Patrick Rothfuss's Blog, page 73

... jiggedy jig.

After about two solid weeks on the road, I'm back at home.

I really didn't plan on doing so many signings on this trip. But I seem to have a knack for starting things that I think will be small and having them spiral rapidly out of control.

Still, now I know I can do a reading/signing a day and not burn out. It was actually a lot of fun. In fact, if I hadn't been driving about six hours a day on top of that, it would have been downright relaxing.

The upshot is that it's much more...

So Kvothe is going up against Aslan right now in round two of the fantasy cage match on Suvudu. What's surprising is that right now the votes are pretty much dead even. Half for Kvothe, half for the big cat himself.

I didn't write up a little blurb for the last fight. But I've been driving a lot over these last couple days as I go from reading to reading. So I've had plenty of time to think about how the fight between Kvothe and Aslan would go.

So I wrote it up this morning and sent it off to ...

Dear Pat,

I won't be able to make any of your readings over the next two weeks, but I was wondering. How do you get ready for something like that? I've done a little public speaking in the past, and it terrifies me. I can't help but think that it must be a million times worse if you're reading your own stuff to a huge roomful of people.

So that's my question. What does an author do to get ready for a public reading?

Best of luck on your trip.

Dan

The truth is Dan, I've wondered the same thing mys...

...or something. Is that too obscure a reference these days? Should I have gone with the cliche but easily recognizable "there can be only one?"

What I'm talking about is the battle royal going on over at Suvudu. They've taken a bunch of our favorite fictional characters and paired them up in head to head fights. They've chosen a pleasantly bizarre and diverse group of fighters: Gandalf, Cuthulu, and Hermione are all in there duking it out.

Flatteringly enough, Kvothe is in there too, paired...

First and foremost. I have a reading/signing/Q&A period/lovefest in Wisconsin tomorrow (Sunday the 7th). It's in the library in Merrill from 1:00-3:30. Feel free to show up if you like. Details here.

As many of you know, a couple of days ago I decided to take a bit of a road trip down to Virginia. And, because I am an accommodating Midwesterner, I thought I might do a reading or two on my way down. So some folks could get their books signed, if they wanted.

When I posted up last week's blog loo...

Lately, I've been thinking about fanfic.

This is new to me. Up until this this point in my life, I've spent more time thinking about how turtles have sex than about fan fiction.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against fan fiction. It's just....

It's like this. Let's say you came up to me and said, "So, what do you think about Dnipropetrovsk?"

I would look at you blankly.

Then you would say, "Dnipropetrovsk? Major Ukrainian industrial center?"

To which I would shake my head dumbly.

Dismayed...

For those of that might be interested, I have a couple appearances coming up in the next couple of months. You can see details on the tour page.

I'll be adding more dates to the tour page as new things get scheduled. I'm cutting down on my conventions a little this year because of Oot. But I will be attending PenguiCon this year. (And San Diego Comic Con, if I can somehow get hold of a badge.)

Plus, I'm thinking of taking a little road trip.

You see, Sarah has a family wedding that she really wa...

So today I was going to pass along some news about the book in a blog titled, "Why I don't talk about Book Two."

The blog was proving rather difficult to write until I realized it was really two blogs. So today we're just going to get the news, and I'll talk about the other stuff later.

Here's the news: I've finally finished my latest draft of The Wise Man's Fear.


Oot is shown in order to give a sense of scale. And because my baby is frikkin adorable.

This manuscript is about 200 pages...

For those of you who have never been there, Powell's Books is like no other bookstore I've ever seen.

It takes up a whole city block. As I mentioned before on the blog, I've only been there once, and that was only for a bare 45 minutes or so. Even so, that was enough time for me to get lost.

And I'm not speaking metaphorically here. I was actually physically lost. Lost as in, "I don't know where I came in or how I can get out."

Simply said, if heaven turns out to be something like Powell's, I wo...

Well, it took a little doing, but at this point we've got 99.9% of the raffle prizes packaged up and in the mail.

(Note: Oot is not a prize.)
Valerie did most of the packing and mailing, with solid assistance from a few others including Sarah and Oot. Though really, I don't know if what Oot does can be considered assistance. Personally, I think he's the weak member of the team. But Sarah and Valerie place great stock in cuteness, cooing, and the desire to bounce up and down while being held.

I...