Con Or Bust: Helping Fans of Color Attend SFF Cons

 

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Sherwood Smith here: I am offering two hand-colored maps about 21 by 31 on heavy cream paper. The maps are of the main continents in my story world, Sartorias-deles.

One map shows the boundaries and main story sites for the Inda stories, and one of the same area with its far different boundaries for the time of Crown Duel.

Either map, starting bid $35.

ETA: Bidding ends 3/31! I've been adding touches to the maps as I watch MAN FROM UNCLE! If the bids go any higher, I will go and get more gold leaf for the lettering!

Go forth and enable comments on your posts!

And yes, of course you can still list stuff, whenever you like as long as the auction closes by Monday, April 13. (I will be listing some very cool stuff later this week, she says, teasingly.)

Item description: A pair of inkwell earrings from my handmade jewelry company, Sihaya Designs Jewelry. The perfect gift for your favorite writer, or even to keep for yourself. They feature long, smooth vintage acrylic teardrops filled with deep blue inky splatters. I have wrapped them in deeply oxidized sterling silver wire and topped them with oxidized sterling silver earwires. They measure 3 1/4." Note: The earwires are slightly different than pictured. Still ox sterling silver, but more almond-shaped than round. I didn't have the chance to re-photograph before the auction, but they are quite similar!



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Starting Bid: $17

Auction Ends: March 31st.

Item Name/Description: One short story, either original or fanfic, of 1000 words minimum. (It might be much longer - last year one of my Yuletide stories was over 8000 words.)

Starting Bid: $15

Auction Ending: Mar. 31, 2009, midnight, EDT.

Note: I will get you your story by the end of the year. Hopefully much sooner! But please be aware that I sometimes write veeeery sloooowly.

I write professionally as Rachel Manija Brown. I write fanfic as edonohana. My fic LJ has all my fic tagged for easy reference. I have no problem writing gen, pron, or anything in between.

If you request original fic: I reserve the right to sell it for publication later. I will also need a prompt of some kind.

If request fanfic: I am willing to write in any fandom I have ever written in before. See the tags at edonohana to determine that. I am also willing to write in a great many fandoms that I am familiar with but haven't written in before. See rachelmanija tags for those.

If I haven't written in the fandom before, please ask me if I'm OK with it before bidding. If you're not sure if I'm familiar with a fandom, please ask.

But whatever you do, DON'T PUT SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS. Just because I'm reading something does not mean I'm finished with the entire series!

Item Description: Two small containers of the very best brownies ever (approx. 18 brownies total) in orange or mint flavor. Three prizes available per batch.

Starting Bid : $20

Auction Ending: Monday, April 13, at noon EST.

Notes: I have three talents in life. I give good shoulder massages. I make the best brownies. I look good in hats. I can't give a massage over the internet, and my hat wearing ability isn't really of any use to anyone else, but I can make brownies for you.

These brownies are almost solid chocolate, rich with flavorful alcohol, covered in icing and ganache, just for the extra beauty and drop-dead decadence. Known as the happy divorce brownies, chocolate overload brownies, and brownies of doom.

I've perfected two versions of these brownies. You are bidding on the next version I want to try, orange brownies of doom (with Grand Marnier for the alcohol).

ETA 4/13 - I made the orange brownies last night, and results are under the cut, with more details in my journal
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Shipping details: I can only ship in the continental US. I will pay for Priority USPS shipping. If you want faster shipping, you are responsible for the difference. I will ship with insulation and cold packs, but if you're somewhere hot, they may get a little soft in shipping (though no one has ever complained that this makes them any less edible).

(side note: If there is sufficient interest in the other flavors, I can do batches for those as well, but these brownies, while a labor of love, are still a lot of labor, so I'm limiting it to one batch - three prizes- of the orange for now.)

