More news about my upcoming Guild Wars 2 novel is finally official. The book is done and should be out sometime this summer. The title has been changed from Fall of Ascalon to the far better Ghosts of Ascalon, which rings truer on multiple levels.

The biggest change is the addition of a co-author to the marquee: Jeff Grubb. Jeff’s a fellow member of my Alliterates writers group — although he’s in the Seattle branch, while I’m part of the Wisconsin lineup. I’ve known him since way back when I used to run RPGA events for his Marvel Superheroes Roleplaying Game at Gen Con, in the mist-shrouded past of the mid-’80s.

According to the official FAQ about the book:

As one of the chief game designers and writers of Guild Wars 2, Jeff Grubb has been heavily involved in working with Matt Forbeck to integrate Guild Wars 2 lore into the narrative of the book. As the editorial direction of Ghosts of Ascalon progressed, it became apparent that Jeff’s contributions to the novel merited his inclusion as a coauthor.

As one of the two in-house lore masters for Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who knows the game and its world better than Jeff. Couple that with the fact that he’s a fantastic writer with over a dozen previous novels under his belt, and you can guess at how much his contributions meant to this book. I can’t wait for you to read it.

P.S. Massively and Kotaku have both picked up on the story, and so far the reaction seems good.

The savvy souls at ArenaNet managed to capture many of the panels the held at PAX on video. Better yet, they posted them on YouTube!

They recorded one panel I was on with Will McDermott and Eric Flannum, speaking about my upcoming novel based on Guild Wars 2. It’s in two parts, and you can see each below. This took place at 1:30 PM Pacific Time on September 5, 2009. Considering the long night before and the fact I was starting to fall ill that morning, I think I managed to be mostly articulate.

Check them out here, or go to YouTube to see Part 1 and Part 2 larger and in HD.

I had a fantastic time at PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo) last weekend. Unfortunately, since then I’ve been laid up with some evil con crud, and that’s substantially changed a few things in my schedule.

Allow me to explain.

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The friendly folks at ArenaNet have posted their booth schedule for PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo), which takes place this weekend in Seattle. I’ll be there at the booth all three days, for a half-hour at a time, answering questions about my upcoming Guild Wars novel. If you’re there, please come by and say hi!

Specifically, I’ll be there Friday at 11:30 and 2:30, Saturday at 1:30, and Sunday at 10:30. Other times, I’ll either be wandering the floor, plotting for some future project, or holed up in my hotel room and trying to catch up with my deadlines.

Note that there are a lot of other events at the booth, including Q&As, giveaways of The Art of Guild Wars 2 book, and signings by the people who made that book possible. You’ll also be able to see the fantastic new trailer for Guild Wars 2 running there all weekend.

Meanwhile, feast your eyes on the cover of the novel. It showed up on the same page as the booth schedule. Sharp-eyed people might have seen it at the Simon & Schuster booth at Comic-Con, but as far as I know it’s the first time it’s been shown on the internet.

Hope to see you in Seattle!

My calendar reminds me that I don’t have that long here at home before I’m off again. I’ll be at PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo) this year, helping ArenaNet stalwarts Jeff Grubb and Will McDermott push my upcoming Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 novel, Fall of Ascalon. Other than my schedule below, I’m free, so expect to see me running around, catching up with friends, and enjoying the show.

It’s been 20 years since I’ve been to Seattle. In 1989, my brother and two other guys from Ann Arbor drove straight through the night to make it to the NCAA Final Four and watch Michigan take it’s one and only basketball championship ever—in double overtime.

Now I can’t wait to get back. If you’re there too, be sure to grab me and say hi.

[Note: Schedule updated, 8/26]

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Yesterday, I wrapped up my first draft of the Guild Wars novel I’m writing and shipped it off to my editor and the fine people at ArenaNet. I had a lot of fun working on it, and I think it all coalesced into a fine tale in the end.

According to Simon & Schuster’s website, the book is due out February 23, 2010. I don’t know if that’s carved in stone quite yet, but it’s as good a guess as any.

Much as I loved working on the book, it’s a huge relief to have it out the door. I’m sure, given the nature of such tie-in novels, that it will come back for revisions, but I’m thrilled to know that the bulk of the work is complete.

Now I’m going to take a couple days to pay bills, maybe get my taxes going (I filed for an extension), and tackle another couple details that need to be knocked down. Then it’s back to the keyboard to wring Amortals out of my brain. It’s been lurking there far too long and needs to be let out.

I’ve been officially cleared to announce that the novel I’m currently working on is Guild Wars: Fall of Ascalon, to be published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. It’s a tie-in novel based upon the hit MMORPG Guild Wars. As ArenaNet (the game’s developers) mentioned last year at PAX, the novel focuses on the time period between the original Guild Wars games and the upcoming sequel Guild Wars 2.

I’ve been working closely with the crew at ArenaNet on this book, and they’ve been a real delight. They count a number of excellent novelists among their staff, so they grok how a novel works and how to best braid it into the ongoing development of the computer game.

I can’t say much more about the book at this stage. However, I can report that the information about the book that you can find on some bookstore websites—like the page count, release date, and so on—seems to be placeholder material taken from the ISBN (book code) database. Don’t trust any of it yet.

More news when I can tell it.