Search Results for: ready player one

Published: October 30, 2013

Twitter Contest – The Voting

Okay folks, we’ve been running our game on twitter for almost two weeks.

It’s been fun, but now we’re just a day away from Halloween. That means it’s time to start voting on who you think the real Rothfuss is.

But first, some things to consider:

1. Voting starts now, but the contest isn’t over until Midnight on Oct 31st. (And just to be clear, we mean midnight in  American Samoa (UMT-12.) We picked that time zone so *everyone* gets all of Halloween to vote.)

But the contest will continue right up until midnight. Our players will continue to campaign for your trust and affection right up until the end.

2. You can vote even if you’re not on Twitter. I’m REALLY not trying to get people to sign up on there.  That’s why I set up the site where you can follow all the accounts even if you don’t follow twitter and don’t know much about it.

I’m serious about this. The only point of this contest was to have some fun and catch the attention of my readers who were already on Twitter. Every time I hear someone say they joined twitter just to participate, I die a little inside.

I am Jack's mute horror

3. You can vote here:

[polldaddy poll=”7507110″]

4. I’m well aware that there are ways to circumvent this sort of online poll. There ware ways you can vote multiple times and stuff the ballot box.

I’m sure that my readers are above that sort of small-minded douchery.

5. If you *are* on twitter, and you’d like to declare your allegiance to your Rothfuss, this is the best way to do it.

“I think that @PatTwitterHandle is #TheRealRothfuss.”

We’ll pick some random winners from the people that have backed the right horse in the contest.

6. I also welcome your rampant speculation as to who the other five fakers are. That’s been one of my favorite parts of the game so far….

Might I recommend something along the lines of:

“I think @PatTwitterHandle is actually @Davidbowie. #RothFaux”

7. For folks that want a chance to win cool stuff, but who don’t want to gaze into the twitter abyss, there’s a contest going on right now on right now over at The Tinker’s Packs.

All the details are over here.

There. That’s seven things. I’ll leave it at that. Seven’s a good number.

pat

Posted in Beautiful Games | By Pat54 Responses
Published: October 23, 2013

Twitter Contest – The Memes, Cleverness, and Prizes….

So we’re almost a week in, and the twitter contest is ticking along nicely….

(If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can check out the first blog explaining the game here.)

TheRealRothfussUpdate

There’s been a lot of discussion as to the best way to refer to a group of Rothfi. A ponderance? A blither? Someone very clever suggested “Pontography.” Someone else proposed “Pisser” as the proper collective noun. There were a lot of good ones.

Personally, I think a group of us should be “a maunder of Rothfi.”

And don’t bother running off and seeing which of the profiles has mentioned that. I just made it up right now. I’m not going to tip my hand here.

Grammatical flummery aside, so far the contest has been a ton of fun. I’ve enjoyed it immensely, and it seems like most of the spectators are digging it too.

And honestly I’m amazed at the level of competition. Amazed. I knew I was bringing in clever people here, but I didn’t give them *nearly* enough credit.

But it hasn’t all been sunshine and kisses in the shade. There have been a few problems, and the biggest of these has been…

  • Verification:

Normally, getting verified on twitter is something you strive for. It’s a stamp of legitimacy. It shows you’re *really* Neil Patrick Harris, and not just some schmoe that grabbed a picture off the internet.

Before I started this contest, I thought verification was something you applied for. I thought there was some arduous process, some gauntlet you had to run. A quest you needed to complete that would please the distant ineffible twitter gods, high on their mountain.

And apparently, that’s kinda true. There is a form you can fill out. There is an application you can submit. Many do strive for verification. Apparently John Scalzi himself has been trying to get verified for ages and hasn’t managed it.

But look at what happened to us about 18 hours into our contest:

First Verification

See that little blue checkmark? That means that they *verified* one of our accounts.

What’s really funny is this. We created all these accounts using throwaway e-mail addresses *literally* named like this: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]…

What’s more, the accounts were all identical except for the name and the picture. They all followed the same 7 profiles. They all had the same tagline: “It’s my job to break your heart.” They all listed my blog as their website. They all had one identical post.

And they’ve all sat there, inactive for more than a year.

Then the contest started, and within 18 hours, one of them got verified.

This is because, in addition to having an application process, twitter has a bot that searches around for people and auto-verifies them.

We were all a little stunned when this happened. We figured it was an odd fluke, and figured out how to remove the verification by changing the name on the profile and changing it back.

Then less than a day later….

The second verification

Re-verified.

We don’t know what sort of algorithm the twitter-bot uses. Nobody does.

After the shock wore off, I realized how hilarious it was. You see, this means is that one of us has completely convinced twitter that this profile is Pat Rothfuss.

And I think this is awesome.

A lot of people have taken this to mean that the contest is over. That it’s spoiled. But nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact is, the only information the twitter-bot has access to is circumstantial. It’s deciding based off the tweets themselves. The friends added. The links linked. I dunno. Maybe the picture, too?

It’s making a judgement based on those things. The same information you have access to.

All this really means is that the twitter-bot has decided to cast its vote early in our contest.

You can trust it if you want. It seems pretty sure of itself.

But personally, I’d like to think that my readers are more independent than that.

In fact, one of my favorite things about the contest so far is watching people declare their allegiance, sometimes just due to a turn of phrase:

@PatRothfuss Header Photo

Or a piece of punctuation:

@patrickrothfuss4

Some folks are just having fun with it:

Beautiful game 2

I see folks planting their flags, then sometimes spinning 180 with such force that you’d be amazed they don’t break their own necks.

beautiful game 4b

Here’s one of my favorites:

Beautiful game 1

I love this. These guys are fucking *into* it. They are using their vasty human intellect to crack this puzzle.

This is the very essence of a #BeautifulGame.

So… yeah. If you want to pick a profile based exclusively on what some computer algorithm thinks. That’s your choice. But honestly? I’m a little sad for you….

  • Other ways to screw yourselves by being too clever.

