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Here’s our first batch of author-donated books, all of them lovingly signed by the authors themselves.
- A first edition, hardcover set of books from the Black Jewels World: Tangled Webs, The Shadow Queen, Twilight’s Dawn, and Shalador’s Lady by Anne Bishop. All signed by the author.
“Anne Bishop does not disappoint. I have not read a book of hers that did not immediately captivate me and draw me immediately back into her world….[She] waves her spell so well…. Her characters seem so real and engaging.” – SFRevu
- One set of Shadows and Light & The House of Gaian by Anne Bishop. Signed by the author.
“Plenty of thrills, faerie magic, human nastiness, and romance.” – Locus
- One set of Australia editions of The Invisible Ring & Twilight’s Dawn by Anne Bishop. Signed by the author.
“The Invisible Ring will serve as an enticement, whetting the appetite to explore more of the realms in the Black Jewels trilogy. It and its predecessors are genuine gems of fantasy much to be prized.” – The Zone
- One copy of Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop. Signed by the author.
“Bishop’s talent brings the world to life and creates characters who will intrigue, outrage and captivate the reader.” – Romantic Times
- Two copies of The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer. Signed by the author.
“It’s not very often that I get to say this, but Courtney Schafer’s The Whitefire Crossing is the complete package. Fully developed characters. Across the board world-building. Intriguing magic. Accomplished writing. Engaging storytelling. Thrilling adventure… Add it all up and there’s no doubt in my mind that The Whitefire Crossing is not only one of the best fantasy debuts of 2011, but it’s also one of the year’s best fantasy novels period.” – Robert Thompson of Fantasy Book Critic
Pat’s note: I’ll admit that after reading that blurb, I’ve added this one to my own mountainous to-be-read stack.
- One copy of Wells of Sorrows by Benjamin Tate. Signed by the author.
“Brilliantly detailed worldbuilding and complicated characters makes this an engrossing read.” – Laura Anne Gilman.
- One set of The Throne of Amenkor: The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and The Vacant Throne by Joshua Palmatier. Signed by the author.
“A gritty, edgy, unsettling book. This tough young woman makes her choices in a world where good and evil often look like twins. I was riveted by her story!” – Tamora Pierce, author of Terrier
- One copy of After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray and signed by Joshua Palmatier.
Science fiction and fantasy readers have long shown an affinity for a good “bar story”. Now some of today’s most inventive scriveners have decided to tell their own tall tales-from an alewife’s attempt to transfer the gods’ curse to Gilgamesh, to Odin’s decision to introduce Vikings to the Ur-Bar, from the Holy Roman Emperor’s barroom bargain, to a demon hunter who may just have met his match in the ultimate magic bar, to a bouncer who discovers you should never let anyone in after hours in a world terrorized by zombies.
- Two copies of The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu. Signed by the author.
“The Winds of Khalokovo is filled with clean prose, intelligent language, and brilliant imagination. Reading this fantasy was like sinking my teeth into a rich and exotic dessert.” – Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show
“The boldly imagined new world and sharply drawn characters will pull you into The Winds of Khalakovo and won’t let you go until the last page.” – Michael A. Stackpole, New York Times bestselling author of I, Jedi
- One ARC of The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu. Signed by the author.
Pat’s note: For those of you who aren’t familiar with publishing lingo, ARC stands for Advance Reader’s Copy. These are the sneak-preview books that a publisher gives to reviewers and booksellers. They don’t tend to print very many of them, so they’re kinda rare. What’s more, a lot of times they haven’t gone through final edits, so you get the chance to see a rough-hewn version of the story, and occasionally chuckle up your sleeve at the author’s typos.
Also, Bradley has gone out of his way to sign this one with extra panache, rubbing my nose in the fact that I have the handwriting of a 3rd grader.
- One anthology of Stalking the Wild Hare edited by John Helfers, Chris Pierson, Marc Tassin, and Jean Rabe. Signed by Bradley P. Beaulieu.
Adventure . . . danger . . . romance . . . or maybe a good scare? Yearning to read some fantasy . . . science fiction . . . humor . . . urban fantasy . . . horror . . . or even a haunting Civil War tale? We’ve got what you’re looking for! The authors in Gen Con’s Writer’s Symposium have collected 22 of their favorite tales into this volume.
- Three copies of Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs. Signed by the author.
Pat’s note: I met John this year at World Fantasy. He was cool enough to donate some signed copies of his profoundly creepy Cthulhu/blues fusion debut novel.
(Say “Cthulhu/blues fusion debut” three times fast, I dare you. Now go say it in front of a mirror at midnight with all the lights off. No. Wait. Don’t do that….)
In addition to chipping in some books, John also went above and beyond the call of duty and helped us finally design a our webpage for the fundraiser: Worldbuilders.org.
“A sumptuous Southern Gothic thriller steeped in the distinct American mythologies of Cthulhu and the blues . . . Southern Gods beautifully probes the eerie, horror-infested underbelly of the South.” – The Onion AV
- Three first edition hardcover copies of Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi. Signed by the author.
“Fuzzy Nation seeks to bring a 21st century storytelling sensibility to a half-century-old genre classic, and it succeeds far more wildly than I imagine even John Scalzi himself hoped. What began as an unabashed exercise in labor-of-love fanfic became not only excellent SF in its own right, but, incidentally, Scalzi’s best novel to date in a career that was already impressive and well above the bell curve.” – SF Reviews
Pat’s Note: I never read the original story Scalzi drew inspiration from (H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy). But that didn’t keep me from thoroughly enjoying the novel.
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Remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on the Worldbuilders Team Page, you get a chance to win these books and hundreds of others like them.
Plus there’s the whole helping make the world a better place thing. That’s nice, too.
And don’t forget, Worldbuilders is matching 50% of all donations. So you get a bigger bang for your buck when you head over to our Team Heifer page and chip in.
Or, if you want to go back to the main page for Worldbuilders, you can click HERE.
