Category Archives: Novelties

How To Seduce An Author….

It’s been kinda quiet here on the blog lately. Part of the reason for that is because I’ve been recovering from the fundraiser, trying to catch up on my e-mail, and spending more time with my family because they got pretty short shrift while Worldbuilders was going on.

And I’ve been working on other things too. Dreaming dreams. Scheming schemes. Occasionally machinating.

The things I’ve been working will be showing up over the course of the year, some of them sooner rather than later. Many of them you’ll hear about first here on the blog, of course. Because I appreciate y’all stopping by and seeing what I have to say.

The Worldbuilders team hasn’t been letting the grass grow under their feet either. And yes, it’s partly due to the fact that it’s winter here in Wisconsin. And yeah, sure, it’s also because letting grass grow under your feet would be kind of a weird thing to do even if it was springtime….

Let me start again. What I meant to say is that the Worldbuilders team has been busy getting things done. In addition to packaging up hundreds of lottery prizes, they’ve been getting some new stuff ready for the Tinker’s Packs.

For example:

  • Valentines Day Cards.

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Okay, okay. They’re not *specifically* Valentines Day cards. But they’re appropriately love-themed greeting cards just in time for those of you who might be looking to impress a geeky special someone on V-Day.

Also, do you see something a little different in what we’re doing this month?

That’s right. These cards aren’t just Kingkiller flavored. This year Worldbuilders is going to be doing our best to partner up with more authors: making cool things you’ll enjoy, while making the world a better place. So this month we’re launching cards not just from me, but based on Jacqueline Carey and Neil Gaiman’s works as well.

The card on the far left is mine, by which I mean it’s really by the wonderful Jackie Morris, a stunningly talented artist. She made this piece of art just for us, inspired by a quote from The Wise Man’s Fear: “These old name-knowers moved smoothly through the world. They knew the fox and they knew the hare, and they knew the space between the two.”

You can get the card with the quote inside, or a blank version that you can wax rhapsodic all over on. Both are available here.

Anyone who’s read Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy series will recognize the center card. The phrase “Love As Thou Wilt” is a core concept of the books, and a beautiful idea besides, so making it into a Valentine’s Day card was a no-brainer.

Lastly, there’s the card from Neil. It’s based on some excellent advice from him.

For those of you who are oddly terrified of clicking that link, a fan once asked Neil: “What do you think is the best way to seduce a writer?”

Neil replied with some of the truest words ever spoken.

Writers tend to be really good at the inside of their own heads and imaginary people, and a lot less good at the stuff going on outside, which means that quite often if you flirt with us we will completely fail to notice, leaving everybody involved slightly uncomfortable and more than slightly unlaid.

So I would suggest that any attempted seduction of a writer would probably go a great deal easier for all parties if you sent them a cheerful note saying “YOU ARE INVITED TO A SEDUCTION: Please come to dinner on Friday Night. Wear the kind of clothes you would like to be seduced in.”

And alcohol may help, too. Or kissing. Many writers figure out that they’re being seduced or flirted with if someone is actually kissing them.

Yeah. This is so true that it hurts. The majority of my relationships have started with girls kissing me, and me thinking, “Oh! Hey! She’s interested in me! Suddenly a lot of her behavior over the last few months makes much better sense!”

Because this strikes so close to home for me, I’ve wanted to make a card out of this for ages. I can’t thank Neil enough for giving us the thumbs-up.

So… yeah. Trust me. This card is really the way to go if you’re hoping to seduce a writer. If there’s someone in your life who’s really bad at taking subtle hints, get them this card.

  • Curious Lovers print

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(Copy of Wise Man’s Fear not included, but good at demonstrating scale)

Jackie Morris painted this for us faster than I could believe. Honestly, I think she said she got all of it done in a night.

Once we had it in our hot little hands, we couldn’t help but turn it into a print. It’s gorgeous. And if you want one of these beauties for yourself, you can get it right here.

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Téa was one of the authors who attended NerdCon: Stories this year. While we were there, she stopped by the Worldbuilders booth and signed some copies of her debut novel.

I just went looking for my goodreads review of this book, because I read it and *really* enjoyed it. But apparently that’s one of the books I only *meant* to give a gushy review to last year. You’ll have to just trust me. It’s a good read, and you can grab a lovely signed one right here.