I know a lot of you are game players. Probably excellent game players. And if you like my books, odds are that you have at least a passing interest in looking for hidden clues.

So when I put this contest together, I knew I had to thwart those tendencies. For example, if you try to guess based on what device different profiles are twittering from? You’re probably going to be wrong. Why? Because one of the requirements for all the players is that they tweet from all manner of different platforms and devices.

Also, you should be aware that some of the profiles started this game with 5000-6000 more followers than others. In the year the profiles sat around, some collected 6-7 thousand followers. Others only collected 1-2 thousand.

So if you look at a profile and think, “Wow, this one has 4000 more followers, obviously that’s the one pat would pick to use as his own.” or “Wow, this is the one pat would pick because this twitter name is more like something he’d want.” you’re kinda screwing yourself.

First, because you’re missing the main point of the contest, to see who’s best at being me.

And second, you’re screwing yourself because when we assigned these profiles, we pulled names out of a hat for each one. They’re deliciously random.

Ultimately, this game is based on skill. It is a contest of trickery, persuasion, and cunning.

If I were you, I’d base your choice off that….

  • What’s still to come.

Two weeks is kind of a long time.  Particularly with something that moves as fast as twitter.  Maybe I should’ve thought of that before, but I had no way of knowing.

Lest things start to get a little same-y. We’re going to add a few things to the contest just to keep things interesting.

One of the suggestions someone made to me was that if I’m selling out and getting on twitter, I might as well go whole hog and start making memes too.

I don’t know if they were being snarky or not, but either way, I think it’s a great idea. I think memes and twitter go together like…

Like a…

Like a pithy writer and a good analogy.

So I’m going to challenge my fellow competitors to meme everyone’s new favorite pet from the photo contest.

That’s right: Ugly Cat.

I’ve never memed before. So we’ll use this as another piece of the puzzle that will help people discover #TheRealRothfuss.

UC-Holding

(Oh Ugly Cat, you still fill me with such joy…)

Are you good to go, gentlemen?  Ready… set…. meme!

  • On Being A Winner.

After my first blog post, there was some confusion about how the money was going to go to the charities in question.

So. Just to clarify, when the contest is over, there will be a great voting. The profile that gets the most votes, wins. The person running that profile will be the winner, and the charity they chose will get the $1000 from DAW.

Originally, that was my entire plan. But now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t see why y’all can’t be in the running for some cool things too….

Iron Drabs resized

These are some prototype drabs we’re working on. They’re not ready to go up in the store yet. But do I have a few we can give away as prizes….

So here’s what we’re going to do.

The whole point of this contest is for people to be clever and have fun. To play a beautiful game.

So starting now, if you do something on twitter that strikes me as particularly cunning, or funny, or sly, or smart. I will make a post along these lines.

“Congratulations, @JoeTwitter. That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen today. You know how to play #ABeautifulGame.”

Or

“That’s a really good point, @JustSusan. I bow to your unassailable Aristotelian logic. Congratulations on #ABeautifulGame.”

Then one of my lovely assistants will get in contact with you, get your mailing address, and we’ll mail you one of these prototype drabs. You can then use that drab to taunt your friends until they cry.

Each of my five Rothfussian comrades will be doing the same thing, of course.

This is a new part of the game. Not only do you have to guess at what might tickle the fancy of the Rothfi, but seeing what behavior each profile rewards should give you a lot of insight into which one of us is #TheRealRothfuss.

Have fun, everyone.

pat

Posted in a few words you're probably going to have to look up, Beautiful Games, contests, My brilliant ideas | By Pat58 Responses
Published: January 18, 2013

Even More DAW Books

This is a Worldbuilders Blog.

A few announcements before we get to the goods.

Firstly:  Since the blog went up yesterday, we’ve gone from $328,000 to over $363,000.  We blew past the Lockless Box stretch goal and are steadily climbing our way toward the extra $100,000 for Heifer.  That’s the true power you folks have, right there.

Secondly: Our True Dungeon game auctions end tonight (along with many others).  Mary Robinette Kowal and Jim Hines had already agreed to play with us, but we’d like to reveal one more player: John Scalzi.

 

As you can see from his debonair hat and sweet uke, he’s going to be our bard.  If you’re at all interested in hunting lycans while being serenaded by John Scalzi, it would be in your best interest to go bid.

Thirdly: Pat isn’t writing this blog.

I (that is, Amanda) often help Pat out here on the blog.  I help answer a lot of the questions in the comments, and if there’s ever a typo or other error that gets fixed, I most likely did that, too.  When we extended the deadline of the fundraiser, it meant some blogs had to go up while Pat is out at ConFusion.  He’s booked pretty solidly while he’s there, and won’t be able to hole himself up in the hotel to write blogs.  So, he told me it was my turn.

Be gentle.

*     *     *

Our previous DAW blog had tons of books in it.  It had so many books that even they admitted they may have gone overboard – overboard in the most awesome way possible.  So, here in this second blog, you’d think we wouldn’t have very much.  In fact, we struggled to squeeze everything in without it getting unwieldy.  They truly went above and beyond for their donation this year.

No more preamble.  Let’s get right to the books.

  • 7 hardcover sets of Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines, The Silvered by Tanya Huff, and The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams.  All copies of Libriomancer and The Dirty Streets of Heaven are signed.

“This enchanting, suspenseful urban fantasy should grab fans of Charles de Lint, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and Jim Butcher.” – Booklist (starred review) about The Silvered.

  • 6 ARC copies of The Dirty Streets of Heaven.  Signed by Tad Williams.

Just to add to the awesome, DAW sent along some great ARCs, including this one.  Pat has a pretty lengthy review over on Goodreads where he gushes about how great it is, and this prize is extra awesome because they’re all signed.

  • A set of The Book of Ler and The Transformer Trillogy by M.A. Foster.

“Foster will be ranked among the greats…”  – Library Journal

Just so you know, these are both collections of M.A. Foster’s two cornerstone trilogies. That’s right, you get two books that actually contain a total of six novels–you don’t have to hunt for the rest of them.

