So, it’s been an interesting couple days….
On Tuesday the news broke that Lin-Manuel Miranda has officially signed on to help develop my books into movies and television.
This news has been a long time coming, and it hasn’t been easy to keep under my hat.
I’ve already done a Q&A about it over on my twitch stream, and I’ll write about it here in the blog in the future. But for now just let me say that my creative crush on Lin is of Whedonian proportions. I’m about as excited as a human being can possibly be.
(This excited. Plus ten.)
And if that weren’t enough to make this my best week ever, my books also got passing mentions from the Vlogbrothers and Nightvale. Which is a confluence of events that seems to imply I have gained a fairy godmother or access to a genie. It’s odd, and feels a little bit like maybe god checked his ledgers, realized that someone had done the karmic equivalent of running over my cat, and is desperately trying to balance things out before the new year for tax reasons.
Anyway. It’s been a good week. And that’s not even taking into consideration that Worldbuilders raised (and then matched) another quarter million dollars this week. Which means as of right now, we’ve raised more than $1,100,000 for Heifer International.
That’s enough money to give 9000 families goats, along with the education, training, and tools to care for them.
Goats are awesome, because they’re hardy, easy to care for, and produce a gallon of milk a day. That milk is a valuable source of protein and calcium for children, and the excess milk is easily sold to provide household income so families can pay for school fees, clothes, and medicine.
You see, in most of the world, a goat isn’t just a source of food, it’s a small business. But more importantly, it gives birth to other small businesses.
So far, Worldbuilders has raised enough to give 55,000 families flocks of chickens ($20.) Enough to provide 3,600 communities with clean water ($300.)
And we’re not done. We still have some time left. And we have some cool new announcements today.
- We still have matching money!
Once we hit $1,000,000, a lot of people thought that we were out of matching money.
We’re not. We’ve used up $555,000 of the million dollars we have available for matching. So rest assured, when you donate, your money is still getting doubled.
- Return of the Widget!
I’m delighted to announce the return of the probability calculator widget. Powered by math from the fabulous Vi Hart.
As you know. (Or at least I hope you know.) Every $10 you donate to Worldbuilders gets you a chance to win thousands of books and games from our prize lottery. This widget is updated with the most up-to-date numbers so you can tell what your odds are of winning something, depending on how much you donate.
- Odd Opportunities for Immortality
As faithful readers of the blog know, earlier in the fundraiser, a handful of awesome authors offered up cameos in upcoming books.
We’ve done this for several years at Worldbuilders, and my only regret is that we’ve always auctioned them off. It brings in good money, but it makes me feel bad that only folks with a lot of money to splash around get a chance to get their names or faces in upcoming books.
So last week when a more authors came forward to offer us walk-on roles in their books, we decided to try something new, a little experiment, if you will.
We’re making separate pages for each of these new cameos, if you go in and donate there, you’re still eligible for everything in the regular fundraiser. Your donation will be doubled. You’re eligible for all the prizes in the lottery.
AND you’re eligible to win the guest star appearance that’s detailed on that page.
This way, you have a chance at immortality even if you’re not made of money.
I’m really excited to offer these up, folks. I’m huge fans of all the works listed here.
- Name a character in Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu‘s new trilogy.
It was recently announced that the awesome authors Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu are co-writing a new trilogy featuring a fan-favorite character of Cassandra Clare’s, Magnus Bane. The book is out in November of 2017, and they’ve offered to name a character after one of our lovely supporters.
They were happy to let us put this in the lottery for anyone who donates via their page, so that’s exactly what we’ve done. The more you donate, the better your chances, but even if you only have 10 bucks to spare, there’s still a chance.
- Get Killed by the Rat Queens
Rat Queens have also stepped up to the plate. But this isn’t just going to be some little walk-on part. The fabulous Kurtis Wiebe is offering up the opportunity to be Killed by your favorite band of adventuring badasses: the Rat Queens themselves. They’ll draw you and your likeness in to the comic, and you’ll get super dead.
Don’t be a Gary. Donate to make the world a better place, and rest comfortably in the knowledge that every $10 you kick in on their team page, gets you a chance to get killed by Rat Queens.
- Be killed to death in Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
Or, if you’re more into the Sandman Slim novels, you could get killed to death in that.
If you donate on this team page Richard Kadrey will include you in the next Sandman Slim novel and kill you. What’s more, he’s promised to make it “as messy as possible.”
Those were his exact words.
- Name an inmate and their crime in Bitch Planet
If you aren’t reading read Bitch Planet, you really should. I picked it up just last month, and it instantly become one of new favorites.
It imagines a world where women who don’t fit in with the patriarchal society’s standards for women are shipped away from earth and jailed on Bitch Planet for being “Non-Compliant.” That can involve anything from being a violent felon, to simply not speaking politely, using too much sarcasm, or being overweight.
This comic is smart, folks. It’s dark and sharp and full of clever humor. I love it with big love.
So I’m delighted to say that for every $10 you donate on their page will get you a chance to name an inmate and the infraction that caused them to be exiled. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Valentine De Landro will work with you to put this character into their world.
- Name a sex act in Sex Criminals
Matt Fraction is one of my top five comic writers of all time. And honestly? I think Sex Criminals is my favorite comic he’s currently working on.
And it’s hard for me. *ahem* Because it’s not exactly easy to go around recommending a comic called “Sex Criminals” to everyone you know.
The premise is this: In Sex Criminals, when Suzie and John have sex, time stops. Not in the cheesey way that people talk about sometimes. Literally, time stops. Then they do what any red-blooded American with sex superpowers would do: They rob banks.
Writer Matt Fraction and artist/maniac Chip Zdarsky assure you that, while very dirty, Sex Criminals is mostly sweet. And they’re offering you the chance to name your very own sex act in the series. Which is something I’m pretty sure everyone has wanted to do at some point in their lives. Or is it just me? (It can’t just be me, can it?)
Again, every $10 you donate on Team Brimpers gets you a chance for this.
- Name Viari’s own personal intern in Acquisitions Inc
I talked to the folks at Acquisitions Inc, and they’re letting me raffle off the chance to name Viari’s own personal intern in a future game. You and I will work out your character’s name, as well as their character class. And then they’ll be an NPC in Acquisitions, Inc. They’ll fetch my coffee, update my day planner, and… well… probably die. Because… well… intern…
Roll with Viari over here if that sounds like a good time to you.
[Edit: Amanda here! One more opportunity came through this morning after we shared the blog, so I’m throwing it in here because I KNOW you wanna see this.
- Get your name and likeness in an issue of Revival
Revival is a FANTASTIC comic set in rural Wisconsin after a day when the dead come back to life. The main character, Dana Cypress, has ongoing investigations into the phenomenon, and the series has been running monthly since July 2012.
Tim Seeley is the writer of he comic, and he and artist Mike Norton have agreed to put your name and/or likeness (whatever you prefer) into the comic. If you love Revival as much as I do, every $10 you contribute on their page puts your name in the hat.]
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Thanks again for coming along with us on this adventure, folks. And do keep in mind that even if none of the new teams I just mentioned ring your bell, you can just go donate on the main page.
I really want to use up all of our matching money this year.
I’m hoping beyond all hope that we can hit $2,000,000.
pat
P.S. Our servers are getting hit kinda hard today. Because a now that we’re over a million bucks, we’re getting some media attention.
If you have trouble donating, please don’t give up. I know it’s frustrating. But please stick with it.