Category Archives: The Tinker’s Packs

Published: August 8, 2013

GenCon Badge Giveaway, My Convention Schedule, and a Reading in Indianapolis…

Heya everybody.

Sorry I haven’t gotten around to posting up details about the TV deal yet.

(Oh yeah. For those of you who haven’t heard, there’s a TV deal.)

Things are still in very early stages, and a lot of the brief articles that are out there are only about 60% accurate.

I’m putting together an official announcement post that is full of all manner of True Facts ™. But it’s taking a while, and I have to run it by PR people. It’s taking a while.

So for now, some other news…

  • Gen Con Badge Giveaway  

As you know, I’m going to be at GenCon next week.

What you might not know is that I’ve got two 4-day Gen Con badges to give away.

These were generously given to us by the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium, which is the group running all of the cool author panels at the con.

The great thing about the writing track is that most of their events are free. So getting a free badge means you can go to the con and soak up as much writing panel-ness as you’d like and it won’t cost you an extra nickel. If you go to the Writer’s Symposium website, you can see a full schedule of what sorts of things they’ve got going on.

And there’s a lot of other cool stuff you can do at the con, of course. You could take a whole day just browsing through the dealer’s room.

If you’d like a chance at winning one of these badges, just drop a comment down below. It should say, “I’d like a badge” along with…. um….

How about with your favorite quote from the book?

Make sure you have a current e-mail address listed in your profile, as that’s how we’ll end up contacting you.

Post a comment by Saturday at Midnight, CST. That’s when we’ll be picking the winners.

  • Cool Things at Gencon – Booth #661

So this year at Gencon, Worldbuilders will be having a booth. We’re sharing with Badali Jewelry  at booth #661.

266696_287860688003317_1310606195_o

(Look at us, being all fancy with our signage….)

This is a new thing for us, and we’ll be doing pretty much what you’d expect. I’ll be hanging out, signing books. And we’ll be selling some of the stuff that’s available in The Tinker’s Packs with the added bonus that you don’t have to pay for shipping.

And we’ll have other things too. Stuff we’re debuting at the convention. Stuff you can’t get in the store, at least not yet.

For example, we’ll be selling Boss Monster, a game by Brotherwise Games.

In this game, there are a bunch of hero cards that pay homage to characters from classic fantasy video games and/or literature.  In the prototype deck, there was a “Quothe Ladykiller, The Polymath” hero card.

BMA073_Quothe_Ladykiller,_the_Polymath

That’s actually how I first found out about this game. Someone sent me a link to a picture of this card. I was amused by it, and called them up to ask if they’d be willing to let us sell some for Worldbuilders. They agreed.

But here’s the thing, the Quothe card didn’t make it into the final game. It was just one of the prototypes.

But because they’re awesome, the guys over at Brotherwise made a special promotional card just for us. They printed 200 copies of the Quothe card so that we can use them as a special promotion when we sell our copies of the game.

So not only are these cards limited edition, but buying them from us is the only way to get them, and we’re debuting them at GenCon.

Right now, we’ll be making 50 of the decks available each day of the con. That way, while it’s still first-come first-serve, you have a chance of getting a deck even if you’re only coming on Saturday or Sunday.

And we’ll have other things too we’ll be launching at the con. Cool things. Trust me. Stop by.

(As always, all profits from The Tinker’s Packs go to Worldbuilders.)

  • My Schedule in Indy

Thursday, August 15th

12-1:45 Signing at the booth
2PM The Art of Storytelling – Moderator ICC Room 245
3PM Dynamic Characters ICC Room 245
5PM Literary Alchemy ICC Room 245

(Unfortunately, I’ve had to bail out of that last panel, as I need to get to my Reading/Signing event at the Central Library on time.)

Friday, August 16th

10:30-11:45 Signing at the booth
7:30-9PM – An Evening with Pat Rothfuss – ICC Room 243

Saturday, August 17th
12 NOON Reading ICC room 244
2:00 – 4:00 pm: True Dungeon
4-6 Signing at the booth

Sunday, August 18
11-1 Signing at the booth
2-4  Signing at the booth

  •  Getting Your Books Signed

Here’s the thing, GenCon doesn’t want us to have a huge line that will block traffic and people’s access to other booths.