ETA Okay, I'm going to do the Creme de Menthe (pictures under the cut) as well, since there seems to be sufficient interest, and this is for a good cause. Here are links to make things a little easier to find in the comments:

Bid at the following threads:
Orange One
Orange Two
Orange Three
Mint One
Mint Two
Mint Three

Thanks!

AND WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! Thank you all for participating.

THE ALTON GIFT, hardback first edition (DAW 2007), autographed and inscribed as you wish by Deborah J. Ross.

List price is $25.95.

Minimum bid: $10.00.

As kate_nepveu has let you know, auctions are now open. If you haven't yet re-enabled comments on your auction, please do!

I know y'all want to keep the goodies for yourselves (and don't blame you) but the secret to a good auction is exposure, so here are some things you can do to help...

* Put up an auction. It's not too late!

* If you've got an auction up, please link it back to your flist as well as any appropriate communities to which you belong, if such postings are within their rules. Letting people who already know you also know about your offer is a great idea.

* Even if you don't have an auction up, telling your flist and your comms where appropriate is a big help. If you're in a book comm, they might want to know about the rare book offer; your steampunk community may want to check out the spigot cane, and so forth. Get creative! But please don't spam communities that have rules against repostings or advertising, because that's not cool.

* Take a minute to recommend con_or_bust for LJ Spotlight! This is a great way to let more people know what we're up to, and LJ Spotlight tends to pay attention when a comm is recced several times in a short period, and respond accordingly.

* Use your Twitter, Myspace, Facebook or other social networking stuff to recommend people here.

* If you see something that's just perfect for a friend of yours, why not send them a link?

As always, you're welcome to use all or part of the repostable code of auction/comm info created by doctoreon.


Thanks so much for your help thus far...let's get the word out and make this thing huge. :D

Item Name/Description: Publishing contract consultation
Starting Bid: $30
Auction Ending: April 13, Midnight, EST

You: Writer, experienced, new, or hopeful.
Me: Publishing professional, with seven years of experience specifically as a publishing contracts manager.

If you're looking for advice on a contract you're not sure you should sign, a contract you have signed and don't fully understand, a contract question someone else asked you, or anything else about the big points or the minutia of publishing contracts, bid on this item. I'll donate at least an hour of my time, and as much more as it takes to get your questions, concerns, and doubts fully squared away.

As per a suggestion on my LJ...

Item Name: Lunch with Cat
Starting Bid: $15
Auction Ending: Closed
Notes: If bids go high enough, I would consider offering two of these.

My name is Catherynne M. Valente. I've written six novels. Some of them have won awards like the Tiptree and the Mythopoeic Award. I'm generally personable and a good date. So what am I putting up for auction?

A lunch alone with me at an upcoming con, be it Penguicon, Readercon, Worldcon, etc. Or, if you can't make the cons (I can't make Wiscon myself this year) the same lunch at one of my tour stops over the next few months.

Obviously I will pick up the tab for lunch. You can pick the restaurant, anything you like, within reason. We can talk publishing or not, as you please. It's a chance to get some bonding time in away from the bustle of cons, to establish faces and names and a good memory, as opposed to a flash in a crowd.

I still say I am probably not awesome enough to offer this with real results. But some folks said they would bid, so here it is.

Item Name/Description: Custom handmade necklace
Starting Bid: Original Piece $30; Themed Piece $40; Chapter-By-Chapter $60 (see below)
Auction Ending: April 7, Midnight, EST
Notes: Please see below the cut for explanations of the necklace types and links to photos of my previous work.

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Item name/description: Four knitted cotton dishcloths
Starting bid: $15
Auction ending: April 13, midnight, PDT (I don't know if the mods are OK with that, but as a PSTer I wanted to give other people the extra couple of hours after work).
Notes: There are a million patterns available, so just let me know what colors you'd like. Can be used either as potholders or actual washcloths (they're nubbly and get nice and soft after being dried a few times).
Shipping: US --> Worldwide



See more examples here.


I am offering TWO sets of these cloths, one to each of the top two bidders.

