Category Archives: Worldbuilders 2012

Published: November 25, 2012

Signed Books from Del Rey

This is a Worldbuilders Blog.

This year, fabulous fantasy publisher Del Rey has joined Worldbuilders as a sponsor, sending us a slew of beautiful books.

Not only are these books lovely, but every single one of them is signed (or bookplated) by the authors themselves.

Because people seem to be responding well to the auctions we’ve posted up so far, we’re going to be doing putting a few of these books up for auction too. So if you look at any of these books and simply NEED to have it. Or if you see something that would make the perfect Christmas present, you can head right over to e-bay and bid on it.

Of course, you can also win the books by donating directly to Heifer International over on the Worldbuilder’s team page. Remember, for every $10 you donate over there, you have a chance to win these books and many, many more.

Ready? Here we go…

  • A hardcover set of The Sword of Shannara Trilogy and The High Druid of Shannara Trilogy. Both signed by Terry Brooks.

These were some of the very first novels I read back when I was 11 or 12. They made a big impression on me, and I remember crying at one particularly dramatic point….

Also, I feel obliged to mention that each of these hefty hardcovers is a trilogy in itself. They’re tomes. You’ve got a really incredible amount of book here…

“If Harry Potter has given you a thirst for fantasy and you have not discovered the magic of Terry Brooks, you are in for a treat.” – Rocky Mountain News

  • 8 hardcover copies of The Dark Legacy of Shannara: Wards of Faerie. Signed by Terry Brooks.

Did I mention that I did an interview with Terry Brooks? I did. Unsurprisingly, it ended up being almost 10,000 words long.

That’s not a joke. We ended up breaking it into four pieces. The first one is over here.

“[Brooks’s] Shannara series is a grand example of the best of the best in the genre.” – The Washington Examiner

  • Auction: A hardcover set of The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, The High Druid of Shannara Trilogy and Wards of Faerie: The Dark Legacy of Shannara. Signed by Terry Brooks.

Terry Brooks Shannara hardcovers

If you want to see more pictures, or bid on these lovely books, the auction is over here.

  • 8 sets of The Dreaming Void, The Temporal Void, and The Evolutionary Void. Signed by Peter F. Hamilton.


“A real spellbinder from a master storyteller… dozens of scenarios, a surprisingly well-delineated cast of thousands, plotting enough to delight the most Machiavellian of readers.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

  • 8 paperback sets of Blackout and All Clear. Signed by Connie Willis.

     

“[Willis’s] re-creation of wartime England is meticulous, energetic and exhaustive.”—The Wall Street Journal

  • Auction: A paperback set of Blackout and All Clear.  Signed by Connie Willis.

Auction is over here.

And here’s a copy for auction too…

  • Auction: A hardcover copy of A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5).  Signed by George R.R. Martin.

That’s right Martin’s signature can be yours for the low-low price of whatever the other guy is willing to let it go for. Bidding happens over here.

  • 8 paperback sets of The Warded Man and The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. Each with signed bookplate from the author.

I’m terribly fond of Peter V. Brett. Not only has he been a proud supporter of Worldbuilders right from the very beginning, but I really love his books.

If that weren’t enough, more recently, he masterminded something brilliant. When he learned that a bunch of authors attending ConFusion in Detroit were all gamers, he brought us all together and set up a game of AD&D.

And he taped it. You can see the results over here.

“[The Desert Spear] is sure to leave fans on tenterhooks waiting for the last installment.” – Publishers Weekly

“I hesitate to say, “if you like the works of x, y, or z, then give The Steel Remains a try,” because really it’s pretty much unlike anything else, and that’s why you should give it a try.” – Joe Abercrombie

  • Auction: A paperback set of The Steel Remains and The Cold Commands.  Signed by Richard K. Morgan.

If you’d like to bid on this set of signed books, click here.

  • 8 first-edition omnibus copies of In His Majesty’s Service.  Signed by Naomi Novik.

I met Naomi when years ago, back when I was newly published. She was really nice to me, even though I was a dewy-eyed newbie in the publishing world, and she was a Pretty Big Deal, having been published a whole year longer than me.

More recently, she agreed to be a guest on the fourth episode of StoryBoard, where we got together, talked about our gaming roots, and were pretty much huge geeks.

“A new writer is soaring on the wings of a dragon.” – The New York Times

  • Auction: A first-edition omnibus of In His Majesty’s Service. Signed by Naomi Novik.