So if you want to get something signed, you’ll need to swing by the booth to pick up a ticket. They’re free, but we’re using these to organize things. That way you don’t have to stand in line for an hour, and we don’t get in trouble with the con.

If you can’t get to the booth during one of my signing times, or your time slot is full when you try to get a ticket, I’ll be signing things at my “An Evening with Pat Rothfuss” panel on Friday at 7:30, as well as my off-site event at the Central Library (see below).

Both events will be nice, relaxing places to hang out, get stuff signed, and listen to me to me either rant or ramble, depending on my bloodsugar levels.

  • Library Reading in Indianapolis – With Goodies… 

For those of you who aren’t really into the con scene, I’ll have my off-site reading and signing at the Central Library at 7:00 PM. I’ll be reading some stuff, answering questions, and signing books for everyone who’s interested.

Central Library – Clowes Auditorium
40 E St Clair St
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Facebook Event

Since we’re going to be in town running a booth at Gencon, we’re going to be supplying our own books for this event. And since we’ve got some *other* cool stuff with us for our booth, we’re thinking we could bring those things out to the library event as well.

But for logistical reasons, we can’t pack up our whole booth and bring it with us. We simply can’t bring *all* the t-shirts in *all* the sizes.

We will be bringing a selection of stuff, but if you’re coming to the library reading and there’s something in particular you’d like for us to bring, it might be best if you mention it down in the comments. We’ll do our very best to bring it along for you.

Please be clear and specific in your comment, lest we descend into madness. Something like this would be ideal:

“Could you pleas bring a woman’s L Greysdale Mead shirt, a copy of Unfettered, and Denna’s Ring in a 6.5 with the antiqued finish. My name is Laurie.”

I’ll be seeing you soon….

pat

Also posted in appearances, contests, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat202 Responses
Published: July 7, 2013

An Update and a Story

It’s been a busy week here at Worldbuilders central. We got a surprising number of orders for Unfettered in the Tinker’s Packs, along with people taking the chance to buy t-shirts, posters, and other assorted ephemera.

After I mentioned the book on Monday’s blog, we had about 500 orders, which is (if you’ll excuse my language) a shit-ton of orders for us to process in a week. But my team rose to the challenge, stared it grimly in the eye, and destroyed it.

Or, if we didn’t destroy it, we at least gruesomely maimed it.

I think my analogy is falling apart here.

My point is that everyone’s orders are being processed and shipped out with such speed and efficiency that you’d think that we were entirely staffed with some manner of high-tech robot ninjas. We’ve got the first 350 out the door already, and would be even further along if not for the whole federal holiday/post office being closed on the 4th of July thing.

First, I’d like to thank so many of you for supporting both Worldbuilders and Shawn by buying the anthology off the tinker’s packs.

Second, I should mention that if you’re one of those people who feels a burning desire to pick up first edition copies of books, they’re selling *much* faster than I’d anticipated. I asked Shawn, and it turns out that the first printing of this book was only 5000 copies. He’s sold a couple thousand. I’ve sold 500. The rest are going to get snapped up pretty quickly….

Thirdly, if you don’t know what the deal with the anthology is, you can read the introduction I wrote for the book over on Goodreads.

Lastly, a story about Oot….

*     *     *

DSCN1171

The man himself, showing off his new fruit-and-music tattoo.

When he showed it to me, he explained that it was pretty cool and that it made him super tough.

“How tough?” I asked.

Super Tough

Wow. That’s pretty tough.

But that’s not the story. That’s just the prologue.

This is the story….

A couple days ago, the two of us were taking a walk, giving mom some time to herself. We were looking at trees mostly.

On this particular walk, Oot also had brought a sack with him. He told me it was his bird sack. That’s where he’s going to put the birds he catches. Into the sack. He’s obsessed with trying to catch birds right now. Chases them all over.

And Honestly? I wish him the best. Aim high. Dream the dream.

Then out of the blue he says, “Y’know dad, I’d like to see you write your own book.”

“What was that?” I ask. It’s caught me a little off guard. He knows I’m an author, but he’s never asked anything like this before.

Then I realize this is probably because two blocks back, I stopped to chat with some folks out doing yard work. A husband and wife, older than me. What I think of as grandparent age.

Are you that author? they asked.

