significant interaction with Ringo, the main character. If it goes higher than $400, that character will become a major contributor to the story.

To read more about the series, and to bid, head over to the auction and read up!

 

Tim Pratt will name a character in his upcoming space opera after you.

Tim Pratt’s novel The Dreaming Stars will be coming out around this time next year, and he’s offering up the chance to be a part of it by naming a character after yourself or a loved one. Space opera means that there’s going to be tons of options for him to make your character fun or interesting, so this is an awesome opportunity.

Plus, last time he let someone name a whorehouse in his books. So Tim’s a pretty cool dude.

If you want to be in a space opera, bid here.

 

Jeffe Kennedy will tuckerize you in the first novel of her new fantasy romance trilogy.

Jeffe Kennedy’s novel The Orchid Throne will be released in 2019, and she’s offering you the chance to name a character in it, at the beginning of a new trilogy.

It’s going to be a great series, and you can bid on the chance to be a part of it right here.

 

Bradley P. Beaulieu will incude you in his brand new epic fantasy series, and the more we raise the cooler you'll be.

Brad is a Wisconsin native, and longtime supporter of Worldbuilders. He’s offering up the chance to be in the fourth novel of his Arabian Nights-inspired epic fantasy series, THE SONG OF THE SHATTERED SANDS. He’ll work with you to make sure the name you provide can be tweaked and adjusted to fit into the world seamlessly.

As a bonus, the more money the auction raises, the more important your character will be to the overall plot. The series will have SIX books in it, so your character may very will live beyond the pages of the fourth.

If the auction raises $500 or more, the character will be elevated from a minor character to one that has a real interaction with one of the main characters, and Brad will work with you to adopt some specific personal characteristics to the character. If it raises $1,000 or more, your character can either die in a spectacular way or perform some other heroic, selfless act.

There’s a ton being offered here, and you can bid for the chance to make it yours here.

***

All of the money from auctions also goes to Heifer, so bidding on and winning auctions will go to help people who need it, like Lotale and his family. And, as a reminder, there are critiques available in the lottery as well, as long as you donate on the Professional Manuscript Critiques team page, and every $10 donated there is another chance.

Auctions will be ending on Sunday nights, and the first round of auctions ends THIS Sunday for things like the Dresden Force Ring that Jim Butcher wore while writing Skin Game, or the limited-edition Caesura sword with a custom, one-of-a-kind scabbard, or one of every book published by Subterranean Press for 2017. To check them out, click on AUCTIONS below.

Happy bidding…

Also posted in the business of writing, the craft of writing, Worldbuilders 2017 | By Pat4 Responses

So… I’m going to be on TV tonight.

Huh. That’s not really an elegant title, is it? But I guess it gets the point across…

Here’s the deal. A couple months back, I shot a pilot for a TV show with the Travel Channel.

That show is going to be airing TODAY (October 27th) at 10pm Eastern Time. On… well… the Travel Channel. Like I said.

(Edit: For those of you who don’t have cable: It’s also a part of live linear schedule on Play Station Vue, Hulu Live TV, & Sling.)

Here’s a teaser.

As you’ve probably guessed, the show is called Myths and Monsters. It’s about how myths evolve and grow. It’s about stories, really. How stories come to be.

This particular episode is about the Mothman.

There’s a brief write up of the show with a few more details over here if you’re interested.

I’ll save you a click if you just want to see the funniest part, which is this:

You see, when anyone is taking a picture of me, I can be serious for about 10-15 seconds. And then I start making faces until the person with the camera laughs, cries, or just gives up. (People who have been to my signings can verify this.)

When I saw that picture, I thought to myself, “Where the fuck did they get that photo?” Then I realized that it probably happened when we were off shooting the show. People with cameras would come up to me and say, “We need some production stills” or something like that. And I’d nod and smile, or try and look dignified or somehow… I dunno, authorial or something.

But again, only for about 10-15 seconds. Then I start goofing off.