If you want more detailed pictures showing you how Naomi’s signature is way cooler than mine, or if you’d just like to bid on her book, the auction is right over here.

*     *     *

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

Posted in Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat6 Responses
Published: November 23, 2012

A little video….

We’re on the cusp of black Friday as I write this, a day I intend to spend not spending. If you follow me.

Rather than throw more books at y’all right now, when you’re still soppy with triptophan and being bombarded with advertizing from all other sides, I thought I’d share a little video I did last year that explains what Heifer International is all about.

If you’re curious. A goat costs about 120 bucks.

Also, here’s a link to the Worldbuilders team page. Y’know. Just in case you’re interested….

Hope y’all had a good Thanksgiving. Or for those of you not in the US, a good Thursday…

Best,

pat

Also posted in videos | By Pat8 Responses
Published: November 21, 2012

More Awesome Books

This is a Worldbuilders Blog.

As you know, a lot of the books we give away during Worldbuilders come from publishers or the authors themselves.

But over the last couple years, we’ve had more and more books donated by people who are just… well… people. Some work at bookstores, some are hardcore collectors, and some of them are just folks who love Heifer International and want to help out with the fundraiser.

This blog is composed entirely of books from those donors. Some of them are rare or out of print, most of them are signed by the authors.

You’ll notice two things below that are a little different from our previous years.

1. We’re grouping more books into sets. We have so many donations this year that we just don’t have time and space to list them all separately.

2. We’re offering more auctions. While we’re still putting the vast majority of our books into the lottery, most of the blogs will have at least a couple auctions. For example, in this blog  we’ve got two copies of Brennan’s Gold and Books to Die For, so one goes into the lottery, and the other goes up for auction.

And now, on to the books.

  • A hardcover, tenth anniversary edition of American Gods. Signed by Neil Gaiman.

I’m a big fan of Gaiman from way back, and I wrote up my thoughts about American Gods last year for a best SFF books of the decade blog on Tor.com. If you’re curious, you can head over there and read it.

Or, if you like, you can take the word of someone considerably more posh than me….

“More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country–our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what’s real and what’s not.” -Therese Littleton

“Set in a fascinating, unique world rich with detail, Shadow and Bone was unlike anything I’ve ever read.”  —Veronica Roth, New York Times bestselling author.

  • A set of three short story collections: Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James, signed by Darryl Jones and John Connolly; Bull Fighting, signed by Roddy Doyle; and Dark Lies the Island, signed by Kevin Barry.

“[About Collected Ghost Stories] For those who like their flesh to creep, there is an inimitable cumulative pleasure in reading these stories” – Daily Telegraph

“[About Dark Lies the Island] The most exciting Irish short story writer of his generation.” – John Burns, Sunday Times

“Shiner never fails to astound, and this collection highlights everything that makes him one of today’s best storytellers.” – Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“[Egan] finds a way to balance the complexity of his ideas with enough story and character for the reader to care about them as stories and not just speculative essays on the latest in cosmology, physics or artificial intelligence research..” –  The SF Site

  • Auction: Advance Reading Copies of Best Served Cold and The Heroes. Both sign by Joe Abercrombie.

“[The Heroes is] one of Abercrombie’s most masterfully executed and compellingly readable novels to date.” – Carl Hays

Since both of these books are ARCs, and they’re both signed by the author, they’re fairly collectable. If you’d like to bid on them, the auction is over here.


“French has a knack for motives, always burying them deep within the world she builds.” – Janet Potter, Onion A.V. Club

 

“The Leopard rewards you with a finale as unexpected and thought-provoking as any in recent mystery-fiction memory.” — San Francisco Chronicle

 

“This is a thoughtful and at times disarming novel about life, love, and discovery, set during a time when so much of life seems filled with deep portent.” – Chris Schluep

 

“Stephenson’s REAMDE: perfectly executed, mammoth, ambitious technothriller…a triumph, all 980 pages of it.” – Cory Doctorow

 

  • A hardcover copy of The Magician’s Guild. Signed by Trudi Canavan.
“A wonderfully and meticulously detailed world, and an edge-of-the-seat plot, this book is a must for all lovers of good fantasy.” – Jennifer Fallon

 

  • The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocolypse; The Brightnomicon; and The Japanese Devil Fish Girl an Other Unnatural Attractions. All signed by author Robert Rankin.
“It’s easy to see why Rankin has a huge cult following. Drawing on a rich vein of English humour that encompasses Python, Adams and Stanshall, his comedy-fantasies are filled with pop culture references, music hall wordplay and ironic quips galore.”  — BBC FOCUS

 

“Casey handles several plot lines with ease, and she’s come up with an attractive series character in DC Maeve Kerrigan”. – Sunday Times

  • A hardcover copy of  Songs of the Earth. Signed and dated by Elspeth Cooper.