(eta: "truepenny"=Sarah Monette)
Item name/description: signed copies of the hardback editions of the four Doctrine of Labyrinth books: Mélusine, The Virtu, The Mirador, Corambis
Starting bid: $50
Auction ending: April 13, midnight, EST
Notes: 1. I know $50 seems like a hell of an opening bid, but it's half the retail value of the books as a set (or possibly slightly less). The cover price of each book is $24.95; in addition, Mélusine and The Virtu are out of print in hardback.
2. Corambis is scheduled to come out April 7, and I'll get my author copies sometime after that (and, no, I can't predict exactly when), so there will be some delay in shipping. I apologize for this, and I promise that I will send them as soon as possible. My author copies arrived today (04/06/09), so no delay in shipping.
3. In addition to signing the books, I will personalize them if the winning bidder so desires.
4. I will pay for shipping, and I will ship anywhere in the world.

Item Name/Description: The only copy of a 5000 word short story by a Hugo & Nebula nominated short story writer (Daniel Abraham) written specifically for this auction, released under creative commons license, and never marketed or posted elsewhere.
Starting bid: $50
Auction ending: April 13, Midnight EST
Notes:
1: Winner may specify plot, character and stylistic elements, but I'll have to use my best judgment when doing the work
2: The resulting story must remain unchanged and with my byline if you choose to distribute it elsewhere (per CC license)
3: Story will be written and delivered via email to winner before Wiscon

(eta: "truepenny"=Sarah Monette)
Item name/description: signed copy of The Bone Key (trade paperback)
Starting bid: $15
Auction ending: April 13, midnight, EST
Notes: 1. In addition to signing the book, I will personalize it if the winning bidder so desires.
2. I will pay for shipping, and I will ship anywhere in the world.

Item name/description: Dreamwidth Studios Seed (permanent) Account
Starting bid: $100 USD
Auction ending: 11 April 2009, 23:59 EDT
Notes: Dreamwidth Studios is planning to open its doors for open-beta account creation in mid-to-late April. Upon launch, we will be offering 400 Seed Accounts (permanent accounts) for sale at $200 USD each; this will be a one-time sale to raise capital for our colocation and first year of operating expenses.

For this auction, we are auctioning off the four hundred and first! The winner will receive, at or before the time of open beta launch -- whenever the actual launch date is, as it hasn't yet been set in stone -- an account creation code that will allow you to create one Seed Account, which is an account that will have access to all of our premium paid services for the life of the service without requiring future payment. If bidding goes over $200, we'll also do some database magic to make the resulting account have a low user ID number, if you want us to. The account creation code can be used by the winner, or given to a friend.

ABOUT US: Dreamwidth Studios is an Open Source code fork of the LiveJournal project designed to seriously extend the core functionality of the service and operate under the principles of transparency, freedom, and inclusiveness. We are staffed by people with years of experience in social networking and running high-availability web applications. For more information on the project, see our wiki, our diversity statement, our list of how we differ from other LiveJournal-based services, and our business FAQs.

NOTE: Dreamwidth is currently in closed beta testing, but accepts OpenID logins if you want to look around! (Please be aware, though, that some things might still look a little unfinished. You can check out our bug tracker to see what kind of projects we're still working on or planning for the future.) If the winner of this auction would like to 'move in' before we open for public account creation, understanding that things will still be unfinished, we can arrange for that as well.

Item Name/Description: Podfic recording of a story up to 5000 words in length

Starting Bid: $10

Auction Ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: I will read the story of your choice, up to roughly 5000 words (there's a bit of flexibility here), in any fandom (including RPF/RPS), genre, and pairing. The recording will be completed by the opening date of Wiscon.

The Fine Print: Author permission is required; if the author of your chosen story refuses permission, please be prepared to make another selection. I can't do accents; my own is US generic. I won't read incest, non-con, or hard kink. I am most comfortable in dS/C6D (where I would prefer not to read Vecchio slash or Turnbull pairings), Buffyverse, Gateverse, NCIS, and Highlander, but I'll try anything. If I don't know your chosen fandom, I may ask you for samples of the media so that I can get to know the characters before I voice them.

