The Road to Death, the latest in my Eberron trilogy The Lost Mark, officially hits shelves tomorrow, January 10. To celebrate that, Wizards of the Coast has posted three different sets of The Road to Death wallpaper for your computer’s desktop. Glory at them on your machine, then hit your friendly local bookshop for the second installment in the series tomorrow!
The Road to Death hits stores in January, and Wizards of the Coast has posted the first chapter of the book for free. This is the second in my Eberron trilogy, The Lost Mark. My editor, Mark Sehestedt, tells me this is a much better book than the first, and I agree. It’s amazing how much I’ve learned about writing novels in the past couple years, and I think it shows here.
I just got a FedEx box from Wizards of the Coast, a kind of early Christmas present for me: my author’s copies of The Road to Death. This is the second in The Lost Mark trilogy, which started with Marked for Death, and it should be on shelves nationwide and beyond in January if not earlier.
As you may have heard me say before, there’s nothing like holding a product in your hand to make it real. It’s easy to get jaded about being published, I suppose, but getting in the first copy of a game or a book always puts a big, goofy grin on my face. Woot!
Wizards of the Coast has put up a page with information about The Road to Death, the next in my Eberron-based trilogy, The Lost Mark. The Road to Death is slated for a January release, which now doesn’t seem all that far away.
Amazon.com recently posted the cover for The Road to Death, the upcoming second novel in my Lost Mark trilogy from Wizards of the Coast. You can see a larger version by clicking on the thumbnail to the left. Amazon lists the book to be released on January 10, 2006.
I just got the galleys (final proofs) of The Road to Death in from Wizards of the Coast. This is the sequel my Eberron novel Marked for Death, the second in The Lost Mark trilogy. So far, it looks great. Mark Sehestedt did a fine job polishing my prose, and he tells me it’s a far better book than the first.
I have to agree with him. I learn more about writing novels with every book. Each presents its own challenges, of course, but it’s amazing how much you pick up as you go along from book to book.
Anyhow, the book is off to the printer early next week, and you should expect to see it in stores in January.
I’ll be at Gen Con Indy next week, from Wednesday through Sunday. I’m not tied to a single booth this year, but I do have some appearances scheduled. Here’s where and when you should be able to track me down:
Wednesday, 9 PM: The Diana Jones Award ceremony, held at a secret location. (If you’re a professional in the adventure gaming industry, you’re cordially invited. Drop me an e-mail for details.)
Thursday, 4 PM: Secrets of Eberron seminar, Embassy Suites: Consulate room.
Friday, 10 AM: Marked for Death (Eberron) novel signing, Exhibit Hall: Wizards of the Coast booth. I get to join Keith Baker and Don Bassingthwaite for this one.
Saturday, 10 AM: Blood Bowl novel signing, Exhibit Hall: Sabertooth Games booth.
Sunday, 10 AM: Blood Bowl novel signing, Exhibit Hall: Sabertooth Games booth.
I’ll also be helping out with the Gamer Olympics (along with Ken Hite), as needed, and wandering about the hall in a game-induced daze.
It’s been quiet around here for two reasons. First, I just finished Dead Ball, the second in my Blood Bowl trilogy, at 11 PM on July 16. Second, on July 17, I bundled the quads and a couple of able helpers in the minivan and chased up after my wife and eldest son for a week’s vacation near Watersmeet, Michigan. Now I’m home again, struggling to get back into the groove.
In other news, the Black Library now has a page up for my first Blood Bowl novel. They purport to have a sample excerpt up there soon.
I was late on Dead Ball, far later than I’d like to admit, and my editor (Christian Dunn) was terribly understanding about it. He turned around the comments on it before I got back, and they glowed. He’s asked me to change a single scene that may have transcended the borders of good taste, at least in his estimation as editor of many of the Black Library’s fine books. I had wondered about this when writing the scene, so I’ll make the changes soon and send off the final draft straight away. The book’s due out in December, which now doesn’t seem all that far away.
After that, it’s some work on the top-secret game for a toy company that I think I’ve mentioned here before. All of the major chains (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Toys-R-Us, etc.) have picked up the game, so you should be able to get it just about anywhere in the US—at least anywhere near a city of any size. That should hit stores in December too. That’s about a month after High Stakes Drifter, which I mentioned a week or so back, from WizKids.
Then it’s on to revisions for The Road to Death, the next in The Lost Mark trilogy for Eberron. My editor, Mark Sehestedt, claims it’s better than Marked for Death. At least he asked for fewer revisions, so that’s a good sign. That book sees shelves in January 2006.
When that’s all done, I barrel into the next two books (for me, that is) in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series. These should hit stores in the summer of 2006.
Whew! I think I need another vacation. 
Over on his LiveJournal, Mike Mearls posted some provocative ideas about something any successful roleplaying game needs: a core story. This sums up the game’s central theme from a player’s point of view in a sentence or two. It sparked off a few thoughts in my own befogged brain, which I added to his comments there. So you don’t have to go hunting for them, I’m posting them here too.
Continue reading »
I sometimes do a little ego-cruising on the web, wondering what people out there have to say about what I do. Not that I don’t love all of you who come by here, but those who are wiling to stop by and sit a while are most likely to say kinder things. After all, posting a comment here means I’ll read it for sure. It’s the internet’s equivalent of saying something to my face.
It’s in the more distant corners of the net you find other opinions, like on Amazon.com. The people who write comments there aren’t professional reviewers, but they paid their money and read the books, so they get to say what they like—or don’t, as the case may be.
In the case of Marked for Death, the Amazon reviewers have given the book some good marks, some fair, and some bad. If you liked the book, I’d appreciate it if you could stop by there and give your opinion too. Amazon is the largest seller of books on the web, and I could use all the kind words I can get there.
Now, I’m not asking you to be a shill or to write something you don’t believe in. However, one of the best things you can do for an author is to recommend his or her work to other people. Many people have written privately to thank me for my work. If you can share those thoughts with the rest of the world, then you have my thanks.
This Saturday, from 1 to 3 PM, I’ll be at Turtle Creek, the Beloit College bookstore, here in beautiful downtown Beloit, Wisconsin. If you’ll be in the area, please stop by and keep me company. They’ll have some of my books on hand for buying and signing, including Marked for Death, the first novel in my Eberron trilogy from Wizards of the Coast. I hope to see you there!
If all my caterwauling on this site has yet to convince you to race out to your local bookseller or game store and buy Marked for Death, here’s a taste of sugar to sweeten the deal. Wizards just posted a sample chapter here (right-click to save the zipped PDF). The chapters in the book are short, but this espresso-like dose should give you an idea of the book’s flavor and my writing style. Enjoy!
Wizards of the Coast just posted an interview I did with Kandler, the main hero of Marked for Death. They asked for a character profile, like they do with many of their books, and I happily provided it. The regular narrative history style seemed played out to me, though, so I threw together an interview instead. Hopefully it’s a bit more entertaining than the regular fare. Let me know what you think!
If you’re interested in discussing Marked for Death, the fine people at WorldsofDnD.com host book club discussions for all of the Dungeons & Dragons-related novels, including mine. Just pop by here to check out what other people say about the book and to ask whatever burning questions about the book you may have. I check in regularly, so if you want details straight from the writer, there’s no better place on the web. (Well, other than here.)
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