“Cherryh has created her strongest character and her best novel in a story of space exploration, colonization and war.” – Questar, about Downbelow Station.

“Violette Malan has accomplished that most difficult fusions – she’s given a complex, high fantasy world a very readable contemporary voice.” – Tanya Huff

ARCs have always been cool to me.  I feel like I’m holding something secret, that only really special people ever get to have.  Almost every one I’ve ever held have been for Worldbuilders, or to give to Pat, so I don’t get to be one of those special people.  But now you might.

This is an ARC of a book that doesn’t come out until February.  In case you just can’t wait for the two in the lottery, we’ve decided to auction one off, too.

To bid on this, go to the auction here.

Here’s another ARC which doesn’t come out until March, and they’re all signed to boot.  I was beyond convinced by this review:

“I was captivated by Julie Czerneda’s A Turn of Light. Yep, she used her writerly powers and sucked me right in. Many fantasy novels out there are *about* magic. Few, like Julie’s, embody it.” – Kristen Britain

Six will go into the lottery, but we’re auctioning the seventh over here.

“The settings are well drawn and creative… The characters possess substance, emotions and realistic motivations… Most important, the action and surprises keep coming… this book is almost impossible to put down.” – SCI FI Weekly, about The Helix War.

I’m not going to lie – this might be my favorite prize in this blog just for the all of the cover art.  I mean, I used to tell my students all the time not to judge books by their covers, but… you can when they’re *really* nice.

“With this volume, bestseller Hickman (The Immortals) creates memorable characters and realms of immense richness, while holding the reader enthralled with exhilarating action.” – Publishers Weekly, about Song of the Dragon

“… a terrific entry into the wonderful swashbuckling fantasy world of Mickey Zucker Reichert.” – Midwest Book Review, about Flight of  the Renshai

“I love the way Nnedi Okorafor writes, the precise, steely short sentences like blows to the body, the accumulation of experiences that lean to inspired insights, and the strangeness and beauty of an Africa both imagined and real. Perception, courage, and grace illuminate Who Fears Death.” – Peter Straub

  • Plus, all of these ARCs down here:

(Click to embiggen and read all the titles)

That’s right.  Every single one of those books is an advance reader copy.  You may not realize this, but some publishers are moving away from ARCs.  In this digital age, sometimes it’s not worth it to do an expensive not-even-for-sale print run of a book that may not end up doing well.

But not DAW.  They produce a lot of ARCs.  A lot of *really* nice ARCs.  They really go the extra mile to do right by their authors.

There are a ton of ARCs this year, so simply bask in the glory that is many, many books you can win just by donating via the Team Page.

*     *     *

You only have until Monday, January 21st to donate on the Worldbuilders Team Page. For every $10 you pitch in, you get another chance to win one of these books, as well as thousands of others.

There are a bunch of awesome auctions ending tonight, including tickets to PAX East, two different ways to game with Pat, and some awesome books and art. You can view all of them on our current auctions page here.

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 our main page.

Posted in a billion links, Worldbuilders 2012 | By Amanda7 Responses
Published: January 17, 2013

Worldbuilders – A Pitch of Three Parts

Since our last blog Worldbuilders has raised another $20,000 dollars for Heifer International. That puts us at $328,000, soundly trouncing last year’s donation total of $311,000.

Not bad for a bunch of book-lovers and sci-fi geeks.

Speaking of, here’s a snippet of an e-mail I just got today:

Pat,

My boyfriend and I decided that instead of Valentine’s gifts, we’re donating to Worldbuilders. We’re both such adoring fans of yours and Kvothe’s, but you’ve also made us adoring fans of the children and families that benefit from a goat or chickens and the excrements that come from both. :)

Worldbuilders is our favorite time of year thanks to you, and we just wanted to really let you know. We love you Pat! Even if it’s not here yet, I think this Valentine’s Day is going to be the best one yet.

Warmly,

Sara 

I love you too, Sara. It’s because of people like you that Worldbuilders is a success.

Oh sure, we’re lucky enough to have some people stomp in with thousand-dollar donations. But the truth is, most of our money comes from regular folks chipping in what they can. More than 25% of the money we raise comes from people donating between 10 and 50 bucks.

I mention this because I’ve had people e-mail me saying they’re sorry they can only kick in ten or twenty bucks because they’re in college. Or because they have a new baby in the house. Or because they just lost their job.

What’s my point?

Well, my first point is to say that I know what it’s like to be strapped for cash. I was a college student for more than a decade and paid my own tuition through most of it working several jobs. After I finished grad school and got a job as a teacher, I was still poor enough to qualify for low-income housing.

Even now that I’m all internationally published and and whatnot, you know how I *really* measure my financial success?

It’s not that I can now afford burritos that cost more than 33 cents. It’s not that I can order Chinese food anytime I want. It’s not even the fact that recently, for the first time in my life, I bought a car for more than 500 dollars.

It’s this:

That’s my change jar. This is how I know I’m rich.

There are quarters in there.

There’s been a lot of no-quarters in the jar times in my life. I’ve had a fair amount of no-dimes times too. And there have been a few times when I’ve bought groceries with nickles and pennies. This is my metric for success.

My point is that I know how big a deal ten dollars can be.

My point is that when I get an e-mail that says, “I can only kick in twenty dollars because our car broke down right after Christmas.” I don’t think, “Twenty bucks? Is that it?”

No. I think: You. Are. Awesome.

What’s my point? My point is that every year y’all impress me. Every year you make me proud to be a geek.

So, because we’ve beaten last year’s total with time to spare, I’m officially declaring this year’s fundraiser a success.

(Go Team!)

That said, we are not yet an amazing success. And personally, I like to shoot for amazing whenever I can.

The fundraiser is still going until January 21st at midnight. So today, I’m making my final pitch for Worldbuilders. And it will be in, *ahem* three parts.

  • Part One: What Heifer International Does.