I am that author, I said.

We can’t can’t wait until the third book, they say.

Side note: If I ever get snippy or terse about people being on my case about book three, it’s because of this sort of thing. It’s not mean spirited. And honestly, taken by itself, it’s fine. Flattering even. And it’s loads better than someone screeling, “Why aren’t you writing the next book right now!!!”

The problem is that it’s incessant. I don’t just get it online. I don’t just get it when I go to conventions. I get it when I go for a walk around the block with my boy. Three years of this sort of thing wear a guy down.

 Anyway, Oot repeats himself, he says, “I’d like to see you write your own book.”

I thought about it a little bit, then asked, “What do you think that would look like?”

“Oh you know,” he said, very matter-of-fact. “You’d pull a feather out of a turkey. Then dip it in some ink and write on some paper.”

I nodded. “That is probably what it would look like.”

Then I asked, “How much time do you think it takes to write a book?”

“Oh you know,” he said. “Not so long….”

I’ll admit my heart fell a little bit when he said that. I found myself thinking, Oh Oot, not you too….

But then he kept going, “…but long.”

And you know what? He’s exactly right. That’s exactly how much time it takes to write a book: Not so long, but long.

Just in case you were wondering….

pat

Also posted in Oot, Stories about stories., The Tinker's Packs | By Pat136 Responses
Published: June 28, 2013

A Little Something to Tide You Over…..

Want to hear something strange?

My first short story ever has just been published.

I didn’t even realize it until just now, as I sat down to write this blog. But it’s the truth.

Here’s the thing. I’ve been published in anthologies before. That happened long ago in 2002 with Writers of the Future Vol 18. That was the publication that got me started.

My piece in that anthology was called “The Road to Levinshir.”

But it wasn’t really a short story.

For one thing, if you want to be nit-picky, it was 14,000 words, and that makes it a novella. Or a novelette, to be precise.

But the bigger issue is that the “story” in addition to being not short, wasn’t really even a story. By which I mean it wasn’t a self-contained discrete entity unto itself. It was an excerpt from my as-then unpublished novel, which bore the embarrassing title “The Song of Flame and Thunder.”

(Most of you have read a much-revised piece of this story in its proper context, as a part of The Wise Man’s Fear.)

Later, people asked me if I’d like to reprint that story. Since I’d revised it fairly substantially, my response was pretty much, “Woo! Someone wants to print my stuff!”

Levinshir anthologies

All three of these anthologies contain versions of “The Road to Levinshir” (Or “Levenshir” depending on my mood.)

But as I’ve already mentioned, it wasn’t really a proper short story.

My first proper published short story has just come out in Unfettered.

cover-unfettered

I mentioned it on the blog a while back, letting people know they could pre-order it. But that was more than half a year ago. A lot has happened since then.

This is an anthology where a bunch of authors pitched in stories to help out a friend, Shawn Speakman. He was was having trouble with his medical bills after getting cancer, beating it, then getting a whole *different* type of cancer years later when no health insurance would cover him.

Here’s a list of the authors involved.

Terry Brooks
Patrick Rothfuss
Naomi Novik
Brandon Sanderson
RA Salvatore
Tad Williams
Jacqueline Carey
Daniel Abraham
Peter V. Brett
Robert VS Redick
Peter Orullian
Todd Lockwood
Carrie Vaughn
Blake Charlton
Kevin Hearne
Mark Lawrence
David Anthony Durham
Jennifer Bosworth
Lev Grossman
Michael J. Sullivan
Eldon Thompson
Shawn Speakman

Seriously. That’s a hell of a line-up. I couldn’t hope for better company.

My story is set in the four corners world. It’s called, “How Old Holly Came to Be.”

It’s not like anything I’ve ever written before. By which I mean it’s short, and I finished it before my deadline.

I kid. I kid. What I really mean is that it’s a very different sort of story.

You can order the book in all manner of formats over here on Shawn’s website.

Or, if you like, you can buy a copy off the Tinker’s Packs.

I’m not going to lie to you, if you buy a copy in our online store, it’s going to be more expensive. But that’s because not only is money going to Shawn, but money is going to Worldbuilders, too.

