My Archon Schedule

 Con Report  No Responses »
Sep 292010
 

I’m heading out for Archon—a great genre fiction and gaming convention in St. Louis—on Friday morning, and I’ll be there through Sunday. I’m a guest of honor there, so my schedule is packed. It looks something like this:

Friday

1:30 PM (Matterhorn): Opening  Ceremonies
2:40 PM (Versailles Hall): Autograph Session
5:00:00 PM (Matterhorn): Reactor 88: Behind The Scenes
9:40:00 PM (Alpine 2): Game Design 101

Saturday
11:10:00 AM (Bern): Game Design, Writing & Illustration
12:20:00 PM (Lugano): Writing Within The World
1:30:00 PM (Bern): Kaffeeklatsch
3:50:00 PM (Versailles Hall): Autograph Session

Sunday
12:20 PM (Bern): Volunteer Pizza Party with the Pros
2:40:00 PM (Bern): Closing Ceremonies

The rest of the time, I’ll be wandering about, chatting with folks, playing games, and having fun. If you’re in the area, come on out and join me and the rest of the guests.

The Tweet Pitch

 Amortals, Professional  8 Responses »
Sep 292010
 
Amortals

When you’re trying to sell somebody on an idea for a story or a game, it’s a good idea to see if you can boil it down to something short and snappy, the kind of two- or three-sentence package that tells what the thing’s about and why it’s so cool that the listener must want to know more. This is commonly called an elevator pitch, as in “Pitch me your idea while I’m riding in an elevator with you.”

These days, it seems more appropriate to try for a tweet pitch, something you can express in 140 characters or less. That way you can grab someone’s attention on Twitter, Facebook, or whatever other social network you favor.

By way of example, here’s a tweet pitch (#tweetpitch) for Amortals:

AMORTALS: Secret Service agent’s mind is restored into clone. He must figure out who murdered him this time—and why.

Try it with your own book or game or film — or give it a shot with one of your favorites. Like this:

STAR WARS: Farmboy with magical talent rescues a princess and restores peace to the galaxy by blowing up huge space station.

Archon!

 Con Report  No Responses »
Sep 172010
 

I’ve been asked to be the gaming guest of honor at Archon, a fantastic gaming and genre fiction convention in St. Louis. It’s just two weeks from now, October 1–3, and I’m already itching to hit the road.

Other guests include Kevin Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, Kurt Miller, and Vic Milán. If you’re anywhere near the area, come on out and join us for a weekend of fun and games. I hope to see you there!

New Blood Bowl Review

 Blood Bowl  1 Response »
Sep 172010
 
Blood Bowl

Over at BeastsofWar.com, Sam gives my first Blood Bowl novel 4.5 stars out of 5. He writes:

All in all, it is a very entertaining read, and has remained a firm favourite of mine along with the rest of its series. I would especially recommend it to fans of the game, and to fans of Terry Pratchett’s books, as well as anyone who is just looking for something of a more light-hearted nature to read.

Sadly, the book and the omnibus that contains it are both out of print at the moment. I’ve heard rumbles that the Black Library might bring them back soon as e-books, but nothing’s been confirmed yet. A “new” copy of the book is currently up for sale for $117.03 on Amazon (does anyone pay that much except by mistake?), but you can find used versions for much cheaper than that.

New Amortals Review

 Amortals  No Responses »
Sep 132010
 
Amortals

Over at Fantasy Literature, reviewer Greg Hersom has read an early copy of Amortals, and he calls it “One helluva sci-fi thriller.” My favorite quote from the piece:

Nonetheless, in the span of few chapters, I went from only slightly interested, to thinking, “Hey, this isn’t half bad,” to being genuinely sucked in. Matt Forbeck does an excellent job creating depth in what is essentially the stated “typical action hero.”

Amortals debuts in November in the UK and Australia, and in January for the rest of the world. Can’t wait for you to read it.

Amortals ARCs Are Go

 Amortals  No Responses »
Sep 072010
 
Amortals

This morning, I spotted a photo that the overlords at Angry Robot posted late last week. It shows the ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) for Pretty Little Dead Things, Soul Stealers, Damage Time, and my upcoming Amortals.

ARCs are odd little things, usually print-on-demand copies of books made to get the word out about a book before the actual print run hits shelves. Amortals won’t be in stores until November in the UK and January in the US, but here these premade imposters come in September.

This means that certain reviewers — including some members of the Robot Army — should find an early copy of Amortals in their hands soon. I can’t wait until they — and you, especially you — can read it.

Stolze’s Zombie Story Kickstarter

 Raves  No Responses »
Sep 022010
 

The title pretty much says it all, but if that doesn’t make sense to you, head over to Greg Stolze‘s Kickstarter page for his new fiction project “Zombis Blanc.”

As Greg says:

It’s a 4,000 word piece that is, to the best of my ability, thrill-packed, gore-soaked, medically accurate and historically plausible. It’s set in 1791′s violent slave revolution, the one that eventually makes Haiti into a free nation. It focuses on a pair of despicable Europeans. If anyone deserves a nightmarish pursuit by an angry voudoun boccor, it’s these guys. They get it. You get to watch it.

You might even get to hear it. Donors of $2.00 or more get a podcast, and if you go as far as pledging $15, you get a charming skull woodcut print. That’s alongside a story release under a Creative Commons Noncommercial/Attribution/Share Alike license. Assuming, of course, that the story hits its goal.

If you like zombie tales, go ahead and chip in a buck or two or more, so that Greg will release his story into the wilds of the Internet for us all to enjoy.

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online CCG at PAX

 Professional  No Responses »
Sep 022010
 

I won’t be at PAX, but a product I worked on will debut there this weekend: the Marvel Super Hero Squad Online CCG. The brilliant people at Lone Shark Games (Mike Selinker, Teeuwynn Woodruff, and James Ernest) and the Amazing Society (Devin Low, et al) did all the heavy lifting on this one, but they brought me in — along with Monte Cook and Andy Collins — to help with writing a bunch of text on the cards.

If you get out to PAX, keep your eye out (possibly near the Gazillion booth) for sample decks and promo cards and sign up to join the game’s first-ever tournament. That’s right. This is an actual cardstock game designed to go along with the online MMO game before the video game version even launches.

If you’re near Madison, Wisconsin, this weekend instead, stop by and hang out with me at Geek.Kon. I won’t have any cards, but we’ll find some fun.

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