  • Copies of Level Up Your Life. Signed and inscribed by Steve Kamb.

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I’ve heard good things about this one. It’s all about getting in shape and living a healthy life…but doing it in the nerdiest (and therefore best) way possible. You live your life like a character in a video game, movie, or book: you set goals and go on quests, find allies to help you with quests, train your skills, and level up all aspects of your life.

There doesn’t sound like any better way to get healthy, and these have been specially inscribed for us. You can get your own copy right here.

  • Individual Vintish Court Rings.

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We’ve had so many people over the years say that they wish they could get just one of the Court Rings, so we’ve finally decided to let you get just one Court Ring instead of the entire set, if you’re so inclined.

For a ring to give to your superiors, get the gold-plated ring. For someone of an equal rank, you’ll want the silver-plated ring. For those who are simply beneath you, the iron ring is the best choice.

  • Special Promotion: Greeting card + Jewelry = 15% off both!

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Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, we wanted to give you the option of doing all your shopping in one place. If you buy an item of jewelry from the specially-selected Valentine’s Jewelry Collection, as well as a greeting card, you’ll get 15% off both items. That is some unbeatable math.

Just so you know, The Tinker’s Packs usually puts up new products every month, but I don’t always mention them here on the blog. If you want to make sure you a heads-up about new stuff, it would probably be a good idea to sign up for the mailing list….

Later all,

pat

Also posted in cool things, Neil Gaiman | By Pat36 Responses

Novelties: Hoodies, T-Shirts, and Drug-Addled Dracci

Novelties has become a lot of fun over this last year, mostly because we get to show off the cool new things we’re putting up in The Tinker’s Packs for charity.

As of now, we’ve pretty much finished shipping out the Geeks Doing Good fundraiser perks, with the exception people who never got back to us about t-shirt sizes. *HINT HINT* So that means we can finally start rolling some of those products out in the store.

But first, a signed book:

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Amanda geeked out when she found out John would be in Madison for a signing, and so drove down to see him in all of his sarcastic glory.

She got 10 copies of his newest book, The End of All Things, and he graciously signed them for her, despite her intense fangirling. We’ve got those first edition copies up for grabs right here.

  • Auri’s Gear Temporary Tattoos

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This is, apparently, Amanda’s “tough” face. Amanda is hella street.

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This is her ‘I am mildly surprised and a bit perplexed by this tattoo on my arm’ face.

There are two tattoos per pack, so you can be double tough. Or, y’know. Single tough twice as long.

They’re available right here.

  • Geek-a-Week decks.

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These Geek-aWeek decks are cool, as each card has a geeky celebrity featured on the front with some of their vital stats on the back.

During the fundraiser we actually played a little game of D&D showing one of the best uses I’ve seen for these cards: namely, using them to generate off-the-cuff NPCs with more personality than is generally the case.

Here are some highlights from Season 1 and Season 5:

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I’m guessing you can see a lot of familiar faces there.

Decks are available here. And fair warning: quantities are limited.

  • All of the t-shirts

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Dear beloved Worldbuilders employees: Do not break each other. This is expressly forbidden in the employee handbook.

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All four of the new t-shirts we made for the fundraiser are now live the the store. The team have been wearing theirs with pride, and Amanda, Jeff, and Rachel were all giddy when they saw some out in the wild at my recent signing in LA.

If you missed out on getting one before, or you suddenly thought of a friend who probably needs these, you can pick them up over here:

What Does It Unlock, Waystone Inn, You Have Died of Chandrian, and Polka Will Never Die.

  • Hoodies

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Amanda’s been SUPER photogenic lately…

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So apparently, this is what my team does when I’m not in the office to keep an eye them. They dress up and take pictures of their butts.

The hoodies were something of an experiment. They’re much more expensive than t-shirts to produce, so they’re more expensive to purchase, and we were worried no one would be interested in them. Or at least not enough people to make them worth the expense, not to mention the storage space.

They went over way better than we thought, and so even though we hadn’t intended to carry them in the store afterwards originally, you swayed us, and you can get your own over here.