Try before you buy: My podfic readings in a variety of fandoms are archived and available for download here.

Item Name/Description: Podfic recording of a story up to 25,000 words in length

Starting Bid: $40

Auction Ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: I will read the story of your choice, up to roughly 25,000 words (there's a bit of flexibility here), in any fandom (including RPF/RPS), genre, and pairing. The recording will be completed no later than July 1st.

The Fine Print: Author permission is required; if the author of your chosen story refuses permission, please be prepared to make another selection. I can't do accents; my own is US generic. I won't read incest, non-con, or hard kink. I am most comfortable in dS/C6D (where I would prefer not to read Vecchio slash or Turnbull pairings), Buffyverse, Gateverse, NCIS, and Highlander, but I'll try anything. If I don't know your chosen fandom, I may ask you for samples of the media so that I can get to know the characters before I voice them.

Try before you buy: My podfic readings in a variety of fandoms are archived and available for download here.

Item name/description: ARC of David Weber's By Heresies Distressed (July 2009)

Starting bid: $20.

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: All the books I'm about to list are donations from Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor, which I'm listing on his behalf since he's out of the country.

This one is an uncorrected advance reading copy of the new book in David Weber's Safehold series, which started with Off Armageddon Reef and By Schism Rent Asunder. It will be published in July 2009.

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Item name/description: ARC of Robert Charles Wilson's Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America (June 2009)

Starting bid: $25.

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: an uncorrected advance reading copy of the new book from the Hugo-award winning author Robert Charles Wilson, which will be published in June 2009. "Julian: A Christmas Story," a novella that introduces this work, was a Hugo finalist in 2007, and can be read online.

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Item name/description: Tim Eldred, Grease Monkey: A Tale of Growing Up in Orbit

Starting bid: none

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: First edition hardcover graphic novel, ISBN 0-765-31325-1.

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Item name/description: James White, Beginning Operations, Alien Emergencies, General Practice (omnibuses of the first eight Sector General novels)

Starting bid: $25 for the set

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: Three trade paperbacks, collecting the first eight Sector General novels: Hospital Station, Star Surgeon, Major Operation, Ambulance Ship, Sector General, Star Healer, Code Blue—Emergency, The Genocidal Healer. ISBNs 0-312-87544-4, 0-312-87770-6, 0-7653-0663-8.

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Item name/description: Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep, near-mint first edition hardcover

Starting bid: $100

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: A near-mint first edition hardcover of the 1992 Hugo Award winner. ISBN 0-312-85182-0.

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Item name/description: Philip K. Dick, In Milton Lumky Territory (hardcover)

Starting bid: none

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: Hardcover of first Tor edition (2008), ISBN 0-7653-1695-1.

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Item name/description: Jo Walton, Farthing; Ha'Penny; Half a Crown (hardcover first editions)

Starting bid: $50

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: First edition hardcovers of papersky's complete "Small Change" series, ISBNs 0-7653-1421-5, 0-7653-1853-9, 0-7653-1621-8.

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Update: papersky says that she's happy to sign them, but since "There are many things that I can do, but going to the post office is not one of my skills," it would mean waiting until I could get her and the books in the same physical location, which is August 2009 at Worldcon. If the winner wants them signed and is willing to wait, great; if not, well, they're very nice books even unsigned.

Item name/description: Nancy Kress, Steal Across the Sky (hardcover 1st)

Starting bid: none

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: First edition hardcover of Nancy Kress's 2009 SF novel Steal Across the Sky, ISBN 0-7653-1986-1.

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(Personal note: this is such a great blurb I'm tempted to keep the book for myself . . . )

Item name/description: ARC of Kate Elliott's Traitors' Gate (August 2009)

Starting bid: none

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: Uncorrected advance reading copy of the conclusion to kateelliott's Crossroads Trilogy, forthcoming August 2009 (author web page for series).

