Keith Parkinson died of complications from leukemia on October 26, four days after his 47th birthday. A service for friends and family will be held on November 1 near his home in southern California. Keith was one of the greatest fantasy artists of our time. In the five years he spent at TSR, he created dozens of amazing covers for …
My World Fantasy Convention Schedule
The World Fantasy Convention is coming up November 3—6, the weekend after Halloween. I’ll be there, along with several hundred other devotees of fantastic tales. This will be my first time at this traveling convention, but since it’s in Madison, Wisconsin, this year, I couldn’t pass up the chance to check it out. I’ll wander about the place most of …
Heretic of Set Out Soon
Heretic of Set, the second in J. Steven York‘s Stygian trilogy for the new Age of Conan line of novels, should be in stores soon. Amazon lists the book available on October 25, but a copy for me showed up in the mail earlier this week. Steve did a great job with this series. If you’re a fan of Howardian …
Robby the Robot for Sale
Hammacher Schlemmer puts out a few high-end, premium toys every year. They’re always cool, but this one is amazing: a life-size, working Robby the Robot. For only $50,000. I don’t think you’ll see that under too many trees this Christmas, but it’s the ultimate Forbidden Planet toy!
Hard Times for Gaming? Yes and No
Yesterday, the AEG website noted that they were laying off a number of people. Word has it that other companies have also let a few employees go in recent days. Still other publishers, like Decipher and Guardians of Order have had troubles this past year too. This naturally led some people to wonder if the entire RPG industry–or perhaps the …
Translations
Once upon a time, I tried to keep track of every thing I could about my publishing career. This long since proved impossible, but I still do what I can. Sometimes, though, it’s difficult to answer questions about what I’ve done. For instance, I have no idea how many languages my work has been translated into. Lots of times, games …
New High Stakes Drifter Preview
The fine people at WizKids have posted another preview of an important card in the upcoming High Stakes Drifter collectible card game I designed for them. Check it out!
Popcorn, Anyone?
My good friends and fellow Alliterates–Rob King, Lester Smith, and Steve Sullivan–just launched a new website aimed at e-publishing (at least for now) short fiction. They’re also looking for others to join them in their endeavor at Popcorn Press. Check them out, and wish them luck!
High Stakes Drifter Presale
WizKids has announced plans to sell early starters and boosters of High Stakes Drifter at Wizard World Texas. That’s November 4-6 in Arlington, Texas. I believe this will be the first chance to get your hands on copies of the actual game (as opposed to the demo decks used at Gen Con Indy this summer). Supplies should be tight, though, …
Pinter Wins the Nobel
Playwright, screenwriter, director, actor, and poet Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday. I’ve enjoyed some of Pinter’s work, but not managed to read nearly all of it. However, Pinter wrote the last play in which I acted: The Room. So I feel some connection. Our production took place in the Residential College Theater in the East Quad …