But to make up for the expense, I’ll happily sign it for you. And in addition to helping two good causes, you’ll know that you’re getting a first edition copy. Shawn printed fewer than 10,000 of these from what I understand, and I don’t know if or when there will ever be another print run. So it’s kinda a grab-them-while-you-can sort of situation….

And if you’re feeling extra bookish, we’ve got a scattering of signed books from other authors we’ve thrown up recently in The Tinker’s Packs as well. Most of those we only have a a few of, so when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Have a good weekend,

pat

Also posted in Fuck Cancer, The Tinker's Packs, upcoming publications | By Pat85 Responses
Published: June 7, 2013

Upcoming Events in Ohio and Cool News

So next week I’m going to be down in Ohio for a convention and a reading.

Here’s the straight skinny….

  • The Reading/Signing/Q&A.

The reading is Thursday the 13th at 7:00 at Beehive books in Delaware.

As with all of my events, I’ll show up, read some stuff, and answer any questions people might have.

And by “Answer questions” I mean that if you ask me a question, I will tell a rambling story that may in some way relate to the topic of your question.

Also, there will probably be some jokes. And maybe cussing. I also might sing.

After all that, I’ll sign books until everyone has as many books signed as they want to have signed. Books.

If you can’t make it to the signing, you might want to consider stopping by….

  • The Convention.

I’m GOH this year at Origins. It’s in Columbus, and runs from the June 12th to the 16th.

We’re trying something new at this convention. Since I’m Guest of Honor and all, we’re going to have a booth in the dealer’s hall.

That means that if you want to buy a Kingkiller t-shirt, you can swing by the booth and get one. Want a Draccus poster? You can swing by the booth and grab one. Set of Talent Pipes? Same thing.

Really, pretty much anything that normally shows up in The Tinker’s Packs, you can swing by the booth and grab it there with the added bonus of not having to pay shipping costs.

And it’s possible we’ll have some *new* stuff there that isn’t available at all in the store. Cool stuff. Secret-y stuff….

As always, proceeds go to Worldbuilders.

What’s more, I’ll be hanging out at the booth to sign books and meet people, too.

If you’re not normally a convention-type person, Origins does something pretty cool They offer a day pass on Saturday so people can come in and wander around the show. It costs just 10 bucks for a person, or 15 bucks for your whole family. You have access to *most* of the convention, and you get free run of the dealer’s hall, can play game demos, and stuff like that.

So even if you don’t want to hit the whole con, you could still stop by and see me at my booth, get a book signed and hang out for a bit.

Details about the day pass are here.

My Convention Schedule:

  • Thursday, June 13

11:00-12:00 – Crafting the Love Scene – Library Room B (C223)

1:00-3:00 Signing and hanging out at my booth.

  • Friday, June 14

12:00-1:00  Sexism: How Much is Too Much? – Library Room A (C222)

1:00-2:30 Signing and hanging out at my booth.

3:00-4:00 Q&A with Patrick Rothfuss – Library Room A (C222)

5:00 – 6:00 Signing and hanging out at the booth.

  • Saturday, June 15

11:00-12:00 – Writing the Trilogy- Library Room A (C222)

12:00 – 2:00 Signing and hanging out at the booth.

6:00-8:00  – Group Reading – Library Room B (C223)

  • Sunday, June 16

1:00 – 2:00 – Writing Your First Novel – Library Room A (C222)

2:30 – 4:00 Signing and hanging out at the booth.

Keep in mind I might be at the Tinker’s Pack booth at other times, but those are the times I’ll *absolutely* be available for signing books and whatnot….

Hope to see some of you there.

  • Cool News

d63a49ed41929b6344b0d0123be8f6ca_large(You might want to click to embiggen.)

My Kickstarter blew through the 160K stretch goal I mentioned on the blog earlier this week.

We crushed it, in fact. So soon you’ll be seeing a video of me singing a certain song.

8c5ff84de9979c8764415603a720699f_large

But there’s bigger news than that. We’re closing in on 300K right now, and we’ve put up and knocked off a *lot* of new stretch goals.

So if you haven’t looked at the Kickstarter in the last 24 hours, you might want to go over there and take a peek.

I’ll talk about that news in more detail in just a couple days.

