Blog

Exciting news!

Das Flüstern der Nacht (the German translation of The Desert Spear) is in the running on the German book lovers’ site LovelyBooks for their “Der Leserpreis – die besten Buecher 2010” award! It made it to the Shortlist in the category “Fantasie/Science Fiction”, in which I am competing with 35 other books. I’m honored to be among such fine contemporaries.

I’ve never won an award for writing. I sure would like to, though.

Vote here until Friday, December 10. On Monday December 13th, the  Gold, Silver and Bronze will be awarded. Good luck to all my competitors!

Posted on December 2, 2010 at 4:10 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Desert Spear, Events, Germany, Reviews, Writing
15 Comments »

I should have done this post a while ago, but I have been buried under a landslide of work that piled overhigh while I was off globe-trotting.

As you may already know, it is Worldbuilders time again. This is the brainchild… nay, HEARTchild, of my friend and fellow author Pat Rothfuss, who helps Heifer International raise money every year to provide livestock and renewable food/income sources to underprivileged communities around the world. Pat is a rockstar for guaranteeing that he and his sponsors on Team Rothfuss will match 50% of all donations.

But it’s not all give with no take. For every $10 you contribute, you will be entered into a lottery to win one of the thousands of signed rare/books donated by publishers and authors, including many from yours truly, like copies of the super-rare The Great Bazaar and the not-yet published Brayan’s Gold from Subterranean Press as well as The Warded Man and The Desert Spear from Del Rey Books. Really some amazing stuff from far bigger names than mine. There are only 13 days left to contribute, though, as the fundraiser ends on December 13.

Attention aspiring writers!

In addition to the lottery, Pat is also auctioning off some special items, like professional critiques of YOUR manuscript by agents and editors, as well as one from himself. These auctions will end DECEMBER 3, so hop to, if you’re interested.

Check out Pat’s Worldbuilder’s FAQ for more information, and to see why Pat is cooler than Batman. Follow Pat’s blog for updates on how the fundraiser is going.

As with last year, I am putting my money where my mouth is and contributing to help Team Rothfuss match donations. Nothing compared to his own MASSIVE contributions, but we all do what we can.

I know this is a hard economic year for most everyone, but odds are if you are reading this post, you have a roof over your head and food in your family’s bellies. A small donation can help others less fortunate fill those same basic needs.

Posted on December 1, 2010 at 12:56 pm by PeatB
Filed under Life, Musings, Pimpage, Writing
7 Comments »

I keep forgetting to post this. It is one of a million things I feel horrid that I haven’t gotten to, especially since it came a while ago.

A lot of you may remember Nanaki from the UK, who was one of the Grand Prize winners in the Warding Contest. And rightfully so. Her rendition of Leesha’s Herb Basket was just brilliant:

Some time after receiving her prize, Nanaki sent me a beautiful hand-written thank-you card, along with a gorgeous piece of fan art. I’ve been meaning to scan it and share it with the world for a while now, but the scanned image needed a lot of cleanup and travel/work/life got in the way. I’m proud to show it off now:

How awesome is it that I find amazing stuff like this when I clean a layer or two off my desk?

Life is good.

Posted on November 30, 2010 at 2:02 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Messenger, Warded Art
2 Comments »

Mom, don’t read this.

Ah, the interwebs. Today I witnessed a lovely clash between twitter and google translate.

My french publisher (@BragelonneFR) twittered this:

@PVBrett fout le bazar : http://bit.ly/eYQ586 | Encore un petit bijou en perspective !

Now I know a little French. VERY little. I get the gist of what this says, but I decide to plug it into google translate anyway and see what it says. This is what GT spits back out:

@PVBrett fucks the bazaar http://bit.ly/eYQ586 | Another gem in perspective!

So I go and translate the whole page, just to see if the gag carries, and sure enough:

Peter V. Brett fucks Bazaar

In my defense, the bazaar was asking for it.

Still, the article is correct. I AM really excited to have those stories translated into French, and I will likely be using it as an excuse to visit France around the time they publish.

Also in the news, I am taking a few days to pick the winners of the Homemade Heroes contest. There are so many fantastic entries that I want to give this a lot of thought and recognize/reward as many people as possible. I am making a sizeable pile of goodies for runner-up prizes. All will ship before X-mas I hope.

