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Just moments ago, I delivered The Dragons Revealed, the second of two novels I’ve written this fall for the Knights of the Silver Dragon YA fantasy series I created for Wizards of the Coast last year. These are #13 and #14 in the series, and they form a major, two-part turning point in the ongoing story of Kellach, Moyra, and Driskoll. Amazon.com lists #13 (Prophecy of the Dragons) as a June 13, 2006, release and #14 as showing up on August 8, 2006. It’s going to be a great summer!

written by Matt Forbeck

Random House has posted the title of my next novel in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series: Prophecy of the Dragons. This is the 13th book in the young adult series I created for Wizards of the Coast, starting with Secret of the Spiritkeeper. According to Random House, it will be on shelves on June 13, 2006, nearly two years after Secret debuted.

This is the first of a two-book story arc set in the series. I just sent in the revisions for Prophecy of the Dragons this week, and I’m in the middle of the next book right now. This story will give the setting a good shake, setting up all sorts of new story possibilities for the future. Despite the fact I’ve only written a few books in the line (other authors wrote books 2 through 12), Wizards has been wonderful about letting me follow my instincts with my installments in the series, setting up few if any roadblocks. I can’t wait to be able to tell you more.

written by Matt Forbeck

Wizards of the Coast is launching a new library program called Adventures for Reluctant Readers, aimed at getting kids to read novels. The program includes a copy of Secret of the Spiritkeeper, so if you know any librarians who might be interested, please don’t hesitate to point them in the right direction. Thanks!

written by Matt Forbeck

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.

written by Matt Forbeck

As I’ve mentioned here before, Secret of the Spiritkeeper and The Authority RPG both earned nominations for Origins Awards this year: for Best Fiction Publication and Best Roleplaying Game, respectively. The Academy of Gaming Arts and Design is now voting on the nominees, and the product with the most votes in each category wins the award.

If you’re a member of the Academy and you liked either of those books, please vote. If you’re not a member of the Academy, well, did you know that membership is free to anyone with three published credits in the gaming industry? You still have time to join the Academy and vote before the May 25 deadline.

So, whether you’re voting for my stuff or not, get to it! Then, on July 2, at the Origins Game Convention, we’ll find out who wins.

written by Matt Forbeck

I realized I forgot to mention that two books I worked on were nominated for Origins Awards this year. Secret of the Spiritkeeper garnered a nod for Best Fiction, and The Authority RPG got one for Best Roleplaying Game. If you’re a member of the Academy of Gaming Arts and Design (and everyone who does creative work in adventure gaming can now join for free), please consider voting for them. In my ever-biased opinion, I think they’re great stuff.

As some of you know, I led the Origins Awards Task Force last year, which revamped the awards from the ground up. I specifically didn’t volunteer to serve on any of the juries this year, as I wanted to see the system stand on its own. It seems to be doing well so far, as shown by the list of nominees, and I have even higher hopes for next year.

written by Matt Forbeck

I finished the first draft of my Blood Bowl novel yesterday, just in time to take a few days off for Christmas. Whew!

Next up, I’m revising my outline for the second book in my Eberron trilogy. Then I’ll revise the outlines for my next two books in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series. After that, it’s the outline for the next Blood Bowl book, which is to be a trilogy too. I’ll squeeze my next article for Games Quarterly Magazine in there somewhere as well. Soon after the start of the year, it’s headlong into writing the second Eberron book.

It looks like 2005 is shaping up well. It should see two of the Eberron novels and at least one Blood Bowl novel see print, plus a few other things I’m working on, although it’s too early to say about those yet.

I’d like to thank everyone out there for your support in 2004. It was as crazy a year as ever, but having wonderful friends and family around me every step of the way meant it was a more fun kind of frenzy. I’m looking forward to sharing 2005 with you all too and having more fun than ever.

written by Matt Forbeck

My apologies for not posting here much lately. There have been two reasons for that:

1) I haven’t had a whole lot to report.

2) Various colds and viruses have been treating my family like the Packers treat a loose football.

Now, though, it seems like we’re all on the mend, and I’m rolling again. I used the blank spots in the past few weeks to work on a few outlines for upcoming books (like two more in the Knights of the Silver Dragon series) and to craft another proposal or two for some new projects I hope to start working on sometime next year.