  • Draccus for King of Tokyo and King of New York

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As I mentioned before, King of Tokyo isn’t just a personal favorite game, it’s captured the hearts of the entire Worldbuilders team. They got together and played it a few weeks back, then posted a bunch of pictures up on the Worldbuilders Blog.

So imagine our delight when the lovely folks that make the game worked with us to create a special promotional character, so you can destroy Tokyo like the giant drug-addled cow-lizard you are.

When we brought this promotional Draccus card to GenCon, we only had about 400 of them, which we thought were plenty to last us the weekend. Even so, we limited it to 50 a day, so folks who only came on Saturday or Sunday still had a chance to pick some up. We sold out every day in just a couple of hours.

But now we have our full shipment of draccuses (dracci?) in the store, and we’re making them available to everyone for the first time.

Fair warning: We have a limited number of these, and once they’re gone, there won’t ever be any more. So if you want one, you might want to grab it sooner rather than later. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sell out in just a couple of days.

For those of you who’ve never played the game before, I highly recommend it. So we’re selling copies of King of Tokyo and King of New York in the store, too. You can use the draccus in either game.king-of-tokyo-couverture2

And, as always, all the money raised in the Tinker’s Packs goes to charity. So you’re not just buying geeky swag, you’re making the world a better place, too.

* * *

Three final notes before I sign off today.

I’ve decided that I’m going to be fewer events and less overall traveling in 2016. So if you’d like to see me in person, you might want to catch me in some of the following events coming up here at the end of the year, if that’s at all possible.

1. I’m doing a bit of a tour with Paul and Storm on the East Coast this week. There will be stops in Philadelphia, Alexandria, Brooklyn, and Somerville. (Which is not the same as Sunnydale. I checked.)

2. The convention I’ve been helping plan is fast approaching: NerdCon: Stories. It’s going to be a seriously awesome time.

3. Expect another post later this week on the blog. Odds are I’ll have some news to share….

Later Space Cowboys,

pat

Also posted in gaming, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat14 Responses

Novelties: IndieGoGo Edition

As some of you may already know, we’ve been shipping out our summer fundraiser perks for a while now. If it weren’t for the constant arrival of the UPS truck, we would be buried by the sheer mass of packages we’re assembling every day.

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And that’s not an exaggeration. Look at the upstretched hand of some poor lost Worldbuilders Minion waving for help from behind this stack of bundled packages. We have to keep shipping things out or we’re going to be crushed to death.

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So rest assured that if you jumped into the Geeks Doing Good fundraiser a couple months back, your goodies are on their way to you.

While it’s true that we’re busy with fundraiser fulfillment, we still have some new items for Novelties that have been showing up here at Worldbuilders HQ, including a couple of signed books. For example….

  • First edition copies of The Mad Apprentice. Signed by Django Wexler.

_DSC0539 Django Wexler is a seriously cool dude, and he’s helped out with Worldbuilders before. This time, he donated signed first edition copies of his newest book, which is the second in The Forbidden Library series. If you want to be cooler than all of the other kids, you should grab your copy and support Worldbuilders in the process by buying it right here.

_DSC0544 This is a collection of the webcomic my good friends Pat Johnson and Nate Taylor did for years. I wrote the introduction, and this is from the limited edition that was signed by contributing artists as well. There were only 50 of these, and it has art from Worldbuilders’ own Brett, Shane Tyree, and Phil Foglio, just to name a few. If you want in on a hilarious webcomic, grab this collection over here.

  • Boss Monster 2 from Brotherwise Games.

_DSC0542 Boss Monster is a house favorite here at Worldbuilders HQ. When we get together and hang out, or have a team game night, it’s usually one of the first choices to play. And now that Boss Monster 2 is out, we have even more to play.

One of the cool things about Boss Monster is that every card is a geeky reference to a retro game or gaming archetype in some way. Boss Monster 2 is no exception. Here’s someone you might recognize. PatCard(Wrathfuss the Namer.)

It’s kinda uncanny how easily that managed to capture me using that 8-bit style….

There’s a few other faces in there you might recognize.

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Yup. Characters similar-to-but legally distinct from Sanderson, Gaiman, and Martin all make cameos as heroes you must destroy in your dungeon. And we have copies we can sell where the profits go to Worldbuilders. You can grab them right here.