“Songs of the Earth is a fascinating and thoughtful fantasy debut quite unlike many others in the genre and the author has a unique voice that separates her from the competition.” – WALKER OF WORLDS

“Though it’s not the literary SF that has won Silverberg much of his fame, readers who love ancient myths will find much to admire.” – Publishers Weekly

“A Matter of Blood is one of the more successful blends of police procedural, horror and fantasy I’ve encountered.” – LOCUS

“Glynn delivers an intricate plot and relentless suspense in this taut, top-notch thriller about the evils that men do.” – Allison Block, Booklist

“[The Istanbul Puzzle is] An impressive debut; well written, beautifully descriptive, and with a smart dialogue and a compelling air of menace throughout.” – The Lancashire Evening Post

“Books to Die For will thrill the individual mystery lover as much as it will prove an essential reference for the shelves of lending libraries. A vast, comprehensive undertaking, it is that rare breed of anthology of interest to both the initiated and the newcomer. Indeed, like the ideal mystery novel itself, this is a page-turner with an addictive quality.” – Irish Examiner

 

This book was mailed around to all of the authors in order for it to be signed.  It has a slight ding in the top of the spine, which is astonishingly little damage considering how often it was handled.

It’s a really unique item, and would make a great Christmas gift for the mystery aficionado in your life. You can check out the auction over here.

“A a slight but enjoyable tale with a light, almost YA feel. Newcomers will get an easy introduction as Arlen, still an apprentice Messenger, takes on his first solo excursion into the demon-haunted night.” – Publisher’s Weekly

This copy of Bryan’s Gold has been signed by Peter V. Brett as well as his cover artist, who, according to an additional the inscription by Brett, “is awesome!”

To bid on the auction, go here.

“[The] character development and Scalzi’s sharp ear for dialogue will draw in new readers, particularly young adults.” – Publishers Weekly

This book is truly beautiful, and the drawing from Vincent Chong on his signature page is amazing.

  •  A hardcover copy of The Prague Cemetery. Signed by Umberto Eco.

“[Eco] demonstrates once again that his is a voice that compels our attention.” – San Francisco Chronicle

  • Auction: A beautiful numbered, slipcased copy of Shades of Grey. Signed by Jasper Fforde.

Okay. First off, I have to stress that this book is NOT 50 Shades of Grey. 

This book is Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde. I read it a couple of years back, enjoyed it immensely, and am even now eagerly looking forward to the sequel. If you’d like more details, you can check out my Goodreads review.

Or, here’s a more professional opinion:

“A rich brew of dystopic fantasy and deadpan goofiness” – The Washington Post

They only printed a thousand of these so we’re putting this one up into the auction. To see more pictures or make a bid, you can head over here.

*     *     *

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.

Posted in Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat8 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 | By Pat30 Responses
Published: November 15, 2012

Hundreds of Books from Subterranean Press

Subterranean Press has been with Worldbuilders from the very beginning. They were the first publisher to donate books to our cause, and because of that, they’ll always hold a special place in our hearts.

This year they’ve outdone themselves by donating hundreds of gorgeous, high quality books by amazing authors. Many of them are signed or limited editions. All of them are beautiful books.

Check them out.

  • 20 Numbered, limited-edition copies of Best Served Cold. Signed by Joe Abercrombie.

“The battles are vivid and visceral, the action brutal, the pace headlong, and Abercrombie piles the betrayals, reversals, and plot twists one atop another to keep us guessing how it will all come out. This is his best book yet.” — George R.R. Martin


“Once again, McCammon provides a colorful and well-researched depiction of colonial America, enlived by a rogues’ gallery of well-drawn characters. Hair’s-breadth escapes and the teasing promise that characters who appear to have been disposed of might resurface in future adventures make this a rollicking good yarn.” – Publishers Weekly

“[This collection of] six stories explore ground far from the high fantasy with which dragons are frequently associated. Fans of Shepard’s unusual and often powerful Griaule tales will be delighted to have them all in one place.” – Publishers Weekly

  • 20 Hardcover copies of Stephen King Goes to the Movies by Stephen King.

