This blog lists generous donations made to the Worldbuilders fundraiser by:
If you want details about the fundraiser itself, you should read the blog HERE.
I’ve known the folks at Subterranean Press for a long while. Bill Schafer contacted me barely two weeks after The Name of the Wind hit the shelves and asked if I’d like to contribute a story to an anthology. It was one of the first clues I had that I might have done something right with my first book.
Subterranean Press publishes gorgeous books. Beautiful paper. Beautiful bindings. Stuff by great authors. Stuff that’s out of print. Stuff by Neil Gaiman, Tim Powers, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury….
The last time I bought stuff off their website, I looked at my shopping cart and found myself thinking, “Next time I sell them a story, I should just negotiate my contract in store credit and save them the trouble of sending me a check.”
Last year Bill stunned me with his generosity, donating over $8,000 in books to the fundraiser. This year, he stunned me again, donating almost three times as many books. Beautiful hardcovers. Many of them limited editions. Many of them signed.
What’s more, he’s helping Worldbuilders match donations this year. That’s right, Subterranean Press will be providing funds to match 50% of the first 10,000 dollars donated this year.
This has earned him an eternal place in my heart, because it makes it much less likely that I’ll have to sell my house to match the donations this year.
Alright. Enough ebullience. Let’s look at some books.
- Twenty-five sets of The Fisher King Trilogy: Last Call, Expiration Date, and Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers.
(Are these cool covers or what?)
I have it on good authority that owning these books will give you the strength of ten men, cure any illness afflicting you, and grant you eternal youth.
If you don’t believe me, then how about trusting the Los Angeles Daily News when they say Last Call is “Riveting…lyrical and brutal…a thrilling tale of gambling, fate and fantastic adventure.”
- Twenty-five copies of The Terror by Dan Simmons. Signed, limited edition.
Subterranean Press describes The Terror as “a rigorously researched historical novel and a compelling homage to one of the seminal SF/Horror films of the 1950s. It is popular fiction of the highest order, the kind of intense, wholly absorbing epic only Dan Simmons could have written.”
- Twenty-five copies of the trade hardcover of Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill.
Joe Hill’s a new writer who already has more than a few accolades to his name, including beating me out for Best Debut Novel in the Locus Awards last year.
I really enjoyed his book Heart Shaped Box, and while I haven’t read Locke and Key, Publisher’s Weekly says that it “…delivers on all counts, boasting a solid story bolstered by exceptional work from Chilean artist Rodriguez.”
- Twenty-five copies of The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint. Signed, limited edition.
Library Journal says the Onion Girl is “set in a modern world that borders on a dimension of myth and legend, de Lint highlights the life of one of his most popular characters. A master storyteller, he blends Celtic, Native American, and other cultures into a seamless mythology that resonates with magic and truth.”
- Twenty-five copies of Stephen King Goes to the Movies by Stephen King. Limited edition.
This is a collection of five stories written by King and adapted to film: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (film version: The Shawshank Redemption), 1408, Children of the Corn, The Mangler and Low Men in Yellow Coats (film version: Hearts in Atlantis). Each story includes an introduction and commentary by King himself.
- Twenty-five copies of The God Engines by John Scalzi. Signed, limited edition.
I’m sure many of you already know about John Scalzi through his blog Whatever. If not, I’d suggest you read this book to get to know him, but you might not have enough light to make out the text where you live, under what is undoubtedly a heavy, heavy rock.
Publisher’s Weekly says: “If J. G. Ballard and H. P. Lovecraft had ever collaborated on a space opera, the results might have been like this: ferociously inventive, painfully vivid, dispassionately bleak and dreadfully memorable.”
- Twenty-five copies of The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist. Signed, limited edition.
Bookslist reports that, “Dahlquist’s sequel to The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters (2007) is dark indeed… fans of Tobsha Learner’s Soul (2008) and Jonathan Barnes’ Somnambulist (2008) will enjoy this surreal Victorian journey into the nightmarish possibilities of mind swapping”
- Twenty-five copies of the trade hardcover edition of Where Everything Ends by Ray Bradbury.
Where Everything Ends is a collection of three of Ray Bradbury’s classical detective stories: Death is a Lonely Business, A Graveyard for Lunatics, and Let’s All Kill Constance.
On a personal note, I have to tell you that when I read Death is a Lonely Business ten years ago, it rocked my world. I grew up reading Bradbury, and I expect a lot from his work. Even so, it still knocked me over.
I didn’t even know about the third book in this series right now. Is it legal for me to donate money to my own fundraiser with the hopes that I’ll win something? Probably not. I’m kinda dodgy, and I’d probably rig things so I’d win.
Anyway, you don’t have to take my word that this is an awesome book. Green Man Review says that it’s “a trio of fine detective novels (together with the short story that provided the starting point) from Bradbury in his inimitable style. He plays with the conventions, but since he so obviously loves the genre, this is easily forgiven — embraced, even — because the end results are, simply put, fine additions to the canon.”
Remember, every 10 dollars you donate gives you a chance to win these and hundreds of other cool prizes, so head over to my page at Team Heifer and chip in.
Want more details about how it all works? Check out the Worldbuilder’s blog HERE.