I could go on again about how Heifer gives people a leg up rather than a handout. I could talk about how they’re education-based. How they promote long-term sustainable growth in communities.

But honestly, I’ve said it all before. So this time, how about I post up a video instead?

Four Families: India from Heifer International on Vimeo.

We good? Yeah. I thought so.

  • Part Two: Bigger Bang For Your Buck.

This year we’re trying out the stretch goal thing, and one of our big ones happens when we hit $400,000.

Specifically, if we hit 400,000 dollars before January 21st at midnight, I’ll donate $100,000 to Heifer, bringing our yearly total to over half a million.

If not, I will keep that money and do something stupid with it. I swear I will blow it on catgirls, methadone, and multiple pairs of the same kind of shoes.

That’s probably the best way to think about it. If we make it to $400,000, not only will Heifer get a boost, but you’ll be saving me from myself. Seriously. I can’t be trusted with this amount of money. I’m already about one haircut a year away from being Howard Hughes.

  • Part Three: The Odds are in Your Favor.

As many of you know, one of the cool things about Worldbuilders is that if you donate to Heifer International on our Team Page, you have the chance to win stuff.

(We have so many books we can’t even fit them all into one picture.)

Note that I say “stuff” because while most of our donation incentives are books, we also have comics, music, and DVD’s. There’s also other miscellany in the mix, like my offer to read-and-critique your unpublished manuscript, or chances to visit the Heifer Ranch with the Worldbuilders team.

You could even win a favor from me. Something which, in the auction we’re currently running, is going for a truly baffling amount of money.

So. How likely are you to win something? Very.

Right now, if you donated $10 to the fundraiser, you’d have about a 3% chance of winning something. About a 1 in 35 chance.

In mathematical terms, that means you’re approximately ten hajillion times more likely to win something from Worldbuilders than from any official lottery.

Let’s say you donate $60, enough for Heifer’s team to go in and provide education, support, and seedlings so folks can plant some trees.

Donating $60, you have a 15% chance of winning at least one prize. That’s about a 1 in 7 chance.

Plus farmers get to prevent soil erosion on their land. Plus that cute little girl gets to eat fresh fruit. Plus you get to have a huge warm fuzzy knowing you made the world a better place.

Or, let’s say you kick in 120 bucks. Enough to buy a goat.

With that donation, your odds of winning a prize are about 30% overall.  You have about a 1 in 3 chance of winning something.

Goats provide milk, rich in calcium and protein, wonderful for growing children. Plus the extra milk can be sold, which gives the family an extra source of income. Plus, goats have babies, which Heifer families pass on to their neighbors, improving their lives too….

Or you could go all the way up to $500 dollars, enough to buy a Heifer.

(This is Heifer International, after all.)

Donating enough to buy a heifer will get you a 76% chance to win something. And really good odds of winning more than one prize. (Every 10 dollars gives you an extra chance to win, remember.)

Cows produce nearly four gallons of milk a day, which means just one cow can act as the equivalent of a small business for the family selling the milk. This money gives people the chance to educate their children, buy medicine, and generally take control of their lives.

So there you go folks. My final pitch for the year. We’ll be posting more donations in the next couple days, but this is my last hard sell.

Here’s the link to the Worldbuilders donation page.

Lastly, I’d like to add that one of the best things you can do to help Worldbuilders is to spread the word. Any boost to our signal I would take as a great kindness. So feel free to share this post around, twitter it, or use excerpts of it in your own blog.

Though preferably not the part where I joked about methadone. That would be kinda odd taken out of context.

Later space cowboys,

pat

*     *     *

If you have any questions about worldbuilders, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

We have some cool auctions ending soon. You can see all our current auctions here.

If you’d like to see all the items that have been donated to Worldbuilders, or learn more about the fundraiser itself, you can find all the details either on my blog, or by checking out our website.

Posted in calling on the legions, Worldbuilders 2012 | By Pat30 Responses
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: January 22, 2012

Webcomics Galore!

This is Worldbuilders blog.

Today we have a great delicious slurry of donated cool from the webcomic community.

Most of these goodies are going into the general lottery, but we’ve got a good number of auctions, too. We’ve got guest appearances in various comics, some signed art, a few cool collections, and a frikkin Dr. Who scarf that will be going to the highest bidder.

First we’ve got some stuff from Blind Ferret Entertainment

There is a place, set in a reality and time unlike our own, where the eating of small children is not necessarily frowned upon; where beings of extraordinary power can destroy entire villages with only “because I could” as an excuse; where families are comically torn apart and sold into slavery in exchange for powerful weapons or a really nice hat; where prophecy, magic, and adventure is as common place as setting fire to and then re-animating a chipmunk into a skeletal minion (it happens more than you’d think); and where an epic journey can begin by an accident of fate. This is the world of Looking For Group.

The winner of this auction will work with webcomic writer Ryan Sohmer, on making a guest appearance in Looking for Group. The guest appearance will happen sometime in February. It will be a one-time event with the possibility of a few pages. The winner of the auction will be put in touch with Ryan.

You can bid on this auction over here.

“Least I Could Do is what comics should be. It makes you laugh, sometimes it makes you a little sad, but more often than not it makes you think, about who you are, and where you are going. Perhaps if everyone had just a little tiny spark of Rayne in them (and I do mean tiny. Dear God, too much Rayne would make for a terrifying world), perhaps our world would be a better, more honest place… If you aren’t reading Least I Could Do yet, then click your browser over there and get started. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.” – Geek-life.com

  • AUCTION: Signed Hardcover of The Absolute Ultimate Gutters Omnibus Volume 1 by Ryan Sohmer

Pat’s Note: I didn’t know about this project by Ryan Sohmer until the book showed up for the fundraiser. I like to think that I’m pretty on top of the good comics that are out there, but the fact that I didn’t know about Gutters proves that I’m desperately out of touch. It’s really clever stuff.