Stephen King reflects on the filming of five of his most popular short stories which were adapted into movies: The Shawshank Redemption, 1408, Children of the Corn, The Mangler, and Hearts in Atlantis.

Includes an introduction, his brief personal commentary, and behind-the-scenes insights by Stephen. What’s more, this hardcover edition includes full-color movie poster illustrations—one for each story—by Vincent Chong.

“Piracy meets politics head-on in this steampunk thriller, loosely linked to Priest’s much-lauded Boneshaker (2009). […] Though the unflinching portrayal of complex race relations is aimed at adult readers, Priest’s swashbuckling tale is also quite accessible for older teens.” –Publishers Weekly

From Publishers Weekly:“…there are enough incidents and reunions with old acquaintances to prompt Bear’s likable wampyr to insightful reflection on the shortcomings of immortality, and to espouse wisdom that comes from more than one lifetime of having to deal with mortals and their all-too-human natures.”

“Dying of the Light blew the doors off of my idea of what fiction could be and could do, what a work of unbridled imagination could make a reader feel and believe.”—Michael Chabon

“Longtime fans of Campbell’s Deepgate Codex (Scar Night, etc.) will cherish this dark little gem of a story; others will find it an excellent place to start.” – Publishers Weekly

“The end of the world has to start somewhere. In the summer of 2014, two scientific breakthroughs–one, a cure for cancer, the other, a cure for the common cold–seemed certain to change the future of mankind forever. What no one could have guessed was that these miraculous advancements would change humanity’s future by nearly bringing it to an end.”

  • 20 copies of Baba Yaga’s Daughter and Other Tales of the Old Races. Edited by C. E. Murphy
“Ranging from vignettes to novellas, these offerings grant glimpses of a much larger world, fleshing out its history and pleasing series fans.” – Publishers Weekly
  • 2 limited-edition copies of A Dance with Dragons. Signed by George R. R. Martin, illustrated and signed by Marc Fishman.


There were only about 500 copies of these signed, limited edition books printed, and they’re now sold out. But you can win a copy by donating to worldbuilders, because we’re just that cool.

“What’s A Song of Ice and Fire? It’s the only fantasy series I’d put on a level with J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. . .  It’s a fantasy series for hip, smart people, even those who don’t read fantasy.”—Chicago Tribune

  • One complete set of Subterranean Press donations.

(Not pictured above, When Will You Rise.)

We’re trying something a little experimental this year, and will be grouping some of our books into bigger prizes. That means one lucky donor win all 11 books from Subterranean Press as a prize in the lottery.

  • Auction. One complete set of Subterranean Press donations.

In addition to giving away one of each book as a prize, we’re going to auction off a full set of these books set of them to the highest bidder. That includes one of the signed, limited edition copies of A Dance With Dragons. So if you don’t want to trust your luck with the lottery, you can go bid on the full set right now.

*     *     *

Remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on our Team Page, you get a chance to win these books and many, 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 Subterranean Press | By Pat15 Responses
Published: November 15, 2012

Worldbuilders 2012

(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 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. Heifer promotes education, sustainable agriculture, and local industry all over the world.

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.)

Pay attention now, you’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. You’ll move us closer to our stretch goals (shown below).

2. You’ll be entered in the lottery.

After the fundraiser is over, we’ll have a random drawing for all the swag that’s been donated. Thousands of 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 to post them all up at once. So I’ll be putting up a blog full of donated books every day or so, just to keep y’all from being overwhelmed.

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

Last year, book-lovers and geeks from all over the world helped us raise more than $310,000 for Heifer International. It was a stunning display of generosity and goodwill.

Still, I think we can do even better.

In order to encourage people to donate, we have some stretch goals this year. Every time we raise another 50K, something new and cool will be added to the fundraiser.

I’ll go into more detail about some of these stretch goals as they get closer. But the first of these is a request that’s come from the regular readers of my blog. Over the years, I’ve had countless requests that I explain the details about the calendar and the currency system of the Four Corners.

We’re currently on the road to our 350K stretch goal. If we hit it, the people at Geek Chic will design and produce a functional Lockless Box.

You can donate over here on our Team Heifer Donation Page.

Note: Worldbuilders ends January 21st, 2013 at 11:59 pm CST.  All donations must be in before then to qualify for the lottery.

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 t-shirts, posters, and other coolness available for purchase. We also have a slew of foreign editions donated and signed by the authors. Portuguese, German, Spanish, Japanese…. These editions are really hard to find if you live here in the US, and we have a *lot* of them.