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As an added bonus, we still have some the limited edition Bast and Bastas cards they made as a promo. They play in either this game or the previous one. If you don’t already have them, we’ve got those for sale right here as well

Since we’re adding new stuff up in The Tinker’s Packs, we thought we’d add some of the items we launched in the summer fundraiser to make them available for people who missed out.

For those of you who bought one of these things in the IndieGoGo, don’t worry, we’ve already shipped out all the rewards containing these items. So if they aren’t already in your hot little hands, rest assured that they’re in the mail, making their way toward you…

  • Auri’s Gear Window Clings.

RachelAndGears

D’aww, look at how happy Rachel is…

These are pretty cool little things. We couldn’t choose between black and white when we were planning for the fundraiser, so we gave up and did both. A pair (one in black and one in white) is available in the store now for just $6.

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Here’s the white one on Amanda’s car, looking particularly glorious. Put them on your computer, in your car, on your desk, on your cat, whatever you can think of.

  • 2016 Beyond Words author calendar.

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Lauren Zurchin drove around the country again to take photos of authors in fantasy-themed costumes and settings. The calendar turned out great, and it had a great bunch of authors this year.

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The authors included Leigh Bardugo, Jim Butcher, Melissa de la Cruz, Tony DiTerlizzi, Kami Garcia, Lev Grossman, Robin Hobb, Tahereh Mafi, Garth Nix, Ransom Riggs, Margaret Stohl, Scott Westerfeld, and me. If you follow this link, you can see some pages, and grab a copy if you’re interested.

  • Karen Hallion 2016 Happy Endings calendar.

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Next year’s Hallion calendar is extraordinarily beautiful. The art is stunning, and Brett really outdid himself on the calendar pages themselves, giving each one a theme based on Karen’s art, and putting in little extra details everywhere for those of you clever enough to notice.

I’m immensely proud of it. You can get yours over here, and it’s early enough that no matter where you live you should have it in time for the new year without too much trouble at all.

  • Cheap 2015 Hallion Calendars

As some of you already know, August in the 2015 calendar features a few characters that might be familiar to you…. Denna-final

This picture pleases me to no end, so I figured we would discount the few remaining copies of this year’s calendar we have, while we put up the 2016 version.

So: Beautiful NEW Hallion Calendar: Available here for $20.

The calendar for 2015: Available here, marked down to $5 for those of you more interested in the art than keeping a calendar anymore.

  • Polka Will Never Die

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In related news, we had some trouble with people making illegal versions of the Polka shirt a while back.

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I was filled with furious anger when I heard. But that is a story for another day. (And another blog.)

The problem is dealt with for now, but since people were excited enough about the shirt to start stealing it, we figured we’d give y’all a place to pre-order on the Tinker’s Packs.

Now, note that this is a pre-order. These aren’t shipping yet, because the folks who jumped into our Geeks Doing Good fundraiser need to get theirs first.

But rather than have people buying them from someone who is taking advantage of the designer who made the shirt and the charity, we’ve decided to make them available to purchase now. If you go in and order one there, you’ll be first in line to get yours after the other orders ship.

Show your love for Butters, and do it for a good cause. You know you want to.

* * *

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, folks. In another month or so, we’ll be rolling out more of the items after we finish shipping things out to folks who backed the IndieGoGo.

Want to get an immediate heads-up when we launch new stuff in the store? Since I don’t always blog about it, the Tinker’s Packs has a newsletter for those of you who hate missing out on limited edition stuff.

But if newsletters aren’t your thing, you can always keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter, or just check the online store regularly.

Later,

pat

Also posted in BJ Hiorns Art, Geeks Doing Good, Nathan Taylor Art, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat13 Responses

Million Dollar Milkshake (and Novelties)

Guess what happened last year that I never got around to talking about?

In 2014, for the first time, Worldbuilders raised $1,000,000.

Last year two things happened that pushed us over the top.

1. We had our best holiday fundraiser ever, raising more than $880,000 (as you can see if you look at the Worldbuilders website.)