The Absolute Ultimate Gutters Omnibus Volume 1 is the first printed collection of the wildly popular Gutters comic. Written by Ryan Sohmer (Least I Could Do, Looking For Group), Gutters is a series of standalone pages that parody the comic book industry and the heroes and characters that dwell within. Each page is penciled, inked and colored by a different artist, varying from the industry veteran to the newcomer.

Volume 1 is an over-sized full color (and glossy) printed book. With a cover by Darick Robertson (The Boys, Transmetropolitan) and a forward by Daniel Way (Deadpool, Wolverine), you won’t want to miss this.

You can bid on this giant book over here.

Pat’s Note: Okay. Fine. This isn’t a webcomic. But the lovely Jim Zub donated these books after we’d posted up the list of graphic novel donations. Rather than save these for next year, we decided to tuck them in here…

Two nameless mercenaries are mashing monsters and making a name for themselves. Image’s new hit fantasy action-comedy series has gone through multiple printings of each issue released so far and is getting rave reviews from readers and critics alike. Pick up the first collection and find out what all the excitement is about. Collects Skullkickers #1-5 and the short stories from Popgun Volumes 2 & 3.

Pat’s Note: XKCD is one of my favorite comics. Smart, funny, plus extra smart and extra funny.

Randall Munroe describes xkcd as a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. While it’s practically required reading in the geek community, xkcd fans are as varied as the comic’s subject matter. This book creates laughs from science jokes on one page to relationship humor on another.

Pat’s note: I can’t remember when I first stumbled onto Biff, but these comics are like little zen stories. They’re little haiku of bizarre misery. Fun stuff.

“R. K. Milholland has created one of the most entertaining web comics online right now. He has done this through excellent character development, precise comedic timing, a cynical attitude and a craftsman’s attention to detail in his art. The strip is not for everyone. It can be offensive, cynical, and textually graphic. Language is not filtered at all, and so the strip is not suitable for children. If you enjoy cynicism, dislike stupidity or self-righteousness, or if you simply wish you could express yourself with a baseball bat rather than a snarky letter to the editor, you’ll enjoy this.” – A.G. Hopkins at The Webcomics Examiner

  • One set of Hijinks Ensue Volume 1 and 2: Godspeed, You Fancy Bastard and My Heart Is A Hate-filled Pineapple by Joel Watson. Signed by Joel Watson.

“Watson’s account on the origins of his webcomic is a fascinating read on how he came to the decision to quit his job and do HijiNKS Ensue full time. It’s a nice testimonial on the values of following your dreams and leaving a legacy. Watson doesn’t hide the fears he has of failure. I appreciate the sometimes uncomfortable honesty of a man who’s willing to risk it all on a crazy dream.” – TheWebcomicOverlook.com

“When Willis flexes his crazy, nerdy sense of humor, he can squeeze out classics. And while the content is catered toward basement dwellers, Willis does possess a sense of comedic timing that makes the strip funny for everyone, even if you have no idea what a KISS Player Transformer is. (Philistine.)” -TheWebcomicOverlook.com

The winner of this auction will collaborate with webcomic artist Greg Dean, on making a guest appearance in a Real Life comic. While only one comic is guaranteed, the guest appearance may span more than one strip if the character becomes entangled in a longer storyline. And while the nature of the strip will be collaborative, the final call on content does belong to Greg. The winner of the auction will be put in touch with Greg.

You can bid to be in the Real Life world here.

  • Auction: Fourth Docter Who Scarf donated by Greg Dean.

Proving just how cool and talented he is, Greg Dean of Real Life Comics fame, has donated this amazing reproduction of the Fourth Doctor’s famous scarf. What makes this total win? Greg Dean spent around 70 hours knitting this beauty on his own. A month of toil led to the creation of 13 feet of woolen Doctor Who splendor. Just to make sure it was up to snuff, Greg wore the scarf a bit this winter before sending it to Worldbuilders. He also wore it in Real Life as well. So not only are you getting this neat Doctor Who inspired swag, but the creator of Real Life Comics made and briefly wore it.

You can bid here for this delicious scarf.

“Questionable Content is kind of like if the guy from Office Space turned into a disaffected twenty-something year old with a pet robot who spent his off work hours hanging out with baristas and discussing indie-rock, poop, relationships, and ladies’ bottoms.” – Examiner.com

Gaming fans will appreciate this awesome imagined scene that Jeph Jacques has created featuring the cool characters from his quirky webcomic Questionable Content.

This print measures 11 inches by 17 inches and is signed by the man himself.

You can view and bid on the auction here.

  • AUCTION: Signed & Numbered The Complete Collection of Girly by Josh Lesnick.

The super sexy Complete Collection of Girly by Josh Lesnick. Pat is donating this signed and numbered collection, 270 of 500. Josh Lesnick’s cool comic was published at girlyyy.com from 2003 to 2010 and now this auction winner can get one of the few copies of the Complete Collection of Girly.

This auction also comes with a signed illustration from Josh Lesnick.

To view and bid on this auction, click here.

“For more than 20 years, various cartoonists have jostled for the title of spiritual heir to Gary Larson, the famously weird creator of the groundbreaking strip The Far Side. Web cartoonist Gurewitch is a solid contender for the title. His preferred subject matter certainly tracks Larson: murderous mimes, vengeful T. Rexes and adulterous rolls of coins all make appearances… Subtle, sly and deeply, deeply weird, The Perry Bible Fellowship is one of the best comics out there.” – Publishers Weekly

AUCTION: A full set of the signed Girl Genius softcover collections AND your name will appear in Girl Genius in 2012.

That’s right, a full set of the Girl Genius softcover collections (That’s 10 books, each with a cover price of $22.95) mailed to you or to that special friend who once saved your life. They will all be signed by Kaja and Phil, AND- The high bidder will see their name appear within Girl Genius sometime in the next calendar year. Maybe you will just run a shop in Mechanicsburg. Maybe you will be a walk–on character with lines. Maybe you will become a recurring major villain with your own mini-series and sexy minions and an action figure and underoos and everything (this is extremely unlikely, but in an infinite universe, anything can happen).