Also, if you want to see Shane and I work on some of the art for the deck in a live video chat, we’ll be doing that tomorrow afternoon. Look for the hangout link on facebook.

pat

Also posted in appearances, conventions, cool news, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat38 Responses
Published: May 20, 2013

“Kansas City, Here I Come…”

You know what I learned today? Kansas City isn’t in Kansas. It’s in Missouri.

Now I’m all for people having fun with names, but honestly? There’s a little something called truth in advertizing too….

I learned this interesting fact because I’m going to a convention down there this weekend (Memorial Day weekend.) I’m Guest of Honor at ConQuest.

And just so Kansas won’t feel sad, I’m going to be doing a reading/signing there too. It’s the Thursday before the convention (the 23rd) at Mysteryscape in Overland Park.

So, you have been warned. Grab me when I’m in the area, because I don’t know when I’ll be back again….

(Note: Please don’t actually grab me.)

Edit: Just to make it clear, I’m also doing readings and signings at the convention itself all weekend. Plus at the convention I’m going to be on a bunch of panels about writing, worldbuilding, humor, etc etc.

The main reason I’m in town is because of the convention, and if you want to see a lot of me, that’s the place to go.

(Note: “By see a lot of me” what I really mean is “See me a lot.”)

I’m doing the bookstore event for people who don’t like conventions, can’t afford them, or who are busy over the weekend.

Just to clear that up.

*     *     *

In other news, I did something horrible in Florida.

Or rather, I tried to do something nice in Florida and I screwed it up.

Earlier this month when I did a signing in Bradenton, we ran out of books. I felt bad about that, as some folks had driven for hours and weren’t going to be able to buy books and get them signed.

So I told people that if they wrote their names and e-mail addresses down, we’d contact them and arrange to sell them some signed books for what they’d have been able to buy them for at the store.

I passed around the notebook, about 30 people wrote down their names….

…and now I can’t find the list.

I’ve looked everywhere. It’s not in my luggage. It’s not in the store. It’s not where we were staying in Florida, or in the car we drove around in….

It’s just gone.

I feel really bad about this, and I want to make it right, so here’s what we’re going to do…

We sell a bunch of stuff in The Tinker’s Packs, T-shirts, jewelry, posters, and signed copies of my books.

Because all the money from The Tinker’s Packs goes to charity, we normally charge more than the cover price of the books. But for the folks who were in Florida, we’re going to charge the cover price and eat the shipping cost ourselves.

(I’d love to give you even more of a deal, but the books actually cost us money….)

So. If you were at that signing and you didn’t get a book, here’s what I’d like you to do.

1. Go onto The Tinker’s Packs.

2. Order whatever books you like.

3. When you go to Paypal, click on the “Note to seller” field.

Paypal-Checkout-pic-arrow

(Click to Embiggen)

4. Type in “I was in Florida”

5. Type in whatever you’d like your personalization to be.

6. Complete your order.

  • Note: The total will not be right.

7. When we process the order, we will refund some of your money.

If you want to buy some other stuff too, nothing would make me happier. Worldbuilders appreciates your support. But I’m afraid you’ll have to pay regular price for the other stuff.

What’s to stop *everyone* from jumping in and claiming they were at the event to get cheaper books?

First, we *will* be mailing this stuff to you. So if you say you were at the signing, then ask us to mail something to Ireland… Well… we’ll be a little skeptical.

Plus there’s the whole human decency thing. My readers have shown themselves to be cool, caring, generous folks. You’d have to be a bit of a wanker to try to screw a charity that’s trying to feed hungry kids, and my readers aren’t like that.

Right? Right.

*     *    *

Lastly, since we’re on the topic of the store….

We have a few new items in there, for those of you who haven’t peeked in for a while.

The newest and coolest of those are the signed copies of Beatrice’s Goat.

BeatricesGoat

This is the book that first sold me on how cool Heifer International was. I like it so much I recorded a video of me reading it to Oot a while back.

The books we have in the store right now are extra-cool because they’re signed.

But wait. They’re even cooler than that. They’re not just signed by the author (Page McBrier) Not just signed by the illustrator (Lori Lohstoeter).

These copies are signed by Beatrice Biira herself, the woman the book was based on.

Beatrice has grown up since the book was published in 2001, and she’s gone on to great things. She got her BA, then went on to get her Master’s degree. (And I’m willing to bet money she got better grades than me when she was doing it.)