2. We tried an experimental mid-season fundraiser on Indigogo that was so successful that I actually lost a bet with the Worldbuilders team and was forced to buy everyone milkshakes. (As I wrote about in a blog over here.)

Despite the fact that this was a pretty big deal for us. We haven’t made much noise about it. Partly because after the holiday fundraiser we were all exhausted. And partly because we were focused on getting everyone’s prizes shipped out to them in a timely fashion.

But the fact remains that we did it. And I wanted to mark the occasion because it’s a milestone that took us 6 years to achieve.

I wanted to make a challenge coin. Because I think they’re kinda cool. I’m a geek for coins, I like the way they feel in my hand, and people have given me a number of challenge coins over the years. Personally, I’d love to do a new one for ever year of Worldbuilders.

The rest of the Worldbuilders team was skeptical. They didn’t know if y’all would be interested in something like that. But eventually I persuaded them to give the idea a trial run.

And here we are:

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Because we’re really not sure whether or not people will go for these, we’re only getting 500 of them made.

If people end up buying them, we’ll know y’all are interested and we’ll do more things like this in the future. If not… well… then I guess I’ll use these for poker chips, and the rest of the Worldbuilders team will mock me for coming up with this idea.

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(Do not eat coin.)

The flipside of the coin shows our beloved Monkey Puppet drinking a celebratory milkshake in honor of our first-ever million dollar year.

If you’d like to see a better picture of that, or if you’d like to buy one, you can head over to the Tinker’s Packs and order one now.

As always, all proceeds from the Tinker’s Packs go to Worldbuilders.

(Fair warning: these might not ship for a week or two…)

*       *       *

Since we’re on the subject of the Tinker’s Packs, we might as well celebrate the first day of spring with a Novelties blog.

For those of you who might be new to the blog, Novelties is where we put up some cool pieces of geekery for sale that you might not be able to find in other places.

Things such as….

  • Writhing Dark Playing Cards (Limited and Unlimited)

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Interesting Fact: One of the very first non-Rothfuss items we ever sold in our store was a deck of Cthulhu cards by Artist Shane Tyree.

I liked the cards so much that later on, I worked with him on a few Pairs decks, as well as the Name of the Wind cards.

What we have here is his newest endeavor. A second Cthulhu-Themed deck…

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(That bearded gentleman seems a little familiar.)

If you’d like to see more of the art or buy a deck, click over here.

  • Slow Regard Foreign Language Editions: 

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Now that The Slow Regard of Silent Things has been out a while, we’ve got more and more foreign editions getting translated. When that happens, the publisher sends me a handful of author copies.

When they show up at my house, I dutifully put one one copy on my vanity shelf, set one aside for the library, and give the rest to Worldbuilders.

Right now we’ve got Spanish, PortugueseGerman, Polish, Dutch, Brazilian, and Slovak translations of Slow Regard of Silent Things. We even have an audio book version of the German edition.

There’s been a more than a few other versions of my book too. For example, the Latvian edition of Wise Man’s Fear, showed up at my house recently:

I’ve been translated into 35 languages so far, and almost all of those editions are up in the store.

Even better, a lot of other authors have donated their author copies, too. So if you’re looking to bone up on your Estonian, or if you have a friend who speaks Portuguese as her first language, you could check out our Foreign Editions section on The Tinker’s Packs.

As always, all of the proceeds will go to Worldbuilders.

  • Limited Edition Le Nom du Vent poster

While I love all my foreign editions, and by extension all my foreign covers, I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the French covers, which feature the fabulous art of Marc Simonetti.

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Proving that he’s an incredibly kind person, Marc has allowed Worldbuilders to print a limited run of posters using the artwork used to produce the cover….

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(Click to Embiggen)

The posters are numbered 1 through 200 and signed by me. If you’d like to grab one, you can do so over here.

EditAmanda here! The posters went over awesomely and managed to sell out by 2 in the afternoon today. The people who are signed up for the once-a-month The Tinker’s Packs newsletter heard about these things a little earlier, so you should sign up right here.

*     *     *

That’s all we’ve got for now, folks. Stay tuned for more blogs soon…

pat

Also posted in all sorts of different types of books, book covers, cool things, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat36 Responses

Novelties: New Releases, White Rabbits, and My Appearance at PAX East

Novelties is fast becoming one of my favorite things we do. I love that we get to spread the word about cool new books, games, and geekery while raising money for charity at the same time.