This one was probably one of the photos they took *after* that initial 15 seconds, when I was fucking around and looking dramatic, or crazy, or… fuck. I don’t even know. Maybe I was just hungry. I don’t know what that expression on my face is supposed to signify.

Personally, I like the rendition that they did on this social media banner more:

(Feel free to plaster my gormless mug on all your medias!)

I think that looks a little more like me. Or at least how I look to myself inside my head.

So… Yeah. That’s all. I’m on TV tonight. If y’all wanted to watch the show, it’s at 9:00 CST. If you’re interested in monsters or mythology or stories or mothmen or me, you might find it entertaining.

I will say, I had a good time shooting it. I met a lot of interesting people, and had a lot of interesting conversations. I just hope that the stuff I remember being cool didn’t end up on the cutting room floor. I haven’t seen the final version yet either.

If you don’t have Travel Channel… I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe find a friend who does and go to their house? Have a Pre-Halloween Rothfuss Mythology party? Maybe develop some sort of drinking game you can play during the show?

(Edit: If you don’t have access to cable. The show is part of the live linear schedule on Play Station Vue. It’s also on Hulu Live TV and Sling.)

Here. I’ll give you the first two rules:

1. Every time I cuss, take a drink.

2. If it’s such a bad cuss that they have to bleep me out, take two drinks.

Edit: Some Good Suggestions from the comments and Twitter.

  • Every time someone says the title of the show during the show, take three drinks.
  • Every time Pat looks up at something in an inquisitive manner, take a drink.
  • When Pat Rothfuss looks at the camera with “teacher eyes,” take a drink.
  • Pat Rothfuss starts explaining something by first pointing at the sky – two drinks.
  • Drink when someone references Pat’s books.
  • Drink Every time you wish you were watching Stranger Things instead.
  • Drink every time Pat uses a word you don’t know.

Advanced/Dangerous options

  • Anytime Pat says, “Actually…”
  • Any Pat is self deprecating, take a drink of your friend’s drink. Then apologize.
  • Reference to book three – Three Drinks.
  • Pat Rothfuss says “story about stories” or gets meta – drink.
  • Drink every time Pat says a fascinated “…huh.”
  • Everyone pick a specific phrase and only drink when your phrase is uttered.
    • “That’s interesting”
    • “Urban Legend”
    • “Moth dong”
  • Put a fake mustache on your TV. When it lines up with someone’s upper lip, you drink.

I’m open to suggestions in the comments below. If you have any clever ideas, put them down there. I might move a few new rules up here if they really tickle me. But otherwise, I suggest that y’all look through them on your own and make a ruleset that works for your peer group, genetic makeup, and available liquor supply.

Have fun everyone,

pat

Also posted in Achievement Unlocked!, cool news, cool things, movie talk, my rockstar life | By Pat18 Responses

JoCo Cruise 2018

Those of you who follow me on social media probably know that for the last several years, I’ve been a part of the JoCo Cruise. What’s more, over the last couple years, they’ve brought on Worldbuilders as their official charity, and they donate a portion of the proceeds every year. (More on that later, for those of you who are fans of Worldbuilders.)

For those of you who don’t know, (and why would you, because I haven’t ever written a blog about it, though I’ve meant to for years) JoCo Cruise is kinda like a convention, except it’s on a cruise ship. So you can go to a panel about writing, go to workshop about game design, then go and drink rum out of an actual Pineapple on a beach. Or go snorkling. Or sit by the pool. Or go listen to some live music. Or hang out with your fellow geeks and play games. By the pool, at the bar. With, and I cannot stress this enough, rum.

If that wasn’t cool enough, last year the cruise took over the *entire* boat. So not only are there no normal cruise-goers giving us the side-eye. But we have full control over all the event spaces, so the amount of programming has become truly insane.

You can see the full schedule from last year right here, just so you know the scale of what I’m talking about.

