Let Bob Smith ride on the winds of time!
TarValon.net, home of Robert Jordan on the web, announced on Saturday that it will be holding an auction to benefit Heifer International. The prize? Your name in the Wheel of Time canon. Known as “tuckerization,” this is a pretty popular auction item or prize for writers to offer, but holy frak, you guys. This is the Wheel of Time we’re talking about.
There are two parts to the event: there’s the Silent Auction, where the highest bidder gets immortalized as a character who shares his or her name and physical description. For those who don’t really have the $5,001 to spare—high bid as of noon today—there’s also the General Fundraiser, where for a minimum donation of $20, you are entered in a drawing. At least two people will be drawn from that pool to represent officers of a special combat unit in the Last Battle. Sanderson is writing this combat unit to “represent all fans who donated to this cause to fight poverty in our own world. When you read about them in the final book, you will know they represent you!” There’s also a poll where people can vote on the type of combat unit it will be: Aiel under Rand’s banner, Aes Sedai/Warders from the White Tower, Guardsmen/Guardswomen fighting for Andor Cha’Faile, or Two Rivers archers fighting for Perrin. The Aiel are currently winning, because they’re just so frakkin’ cool.
This auction makes my geeky little heart leap. Not only does bopping around TarValon.net remind me of how much I love Robert Jordan, but Heifer International is an incredible organization. Also the focus of Name of the Wind author Patrick Rothfuss’s recent charity drive, Heifer provides livestock to people in areas of need. It’s so much more than livestock, though: chickens lay eggs, which a family can feed its children to get them vitamins and protein, then sell the extras as another source of income. Sheep provide wool, milk, meat and fertilizer, and the list goes on. Heifer focuses on education and sustainability, with a special eye to gender equity and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Rand al’Thor raised sheep before he went off to be the Dragon Reborn—hope I didn’t spoil anybody there—and I can’t imagine a better way to get fans even more exited about the end of the Wheel of Time.
(via Tor/Forge’s blog.)