All proceeds from the store go to Worldbuilders, of course.

Additionally, this year we’ve produced a Fantasy Themed Pin-Up Calendar. Every month showcases a different fantasy author, either featuring a character from a book (Like Cersei Lannister from Martin’s Game of Thrones) or an homage to the author’s work (Like the Fahrenheit 451 inspired pin-up of Bradbury’s.)

You can click on the image below to see the author’s names, and get glimpses of the illustrations.

If you’re interested in seeing some full images and the classic pinups that inspired them, I highly recommend checking out the blog Lee Moyer wrote on the subject.

N.K. Jemisin posted up her page along with a fascinating blog talking about how she worked together with Lee on the painting of Oree. You can also see Neil Gaiman’s page over on his blog. It’s one of my favorites. His wife, Amanda Palmer, posed as the model for Media from American Gods.

And, of course, there’s more images on the order page in The Tinker’s Packs.

We posted a lot of new stuff in the store this year.  There were Jayne Hats, Cthulu cards, Pottery Steins, and so much more.

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, 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 all going to raise some money, make the world a better place, and end up with big warm fuzzy feelings.

But the more emails my assistants get about missing addresses, wrong sizes, or forgotten personalization requests, the more likely they are to cry. You don’t want that, 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

P.S. Below are this year’s lovely sponsors. They have donated, books, services, and cold hard cash to make Worldbuilders what it is today.

You should show them some love. They deserve it.

Also posted in baby ducks, calling on the legions | By Pat33 Responses
Published: November 12, 2012

Being Awesome

So as you might be able to tell from the lack of blogs, I’ve been working frantically behind the scenes to get things ready for this year’s Worldbuilders fundraiser.

The other day, as I was desperately trying to catch up on e-mail, Oot came into my office and asked if I could play.

I told him I couldn’t, that I had work to do.

(Note: This is one of the worst things about working as a writer. I’m at home, but technically, I’m at work. That means that, technically, I’m always available to play, and Oot can see that. But when he asks me to play, I have to say no. Again and again. And again. It breaks my heart.)

Anyway, after Oot negotiated for a while and failed to bargain his way into an episode of Shaun the Sheep, he found a pad of paper to play with. Then he  asked if me could borrow a pen so he could write a check.

A little mature, of course. But you have to realize that he is pretty grown up now. How grown up? Well, here’s a picture of him on his most recent birthday, dressed to the nines, aloofly telling you how old he is…

So I gave him a pen. He wrote a check, then stood up, bored with that game.

“Could you write me a letter?” I asked.

“Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah!” he said.

Then he sat back down and scribbled onto another sheet of paper. There was a lot more going on this time. Writing a letter is a lot harder than writing a check, after all.

“What does the letter say?” I asked.

So he starts to tell me what he’s writing as he scribbles down his letter. I transcribed it onto a piece of paper here on my desk so I wouldn’t forget it.

The letter was as follows:

Dear Daddy,

Sometimes I really love you, but sometimes I don’t love you. Sometimes I do, but somethings I don’t.

Whenever you’re alone, I come to help you.

And that’s pretty awesome, because I love.

And that’s really all that needs to be said, isn’t it?

*     *     *

In other news, we’ll be launching Worldbuilders later this week, so brace yourself for the coolness.

This year we’re doing a bunch of new things. It’s exhausting and exciting at the same time. Plus exhausting. Did I mention exhausting?

One of the things we’ll be doing year is stretch goals. When donations reach 50K, 100K, 150K, etc, we’ll throw something new into the fundraiser.

So I wanted to ask: What do you think our stretch goals should be? What could we throw into the fundraiser at these various levels to act as donation incentives?

Any suggestions?

And, since I’m asking questions, how about one more….

This year, as I’ve mentioned previously on the blog, Worldbuilders is offering sponsorships to folks willing to donate at certain levels. Right now, we’ve got three levels of sponsorship: Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Here’s the thing: it bugs me that the names we have for the levels are so generic. I’d like something that was a little cooler and truer to our geek heritage. But not *so* geeky that it makes us look unprofessional to potential corporate donors.

Any thoughts?

Lastly, if you’re still interested in being a part of Worldbuilders, as a donor or sponsor, it’s not too late. Just drop us a line at donations (squiggly atsign thinger) worldbuilders.org.

Later all,

pat

Also posted in Because I Love, day in the life, Oot | By Pat110 Responses

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