Suffice to say that we only have a limited number of these books. If you want one, you might want to grab it quickly.

*     *     *

Finally, we’re probably going to pull the calendar out of the store pretty soon, since the time for buying calendars is pretty much past. For those of you who want one as a collectable, or who are like me and tend to be forgetful about things like buying calendars: fair warning. In a week or so, we’re probably going to take it down.

But for now it’s still there, and it’s at half price.

That’s all for now, folks. More news soon.

Cool news.

Soon.

pat

Also posted in appearances, my dumbness, The Tinker's Packs | By Pat44 Responses
Published: November 19, 2012

The Opposite of Black Friday….

This is a Worldbuilders Blog.

So the holiday shopping season is fast approaching. Later this week, corporations all over the US are going to pull every trick in the book to sell you crap. There will be madness in the stores. People will behave badly. There will be news stories about people getting hospitalized while trying to buy some plastic toy made in a third world country.

And you know, I get it. I want to buy my little boy every cute little thing I see in the store. Last year I bought him a plastic Thomas the Tank Engine that he can scoot around on. And he loves it.

But you know what else he loves? The cardboard poster tube I pulled out of the garbage at Worldbuilders central. I brought that home, and you know what he did? He slid it over his arm and said, “I have a robot arm! I can use it to freeze you! fpshhhhh! You’re a statue!”

I’m not going to say that he doesn’t play with Thomas anymore, because he does. But he plays with the tube just as much. He freezes me and Sarah with it, then thaws us out again. It’s a telescope. You can roll marbles through it. It’s a trumpet. It’s everything a little boy needs.

And it was free. Thomas cost me 95 bucks. I feel guilty about that sometimes. If I’d given that 95 bucks to Heifer, it would have paid for a lot of chickens. It means a lot of other little kids would be eating eggs right now. 95 bucks is almost a whole goat.

Every time I hear someone mention Black Friday, I cringe a little. And I think “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do something better than this?”

That’s part of the reason we’re trying something new at Worldbuilders this year. We’ve formed some official partnerships with a couple geek-centric businesses. And they’re doing two things.

1. They’ve donated cool stuff that you can go and buy in The Tinker’s Packs.

2. If you go buy some stuff from them, (carefully following the directions laid out below) they will give a percentage of that sale to us here at Worldbuilders.

Let me just jump right in and show you how cool they are…

The folks at Badali made the Talent Pipes that we’ve been selling in The Tinker’s Packs for years now. They turned out amazingly well, and I’ve actually seen people wearing them at conventions and book signings.

But recently, Badali has recently made a few other pieces jewelry based on my books.

The first of these is Denna’s Ring:

I have to tell you, they worked with me for a *long* time on this. Over the course of a year, they developed at least 6 different prototypes that I, like the precious little princess I am, looked at and said, “That’s beautiful, but it’s not quite right. Could we….?”

And then we’d chat about it, and they’d go make another version of the ring.

The truly impressive thing is that at no point did they stab me in the neck for being so freakishly obsessive about the design. They worked with me on the type of stone, on the style of the ring. On the feel of it. And, of course, on the knot work involved.

If you want to see more pictures of it, you can see them on Badali’s site over here.

The other thing that came out *very* recently is the Iron Wheel pendant:

It’s modeled after the one Chronicler wears. If you look closely, you’ll see the names of Tehlu’s angels written around the edge.

The coolest thing in my opinion? Badali went out of their way to find someone who would cast it in iron. This doesn’t happen much, because, y’know, nobody with any sense makes iron jewelry. But when I stressed that it really should BE iron, not just iron-ish. They went the extra mile and made it happen. 

Best of all, Badali doesn’t just do jewelry from my books.  They have something for just about every kind of geek out there. Whether you’re into Celtic or Cthulian. Sanderson or Tolkien, they’ve got something for you.

And here’s the best part, for the duration of our fundraiser, Badali is donating 10% of the sales on their site to Worldbuilders if you use the following coupon codes.

Not only will some of your money go to make the world a better place, but you’ll also get free USPS Priority Mail shipping for US customers and $9.00 off shipping for international customers.

The coupon code is WBLDUSA in the United States.

Non-US Orders should use coupon code WBLDINT.