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(Some of the guests from a previous cruise.)

This year is only going to be bigger and better, and booking has been going on for a while now.

It’s a chunk of change. But if you’re in the habit of going to conventions, you know that after you factor in hotel rooms, taxis, all your meals, badges, and extra events, you can easily spend as much as the cruise just attending a 4 day convention. More if it’s a convention like San Diego Comic con…

And this cruise isn’t just four days. It’s a 7-night, 8-day trip, with stuff going on literally at all hours. And the price includes all the JoCo Cruise events, 24 hour room service, all your onboard meals, use of the onboard gym, etc etc.

  • But Pat, I hear you say, “What sort of things happen on the cruise?”

Honestly? So much stuff. It’s almost ridiculous to try to mention all of it.

There’s performances every night. Dozens of musicians. Last year there were some cool magicians I’ve since seen on TV. Last year we had Nightvale on board, and I participated in one of their shows.

I myself usually do some panels, some readings, some performances.

Well, there’s usually a fair number of podcast recordings, like the one I did with Max last year…

This year, I’ve let Paul and Storm know that I want to sing at least once…. So there will be that train wreck to watch as well…

Tak made its debut on the Cruise, and was first playtested there. This year Travis McElroy is going to be there. So I’m guessing we’ll have some fun and games with him. And some D&D if I have anything to say about it…

There are things like the Gaming Room and Library, where you can settle in and play a board game with anyone who happens to pass by.

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All photo Credits to Steve Petrucelli and JoCo Cruise Shutter Monkeys

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There’s concerts every night that have performers like The Doubleclicks, Paul & Storm, Jonathan Coulton, and so many more.

joco-awesome

(Jonathan Coulton, complete with Zombies trying to eat his brains, here.)

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(Jean Grey here. I became a fan of hers *because* I saw her on the cruise.)

And, I mean, you’re on a CRUISE.

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For those of you curious about the price, here’s someone’s complete breakdown of all of the costs associated with this trip:

“But Pat!” I hear you cry. “The cruise isn’t until February, why would I want to book so soon?”

Well, there are a few reasons…

First of all the sooner you book, the more options you get for booking your cabins. Actual cabin placement is made in order of booking, with preference for folks who have booked early.

There’s also a “Refer a Friend” program where folks who already booked on the 2018 cruise can refer a friend. When both of them make their booking they’ll each receive a $125 onboard credit to their accounts, which they can use for fancy food, adult beverages, or buying merch and swag in the stores onboard. You can read up on the full info here, but it’s a limited time offer, so book soon.

If you don’t already have a friend sailing on board, there’s another special opportunity you can take advantage of: the Worldbuilders Charity Booking.

If you enter the offer code “worldbuilders” when booking a new cabin, two things will happen:

  1. Worldbuilders will receive a $250 donation on your behalf
  2. Everyone in your booking will have guaranteed attendance at a special onboard meetup with me.

This doesn’t count if you make a booking and cancel, obviously, and there’s a couple of other rules and restrictions as well (all of which you can read here) but once again, it’s a limited time offer, so if you’re hoping to get in on this one you should book now.

There’s also ALSO a Child discount of $250 per child under the age of 3 (at the time of sailing). That’s gonna be true the whole time, but it was still worth noting. I almost always bring my boys, and it’s a ton of fun to have them there. Oot wants nothing more than to spend as much time as humanly possible in the on-ship pool.

Anyway, there’s a whole bunch of options, all broken down on their Pricing Page, but, as with everything, the sooner you book, the better off you are.

So… yeah. There’s a reason I go on this every year. It’s a lot of fun.

One thing I learned in working with Nerdcon is that no matter how cool something is, there’s no guarantee it’s going to last forever. So if you’ve been thinking about it for a while, maybe jump in and try it this year.

Here’s the booking link one more time.

Hope to see some of you there,

pat

Also posted in conventions, cool things | By Pat21 Responses
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