And last but not least, this little gem arrived via e-mail yesterday:

Hey,

i thought i could share one of my paintings of what i imagined a fire demon to look like. Its not quite the description i suppose, but i thought i would share it nonetheless.

Thanks

-Luke Fielding
http://lukefielding.com

Posted on November 29, 2010 at 5:23 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Brayan's Gold, Contests, Events, Fan Art, Fans, France, Great Bazaar, Homemade Heroes, Life, Messenger, Musings, Sales, Warded Art, World Traveler
3 Comments »

This entry is so damn cool. Really, they all have been, and I am running out of expletives to describe them. Especially since a recent post netted this e-mail from my mom:

I cringe every time I see the “F” word or reference to it on your peephole.  Is that the kind of thing you want your fans to see?  As for the homemade heroes, these people must have a lot of time on their hands.  Some are absolutely mind blowing and you can see the amount of work that went into them.  Awesome.

Love, Mom

I get these e-mails every once in a while. It’s kind of sweet, and shows my mom wants to make sure everyone knows I was raised right. Still, while I try not to be gratuitous about it, I’m not going to stop cursing. Words are just that, and none of them are “bad”. I figure anyone who reads my books can handle an occasional F-bomb, especially given that I am a New Yorker and we use them like commas.

Anyway, back to the Homemade Heroes Contest. This entry is from Margherita in Ontario, and it is the last accepted entry. It is also a SERIOUS contender. I mean, holy crap. Check this out:

Hi Peat,

Firstly, I hope you and your family had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Second, I know submissions for the Homemade Heroes Contest were supposed to be in before Thanksgiving, but I’m going to go ahead and use the excuse that I’m Canadian and didn’t know when your Thanksgiving fell on the calendar (Ya, I know… you printed the date on the contest info page). I figured it out when a bunch of newly found family members in Brooklyn sent me text messages this morning assuming we shared the same Thanksgiving date.

Anyhoo… I really don’t mind sending these in late. I had a blast putting them together. I’ve been wishing and hoping and praying that I’ll wake up with artistic abilities to allow me to get some Demon Cycle fan art going, buuuutt I heard Santa doesn’t do the whole early gifting thing. So, I’m just grateful you gave us all this opportunity. Plus, it was kinda fun ignoring my boyfriend for a couple of days to play with dolls.

I’ve got Leesha Paper, Rojer Inn, Renna Tanner and Arlen Bales. Leesha was probably the easiest of the four. Stuck the pockets onto her apron with some double sided sponge tape (doesn’t work very well). Was even able to change her eye colour from brown to the beautiful blue we know Leesha to have. By the way, she has no feet… Stupid BRATZ doll had feet with the shoes painted on. Strappy high heels wouldn’t have worked very well.

Rojer’s in the lovely warded cloak Leesha had made for him (He isn’t wearing any clothes underneath. Shhhh…). I got his hair to that orange colour with marker… yes marker. Chopped off a few fingers and threw in his fiddle with strings and all.

Renna’s hair took forreevvvverrrr. I don’t know why I cared so much. She’s wearing her slit dress, but she doesn’t have her skin warded. Gave her the necklace Cobie Fisher gifted her and her father’s knife. Renna is also footless. Big pink sneakers are not sold at Hog’s general store.

Arlen, Arlen, Arlen. Skin warded from bottoms of his feet to crotch to palms to head. Took a good amount of time to get all of the hair snipped away from his head with toe nail clippers. Fun times. Has One Arm’s claw scars on his back too. He was so much fun to photograph!

(I thumbnailed these, but if you click on any one, you can enlarge and scroll through! -PVB)

And just so you know, I am so so sorry for all of the Arlen photos. I just couldn’t choose :s Oh ya, there’s an Arlen/Leesha pic too. 😉

Well, I hope you enjoy my makeshift Demon Cycle characters as much as I enjoyed making them. 🙂

P.S. howz about coming over to Hamilton, Ontario (I can deal with Toronto if I have to) and doing a book signing? I’ll bring your friends Leesha, Rojer, Renna and Arlen along.

Have an awesome weekend!

Margherita

FYI, Margherita, I will probably be in Toronto again soon. I was there last year to visit the Resident Evil: Afterlife set, and I think there’s a Worldcon or a World Fantasy con coming up there in the next year or two.

Posted on November 28, 2010 at 1:49 am by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Desert Spear, Fan Art, Fans, Homemade Heroes, Warded Art, Warded Man
7 Comments »