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Item name/description: ARC of Jane Lindskold's Nine Gates (August 2009)

Starting bid: none

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: Uncorrected advance reading copy of the second book in the "Breaking the Wall" series (started with Thirteen Orphans) forthcoming August 2009.

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Item name/description: ARC of Freda Warrington's Elfland: A Novel (August 2009)

Starting bid: none

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: Uncorrected advance reading copy of first US novel by freda_writes forthcoming August 2009.

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Item name/description: ARC of L. Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero Lost (September 2009)

Starting bid: none

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, 12 noon Eastern

Notes: Uncorrected advance reading copy of first book in Children of Propero series (author web page), forthcoming September 2009.

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And that's the lot!

OK, y'all. I decided that before I left for NOLA, I was going to make a spreadsheet of auctions and first bids and current bids, to help us keep track of the totals. So I did, and then I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Currently as of this posting, combined bids on all items stand at $1280.

Since this morning.

As those of you who have been watching the list of requests know, currently stated needs sit at approximately $1000 close to $2500 including estimated hotel fees for those who need lodging. (thanks to kate_nepveu for the updated info on the goal.)

Y'all rock.

***

Now. Does this mean stop bidding, stop posting? No way. But I'd like to ask y'all - who have been so generous and awesome already - to do one more thing for this initiative.

Please, please, please, tell your friendslist that the offer is still open and assistance is still available.

I want the Carl Brandon Society to get a big ol' check, don't get me wrong. But the real goal here is to help interested FOC meet their needs in order to attend Wiscon. If we help three people, like we're already set to do? Awesome. If we help more folks and only a little is left over? Even better.

So please. If you will, make a post letting people know that they can still make their request, and we'll do our best to honor it. Let people know that this opportunity is available if they need it.

The links to the project and auction info, including the details on how to make a request, are here.

***

Thank you to everyone who has donated, bid, promoted and put their time and energy in on this thus far. Thank you for being awesome beyond measure. Let's keep it going strong.

Item name/description: A cameo in my novel The Bone Palace, (I'm Amanda Downum, btw) due out in 2010.

Starting bid: $20

Auction ending: 13 April 2009, midnight Central

Notes: My first novel, The Drowning City, is due out from Orbit in September 2009, and I'm working on the sequel now. I'll give the winner a cameo using whatever name and description they want (I reserve the right to mildly alter names to fit my second-world cultures, but will try hard to keep them recognizable). I'm happy to kill you gruesomely, romantically, or tragically, but you can also survive if you'd prefer.

I will also match the amount of the winning bid in a donation to the Carl Brandon society when I get paid for delivery of the novel. (That's hopefully at the end of this year, but the wheels of publishing turn slowly and all that.)

And, I'll send you an ARC of the novel, whenever such become available.

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Item Name/Description: One Custom Extermiknit! (hand-knit Dalek)

Starting Bid: $20.00

Auction Ending:  Midnight, April 13, 2009, Central Daylight Time

On offer is a hand-knit Dalek, done in a color scheme/theme of your choice from Penwiper's Extermiknit! pattern (aka "Cuddly Evil.")

I can make it up in classic Dalek colors, or go with a more creative colorway or theme (for example, the sample Extermiknit! in the photo was constructed in Nerd Herd colors for a friend who is on the crew of the television show "Chuck." I even made it a custom ID badge.)

I prefer to work the project in Cascade 220, a classic 100%  worsted weight wool,  but am happy to discuss alternative fibers, within the limitations imposed by the pattern and my knitting skills.  I  fill out the Dalek with new polyester fiberfill.  When made with Cascade 220, the completed Dalek stands approximately 8 - 9 inches tall.

I will deliver your completed Extermiknit! approximately 30 days after close of auction. I ship everywhere.