What’s more, the longer we do this, the more folks come to us with new and interesting things for us to show off….

For example…

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It was really cool for Worldbuilders to be contacted by Gary Whitta. For those of you who don’t know him, he’s a screenwriter best known for The Book of Eli. But he’s done work on The Walking Dead, too.

His first novel is coming out soon, and he very graciously signed and donated a few Advance Reader Copies for us to use in Novelties.

“Brutal, brilliant, and deeply compelling, Abomination is quite simply mandatory reading. You may as well call in sick to work now because the moment you pick up Abomination, you won’t want to put it down. This is historical fantasy done right.” – The Nerdist

Abomination won’t be published until May this year, so this is a rare opportunity to get your hands on it before anyone else. Seize the opportunity here.

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I’ve talked about Gabriel before. He won a read-and-critique from a Worldbuilders auction a few years ago, and got his book picked up by the critiquing agent. He’s had some great success, and he was kind enough to donate a few ARCs.

“If China Miéville, Neil Gaiman, and Hunter S. Thompson had a ménage à trois, Dead Boys would be the lovechild. A cracking book.” – Jay Kristoff, author of Stormdancer

The book is out now, but you can still get the pre-release ARC right here.

  • Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game.

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Some of you may remember that we have a fun working relationship with Sentinels. They created a promo character out of Kvothe, which can be played with their card game.

Now they’re back with their video game, and it looks like it’s awesome. The game play is similar to the card game, in that you are a hero who is fighting a super villain in an environment that adds to the experience. The cool thing about the video game is that you can play it solo (but you don’t have to), so if your friends aren’t around or you don’t feel particularly social, you can still kick some super villain butt.

They donated some game codes to us, after seeing that we could do it with a bunch of other folks. So if you’d like to play, you can grab an access code for fifteen bucks and give the game a try…

  • White Rabbit everything.

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These items are all inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and feature art by the wonderful Shane Tyree. We have a few different items from the same series.

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There are of course, the Limited and Unlimited decks, as well as a cool option to pick up two dice with a limited deck. The limited decks (the one with the blue back) will never be printed again, and this is one of Shane’s earliest decks, so it’s a great deal to be able to pick them up and help out Worldbuilders at the same time…

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(Click to embiggen the coolness…)

There’s also uncut card sheets for those of you who want to be able to see all of the beautiful card art in one place.

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Finally, we have posters and magnets featuring a certain bearded fantasy author as the King of Hearts, as well as challenge coins styled to be the White Rabbit’s pocket watch.

  • Pinny Arcade Pins

Last year for PAX Prime, we hooked up with the Pinny Arcade people and made a limited edition Talent Pipes Pin.

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We put them up for sale at PAX Prime and sold about a thousand of them. And up until now, that’s been the only place you could get them. But now we’re throwing them up in The Tinker’s Packs , because we know a lot of the rest of you would like the chance to get hold of them.

A few things to note:

1. We only produced a set number of these, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. We won’t be making more.

2. All the proceeds we make from these (as with everything we sell in The Tinker’s Packs) goes to charity.

3. If you’d like to buy some pins *and* see my smiling face…

  • PAX East

I’m going to be back at PAX East, and you’ll never guess why…

Okay. You can probably guess why.

It should be a good time. I’m going to swashbuckle the hell out of this game. There will be daring do. I will do it. I will dutifully do some daring-do.

PAX Prime generally doesn’t have booksellers, but the folks at Pandemonium Books will be at PAX East. Not only will they have my books available, but they’ll be selling the Pinny Arcade Talent Pipes. So you can grab some from them, too.

I’ll also be carrying around a few myself, if anyone’s in the mood to trade.

I’ve even got a couple of signings there in addition to my game…

Saturday, March 7
5:00 – 7:00pm Signing in the Queue Hall (Pandemonium Books)

Sunday, March 8
10:30am – 12:00pm Signing in the Queue Hall (Pandemonium Books)
1:30pm Acquisitions Inc Game, Main Theater

Hope to see you there…

pat

P.S. Normally when I swing through a city for a convention (especially a convention that’s sold-out) I make a point of doing an off site signing for the people that aren’t attending.