You may recall a certain Doctor Rothfuss who made his own appearance in the Girl Genius world…

We love Kaja and Phil. They are awesome clever folks. Check them out on their webpage.

And check out this tempting auction here.

  • One copy of The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11 1/2 Anniversary Edition by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Signed by Gabe and Tyco.

Pat’s Note: If you’re interested, last year I did a fun interview with Jerry.

“If you’ve been living under a rock for the last ten years or so, you might not have heard of the web comic Penny Arcade. Produced by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, the comic, featuring two cameo characters called Tycho and Gabe, covers not only the ins and outs of the latest news and releases from the video game industry, but geekdom in general. Well-known SFF figures such as John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton are staunch fans of the comic and well acquainted with the authors in real life; the foreword of this book is written lovingly by Scalzi himself… The book is an easy, often hilarious read, and an absolute must-have for fans of the comic and newcomers alike.” – SFSite.com

  • Three copies of Penny Arcade Volume 7: Be Good, Little Puppy by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Signed by Gabe and Tyco. Introduction by Pat Rothfuss.

Pat’s Note: I got to write the intro to this book. Which makes me feel like a big man…

“Do not be deceived by this cutesy cover of Tycho and Gabe having fun with a puppy and butterflies, for within these pages lies tales of damnation and lust; whatever you do, don’t let a child get ahold of this book… and for those who are already familiar with the unforgettable and endlessly entertaining comic know as Penny Arcade, then this cover works as an excellent camouflage for the sordid-laughter-inducing artwork within its pages…” – Bookbanter

  • One set of Penny Arcade Volumes 1-7 by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Signed by Gabe and Tyco.

“Forget your warm and fuzzy newspaper strips. Penny Arcade is a scathing send-up of geek culture with jokes sharp enough to injure an eye… To say that Tycho and Gabe, its, uh, heroes, are video-game enthusiasts would be like saying that Anakin Skywalker has issues.” – Booklist

  • AUCTION: Penny Arcade Signed Print of When Larry Met Mary.

Pat’s Note: Can I be honest here? Having Kvothe make a cameo appearance in a PA comic might be the biggest geek-out moment of my life. Seriously. I love Mike and Jerry with the nerdy passion of a thousand white-hot suns.

This signed print comes right from the fine folks at Penny Arcade. Pat’s mentioned this particular treat in his blog last spring. Starting as a Penny Arcade strip, this clever 12” x 18” print is signed by Gabe and Tycho.

Shouldn’t you have a visual of Kvothe and his prowess hanging from your bedroom wall?

Place your bids for this beautiful print here.

*     *     *

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

For a list of all the auctions Worldbuilders is currently running, you can head over here.

If you want to see all the other items that have been donated to Worldbuilders, or just learn more about the fundraiser itself, you head over to the main page.

Posted in cool things, geeking out, Webcomics, Worldbuilders 2011 | By Pat13 Responses
Published: January 14, 2010

Books from Peter V. Brett – Plus an Interview

This is a Worldbuilders blog.

Well folks, here’s the last of the prizes, and the last of the author interviews.

Read on, and find out why Peter V. Brett is my new best friend.

*****

Heya Brett. Before we start, could you give us some of the details about how awesome you are? Y’know, awards, how many foreign countries your books have sold in. Stuff like that. Dazzle us.

Awesome, right. Let’s see… The Warded Man (AKA The Painted Man) was written on my cellphone during my subway commute to work. In many circles, I am more famous for that than the book itself.

No, seriously:

(You can read articles about it: here, here or here.)

Despite having been written with my thumbs, it was named one of Amazon UK’s 10 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2008, and has since sold in 18 countries and 17 languages so far (closed a deal in Turkey just a couple of days ago. Very excited about that for multiple reasons). It has been a bestseller in the US, UK, Poland, and Germany that I know of.

The series has been optioned for film by Hollywood director Paul WS Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt, who have done such movies as Event Horizon, Death Race, Pandorum, and the Resident Evil franchise.

Er… I am also devastatingly handsome, and make babies with the kind of auburn hair I am told women pay vast amounts of money to their colorists for. I drew the little chapter avatars in the US version of The Warded Man myself.

And he also makes julienne fries ladies and gentlemen. Order yours today!

Let’s start with an easy question. If you were a cake, what sort of cake would you be?

The kind that’s been sitting on the counter a long time and is sort of stale so you don’t really want to eat it right this second but keep it around in case you suddenly wake up desperate for cake in the middle of the night.

What are you reading right now?

I just got over the flu, so I got a lot of reading done, including Brandon Sanderson’s new Wheel of Time book, The Gathering Storm, which I admit I really enjoyed even though Brandon is my nemesis. I think Jordan’s spirit is pleased. I also read Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks and Legend by David Gemmell. I’m trying to decide between starting Mistborn by Sanderson or Acacia by David Anthony Durham next. In the meantime I am reading a bunch of comic books I’ve accumulated over the last few weeks.

All this reading feels good. For the last couple of years I’ve been too focused on my own writing to read much else, and I think that was unhealthy. I also had trouble turning off my internal editor, which sucks a lot of the fun out of reading.

If you had to pick your favorite book of all time, what would it be?

Ugh. Hard. Favorites shift with my moods. Let’s broaden a bit. My Personal Top 5:

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
Shogun by James Clavell

You’re relatively new to the publishing world. How has getting your book published changed your life?

Man, you have no idea…

Oh, wait. Yes you do.

I sold in mid 2007, and since then, pretty much EVERYTHING in my life has changed. One minute I was begging someone, anyone, to please read my book, and the next I’m answering fan mail from Australia and Japan. In addition to selling and deciding to write full time, my wife lost her job, we had a baby, and bought a new apartment.

Even though it’s mostly been great stuff that I always dreamed about, I really felt like the rug was pulled out from under me, as all the constants in my life up to that point vanished. I didn’t know which way was up, and felt an incredible pressure to write a sequel that wouldn’t let down the readers who loved the first book. It was doubly hard because I was doing much of it as a zombie on the baby’s bi-hourly feeding schedule while we fretted over money, the cost of health insurance, etc.

