Respectfully, and despite "Got Morganti?" not being my idea: Your point about needing to market to more than just Brust insiders is well-taken. And many of the jokes or references that are being offered are entirely "in-jokes" that no one would get even partially. But one way of intriguing new fans is to give them a structure with which they are familiar and then use some unfamiliar term in place of an expected one. "Got Morganti" is just this kind of thing, since it draws on a familiar marketing structure and introduces a mysterious new word. People will relate "morganti" to something they can and should have, and will want to know more about this thing that is being compared to milk (I'm generalizing from one instance here.....). Other familiar joke-structures can be used in the same way, with specifically Brust-ian punchlines providing a hook to entice people to find out what these words or phrases mean. This makes Steve's work pop-culture and people like pop culture. Of course, this might mean that Steve's stuff someday ends up in "Hot Topic", and I'm not sure I could stand that... Some of the other ideas are just great for t-shirts as they stand, but they may not do the job of grabbing a new readership. The "Everybody generalizes" joke is great, and would look great on a t-shirt, and everyone would get it, but even with the attribution to Steven or a weblink people might write it off the same way they do Hallmark cards: they kind of don't care anything about the person who came up with the phrase, they just like to say it. Shawn -----Original Message----- From: Scott Schultz [mailto:scott at cjhunter.com] Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 2:50 PM To: dragaera at dragaera.info Subject: RE: SKJB / Dream Cafe' swag ideas Well, if you're serious about all this, some random opinions: Expect about 25% of the people who think something is a good idea to actually pony up when it comes down to paying real cash for it. Take this into consideration when deciding on methods of production that require advance payment and/or minimum quantities. To be truly effective, tee-shirt slogans should be based on some sort of wit that a non-Brust reader could appreciate. The "knife between the shoulderblades" quote is a good example, because Tolkein's original is reasonably well-known, especially after the popularity of the films. "Got Morganti?" is an amusing in-joke and might even garner a few appreciative nods at a con, but it's something that that no-one outside of the Brust-reading community would "get". The former would have a greater chance of making the viewer smile and possibly go to dreamcafe.com to learn more about it. It serves the double purpose of selling more tee-shirts and introducing new readers to Brust/Dragaera, whereas the second only caters to the inside knowledge of its wearer.