Unfortunately, my schedule just doesn’t have room for that this time. My trip to Germany is coming up fast, and I’ve got some family things going on in Wisconsin that I need to keep an eye on.

But never fear, I’ll be signing stock for Pandemonium Books. So if you live in the area and you want some books with my name in them, you’ll be able to swing by and grab them there

Also posted in gaming, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat19 Responses

January Novelties: Games, Books, and Valentines

For those of you who don’t know, I’m leaving today to set sail on JoCo Cruise Crazy. While I’m gone, my internet will be spotty, if not downright nonexistent. I have the feeling this will be simultaneously be liberating and terrifying.

I wanted to post up several blogs this last week before I left. But I just haven’t been able to find the time. I’m trying to focus more on my writing these days, and that means other things get pushed into the background.

For some reason, I’m guessing most of you won’t mind this particular change in focus.

That said, there are some things I’m eager to talk about here on the blog. Some little. Some big. Some informational. I’m expecting to have a little time over the next week to finish at least one of those, so stay tuned if you’re curious to see what those are…

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For today, we’ve got a couple new things happening in The Tinker’s Packs. Including the Valentine’s Day cards I mentioned on the blog a while back.

But first, some lovely books, donated by some lovely authors:

RandomWithSignature

We’re really grateful for these books from Alma Alexander. She even took the time to doodle in every one, so they’re extra special and cool.

“You will never read another shapeshifter book like this. Every surprise will catch you unwary. And, like me, you will find that others will have to pry it out of your fingers.” – Tamora Pierce

We only have a few, so grab yours right here.

Stranger_WithSignatures

Sherwood Smith’s new novel is gorgeous, and she worked with her co-author, Rachel Manija Brown, to send some lovingly doodled copies over to us.

Stranger‘s thrilling depiction of a changed and deadly future landscape filled with bloodthirsty plants and dangerously altered animals drew me in. The plot hooked me with its deft interweaving of messy personal problems and lethal conflicts that threaten the town, while the vivid, likeable characters kept me reading long into the night.” – Kate Elliott

We have ten copies, so if you want one all to yourself, you can grab your own copy right here.

  • Game codes for Torment: Tides of Numenera. Game is not yet released.

Torment

Some of you may remember that I’m writing for a video game. A game that means a lot to the gamer in me.

It’s still in production. I’m still working on my part of the writing. But it’s coming along nicely, and they’ve got a pre-order system set up on their website for when it comes out at the end of the year.

This works a little differently. Since it’s a pre-order of a game that was Kickstarted, you’ll be redeeming a code we send you for enough credits on the Torment website to get either the Digital Download Plus level or the Digital Collector’s Edition level (the second of which has a novella available for immediate download).

So you can preorder the game through us, read some stuff if you’re a Collector’s Edition type of person, and when the game comes out, take a week off work and play it like a crazy person. Not that I condone that sort of behavior, mind you…..

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I’ve talked about the Karen Hallion Calendar a few times, pretty much because it’s just lovely.

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January has come and nearly gone, so we’re decreasing the price of the calendar in The Tinker’s Packs to $10. We won’t be printing more after this, so don’t miss your chance to grab one while there’s still a chance it can help you keep track of your life.

  •  Valentine’s Day Cards

I’ve been wanting to do some Valentine’s day cards for years now. But this is the first time I’ve actually manage to think of it far enough ahead of time to brainstorm some good concepts, spent time designing them, and get them printed at a proper printer.

This is kind of an experiment for us. We’ve never done cards before, so we’re testing the water with these four:

There’s the beautiful art from Karen Hallion featuring Kvothe and Denna.

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It’s blank inside, so you can write whatever your heart desires.

Second we have a card with with one of my favorite pieces of art from The Slow Regard of Silent Things.

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Inside it says, “You are as lovely as the moon.” Which just happens to be, by strange coincidence, seven words.

If those seven words aren’t quite to your liking, our third card gives you more options for The Seven Words that Will Make a Person Love You.

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My favorite is: “I brought back Firefly for another season.”

