Patrick Rothfuss's Blog, page 18

We just finished our second week ofWorldbuilders, and as I type this we’ve raised $375,000. That’s an amazing amount of money that will help improve the lives of people all over the world.

“But Pat!” I hear you cry. “Exactly *how* will this money make people’s lives better? For someone willing to spend eight pagesdescribinghow someone makes soap, it seemslike you’re being pretty vague here….”

Fair enough.

Let’s say you donate $60. That’s enough for Heifer to go into an area and provide educat...

Worldbuilders only exists today because of the kindness and generosity of my fellow sci-fi and fantasy authors.

You see, back in 2008 when I first stumbled awkwardly onto my blog and asked folks people if they’d like to donate money to Heifer International, other authors contacted me and offered to help. They donated books and spread the word in ways I never could have managed on my own.

Now, years later, the same is still true. Authors help spread the word, they help with projects and stretc...

It’s no secret that I’m terribly fond of Max Temkin.Not only is he fun to be around, but he’s a genuinely nice person who has pitched in to help with Worldbuilders in several different ways over the last couple years.

For example, when we did our podcast together, we weren’t originally planning on having sponsors. But when our audience turned out to be startlingly large, Max immediately suggested we take on select ads and donate all the money directly to Worldbuilders.

Hold on, it occurs to m...

The Worldbuilders staff always get weirdly excited when the delivery driver pulls up and says with a horrified look, “You have 15 boxes today…” The team has been known to cheer at the backbreaking work of hauling thousands of books up or down sets of stairs. They’re not entirely right in the head, but it’s okay, because they’re my kind of crazy.

Recently, Del Rey and Grim Oak Press are two of the deliveries that made the team cheer. Both have been donating for a while, and we’re glad to have...

As I sit down to write up my traditional blog full of Rothfuss-specific items I’m putting into the fundraiser, I notice that Worldbuilders has just crested over the $100,000 mark.

This fills me with joy. Not only because it confirms that all of you are lovely, generous people. But also because it means we’ve passed two stretch goals, and have just unlocked a third, where Nika Harper will do a Tarot reading for a goat.

What were the previous two stretch goals? Well, I brought my littlest boy (...

Today we’re launching one of my favorite parts of Worldbuilders. It’s something that I would have killed for back when I was struggling to get published. Something that I’ve never seen offered anywhere anywhere else.

This year, we have many big-hearted authors, editors, and agents are offering up their services for the good of the charity. (I’m doing it too, though my heart is a small, bitter thing.) We’re making ourselves available to read your unpublished manuscripts and give you our profes...

This probably won’t come as a surprise to many of you, but I’m a geek for video games. Computer games in particular.

What you might not know is how deep my roots go: I’ve been playing computer games for 33 years. Since 1982. Since I was nine years old.

To give you a frame of reference, the first game I played was entirely text. Which is a good thing, because the computer I played it on didn’t have a hard drive. I learned to type playing those early Infocom games, and played some of them for *...

Last year, Mayfair Games came in as a sponsor for Worldbuilders. And to be honest, we were a little unprepared for the sheer level of awesome they brought to the table.

Some of you might remember the entire semi-trailer full of games….

It was so many games it took the Worldbuilders team 4 hours just to get them inside. (There were 18 pallets full.)

This year’s donation arrived on Monday, but this time it only took my team an hour and a half to get them inside. I like to think that it’s becau...

These past couple years, Badali has really extended their licensing with fantasy authors. As a result, they have a really great mix of nerdy jewelry from a multitude of fandoms.

This year they’re sharing a selection of those goodies with us, including a couple pieces they haven’t even made available to the public yet…

Let’s dive in.

The Iron Druid Chronicles have become an office favorite...

This year begins like many years before it, with some amazing books from Subterranean Press.

It’s because of them that we get to start our big yearly fundraiser out right. As they donate a ton of books that are designed to be high-quality, long-lasting beautiful works of art.

They’ve been with us from the beginning, and every year we’re delighted to see them return.

Enough gushing. We’ve got books to showcase. All of these are signed, numbered, and limited editions, and pretty much all of the...