Amanda’s Edit: Congratulations, everyone, we broke Badali’s website this morning!  If you weren’t able to use the coupon code, email janelle [squiggly-at-thinger] badalijewelry.com and she’ll sort it out for you to be sure you get your free/discounted shipping, and to be sure the 10% goes to Worldbuilders.

Do you folks remember the Bear Steins from last year? We put them up in the store, and they sold out inside of a day.

Click to see the many faces of Sea Bear Pots…

This year, Sea Bear joined forces with John Hill (Tree on the Hill Pottery) and Katherine Taylor (Front Room Clay) to create Three Marks Pottery Shoppe.  All three of these fine pottery-ists have agreed to have a super-hero team-up and sell pottery out of their Etsy shop to help benefit Worldbuilders.

And you know what? You don’t need a coupon code for this one. Because they’ve told us that 25% of all sales from their store will go straight to Worldbuilders.

Or, if you prefer, you can head over and buy some of their awesome bear steins straight from The Tinker’s Packs. They’re the perfect gift for the person in your life that wants to drink like a bad-ass Viking.

The same blog that talked about the Bear Steins last year also talked about the wonderful Jayne Hats created by Amanda Swenson.

This year, she’s donated even more handmade Jayne Hats to The Tinker’s Packs.

What’s more, if you buy anything on her Etsy store, Almost Wicked Stitcher, 20% of sales will go to Worldbuilders through the end of the fundraiser.

You can buy all manner of coolness there, including what she’s lovingly termed a Diabeetus Stache.  We’ve got one here at the office, and my lovely assistant Amanda here is particularly fond of it.

I posted a blog about this a while back, but I wanted to remind all of you that there’s a new, paperback edition of The Princess and Mr. Whiffle coming out from Sea Lion Books, from which 15%, then 20%, then 25% of the proceeds will come to Worldbuilders, depending on how many they sell.

This version and a color-cover limited edition are both for sale over at Sea Lion’s website.

Some people who ordered their books a couple weeks ago e-mailed to ask why they hadn’t gotten their books yet. It turns out Sea Lion’s printer was hit by Hurricane Sandy, so they had to start printing over at a whole new facility. It’s set back their timeline a bit, but don’t worry, your books are still coming….

We’ve also got some great stuff going on in our own store.  We’ve already mentioned the Bear Steins and the Jayne Hats, but we also just got a brand-new shirt in.

A couple months back, a fan named Nate designed an awesome logo for Greysdale Mead, the drink of all discerning troupers.

 We used it to make a truly awesome shirt.

 

To make room for the Greysdale Mead shirt, we’re clearing out some of our older shirts. We’re selling off our remaining stock of the Worldbuilders shirts, (modeled below by beautiful assistant Kat) and the Denner Fishing t-shirt, (modeled by the ever-lovely Nicole.)

Just so you know, there are some guys that work for me too. But the ladies are the ones that like posing for t-shirt pictures.

After these are gone, we aren’t going to be printing any more. So if you want one you’d better order now.

  • 2013 Fantasy Calendar

Lastly, don’t forget that we’ve got the 2013 Pin-Up Calendars available too. We just launched a new sale on them to make it easier to buy them as gifts. So right now if you use the offer code BUYTHREE, you can get 3 calendars for $50. You save ten bucks and make some geeks in your life very happy.

And I’ve said it before folks, but I’ll say it again. Every penny you spend in The Tinker’s Packs goes to Worldbuilders. So you can buy some gifts and get a big warm fuzzy at the same time.

*     *     *

Remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on our Team Page, you get a chance to win these books and many more.

If you’d like to see all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running, you can find them over here.

Or, if you want to see the other items that have been donated to Worldbuilders, or learn more about the fundraiser itself, you can head over to the main page here.

Also posted in a billion links, t-shirts, The Tinker's Packs, Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat30 Responses
Published: December 2, 2011

Worldbuilders 2011

(Edit: Are you looking for the current Worldbuilders fundraiser? If so, I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place.

Click here for the current fundraiser.)

What’s that you say? You want to make the world a better place while simultaneously winning fabulous prizes?

Well today is your lucky day.

Heifer International is my favorite charity. It helps people raise themselves up out of poverty and starvation. All over the world Heifer promotes education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry.