Right now, I’m hot in the throes of Blood Bowl, the first in what looks to be a trilogy of novels for my friends at Games Workshop. After that, it’s onto the second book in The Lost Mark Trilogy, my Eberron series for Wizards of the Coast.

In the meantime, the latest issue (#3) of Games Quarterly Magazine should be in stores around now. It contains an article I wrote praising Once Upon a Time, designed by Richard Lambert, Andrew Rilstone, and James Wallis and published by Atlas Games.

Don’t forget to gear up for National Games Week too. That’s next week, from November 21–27.

written by Matt Forbeck

The signing at Turtle Creek, the Beloit College Bookstore was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to offer their support. It was truly touching.

The store sold nearly 60 copies of Secret of the Spiritkeeper, as well as a few copies of The Fellowship of the Ring Sourcebook and The Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook that they had on hand. Trudy, the wonderful store manager, told me it was the best day they’d ever had for a local author. She’d never had to worry about selling out of books before. As it was, there were about a dozen left at the end of the day, which I happily signed for their shelves.

My wife Ann showed up with all the kids to surprise me, just as the signing wound down. The kids all went crazy racing around the store, but fortunately many members of our extended family (including my sister Jody and new husband Nanni, who stopped off just before returning to their home in Italy) were around to corral them. The whole crew ended up at Bagels & More, a local coffee shop, for lunch, which was a great way to cap the event.

Later that day, I ended up at the grand opening of Beloit’s brand-new games store: Ray’s Games & Hobbies. It’s located right downtown on State Street, between Grand and Broad Avenues. It’s a neat store, well stocked with all sorts of games, models, and such. They were playing the newest edition of Warhammer 40,000 when I showed up, and Ray’s wife Lydia asked me to sign her copy of Secret of the Spiritkeeper, which she’d picked up at the bookstore after I’d finished my two-hour stint.

Thanks again to everyone for your support. I’m considering asking about signings at other bookstores around the area, but I’m sure that none of them would ever measure up to this!

written by Matt Forbeck

The summer convention season is over, which means I mostly stay hunkered down in my office and type for the next six months or so. However, I do have a book signing for Secret of the Spiritkeeper at Turtle Creek, the Beloit College bookstore, on September 18, starting at 9:30 AM. That’s right in Beloit, Wisconsin, my hometown. Please stop on by if you have a chance.

written by Matt Forbeck

Gen Con was flat-out amazing. I’ve been to the show 23 years in a row now (I started young), and I can’t imagine my summers without it. For me, this is like summer camp wrapped up with Christmas in August, except you get to pick out (and buy) your own gifts.
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written by Matt Forbeck

I’m in the throes of preparing for Gen Con this week. The show, the greatest adventure gaming convention on the planet, runs from August 19–22 in Indianapolis. I miss having it in Milwaukee, but last year Indy proved itself to be a fine venue, and you couldn’t ask for a better group of people to run the show than Peter Adkison and his crew.

I plan on spending much of my time in the Green Ronin booth, running demos of Dracula’s Revenge. We worked out this great promotion that I can’t quite tell you about yet, but it involves a chance to win some pretty cool prizes if you play in one of the demos.

However, I also have five different seminars I’m working at the show, along with two signings of Secret of the Spiritkeeper, my new young adult novel from Wizards of the Coast. For details on my schedule, just click here

If you’re an industry professional coming to the show, be sure to drop me a line about the Diana Jones Award party. It’s Wednesday night at 9 PM, and all industry folk are invited.

I’m going to be busy next week, so there won’t be an update then. Look for news from Gen Con the week after though. If you can make it to the show, be sure to stop by and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll be back in two weeks.

written by Matt Forbeck

The fine folks at Wizards of the Coast recently posted an interview with me about Secret of the Spiritkeeper. You can read it here.

written by Matt Forbeck

I stopped into a Barnes and Noble in Madison, WI, yesterday, to check up on Secret of the Spiritkeeper. They had nine copies in stock, which seems like a good sign. They also had the second book in the series, Ree Soesbee’s Riddle in Stone.

This is my first mass-market novel in print, and it’s a great thrill to finally see it on shelves. If you’re at all interested in fantasy stories for young adults, please check it out!

written by Matt Forbeck