Your blog helped me a lot as I adjusted to the change. Seeing someone else going through many of the same things (and coming out the other end of it) made it a little easier for me.

That’s nice to hear. Sometimes I would write some of those blogs and then think, “Why am I telling people this? Why am I burdening people with my emo bullshit?”

I know that feeling well, but the people who would feel burdened by hearing about your life probably don’t read your blog. I’ve found that blogging about my life helps me order my thoughts and keep things in perspective.

How often do you check your amazon sales rank?

Far too often. It is a sick, sick obsession. I also have google scour the internets and read every single review, no matter how nut-crunching.

Oh man. Google Alerts? I’ve avoided that particular madness by the clever application of my own ignorance. I don’t know how to set it up. I just trust that if something important enough happens, someone will e-mail me.

That is probably wise of you. Google alerts takes about 3 seconds and the internet know-how of a shoe to set up, but it’s probably best you never open that door.

How many copies of your own books do you currently own?

I have two shelves of my own books. One has two copies of each version/translation for my personal collection. So far that is 16 distinct volumes, so there are 32 books in my personal collection. These books are precious to me, and I guard them like my young.

The other shelf has books I am free to give away, and I try to run contests and things on my blog to keep those moving. That shelf has another 47 books at the moment, in various languages.

Wow. Specific numbers. Nobody else has been that forthcoming yet.

What are they hiding, do you think? Secret bunkers of their books in case of apocalypse?

Absolutely. I assume everyone buys their own first book obsessively, usually in conjunction with checking their Amazon sales rank.

Okay. Before this interview goes any farther, I have a confession to make.

You were one of the first people to send your books into the fundraiser, and while I was sitting up with my baby one night, I didn’t have anything to read. Your books were sitting right there…. So I read one. That’s not something I normally do with donations, but it was just sitting there. Taunting me.

Admission of guilt is the first step towards absolution, my friend. I think if you put a note in the front of the book saying “I read this one; the cookie crumbs and coffee stains are mine. Love, Pat” whoever wins the book will forgive the fact that it is second-hand, since they will probably get a lot more for it on eBay.

Boy, are you sure? I never write in books other than when I sign my own for people. I think it’s a sin, isn’t it?

This is a special case. Anyone who wins it in the Heifer fundraiser will probably be more a fan of yours than mine, anyway, and I give you leave to illuminate my book with your delicate cursive… or deface it with your chicken-scratch, if your handwriting is anything like mine. (Thank goodness we live in the computer age.)

Okay. If you’re sure…

  • A copy of The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. Signed by the author… and another author who read it.

Feel free to add “It didn’t suck” to your note…

Man, way better than that. I have to say, your book was really fucking good.

!! Do go on…

Okay, to be completely honest with you, I was really ready to dislike it. I’m not proud of this… but, I’d heard you’d already got a movie deal going, so I was a little jealous. And you wrote it on the subway, so I was ready to be all snarky about that, too.

I was kinda expecting you to be Paolini of the F-train. His book got popular because he was so young, and I assumed yours just got attention because of the subway gimmick.

I should know better than jump to conclusions like that, of course. But I can be just as ignorant and petty as the next guy… And I was totally wrong, your book is, like .5 of a Whedon on the coolness scale.

Firefly Whedon or Dollhouse Whedon?

There is only one Whedon, and I am his prophet.

Did you see that time in Astonishing X-Men when he made xxx Xxxxxx Xxxx xxxxxxxx? That was AWESOME.

That was awesome. He caught me off guard like he always does. That’s one of his gifts, in my opinion. He’s exceptionally good at coming at any sort of story from a fresh direction.

Sorry I xxx-ed out your potential spoiler, by the way. I have issues.

Back to the point though. I really dug your book even though I didn’t want to like it at first…

I understand completely. So long as we’re being honest, I felt the same way about you at first. When my book first came out last year, it seemed like every other review was referring to it as “The best new fantasy since The Name of the Wind”. I know it was meant as a compliment, but after it happened a few times, it started to stick in my craw. My inner insecurity began translating that as “this is a good book, but TNotW is a better one.” Grr.

I didn’t know anything about you or TNotW at the time, so I picked up a copy to see what all the fuss was about. Admittedly, I went in with more than a little bias, ready to pounce on any flaws I could find just to make myself feel better.

Of course, I ended up utterly charmed, and when I started reading your blog and saw what a nice guy you were, I realized I was being a bit of a dick.

Heh. The same thing happened with me when my book came out. Everyone was like, “Pat Rothfuss is the next Scott Lynch!” I remember thinking, “Can’t I just be the first Pat Rothfuss? I’ve got a lot more experience being that.”

Ha. I just feel sorry for the poor schmo who gets saddled with being the next Peter Brett. That’s no prize.

So…. Now that we’re friends and all, is there any chance I could get an early look at Desert Spear? I’ll do just about anything to get a copy. I’m not joking here. I’d choke a nun.

Hrm. Well, here’s the thing. I only have 4 advance read copies, and two of them have been promised to fans as prizes in an ongoing contest on my blog. The other two are my personal copies, on the aforementioned “precious” shelf. They are so beautiful, the paired books on that shelf, like a little Noah’s Ark of books. Even my mom doesn’t have a Desert Spear ARC.

But that said, maybe if there were a way to make the copy eventually go to charity…

I wouldn’t want to steal one of your personal copies. Like I said, I understand the book-hoarding impulse….

Actually, I made a plea to Del Rey, and they shook loose another copy for me to send you. You know. For charity.

Muahahahaha! Witness my power! No. Wait. I mean… that will be a great addition to the fundraiser. This is all about charity you know…

Just put it and The Warded Man in a plain brown box labeled “Pat’s used books” and add it to the lottery.

Done:

What’s the most shameful self-promotional thing you’ve ever done?

I brought chocolate cake with icing wards to a signing at ComicCon just to entice people over. In my defense, it was my birthday.