They don’t just keep kids from starving, they make it so families can take care of themselves. They give goats, sheep, and chickens to families so their children have milk to drink, warm clothes to wear, and eggs to eat.

(Are you ready? I’m so ready. Let’s do it.)

This year we’ve got a couple different options for donating.

Option 1: The Lottery.

This is the option most people will want. It’s simple. You hop directly over to the page I’ve set up on Team Heifer, and donate.

When you donate on that page, two things happen.

1. Worldbuilders will match 50% of your donation. That means your ten-dollar donation becomes fifteen dollars. If you donate two goats, it becomes three goats. And so on.

2. You’ll be entered in the lottery.

After the fundraiser is over on February 7th, we’ll have a random drawing for all the swag that’s been donated. More than a thousand books, comics, DVD’s and other cool miscellany.

For every 10 bucks you donate, your name will get entered into the drawing once. If you donate thirty bucks, your name goes in three times. Think of it as buying tickets, if you like.

We’ve had *way* too many books donated for me to post them all up at once. So I’ll be putting up a blog full of donated books every few days, just to keep people from being overwhelmed with all the awesome.

Make sure to check back often to see the new cool.

Last year, readers and geeks of all creeds and nations donated over $190,000. It was a stunning display of generosity and goodwill.

Still, I think we can do even better this year.

But rather than set our goal too high, here’s what I’m going to do.

I’m going to set our initial donation goal at $50,000. As soon as we meet that goal, I’ll personally add a blog full of new stuff to the lottery. Then I’ll raise the bar to $100,000. We’ll repeat this in $50,000 increments until I am penniless, living on the street. Or until the end of the fundraiser on February 7th.

Link to the donation page is HERE.

Option 2: The Sure Thing.

Or, as I like to think of it, the Christmas Present Option.

For those of you who aren’t interested in the lottery, we have some stuff you can just buy.

Our store, lovingly named The Tinker’s Packs, has posters, signed books, and other delicious miscellany available for purchase. All proceeds go to Worldbuilders, of course.

Last year, we printed up some t-shirts and were amazed at how much people liked them.

So this year, we’re adding something new to the mix. In keeping with our bookish theme, we’ve teamed up with artist Lee Moyer to produce a pin-up calendar with a literary theme.

Here’s the picture for May:

You can read the blog I wrote about the calendar or head over and buy it on the store.

We’ll be posting new stuff in the store over the next couple months. So stay tuned….

Option 3: Auctions.

Last year we did a few auctions and they seemed to work out pretty well. So this year we’re continuing in that fine tradition, auctioning off some of the rarer and more specialized services people have donated.

This year we have professionals who are willing to read and critique your manuscripts. We have signed art and rare books. We have the chance to win guest appearances in comics and get your name into upcoming books.

Stay tuned, as we’ll be adding new auctions all the time.

For a full listing of all current Worldbuilders auctions, you can CLICK HERE.

A Plea For Sanity

Lastly, I’d like to ask everyone to please read the instructions/directions carefully before they donate.

I know you’re excited. I’m excited too. We’re going to raise some money, make the world a better place, and end up with big warm fuzzy feelings.

But here’s the problem. If you’re *too* excited, you’ll end up clicking buttons all higgledy-piggledy, forgetting vital steps and leaving things out. (Especially when buying things with Paypal) Then you’ll send me an e-mail that says something like: “I’m sorry, but I forgot to include my shipping address/t-shirt size/signing instructions. Could you please fix it for me?”

I know I’m bound to get one or two e-mails like this. No biggie. But each one is like a cold drop of water eroding my warm fuzzy feeling. If I get, say, a hundred of these e-mails, I’ll have no warm fuzzy left at all. I’ll be left with nothing but a cold prickly feeling.

You don’t want to give me a cold prickly, do you?

I’m sure you don’t. And I’m sure that you’ll read the instructions carefully.

FAQ.

Have questions? Most of them are probably answered over in the FAQ. (Even if your question isn’t answered, I talk about Batman a bit, so it won’t be a complete waste of your time.)

Lastly, just in case you missed it, here’s one more link to our Team Heifer donation page.

Let’s do this thing.

pat

Also posted in calling on the legions, The Tinker's Packs, Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat41 Responses

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