Finally, the most requested card was this one:

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(Click to Embiggen.)

I remember working on that particular part of book two for days, wondering to myself, “Is this going to make sense to anyone but me?”

Apparently it did, because at last count, I’ve heard of at least a dozen different people using it in their wedding ceremonies.

It’s available over here.

You can buy all of these cards singly, or in three-packs. Or you can get a set of all four cards for those of you who would like one of each.

As always, all proceeds from The Tinker’s Packs goes to Worldbuilders. Making the world a better place.

Wish me luck, folks, I’ve never been on a cruise before, and while I’m looking forward to spending time with my family, I hear they don’t have hardly any snow at all on this cruise. I don’t know how well I’m going to be able to cope with that rapid climate shift.

Also posted in The Tinker's Packs | By Pat39 Responses

Novelties: Scalzi, Leckie, and Beagle

We’re wrapping up the first week of our Worldbuilders fundraiser and as I type this we’ve raised over $107,000 dollars. Which means we’ve unlocked several stretch goals, and are on the cusp of several more…

While Novelties blogs are separate from our yearly fundraiser, the money goes to the same charity. What’s more, since this month’s Novelties is landing *inside* our yearly fundraiser, any of the books you buy here will count toward our donation total, helping us hit more stretch goals faster.

Lastly, before we show off this month’s books, I have a piece of news that won’t wait. The first of our charity auctions is ending tonight. It’s one copy of every book published by Subterranean Press in 2014. It includes special limited edition books by Jim Butcher, Scott Lynch, Neil Gaiman, and many *many* more. Many of the books are signed, numbered editions. Some are specially illustrated…

And some are signed AND numbered AND illustrated and vastly and profoundly out of print.

Like this traycased version of the shining.

AmandaWithShining
Due to a shipping error, we didn’t include pictures or mention of this book in the auction. And that’s a shame, because it’s beautiful and very rare (one of 750 printed). Signed by both Stephen King and the illustrator…

And because it’s sold out, copies of it are selling for more than a thousand dollars right now.

So, if you’re a fan of beautiful books, or just a fan of Stephen King, you know where to go.

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This month we have three books by award-winning authors. All signed by the authors.

  • First edition copies of Lock In. Signed by John Scalzi.

LockIn - Blog

Lock In is John Scalzi’s newest novel, and Amanda in particular has been sharing it around like wildfire. Its gotten great reviews, including:

“Scalzi’s characters possess tangible motivations and inhabit a thoroughly believable world, and the growing partnership between Shane and Vann is a pleasure to watch unfold. This powerful novel will intrigue and entertain both fans and newcomers.” -Publishers Weekly

If you want a copy for yourself or a loved one, you can grab one copy over here.

  • First edition copies of Ancillary Sword. Signed by Ann Leckie.

AncillarySword - Blog

Ann was very generous to donate these to us, this is the second book in her award-winning series. Personally, I was delighted and impressed by these books. But you don’t have to take my word for it when the Library Journal is jumping in to gush about it:

“Few novels could match the bolt-out-of-the-sky originality of Leckie’s debut (Ancillary Justice), but this follow-up builds on the world and characters that the author introduced in the first book and takes the story in new directions. There is much more to explore in Leckie’s universe, one of the most original in [science fiction] today.”

We only have ten copies of this, so grab them while you can.

  • Hardcover copies of The Last Unicorn graphic novel. Signed by Peter S. Beagle.

LastUnicorn-Blog

I actually picked these up when Peter S. Beagle was in the area for The Last Unicorn Screening Tour. The whole team went and met Peter, watched The Last Unicorn on the big screen, and generally geeked out.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of The Last Unicorn, so I was ready to hate this graphic novel adaptation. Surprisingly enough though, I didn’t. As I mentioned in my goodreads review, I thought it was amazingly well done.

As with all our novelties books, we only have a few available. You can get yours over here.

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Remember, all proceeds from our online store, The Tinker’s Packs, go directly to Worldbuilders. So when you buy books there, you’re not just getting a cool book and supporting the authors you love, you’re making the world a better place.

Thanks everyone. And stay tuned for more news about the fundraiser.

Also posted in Worldbuilders 2014 | By PatLeave a comment
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