You were at Comic-Con this year?

New York, not San Diego. I usually go to SDCC, but my daughter was born on that exact weekend in 2008, so I think I may miss it until she is old enough for me to convince her that an airplane hanger full of 200,000 cosplayers is a birthday treat.

If you play your cards right, you should be able to convince her that it’s a special birthday party just for her.

That’s the plan.

What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?

Milla Jovovich hugged me and told me she loved my book.

Oh man. Now I’m filled with terrible rage and jealousy. I think I might hate you again….

Uh-oh.

What’s the most hurtful thing someone has ever said in a review of your book?

A lot of readers try to pinpoint my personal morality and politics from the book. Sometimes they are wrong and say terrible things about my beliefs that are really upsetting. A few times I have tried to engage those critics in a polite, calm, and non-confrontational manner, just to set the record straight. Sometimes that helps. Sometimes it is a clusterfuck.

Two extra points for use of the word ‘clusterfuck.’ Do you have a particular piece of grammar that you screw up regularly?

I grew reading a lot of British fantasy (Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lewis Carroll, etc.) so there are a lot of Britishisms I use without realizing it. My copyeditors hate me.

If you could punch one literary figure in the face, who would it be?

I challenged Brent Weeks to a knife fight at the World Fantasy Convention this year, Beat It style, but he’d left his switchblade in his room so we just drank scotch instead.

Rumor has it that Voltaire wrote on the naked backs of his lovers. Do you have any little rituals that help you write?

I write very long books, so I would need many lovers.

That’s what I keep telling Sarah, but she isn’t buying it. How long was the Warded Man, anyway? It didn’t feel very long at all….

The Warded Man was 163,000 words, give or take. The first draft was closer to 180,000, but I cut a lot in the final editing pass. The Desert Spear, however, weighs in at a hefty 240,000 words, and that’s AFTER the heavy cutting. It’s no Wise Man’s Fear, but the hardcover will still make an effective bludgeon.

I hear you about the cutting. Over the years I’m guessing I cut over 100,000 words out of The Name of the Wind.

Speaking of which, I had an idea when I was interviewing Weeks a while back. It turns out he cuts a lot of stuff too. I’m thinking it would be cool to collect some deleted scenes from some other fantasy authors, put them into an anthology along with some commentary by the authors.

We could call it Worldbuilders, and some of the money it made could go to help match funds for the Worldbuilders fundraiser. I’ll admit it’s just a pipe dream so far, but what do you think?

It’s a good dream.

I saw that interview, where you both were talking about having cut the first sections from your books. I don’t know if this is just the case for all new writers, but the Prologue to The Warded Man was cut just prior to publication as well. I have a whole page of my website devoted to excised material, along with essays as to why things were cut. If you ever want to do a Worldbuilders anthology, I will be happy to contribute.

Rock. On. I’m so going to make this happen.

In the meantime, I still need to make a donation to Worldbuilders for this year. I don’t feel right about entering the lottery, though. Would it be possible for me to made a modest addition to the pool helping to match donations?

Oh merciful Buddha, are you serious? Some cash to help match donations would be the best thing ever.

Last year the fundraiser really tapped me out financially, so I was trying to be more careful this year when I said I’d only match 50%. But we’ve ended up raising WAY more than I expected. We’re already over 115,000 dollars. Even with Subterranean Press matching the first 10,000, that still leaves me stretched really thin.

I never planned on Worldbuilders being a one-man show. I’d always hoped some other folks would offer to help match donations, or maybe do fundraisers or auctions of their own to help Worldbuilders raise funds to match donations….

But you’re the first to actually offer.

Anyway, the short answer is “Yes.” I’d love to have you onboard helping to match donations.

You are now officially my new best friend.

*Ahem.* Anyway… back to the pre-tangent question. Do you have any weird writing habits?

Sometimes when I have writer’s block I will sync whatever chapter I am working on to my phone and write on the subway. For some odd reason, that always clears the block. No idea why.

That’s another reason the Voltaire thing wouldn’t work for you. It’d be hard to get properly intimate on the F-Train. People would complain about how many seats you were taking up.

You’d be surprised what you can get away with on the F…

I recently made a joke about “transition putty” on my blog. That being, of course, what we writers buy at Home Depot to smooth out our rough transitions. If you could have some sort of handyman tool like that, something like Plot Spackle or a Character Level. What would it be?

I wish I could go buy a box of minor character names like I can a box of nails. Look at all the trouble it’s causing you. You had to start a whole contest to get some ideas.

Heh. You detected my clever scheme, did you? Keep quiet about it and I’ll cut you in for 10% of the names.

Mum’s the word.

Those are all the questions I have. Thanks much for the interview, and double thanks for being willing to help out Worldbuilders as our first official author Sponsor. I can’t thank you enough for that.

Oh, and next time you see Milla, give her a hug for me….

Will do. Thanks so much for having me on the blog, and for all the great work you’re doing with Heifer. I’m glad I could do my own little part to help.

*****

Personally, I can’t think of a better way to end the last post of the fundraiser: our first author sponsor. Hopefully the first of many.

  • Four copies of The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. Signed by the Author.

Not only is Brett’s debut novel a smashing good read, but owning a copy will bring you good luck, protect you from the swine flu, and make you roughly 33% more attractive to the opposite sex.Plus Brett has hugged Milla Jovovich. That means if you win one of these books that he’s touched with his own hands, it’s like you’re getting to hug her too, albeit twice removed.Well folks, this is the last of the prizes. You have until midnight on January 15th to get in on the action. For every $10 you donate on my Team Heifer page you get a chance to win books like these and many, many others.

If you want to know more about what you can win, or if you’d like more info about Worldbuilders itself, you can head over here for all the details.

With thanks to our sponsor, Subterranean Press.

(Ahhh… Last post of the fundraiser. Now can relax a bit….)
Posted in cool things, Me Interviewing Other Folks, Subterranean Press, Worldbuilders 2009 | By Pat50 Responses

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