I've been putting together a project to raise money for the Gygax Memorial Fund by creating some merchandise to sell at Gen Con, but it doesn't look like it will come together in time so I want to start considering the possibility of doing this for GaryCon instead. Paul Hughes over at blogofholding.com wrote a script to extract just the questions and answers from Gary's Q&A threads at EN World. The resulting text file was 4 million words even without extraneous forum stuff, so as we started talking about making a book from this, Paul selected the best Q&As, edited it down to 77,000 words, organized it by topics, and wrote an insightful and moving introduction. I also have a layout artist and indexer ready to go; the things that would be necessary to finish this up would be to create a cover - Paul's suggested title is Cheers, Gary after the salutation he used most often - and maybe add some photos and other images that could be used as illustrations throughout. My plan is to use Kickstarter to cover the production costs of making the book by selling an appropriate number of copies as pre-orders to Kickstarter donors. The remainder of the production run would then be donated to GaryCon and/or the Gygax Memorial Fund for their own use (sell to raise money, give to convention attendees, etc.) What would be the next steps for me to start planning to have this together by March?
This is a great idea Tavis. The EN forums have some great material from my Dad that I think many would enjoy reading or re-reading. I like the title Greetings Seekers myself since he began many emails that way. But I see where the signature Cheers, Gary is more appropriate for this collection. What do you need help with- logistics, marketing, other? Luke
There are also Q&A threads at Dragonsfoot that have lots of great stuff, which Paul and I have talked about making into a second book - Greetings Seekers could be the title for that volume! Here are some things that folks could contribute to help make this happen: - Pictures from Gary's life to use as illustrations - An image for the cover - this could be another picture or something more artistic - Blurbs for the back cover - Introductory essays - one for the Dragonsfoot volume, maybe a second one in addition to Paul's for the EN World - Help getting permission from the Dragonsfoot admins to reprint the posts from there (Morrus already granted this for the EN World one) - Help getting the word out once the Kickstarter effort gets underway
Mark me down for a pre-order, Tavis. Dunno if it is what you're looking for or if it is appropriate, but mabye ask Keith Christensen if you can use this image: It was created for the first GaryCon and I don't think it is being used for the final monument design, but Luke would likely know better. I can drop Keith a line, if interested.
I think this is a great idea for a book. I know I'd like to have a copy as I've never been able to wade through the threads at EN World. A compilation from Dragonsfoot would also be great.
How about: The Gentle Reader's Guide to the Gygax Q&A or maybe some of that good old Gary-style prose: Gazetteer of Gygax's Indomitable Sagacity (sagacity means wisdom)
I'm liking the idea quite a bit, too - sweet! Not sure I qualify for anything more yet than "Kickstarter Supporter," but I'd sure be that!
It looks like we may have a special "Gen Con edition" of this ready in time for the convention! More details soon if so.
We are moving towards having both the book - Erol Otus has kindly given permission to re-use a piece of his as the cover (the drawing of Gary as the wizard on the White Box cover blasting goblins, which he said Luke suggested for the GCII program book) - and some memorial fund T-shirts to give as rewards for people who donate to the Fund at Gen Con. If all works out, these will be at the Old-School Renaissance Group's booth, #1541.
Yes, it looks like this is really going to happen! I'll be putting some stuff together to help spread the word, and will really appreciate help letting people know.
what booth? and since I won't be making it to the dealer hall before saturday, what sort of bribery do we need to be discussing to make sure I get a copy?